The Media Workshop is a Journalists-Only project. Japan’s health policy has arrived at a major turning point, facing such challenges as the healthcare system for the later-stage elderly, a shortage of doctors, emergency medical care, and healthcare financing. These circumstances prompted Health Policy Institute Japan, a non-profit and non-partisan health policy think-tank, to organize a series of workshops to share with frontline journalists the latest information and required knowledge of health policies at home and abroad. The first workshop took place on June 2, 2008 at a hotel in Tokyo, joined by 66 journalists from dozens of companies including broadcast media, newspapers, and specialist publishers. The conference room was filled to capacity