Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, in his public policy speech, emphasized the need to expand the social integration of Web 3.0, including services involving the metaverse and NFTs.
Japan’s Prime Minister said the country would prioritize investments in digital technology, including non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and the metaverse, during an annual address to the country’s legislature.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida discussed the current state of affairs in Japan, from its response to the pandemic to how it would deal with rising inflation and interest rates, in a speech outlining public policy at the 210th session of the National Diet of Japan on October 3.
Japan Will Prioritize Web 3.0 Development
One priority, the Prime Minister emphasized, would be to focus on supporting the social implementation of digital technology. He added that this would involve promoting the expanded use of Web 3.0 services using the metaverse and NFTs.
Highlighting these efforts, Kishida referred to “Summer Digiden Koshien 2022,” a competition held last month in which participants competed to solve local challenges using digital technology.
“A lot of people participated and it was a tournament where you could feel the growing expectations of regional revitalization through digital utilization,” said Kishida.
Ultimately, the idea is to compete with each other, in an effort to make the “National Digital Garden City Concept” a reality.
It should be remembered that during this award ceremony, attended by Prime Minister Kishida, five organizations were selected along with their respective proposals for the application of new digital technologies. The Japanese Prime Minister assured that the government would extend these initiatives throughout the country to promote its digital transformation.
New Administration Boosts Crypto Efforts
Upon taking office in 2021, Kishida made Web3 development one of the pillars of the country’s economic revitalization. In April, the Kishida Liberal Democratic Party released an NFT White Paper, outlining the country’s strategy for Web 3.0.
In addition to including policy recommendations that promote a national strategy for Web 3.0, the white paper also recognizes the importance of using the country’s distinctive intellectual property, such as animation and video games, to spearhead its Web3 efforts.
Subsequently, the Kishida administration established a “Web 3.0 Policy Promotion Office”, in collaboration with the Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry (METI), to integrate Web 3.0-related departments within the ministry. This Office, according to the METI website, “is responsible for the business environment such as funding, taxation, business entities (vehicles), content, sports, fashion, art, etc.”
One of the key objectives that the Japanese ministry pointed out in relation to the policy office dedicated to Web3, is to create workspaces that respond to technological changes and that stop the exodus of professionals and entrepreneurs who want to explore the opportunities of the new generation of the Internet, the Web3.
The administration’s recent efforts to advance its crypto-related goals even convinced Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, to try again to enter the market in the country, after failing to do so four years ago.
By Audy Castaneda
