It is now more than likely that the Japanese government will review the plans for the National Center for the Media Arts (provisional name). On 22 September, Kawabata Tatsuo, Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) in the new Cabinet indicated his intention to cancel construction of a new building for the center but also his desire to place importance on the training etc of people in the media arts industry.
The plan for the center was initiated by the previous administration under Aso Taro. MEXT, in its revised budget for 2009, had appropriated construction costs of 11,700 million yen to the project and planned to open the center in 2011. The current Prime Minister, Hatoyama Yukio, during his time in opposition, had in the Diet described the institution as ‘a gigantic state-run manga café ‘ (as the Center was also to be a repository and an exhibition venue for manga and animation) and objected to the construction costs involved.
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