Fundamental policies against influenza in Japan have been severely cut back since the obligatory annual immunization program to all school children was withdrawn in 1994. After that, the number of vaccines was extremely reduced in Japan and the manufacturing facilities were also cut down accordingly. In 1997, the Ministry of Health recognized the impact of influenza pandemics as a matter of crisis management and decided to reconstruct comprehensive national influenza politics. National Influenza Pandemics Committee was organized to discuss influenza issues from many aspects. The document of the committee concluded that pandemic planning should be based on year-to-year measures against annual influenza epidemics. The committee made a blueprint of influenza planning and guidelines to carry out the measures. In 1999, the Law of Infectious Diseases Control and Prevention was amended drastically, in which influenza is underlined as a specifically important infectious disease that requires extensive national measures. Vaccinations to elderly persons are strongly recommended by the government, and the Preventive Immunization Law will be amended again to facilitate the new policy. Many plans have been put into practice gradually and the general attitude to influenza in Japan has been improved greatly.