Impressions of “TV is a Condition”

The chairman of the television union, Yutaka Shigenobu, published “Television is a Condition.” It’s a digital publication about the history and culture of television, and a theory of management.

 He showed recognition that the liberated “broadcast era” shifted to the “industrialized era” of the 80s, and accurately portrays how he fought against the “structured” era. It seems like quite a fight.

 The behind-the-scenes stories are interesting. Mr. Shigenobu invited the director of a movie about the Berlin Olympics, Leni Riefenstahl, to Tokyo. I was surprised to hear that Berlin Olympics gold-medalist marathoner Mr. Sohn Kee-chung arrived at the Haneda airport and left immediately after saying hello. I believe that a one-hour symposium could be held just on that story.

 The talk of wooing Jeanne Moreau in a 3-hr program on impressionism was also great. I want to see it. In 1981, Mr. Shigenobu was 40 years old. One is led to believe that great work should be accomplished while still young.

 There are stories of his time at the MIT Media Lab in 1985 when he interviewed Negroponte and Minsky. This was right after the lab was founded. I’d like to see that film.

 Mr. Shigenobu’s media and policy theories are interesting. He claims that “Digital” will represent the Renaissance-style revolution of the next generation. Personally I believe that rather than liken it to an industrial revolution, it should be seen as a cultural revolution.

 He also expressed frustration with Steve Jobs’ statement that, “We think basically you watch television to turn your brain off, and you work on your computer when you want to turn your brain on.” and he gropes for a solution to this problem.

 The Fin-Syn (financial interest and syndication rules) in the U.S., television production rules in Britain, financial restoration policies for TV makers in France, and all such rules that separate broadcast and production all point out the low level of secondary use in Japan. They show that we can expect the arrival of a new environment that overcomes this problem. I too am waiting for this.

  However, the things that we can expect to arise from 2nd generation tools will not come out of media theory, rather from the individuals who regain control of media. It is people and software that will reproduce TV.

 Mr. Shigenobu believes that in Japan’s digital age, with the required technology and industry, society will transform even without revolutions or battles. One can see a new future in this. I am anxious to see the shape of this new future.

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Impressions of a copyright law to beat Google and Apple

 “A Copyright Law to beat Google and Apple” was released by Tsuguhiko Kadokawa. It’s more of a media theory than a book.

He raises the question of how Japan can compete with the US in the global economy if she continues to prioritize excessive compliance. The author directly relates his feelings about the importance of legislation in the digital age.

 This includes his opinion on the system that separates broadcasting from communications.

However, Mr. Kadokawa took part in the pioneering policy that fused communications and broadcasting at the IP main office implemented in 2010. I believe that the reason the system didn’t work out well was that industry didn’t embrace it enthusiastically.

On the other hand, he points out that the need for unification of broadcast and communications was brought about by the “brute-force” approach of the government in implementing the nation-wide move to digital terrestrial broadcasting and that the government’s power is needed to promote innovation in Japan.

At the same time, the issues in which the government involves itself are a problem, and in the 21st century a reform of government will be essential. I agree on this point.

 Mr. Kadokawa presents a scenario in which a day comes when there are no more hardware TVs. The first possibility is that TV hardware remains, but the Japanese market is dominated by foreign companies, and the 2nd is that TV hardware just disappears altogether. Surprisingly, I believe the latter might take place.

Television companies have strong production capabilities and won’t fall easily. However, it isn’t clear that TVs will continue to be the first screen of choice among consumers. It’s possible that the change will be led by consumers.

Yes, it will be led by consumers. The subject of copyright law is spread to the general public from professional creators, like the pattern at the “Digital Picture Book Awards” where Mr. Kadokawa participated as a jury.

 In regards to TV and copyright, television stations won the rights of secondary distribution over the net in the Supreme Court.

However, their dilemma is that they aren’t able to carry this out.

Television companies protected their rights through the application of a strictly enforced copyright act. However, as a result of this the domestic cloud atrophied and the U.S. cloud platform took over. The won the battle and lost the war. I believe that if they don’t realize this, then it will be impossible to form a proper strategy.

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Opening a new round at the IP headquarters

 At the Intellectual Property Headquarter, a new round of talks has begun.

 The government has started to move as a whole. The Agency for Cultural Affairs has formed a working group to discuss cloud services. The IT office plans to reevaluate its direction on the use of big data. Each of these policies requires a large strategy.

