Revisions Enacted to the Broadcast Act with Approval of Simultaneous Transmission by NHK - Part 2

 ■Revisions Enacted to the Broadcast Act with Approval of Simultaneous Transmission by NHK - Part 2

To summarize the issues for broadcasting succinctly, it is the lack of growth.

Communication has developed significantly through the internet and smartphones over the 27 years since the fusion theory was put forth.

The internet is also catching up to TV in terms of scope of advertising.

TV is doing well to endure while stagnating.

However, there is a significant discrepancy in terms of strength.

The total aggregate market value of the flagship TV stations in Tokyo is just short of 1.4 trillion yen.

NTT’s operating profit for last fiscal year was just short of 1.7 trillion yen.

All stations could be bought out with the profit from 1 year.

Growth strategies cannot be drawn up with broadcasting alone with such a discrepancy in investment capabilities.

The strategies of the broadcasting and video industry in Japan, including NHK and commercial broadcasting, are in question.

The next wave came long ago.

Around 2010, Google and Apple deployed a strategy called smart TV to turn TV into an online device.

Since then, Netflix, Amazon, and other companies have fleshed out video transmission, and the next wave is crashing in from the United States.

We are in a situation where we must figure out what to do.

There are countries that serve as reference.

An example would be the United Kingdom.

Their industry makeup is similar, as they have the BBC and commercial broadcasting.

They are also being attacked by the United States through Netflix, as they are also an English-speaking country.

In order to resist this attack, the BBC and commercial broadcasting are creating a common platform.

Personnel involved all state that this is a countermeasure against the United States.

In the United Kingdom, hardware and software are separated, and the BBC outsources transmission through radio waves and cables.

Red Bee, the hardware operation company, has introduced a system to manage the content of all broadcast stations on an IP basis, or in other words using software on a cloud environment for transmission.

Content is sent to the cloud and sent to TVs, smartphones, computers, and various devices through radio waves, cables, and various networks.

This is likely the future state of the fusion of communication and broadcasting.

There is also a rumor circulating that the BBC will give up radio waves in 10 years.

There is also the issue of data.

Internet advertising is also nearing TV advertising in Japan, and targeted advertising accounts for 1 trillion yen, which comprises 80% of internet advertising.

The access histories and spending habits of users are analyzed. Advertising became a data-driven business.

Instead of differences in the transmission path, whether it is communication or broadcasting, what is perhaps more decisive these days is whether or not viewer data is used.

However, data is not being used in broadcasting.

In the United Kingdom, an NPO has made it possible for broadcast stations to use data by creating a community of broadcast stations and device manufacturers.

It is said that this is also a plan to counteract the United States.

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Revisions Enacted to the Broadcast Act with Approval of Simultaneous Transmission by NHK - Part 1

 ■Revisions Enacted to the Broadcast Act with Approval of Simultaneous Transmission by NHK - Part 1

Revisions were enacted to the Broadcast Act, clearing the path for NHK to simultaneously transmit their regular programming on the internet.

I was invited to the House of Representatives’ Committee on Internal Affairs and Communications to present my opinion as a witness.

This revision is help up by 3 pillars, but the simultaneous transmission by NHK is attracting attention in particular.

I presented my opinion from a standpoint of agreement, or rather that it should have been enacted even sooner.

Simultaneous transmission on the internet promotes the fusion of communication and broadcasting.

However, the term “fusion of communication and broadcasting” was first introduced in 1992 in a report by the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications Council on Telecommunication, and this discussion has existed since 27 years ago.

The IT companies Livedoor and Rakuten purchased broadcast stations in 2005, but no special changes took place until now.

Meanwhile, on the global stage, IT companies fired shots in January 2006 by declaring that they would transmit videos, with a focus on content and broadcast stations from Hollywood, to the global market at an event called CES in Las Vegas in the United States.

Broadcast stations in the United States cooperated with IT companies and began transmitting content one after another.

In Europe, public enterprises like the BBC and Orange S.A. (France Telecom at the time) took a leading role in enhancing transmission.

