自衛隊宣傳設施由收費參觀變免費

Recently the NHK News reported the following;
政府の事業仕分けを受けて、への入館を無料から有料にしたところ、入館者数が前の年の半数以下に減ったことが分かり、防衛省は、２月１日から入館料を無料に戻したうえ、今後の方針を検討することになりました。
おととし１１月に行われた政府の事業仕分けで、陸上自衛隊の朝霞駐屯地にある「陸上自衛隊広報センター」と長崎県佐世保市にある海上自衛隊の「佐世保史料館」、静岡県浜松市にある航空自衛隊の「浜松広報館」の３つの施設は入館料を徴収し、運営費などの予算を減らすよう求められました。これを受けて防衛省は、去年１１月から１月３１日までの３か月間、３つの施設で入館料として、１８歳以上の人からは４００円から５００円、小中学生と高校生からは２００円を試験的に徴収しました。その結果、この間の３つの施設の入館者数は、およそ６万２０００人と前の年の同じ時期よりも７万５０００人（５５％）減ったということです。防衛省は「有料化の影響についてデータが得られた」として、２月１日から３つの施設の入館料を再び無料に戻したうえ、最終的に有料にするか無料にするか検討することにしています。

Affected by government's decision on business specialization, entering Self Defense Force's public relations facilities was changed from free of charge to fees payable, it was understood that the number of visitors had decreased more than half when compared to the previous period, and the Ministry of Defense returned back to free of charge on February 1 and would review the policy in the future.

In November last year, because of the government decision on specialization, three facilities, the "Public Relation Center of the Ground Self-Defence Force" at the Sasaka station ground, the "Sasebo Historical Materials Museum" of the Maritime Self-Defence Force at the Nagasai Prefecture Sasebo city, and the "Hamamatsu Public Relation Center" of the Air Self-Defences Force at Shizuoki Prefecture Hamamatsu city started collecting admission fees, hoping that the management expense budget etc. could be reduced. This was approved by the Ministry of Defense, in the three months from November last year to January 31, people 18-year-old or over were collected 500 yen from 400 yen, and for school children and the high school students 200 yen were collected as admission fees experimentally. As a result, during that period the number of visitors of three facilities was 62,000 people, a decrease of 75,000 (55%) from the same previous period. The Ministry of Defense, because "Data on the influence of applying charges was obtained", decided that from February 1 admissions to the 3 institutions would return to free of charge again and would review whether to keep charge or not eventually.

In order to reduce expenses, Japanese government is seeking ways to limit its budget.