Special prizes are offered to encourage young artists and established practitioners, and some grants are given each year to enable them to train abroad.

In 1989, for the first time two women—a writer and a costume designer—were nominated for the Order of Cultural Merit, another official honor carrying the same stipend.

The Cultural Properties Protection Division originally was established to oversee restorations after World War II.

As of April 2018,[update] it was responsible for 1,805 historic sites, including the ancient capitals of Asuka, Heijokyo, and Fujiwara, 410 scenic places, and 1,027 national monuments, and for such indigenous fauna as ibis and storks.

Individual artists and groups, such as a dance troupe or a pottery village, are designated as mukei bunkazai (intangible cultural assets) in recognition of their skill.

About seventy persons are so honored at any one time; in 1989 the six newly designated masters were a kyogen (comic) performer, a chanter of bunraku (puppet) theater, a performer of the nagauta shamisen (a special kind of stringed instrument), the head potter making Nabeshima decorated porcelain ware, the top pictorial lacquer-ware artist, and a metal-work expert.