Part 2 Administrative Policies on Youths
Chapter 1 Comprehensive and Systematic Promotion of Youth Administration
Youth administration promoted by the government covers a wide area, and many administrative agencies are involved. The Cabinet Office has been working on the comprehensive promotion of youth administration through the planning, proposal and overall coordination of issues to facilitate the sound development of young people, and the communication and coordination of measures and tasks by relevant ministries and agencies and also by formulating the "National Youth Development Policy." Furthermore, it has been working on encouraging nation-wide efforts through various publicity and educational activities and national campaigns for youth development.
Section 1
(Promotion of Comprehensive Policies)
(1) In response to the suggestions made in the report by the Juvenile Problem Council announced on July 1999, that "a basic plan for national youth policies (Youth Plan (tentative name)) should be developed," the "Expert Meeting on Youth Development" started discussions under the supervision of Chief Cabinet Secretary in April 2002 and prepared a report in April 2003. Efforts will be continued to develop the National Youth Developmennt Policy , which had been tentatively called "Youth Plan," based on the report prepared by the Meeting
(2) In order to comprehensively and effectively promote youth policies in close association with relevant ministries and departments, the "Committee for the Promotion of Youth Development," which consists of the Directors-General of such ministries and departments, and its subsidiary liaison committees of division managers have been working on ensuring consistency among the measures for youth development. The Committee for the Promotion of Youth Development agreed on the "Outline of the Promotion of Youth Development," which contained basic policies in national youth administration. The Committee also arranged policies for measures focusing on particular issues of the time; in consideration of the rapid increase in the number of children who were victimized by child prostitution through online dating sites, the Committee agreed on "Measures to be immediately taken to protect children from being victimized by child prostitution through 'online dating sites'" in October 2002.
(3) In light of the importance of youth development and in order for the government as a whole to strongly promote the measures for youth development, the Headquarters for Youth Development will be established in June 2003 under the Cabinet Decision. The Headquarters will consist of all cabinet ministers, with the Prime Minister serving as the Chief of the Headquarters. (Figure 16)
Figure 16 Strengthening of the Governmental Regime for the Promotion of Measures for Youth Development
(Research and Studies on Youths)
(4) To further understand the actual situations, social attitudes, and problems of youths, the Cabinet Office selects certain themes every year and works on "special research and studies" including full-scale national surveys, international comparison, and "research and studies on specific issues" that could be beneficial to the prevention of juvenile delinquency.
(National Campaign for Youth Development)
(5) The Cabinet Office has been providing continuous support to national campaigns for youth development (e.g., the "Change Adults, Change Child" program). This was started as a response to the government proposal of concerted efforts by the public in November 1965. In addition, it has been working to further enhance and establish the campaigns by increasing public understanding of the sound development of youth and the prevention of juvenile delinquency through the concentrated implementation of relevant events in the "National Juvenile Delinquency Prevention Month (every July)" and "Special Sound Development of Youths Month (every November)".