Since NHK On Demand began in late 2008, Japan lagged behind by 3 years.

The BBC also began simultaneous transmission that year.

Even with NHK’s efforts, there was a delay of 12 years.

A big part of this is that there were no incentives to change because the TV business in Japan, including commercial broadcasting, had been steady.

However, preparations continued to put a system in place.

In the past, there were roughly 10 vertically and horizontally tangled regulatory laws in the field of communication and broadcasting. These laws were consolidated to 4 by loosening the vertical divisions in communication and broadcasting, and the system was revised to make it easier to provide services that run across communication and broadcasting, such as by preparing licenses for radio waves that can be used for both communication and broadcasting.

After 5 years of adjustments, this change was enacted in 2011, and Japan prepared a legal system that was a step ahead of the world.

However, few broadcast stations would go on to utilize this system for business, and NHK’s actions were restricted.

At this time, broadcast stations in Japan were busy preparing for terrestrial digital broadcasting. Terrestrial digital broadcasting succeeded in switching from SD to HD to provide cleaner high-resolution pictures but has failed to use computers for convenience, which is the more important feature of digitalization.

The convenient, fun features have been taken by the internet and smartphones.

In terms of the radio, radiko provides simultaneous transmission, but the introduction of ICT for TV, including NHK, is just getting serious, although on demand transmission for commercial broadcasting is being advanced by TVer and other services.

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Content Promotion Measures with the Liberal Democratic Party - Part 2

 ■Content Promotion Measures with the Liberal Democratic Party - Part 2

What is important is that the stage after the internet and smartphones has also arrived for content.

Distribution has transitioned to 5G and the cloud, and there are varied environments in terms of devices and usage, such as IoT and VR.

It is expected for AI- and data-driven advertising and sales strategies to become mainstream in the content business and for management through blockchain to grow.

Online advertising has already grown to a scale that exceeds TV advertising, and 80% of online advertisements are targeted.

In other words, this is a world that is managed by AI using user data. We have already entered the world of AI and data.

Measures to prepare environments for 5G and public viewing and run demonstration experiments for AI and blockchain will also be needed.

I have also been involved in antipiracy measures, and it is essential to find a balance between intellectual property strategies (copyrights) and IT strategies (secrecy of communication) for pirated versions, as each are rights that are guaranteed by the Law of Japan.

This is also an issue that spans multiple government agencies. At the same time, the number of policies regarding intellectual property, content, IT, and technology is expected to increase.

The Federation of Economic Organizations has proposed Ministry of Information Economy Society in order to advance the digital transformation, and I believe that we are approaching the time to reassess the state of institutional frameworks.

I would like to introduce a project called CiP as an example of an ongoing private project.

The idea is to create a base to accumulate content in Takeshiba, Minato, Tokyo.

This town is scheduled to open ahead of the Tokyo Olympics in summer 2020 after redeveloping land owned by the Tokyo Metropolis.

50 companies, organizations, and universities involved in content, broadcasting, communications, and IT will gather here.

There are plans for deregulation regarding matters such as radio waves and robots through designation as a national strategic special zone.

Keio University, Stanford University, and other institutions will be present to advance the connection between industry and academia and nurture human resources.

Although the town will open next year, it has already started working on content and technology projects.

CiP may be the precedent, but there are similar ideas in Haneda, Osaka, and other regions, and the intention is to establish hubs that advance regional connections.

In South Korea, there is a base to accumulate content in Seoul that is prepared and operated through government funding, but this is being advanced privately in Japan.

We would like to take advantage of the opportunities presented by the Olympics, Paralympics, and World Expo.

This concludes my report.

I received questions from the Diet members about esports, pilgrimage tours, piracy, CiP, iU, archives, and platform policies.

They reported that they will put together content strategies as a party.

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Content Promotion Measures with the Liberal Democratic Party - Part 1

 ■Content Promotion Measures with the Liberal Democratic Party - Part 1

I was invited by the Liberal Democratic Party Intellectual Property Investigation Committee to speak on the theme of “The Current State and Tasks for Content Promotion.”