 For example, for the copyright system we need a basic philosophy for handling all types of national intellectual property assets. Already, problems are arising between Google, the U.S., and Europe.

 Cloud services are also a fundamental problem. If the copyright protections are implemented perfectly but the service is difficult to use then we’ll have a situation in which businesses use American platforms instead. In other words, if problems are solved in a segmented manner then the entire project is likely to fail.

 It’s the same with big data. One has to compromise between the benefits of public use and the protection of personal information. It’s important to view everything as a whole when considering strategy.

 On the other hand, the expansion of Japanese content overseas is finally gaining momentum.

 The facilitation of legal distribution of broadcast programs and music over the net is finally taking place. At the same time, movie exports in 2012 fell 8% compared to the previous year. It is tricky to look at content on the whole.

 According to materials from the IP HQ, the content industry represents 11 trillion yen, and related industries represent 22 trillion yen (Net-related 13 trillion yen, advertising 2 trillion yen, hard media 5 trillion yen, character goods 2 trillion yen).

 Related industries double the scale. However, how does this affect the 64 trillion yen total export market? It’s is essential to not just develop content, but to expand other industries horizontally as well. It’s important to develop a strategy while looking at the big picture.

 This round of talks must include an evaluation of the government’s measures, while taking into account failures, and formulate new plans. At the same time, the debate on content policy must be cross-sector and cross-agency, without solely concentrating on content.

 Of course, before strategy, results in the real world must improve.

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Content and National Strategy

  I released a book called “Content and National Strategy” as a Kadogawa EPUB book selection. It’s a compilation of the arguments in the government’s IP division over content policy and soft power.

 The government made a cabinet decision regarding the policy regarding the direction and vision of Intellectual Property. This came 10 years after the headquarter of the Intellectual Property division was installed at cabinet secreariat. It summarizes the previous 10 years and sets the strategy for the next 10 years.

 As chairman of the committee to propose a direction, I suggested the following to cabinet minister Yamamoto.

 “I believe it would be best to unify the Content and IT policies to create a Ministry of Culture. In Korea the new government has unified control of IT policy and education technology under the ‘Future Creation Science Ministry.’ It shows clearly how the citizens are fed. Japan needs such an intentional plan.”

 The government doesn’t like plans that change its structure, so there’s sure to be resistance.

At the same time as I was debating the IP issues, I was also charged as chairman at a pop culture committee. In our proposal, we wrote that, “We should construct a system under which everyone ‘participates’ in the distribution of information. Not spearheaded by the government, but by everyone.”

To downplay the role of government in a committee formed by the government is probably something that they don’t appreciate. There will likely be resistance.

 However, if this isn’t stated clearly then the strategy will be flawed.

To this point, there have been many proposals made in many committees. However, there are still two problems. The first is the ability to take action. Plans are all well and good, but they must be implemented for the concrete benefit of industry and culture.

This is still weak. This is why we need strong leadership in the government. Government and stakeholders must unify and lead.

Another point is “preparedness.” There must be an understanding that content and IP will lift Japan up. We must resolve that the policy will stand for 100 years. The importance of this policy must be placed above other fields, and we’re not there yet.

 However, the situation isn’t all that bad. In recent years the most important change is that the government has come to realize the importance of the content policy and many players are enthusiastically coming to the table.

 At our meeting, we gathered representatives from eight ministries and agencies to form a plan. One aspect of the current struggle includes the conditions that were worked out up until this point.

 I expect this enthusiasm to continue.

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Expanding programming education

 Google CEO Eric Schmidt could be seen on the campus of the Hiro Gakuen middle and high school in Hiro, Tokyo. This was because Google partnered with our NPO “CANVAS” to create a program to support programming education called “Let’s get used to computers.”

 The goal was to teach programming to children between 6 and 15 years of age. We used the programming language “Scratch” on palm-sized inexpensive computers called Raspberry Pi. The goal is to use 5000 Raspberry Pi devices to give 25,000 students experience in programming.

 “Scratch” is a programming language that was developed while I was at the MIT Media Lab by Professor Mitchel Resnick with cooperation from the Ogawa Center (a children’s research group). With current president Ms. Nanako Ishido, since 2002 when CANVAS was founded we have presented programming workshops to 300,000 students. Now we have received the cooperation of Google, so things are really about to get off the ground.

