Prime Minister Fumio Kishida (center) speaks during a meeting of the Council for the Promotion of Regulatory Reform at the Prime Minister’s Office on Friday.
1:25 PM JST, June 3, 2024
The government’s regulatory reform panel has released a proposal that includes a measure to increase the country’s ability to accept more incoming tourists. It says ‘no-frills accommodation’, such as old private homes and holiday homes, will be allowed to forgo a reception and instead use a call center for services.
The Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare will issue a notification this fiscal year.
In other reforms, the proposal discussed the complete removal of restrictions on ride-sharing services, where people use their cars to provide paid rides. The Council for the Promotion of Regulatory Reform said on Friday that “work should begin immediately on drafting legislation by the end of the year,” to submit a relevant bill to the next regular session of parliament .
Ride-sharing started in April under the condition that taxi companies manage the services while limiting the area, opening hours and number of vehicles.
The proposal added that by September the government should consider ways to ease restrictions so that the number of vehicles in use at any one time can be increased during rain or special events.
As for drones, the criteria for flying them without permission from the Minister of Transport will be clarified so that medical supplies and foodstuffs can be transported even in no-fly airspace during a disaster.
In the medical field, measures have been included to allow the sale of over-the-counter (OTC) medicines in retail stores, including convenience stores without a pharmacist, as long as the sale is managed online from a pharmacist-staffed store in the same prefecture. This is intended to make over-the-counter medicines more accessible to people in depopulated areas.
“These reforms will help people in difficult circumstances,” Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said, praising the proposal at a meeting. He instructed that “discussions must continue and involve the justice system.”
