Regional Bureaus

Regional bureaus operate as METI "block" institutions, handling the concrete implementation of a wide range of measures from the promotion of recycling through to new industry creation.
While they are indispensable in terms of gathering information needed for accurate planning and drafting of METI policy, another important aspect of the regional bureaus is their role as "antennae" on regional frontlines.
The 21st century will call for the development of regional economies and industries based on the particular characteristics of their areas. Regional bureaus will contribute to this effort as repositories of regional know-how.

	Hokkaido Bureau of Economy, Trade and Industry Area of jurisdiction: Hokkaido
	Tohoku Bureau of Economy, Trade and Industry Area of jurisdiction: Aomori, Iwate, Miyagi, Akita, Yamagata, Fukushima
	Kanto Bureau of Economy, Trade and Industry Area of jurisdiction: Tokyo, Ibaraki, Gunma, Tochigi, Saitama, Chiba, Kanagawa, Yamanashi, Niigata, Nagano, Shizuoka
	Chubu Bureau of Economy, Trade and Industry Area of jurisdiction: Aichi, Gifu, Mie, Toyama, Ishikawa
	Kansai Bureau of Economy, Trade and Industry Area of jurisdiction: Fukui, Shiga, Kyoto, Osaka, Hyogo, Nara, Wakayama
	Chugoku Bureau of Economy, Trade and Industry Area of jurisdiction: Tottori, Shimane, Okayama, Hiroshima, Yamaguchi
	Shikoku Bureau of Economy, Trade and Industry Area of jurisdiction: Tokushima, Kagawa, Ehime, Kochi
	Kyushu Bureau of Economy, Trade and Industry Area of jurisdiction: Fukuoka, Saga, Nagasaki, Kumamoto, Oita, Miyazaki, Kagoshima

In April 2005, the Industrial Safety and Inspection Department was established within the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency to centralize and single-handedly assume responsibility for industrial safety operations (ensuring safety relating to mines, explosives, high pressure gas and petroleum complexes, electricity, city gas and liquefied petroleum gas), which was previously shared between regional economic and industrial bureaus and the Mine Safety and Inspection Department. Through this organizational change, all responsibilities relating to industrial safety were consolidated under the director-general of the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency, clarifying the chain of command. As operations relating to mine safety and those relating to other industrial safety have much in common in respect of the special skills required, we will build a more streamlined, efficient system for conducting safety operations by utilizing expert personnel at the Industrial Safety and Inspection Department.