 Chairman Ishido said, “In the age of information, children need the powers of creativity and communication.  Programming education is useful in this area. We are often asked if we want to produce programmers, but that is not the case. Through programming, we want to encourage children to think logically, to develop problem-solving skills, and to have the ability to create through cooperation. We want to create an environment not where knowledge is “taught” to them, but where they can experience and learn by themselves.”

 The objective is not to teach “to” program, rather to teach “through” programming to make something new.

 With programming one can make anime, games, and robots. One can make an idea take shape. Programming is a tool and a method of creation. It should be a basic skill along with reading, writing, and arithmetic.

 Steve Jobs once said, “I believe that every American should learn to program.” It’s a basic skill that everyone should have. Japan’s growth strategy finally includes the promotion of programming and IT skills in the general education curriculum.

 The time has finally come.

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Things that can be done with the Internet

 NPO “CANVAS” and Google opened a web site that gathers nice stories involving children and the internet. Young people from Japan, the U.S., England, Germany, China, Taiwan, Korea, Vietnam, Australia, United Arab Emirates, Israel, Thailand, Malaysia and Pakistan all took part.

　http://withnet.co/

　We wanted to concentrate on activities that promoted creativity and expressiveness. One result was the creation of this site. For more details please see the site, but I’d like to present some examples here.

　

Ayane Naoi (17)

 Naoi studied at Renaissance Academy high school via the internet. She didn’t physically attend school.

 With the exception of five days, all of her schooling was conducted over the internet. All students receive a smart phone or tablet. Naoi was challenged by simultaneously taking classes and living life as an entertainer.

 “Because I could study at any time and at any place, I could find time to do both my classwork and study as a comedian.”

“I think that it would be nice to have more places like this. Even at full-time schools, having the ability to do homework or personal study using the Internet would be helpful and should be introduced at more places.”

Yusuke Mamiya (11)

 Mamiya studies stop-frame animation over the internet. He studies the techniques used in stop-frame animations that have been uploaded to YouTube, learns the techniques through trial-and-error, and creates original works.

 His stop-frame animations receive rave reviews at exhibitions put on for students and teachers. Mamiya says that he is “Never happier than when his work is praised!” and he has gained much self-confidence.

Hiromu Yakura (16)

 Android security expert Yakura began to love the internet when he entered the PC room at junior high school when he was 13. Because of his expertise he is asked to speak at universities and technical institutes throughout Japan.

 “Instead of trying to do everything on your own, please request assistance using email, Facebook, Twitter and other such tools. Everyone is working together and there are people from around the world who are willing to lend a hand. Source code is an international language.”

　Powerful.

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Let’s tend to the computerization of education

  I gave the following presentation at a diet meeting on the computerization of education.

 Some say that the computerization of education will cost money. I say let’s spend it. According to the OECD (Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development), Japan is in the lowest rank when it comes to education spending as a percentage of GDP. We aren’t spending enough. If we spend 10,000 yen on totally 10,000,000 children then the cost will be 100 billion yen. That represents 1/100^th of the road budget. It’s a small price to pay for such an important future asset. It’s something that only the politics can decide.

 In the 21^st century, it is recognized by the OECD, the EU, and Japan’s Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology that the ability to operate digital technology is extremely important. It’s past the point of debate. It’s time to act. It’s time for the government to decide and to act.

 It is only Japan that continues to debate the merits and demerits of computerization. Korea is introducing digital textbooks to all elementary school students. They have decided to take a cloud approach in which any kind of terminal will do. Classes, homework, and guardian communication takes place over social media. There has been almost no movement in Japan. They are three steps ahead.

 There are large political and systemic hurdles to the implementation of digital textbooks in Japan. In Japan, elementary and middle school books are given out freely. However, legally speaking this only applies to paper books, so the problem is that digital textbooks are not covered.  The government’s IP plan proposes that measures be taken to fix this, but this is still in the early planning stage.

 We are now putting out energy into three points. 1) Selecting 100 of the best teachers and offering to support them. 2) Announcing 100 candidates for mayoral and gubernatorial elections. 3) Offering a service menu of 10,000 yen per person per year to municipalities.

 We are doing what we can do as citizens to promote this.

 We ask three things of political leaders: 1) Expanded budgets, 2) Develop legal systems, and 3) Recognize the importance of the computerization of education. Whether or not this succeeds is up to the politicians. I strongly hope that you proceed enthusiastically.

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