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Town planning projects focused on culture and utilizing local historical cultural heritage are being actively carried out all over Japan. Among them are the growing numbers of localities in which cultural facilities with sophisticated capabilities are playing central roles in carrying out creative artistic activities on a national scale. It is a welcome development for the government that these localities demonstrate the results of their activities to the nation and enhance the level of local cultural activities.

However, it is also a fact that, outside of metropolitan areas, there are fewer opportunities to appreciate high-quality culture such as national-level performances and large-scale art exhibitions. In the "Survey on Japanese People's Awareness on Culture" conducted by the Agency for Cultural Affairs in 2000, as the city scale decreases, more people point to the lack of nearby venues and inconvenience of transportation as problems which have to be resolved in order to increase their opportunities to appreciate culture (See Table 1-3-1 ).

Table 1-3-1 Problems in Appreciating Arts and Culture (by scale of cities)

In response, the Agency for Cultural Affairs is organizing traveling exhibitions of the collections of national museums and national art museums and local circuits of performing arts in order to expand opportunities to appreciate arts and culture nationwide.

In addition, in order to provide opportunities to participate in artistic and cultural activities, the Agency for Cultural Affairs, in conjunction with prefectural governments, is organizing National Culture Festivals and National Culture Festivals for Upper Secondary Schools.

The government hopes to continue to expand opportunities for appreciating national-level arts and cultures in local areas.