In the 2010s, which coincided with the period of the second Abe administration, Japan’s inscription on the list of intangible cultural heritages underwent a major change in direction after the 2013 inscription of “Washoku, traditional dietary cultures of the Japanese, notably for the celebration of New Year”. This paper examines the significance of this shift and its background from the perspective of the discourse of the Cultural Council of the Agency for Cultural Affairs. The members of the Council did not only select targets for inscription on the list, but also attended UNESCO meeting and participated in negotiations on the implementation of the Convention, then providing feedback to the Council. It is the contention of this paper that the Council’s role was, at its core, to give theoretical support to the new intangible cultural heritage policy in the face of unexpected difficulties in the original one.