The Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) has conducted the first and second terms of the National BioResource Project (NBRP) from FY 2002 to FY 2011 to comprehensively promote life sciences. In the project, the systems of collection, preservation, and provision were established for bioresources, such as experimental animals, plants, and microbes (systems, groups, tissues, cells, and genetic materials of animals, plants, and microbes and their information as research and development materials) that are important for the nation to organize strategically.