The fourth Industrial Revolution and Asia’s soft power, 1

■The fourth Industrial Revolution and Asia’s soft power, 1      

I took part in the Jeju Forum.

This is an international conference held on Jeju Island in South Korea, and this was the 12th edition of the conference.

Over 5,000 politicians, entrepreneurs, researchers, and journalists from 70 countries gather here.

It’s Korea’s version of the Davos Summit.

The theme was “a shared vision of Asia’s future”.

I took part on the session on “the fourth Industrial Revolution and Asia’s soft power”.

The discussion was led by Korea’s Goodwill Ambassador Park, and included researchers from India, Indonesia, and Korea.

I made the following remarks.

1)The Japanese government has realized the political value of soft power and particularly culture, and began adopting the Cool Japan strategy 10 years ago.

　The style of this strategy is that the government supports overseas expansion that is mainly driven by private actors. This is different from South Korea and France where the government takes the lead, or the U.S. where Hollywood spearheads the expansion.

2)Japan was defeated in war, abandoned militarism, and moved forward to become an industrial nation. However, as economic growth has stalled over the last 20 years, the popularity of our pop culture overseas has been increasing, and our cultural power has attracted attention.

　Japan’s former image was that of Toyota and Sony, but today it’s Pikachu, Dragon Ball, and Sailor Moon.

3) Although the domestic market is shrinking because of the falling birth rate, global adoption of IT has moved forward during these 20 years, and it has become easier to export our culture to the overseas market.

　Although Japanese businesses compete with other Asian businesses in the overseas market, I think it is possible for them to work together and expand the Asian market in the world.

4)Although our transmission of our culture overseas through IT is finally showing results, the setting is changing because of the fourth Industrial Revolution.

　The Japanese government recognizes that handling the fourth Industrial Revolution is the most important issue it has to deal with, and is putting effort into developing technology as well as promoting its use.

5)Japan’s strategy is to integrate new technology with pop culture.

　We will combine technology, such as AI and robots, with culture, such as anime and games, in order to create new value.

　We will move forward with our project to create a production and transmission base in Tokyo.

　I would like to use the 2020 Tokyo Olympics as a showcase for this new technology and pop culture.

6) The fourth Industrial Revolution is a crisis for the countries of Asia, but it is also a chance.

　Even as we compete with one another, it would be desirable to collaborate to create a strategy to increase each country’s soft power through new technology.