International Debate：What does the Net produce? (Part 1)

 The Stanford Trans-Asian Dialogue was held in Kyoto. Professor Masahiko Aoki and Stanford researchers were joined by attendees from China, India, Singapore, and Malaysia to discuss digital media and the influence that it will have on the global society. I was at the table as well. Both at the round-table and in the public symposium I was bathed in questions.

Q. How has IT policy changed recently?

A. When I oversaw the deregulation of communications over 30 years ago, IT policy was focused on those who “offered” services and revolved around market competition and airwave distribution. It was domestic policy with makers and telecommunications/broadcasters as the administrative objects.

 However, with the digital infrastructure in place, policy has now shifted to the “use” of digital communications and broadcasting. Security, privacy, online sales, copyright law, education, health, and administration must all be dealt with, and the problems are borderless.

　There is a fundamental shift.

Q. How is the anxiety about the personal number system in Japan?

A. Japan will finally introduce a personal number system in 2016.

The Social Security Number is already in place in the U.S., and in Northern Europe even personal income is a matter of public record. In Germany the system is strictly controlled by the government. There are many models.

 Japan’s system will be similar to that of Germany’s in the beginning, but it’s not clear what it will become over time. There isn’t an international norm. As for where the line will be drawn, this should be led by the users, not by the government.

Q. Whose side is the net on?

A. It’s on the side of statesmen and on the side of terrorists. Like a knife, it can be both useful and used as a weapon. After Gutenberg’s invention of the printing press it took three centuries for the citizen revolution and industrial revolution to play out, and he’d never imagined the future that his invention would bring.

It would be best for us to try to imagine the future. However, it won’t take three centuries  in the case of IT. Maybe one generation, 30 years, will be enough for things to settle into place. The Net was introduced 20 years ago, so we’ll see where things are in another 10 years.

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Smart TVs and 4K/8K

 The “Multiscreen Broadcasting Study Group” was organized by television companies in Osaka to conduct operational tests of smart televisions. I was employed as a consultant. The idea was to utilize the technique currently used for terrestrial digital broadcasting, IP (Internet Protocol), to control multiple screens (TVs, tablets, and smartphones).

 They were to develop Japanese-style smart televisions that were born of a fusion of Japanese-style broadcasting and telecommunications.

 At the Broadcasting and Communication Fusion Exhibition “IMC”, an appli was presented that allowed for the control of a TV and a smartphone using IPDC (IP Data Cast) technology. It allowed for things like downloading and watching a show on a smartphone, or for the TV show to send commercials to the smartphone, where one could click on links to games or coupon sites.

 The real image of the smart television was starting to come into focus. At the same time, on the exhibition floor, 4K displays were attracting attention. The Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications has been putting their energy into 4K/8K ultra-high-definition displays, and expectations are high, but the development of both 4K and 8K is happening simultaneously, which is causing some confusion.

  In the new media boom of the 80s, high definition TV and increasing channels by CATV and satellites were the themes. In the multi-media boom of the 90s, it was the digitization by PCs, Mobile phones, and the the internet and terrestrial lines.

 The next stage will be multi-screen, cloud networks, and social media. Digital signage and smart TVs are also a part of this movement. In particular, digital signage, and smart televisions are overlapping in Japan. We can finally see the next stage.

 However, we also have the release of 4K/8K. Japan is leading the world in this area. Multiscreen is just taking off, but the next stage has already begun.

 Executive Director Minami of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications said, “The policies for 4K/8K and smart TVs should not be separate. They should be unified.” They should keep their eye on both sides by creating a business model for smart TVs while pioneering the market for 4K/8K. It will be difficult to steer, but unlike network communications, broadcasting is more easily influenced by government policy. Please take care of it.

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Tokyo Crazy Kawaii Paris

 The Tokyo Crazy Kawaii Paris includes manga, anime, games, music, fashion, and sundry goods. It’s an event for the creation of business platforms. It’s held for three days in the forest of Vincennes, Paris. I was employed as the executive committee chairman.

 There were two main points: “Total power” and “Participation.”

 First: total power. In addition to the virtual content of manga, anime, and games; the “physical” businesses of fashion, food, and sundry items were added to present the culture of Japan in a unified manner. Every year in July there is a “Japan Expo” that is run by the French and features manga, anime, and games. The “Tokyo Crazy Kawaii Paris” event presents Japan in a more holistic manner and Japan is entirely responsible for the planning and management of the event.

 It is also a participatory event. Over 70 businesses from a variety of genres, artists including Shonen Knife, and fans of Japan all participate in the event. The “Japan Expo” tends to draw “otaku” (geeks), but our event also draws in teens in Lolita fashions, normal families with children, and general consumers.

 On the exhibition floor, my eyes stopped on the Lolita fashion, the grilled octopus, and the purikura (picture booths).

 I was surprised by the number of people in Lolita dress. It was more “Lolita” than costume play. It’s a fashion that originated in Europe, but now Japan is the center of the movement. Japanese teens took the trend, rearranged it, and formed a new culture. Now this culture has been exported back to its point of origin. The same goes for manga, anima, and games. These use techniques and manners of expression that originated in the West, but Japan developed them and now exports them overseas.

 Even more than ramen, tonkatsu, udon, sushi, and soba; the line for grilled octopus (TAKOYAKI) was the longest of all. Everyone knows about the popularity of sushi and tempura, but grilled octopus? I suspect that there are still more genres of Japanese culture that will be a hit overseas.

 There was also a long line for the purikura (picture booths). I saw many people dressed as Miku Hatsune (a humanoid persona with a synthesized singing voice) as well. These paint a good picture of Japanese culture. They represent a combination of cultural power and technical power. The wish to create a decorated picture combined with the technical skill to do so. A cute animated character combined with the technology to breathe life into her. They are both the popular result of expression and technology.

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