[1] In July 2014, Abe's then chief cabinet secretary Suga announced that they had established the preparatory office for the “local headquarters”.
The local headquarters was established to help increase the number of children, especially in rural areas, and to promote the development of self-governing bodies.
[5] Cities that offered "gifts" of local products received up to 60 million yen.
[6] The use of gifts has been criticized as distorting the results: for example, an effective donation of just 2,000 yen can net the donor 60 kg of rice, equivalent to one adult's annual consumption.
[8] Cities that have no specialty products or have no means to announce their activity received fewer contributions.