Yoshihide Suga, the chief cabinet secretary, announced on Monday the Japanese government’s plans to set up a council dedicated to setting up rules and regulations for something they apparently see as inevitable. The rise in popularity of flying cars.

Fuelled by science fiction films like Back to the Future, the idea of a future sky filled with flying cars has become a popular one, but are we inching ever closer to that fantasy becoming a reality?

The council, which will be set up before the end of the year, has been set the target of the Tokyo Olympic Games in 2020 to showcase the new technology to the world and hopefully have flying cars operational by 2023.

At a press conference, Yoshihide Suga said the new technology would not only ease congestion in heavily populated areas, but also be used for rescue efforts in natural disasters, travelling to islands off the Japanese coast, easily traversing mountainous areas, and for sightseeing promotions.

The new technology will surely result in chaos if not regulated properly, so the Japanese government seem to be trying to get a head start, probably hoping Japan can become a world leader when it comes to airborne vehicles.