2014年7月29日火曜日

A mantra for a Culture Ministry

 There is currently a debate about creating a Committee on Broadcasts and Transmissions, or “Japanese FCC.” The idea arose in the latter part of the 90s, and I resigned from the government in opposition. Afterwards, I have continued to voice my opposition as the debate continues to recur. This is because organizations like America’s FCC, France’s CSA, and the United Kingdom’s OFCOM, when viewed with a mind for the realities of Japan’s politics and political administration, pose the danger of encouraging an out of control bureaucracy. Establishing such an organization in Japan would likely move us toward strengthening regulation. 
 In addition, even as we are in surrounded by the detrimental practice of vertically divided administration of entities such as computers and intellectual property, the establishment of a Japanese FCC would give rise to even more vertically divided organizational structures. Rather, what we need to do now is create unity, and eliminate vertical division.
 Because of these reasons I am opposed to the creation of a Japanese FCC and instead propose the establishment of a new organization, a Culture Ministry. 
 That is to say, create a new Ministry which would bind together MIC’s Broadcast and Telecommunication departments, the Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry (METI)’s Devices, Software, and Content Administration, the Agency for Cultural Affairs’ Cultural Inheritance Administration, and the Cabinet Secretariat(CAS)’s Headquarters for Information Technology and Headquarters for Intellectual Property into one organization. In addition to this we must strengthen information-sharing and cooperation between other major government bodies and policies such as the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism(MLIT)’s Film Commission Administration, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ “soft power” policy.
 The common thread that runs through all of these organizations is “culture.” Japan will make its way in the 21st century on intellectual property and cultural capital. The new organization would shoulder the burden of raising the creative power and expressive abilities of the people, raising up new cultural industries, and laying in place the network that will form the foundation for all of it. “Culture Ministry” is a fitting moniker. 
 The Culture minister will be selected from among the public. The private citizen appointed as minister will be people who will consider the voices of those who have sought to maintain neutrality when it comes to the political issues surrounding broadcasting. It would be preferable if their names were known to the world, individuals such as Yoko Ono, Shigeru Miyamoto, and Haruki Murakami.
 It does not seem very likely that this organization will actually be created, but the results of promoting the idea can already be seen. MIC, Ministry of Education (MEXT), and Agency for Cultural Affairs have been coordinating with each other to create policy on the matter of electronic publications. Concerning the informationalization of Education, MIC and MEXT have been cooperating admirably to move forward research efforts. CAS, MIC, METI, and MLIT have been working together on the issue of Open Data. On the Intellectual Property Headquarters’ special investigative committee on content, representatives from nine government offices are competing to put forth policy proposals which have the same objectives in mind.
 The goals I wished to accomplish by advocating for a Culture Ministry are already on their way to being completed. Even so, talk of creating a Japanese FCC has risen, zombie-like, time and time again, working against these accomplishments. For that reason I find myself still a target of criticism today, find myself still repeating over and over to myself the mantra, “Let’s establish a Culture Ministry.” 

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