As reported in the September 2009 issue, whether Japan should introduce a general concept of fair use was discussed at a sub-committee of the Agency of Cultural Affairs (Bunka-cho). In the autumn of 2009, the sub-committee had to cease official discussions because of a great divergence in opinions and it therefore constituted a working group to continue discussions. In January 2010, the working group submitted a report that recommended introducing the general concept of fair use. As a result, the sub-committee came to a general agreement to restart discussions to introduce the general concept of fair use for limited purposes. Parody use was clearly excluded from the discussion. On May 27 2010, the sub-committee published an interim report that recommended introducing the general concept of fair use. The report suggests the following uses of copyrighted works will be included in the general concept of fair use: