1．The announcement of the messages by Commissioner for Cultural Affairs

Commissioner for Cultural Affairs announced the following messages to people.

1. ・“Call for your cooperation in saving and recovering cultural properties damaged by the Tohoku-Pacific Ocean Earthquake” 〈April 1, 2011〉
2. ・“An appeal concerning cultural and artistic activities” 〈April 12, 2011〉
3. ・“Commissioner's Message on the Occasion of the First Anniversary of March 11 Disaster”〈March 11, 2012〉

1. ＊In addition, the Council for Cultural Affairs chairman submitted a written opinion to Commissioner for Cultural Affairs.
2. ・“For the revival from the Great East Japan Earthquake in the field of culture and the arts” 〈June 14, 2011〉

2．Investigation and restoration of the damaged cultural properties

(1) Investigation of the situation of damaged cultural properties

1. ・Based on the request from each board of education, Senior Cultural Properties Specialists were dispatched and instruction and advice were given by them about the assessment of the situation of the cultural properties and their repair and restoration.
2. ・The number of investigated cases：250（9 prefectures） 〈It ended on August 10, 2011.〉

(2) The enterprise to rescue cultural properties

1. ・In order to immediately preserve artistic handicraft articles (movable properties) among te damaged cultural properties, the Agency for Cultural Affairs carried out their rescue, temporary measures, and interim storage in museums and other facilities.
2. ・Centering on Miyagi Prefecture, the total number of 4,829 participants worked on the rescue at Ishinomaki Cultural Facilities, Rikuzentakada City Museum, Utatsu Museum of Fish and Dinosaurs and so on. 〈as of March 1, 2012〉

(3) Dispatch Conservators for Historic Monuments Program

1. ・The Agency for Cultural Affairs dispatched conservators - to the disaster-stricken areas in order to check on the damage to give emergency measures and to provide technical assistance for restoration.
2. ・465 conservators sent to 198 cities & towns in 11 prefectures. 〈as of March 1, 2012〉

1. ＊The above (1) through (3) are concerned with not only cultural properties designated by the government but cultural assets designated by the local government or registered cultural properties.
2. ＊As for the enterprises of (2) and (3), the donation raised through a public utility foundation corporation "Preservation of Cultural Properties and Art Research Support Foundation" is also utilized, based on the message by Commissioner for Cultural Affairs shown in section 1. The donation collected from the domestic or overseas people has amounted to more than 200 million yen, as of March 1, 2012.

(4) Repair and restoration of the damaged cultural properties

1. ・The Agency for Cultural Affairs has secured the budget for fixing and restoring the damaged cultural properties. While it utilize the initial budget in the 2011 fiscal year, such as national treasures and important cultural properties, it has added up 3.2 billion yen in the 3rd supplementary budget. Moreover, 1.9 billion yen has been added up in a draft budget for the 2012 fiscal year.
2. ・The investigative commission, in which Miyagi Prefecture, the related cities and towns participate as members, and the Agency for Cultural Affairs participate as an advisor, examined the method of the preservation and management of Matsushima, as a Special Place of Scenic Beauty, in relation to the revival from the earthquake disaster and adjusted the final report on January 25, 2012. The Agency for Cultural Affairs is to take appropriate procedures for permission of each alternation to the existing state of designated area as Special Place of Scenic Beauty based on this report.

3．Restoration of the damaged cultural facilities

1. ・The Agency for Cultural Affairs supports for restoring the public cultural facilities hit by the Great East Japan Earthquake with the subsidy for restoring public social educational facilities from the disaster appropriated for the 1st and the 3rd supplementary budget in the 2011 fiscal year. (The 1st supplementary budget: the included number of 8.7 billion yen, The 3rd supplementary budget: the included number of 32.9 billion yen)
2. ・The Agency for Cultural Affairs is now investigating the enterprise for disaster restoration, and is checking the plan for restoration of public cultural facilities. (86 plans have been checked among 114 plans to be applied, and it has been determined that the subsidy will be delivered to 51.) 〈as of March 9, 2012〉

4．Promotion of activities enabling children to experience arts and culture

1. ・To produce the environment in which children can live healthy and secure lives and help the damaged areas undergo a smooth revival, the Agency for Cultural Affairs has implemented the program which provides the children at the schools and the shelters of the damaged areas with cultural and artistic activities as a support for the revival from the Great East Japan Earthquake.
2. ・The executive committee organized in the damaged local governments looked for the schools which hoped to invite artists, and started to dispatch artists in September, 2011. (In Iwate Prefecture, Miyagi Prefecture, Fukushima Prefecture, Tochigi Prefecture, and Sendai City, a total of 459 affairs are undertaken.) 〈as of February 29, 2012〉

5．Arts and culture consortium for reconstruction

1. ・The Agency for Cultural Affairs, artists, art organizations, companies, funding organizations, and so on are carrying out investigation and research, aiming at establishing a consortium in April, 2012, in order to cooperate over the frame of the field and develop the activity which supports the revival of the damaged area through arts and culture. As for this consortium, the Association of Public Theaters and Halls in Japan and Japan Council of Performers' Organizations will be bearing the joint secretariat.
2. ・In advance of starting a consortium, a press conference about it and a symposium are due to be held in the Tokyo National Museum on March 13, 2012.