Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi issued certificates Friday to 72 newly approved special economic zones that will receive preferential deregulatory treatment as part of a structural reform drive.
Koizumi handed the certificates to representatives from the municipalities in question at his office, with a third round of applications having been accepted last month by the central government.
The decontrols and other benefits that will be enjoyed by these special zones took effect immediately.
Among the 72 municipalities is a special district in Fukuoka Prefecture designed to develop robots, where walking tests are allowed on public roads. Fukuoka Gov. Wataru Aso, accompanied by a robot, attended the ceremony at the invitation of Koizumi.
Also included in the initiative are five zones permitted to sell home-brewed sake to guests staying at local inns run by farmers without the formal government license required by Japanese brewers of alcoholic beverages.
Tono in Iwate Prefecture and Iida in Nagano Prefecture are two of the local governments that have created zones of this kind.
The government also OK'd creation of three zones -- Osaka, Tokyo's Chiyoda Ward and Mitsu in Okayama Prefecture -- in which stock companies can run schools, colleges or graduate schools.