Content policies, which began in the 1990s, saw an upsurge in the 2000s. In the past, they were focused on domestic matters and promoting industry, but they are now transitioning to an emphasis on global and online development based on the declining birth rate in Japan and the global advancement of IT. However, the domestic content market has been stagnant despite our hopes.

The Cool Japan Fund was established in 2013 for global development, demonstrating an enhancement of policy tools in terms of funding along with the J-LOP subsidy. There used to be no interest in expanding overseas in the content market, excluding games and anime, since the domestic market had been sufficient, but a lot of change has been seen during this administration.

The overseas market expanded by 26% in 5 years. It is expected to surpass 2 trillion yen by 2020.

In terms of video content, 500 businesses newly engaged in overseas expansion in 5 years, and overseas sales by companies supported by the government have increased by nearly 200 billion yen.

Looking at the 5 years starting around 2011, anime has grown by a factor of 2.9 times, and games have grown by a factor of 3.6 times.

Movies have grown by a factor of 2.8 times, although their scale is not large. TV and broadcasting have grown by a factor of 4.4 times. Overseas sales have increased.

This is a significant change, and it can be said that the policies have had an impact.

However, there is still room for growth, as Japanese content sales only account for 2.5% of the global market.

Moreover, since many foreign visitors come to Japan with hopes of experiencing pop culture, it is also important to enhance in-bound support (for example, offering multilingual support and increasing the number of pilgrimage tours) in addition to out-bound efforts.

It cannot be said that online development, which is the other pillar, has been a success.

Japan as a whole lost to the United States in IT support. The same holds true for content.

Although network transmission has increased from 9.5% in 2008 to 26.0%, there are wide discrepancies across genres, as the rates are 40% for manga, 15% for anime, 8% for music, and 4% for videos.

Businesses running pirated versions and online giants from overseas are becoming a threat in manga, anime, games, and music. Pirated versions are still a headache for manga.

Although anime had been a TV-oriented business, Netflix and Amazon are attempting to dominate the global video market.

Games had also been a TV-oriented business in Japan, but games have transitioned to an online business in the rest of the world. It has been decided that 5G radio waves would also be transmitted in Japan, but there is a possibility of a structural change, as Google is working on the transition to the cloud on 5G.

Japan is like the Galapagos Islands in terms of music, as CDs make up 70% of revenue, while the structure is completely different in the rest of the world, where subscription services already make up near 50% of revenue.

Although Netflix provides opportunities, such as the provision of funds for content creation and expansion of overseas channels, they take over the business foundation and could take all user data.

In response to this, there are individual measures across the genres.

For manga, there are antipiracy measures.

For anime, there are strategies that combine TV and the internet.

For games, there are measures to expand new industries, such as esports.

For music, there is the facilitation of copyright processing for online transmission.

At the same time, there is also a need to carry out measures that cut across genres, such as when demonstrating bargaining power with Apple or Google for all content, and expand business while working with other fields, such as fashion and food.

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Establishment of the Act to Promote the Computerization of Education

 ■Establishment of the Act to Promote the Computerization of Education

　The Diet established the “Act to Promote the Computerization of School Education.”

1 year prior to this, systemization of “digital textbooks” was achieved through the revisions to the School Education Act and other laws presented by the government.

　This law is the other engine to significantly advance the computerization of school education through comprehensive measures for municipalities to formulate and execute plans for promotion.

　However, digital textbooks and programming are not possible without computers and the internet. We want to enter EdTech as soon as possible but we are still far away. Although the government has established an annual budget of 180 billion yen, municipalities are using this budget for other purposes through the local subsidy tax measure. The engine to divert these funds to the field of education had been weak.

　This law was drafted by the nonpartisan “Parliamentary Association Aiming to Promote ICT Usage for Education.” It began in February 2015, and 83 members, including former ministers from all parties. Nongovernment advisors like myself also participated in the process to submit a bill that we drafted to the Diet, resulting in the establishment of this law.

Originally, the Digital Textbook and Teaching Association (DiTT, currently the Learning of Tomorrow Association) suggested the “establishment of the Act to Promote the Computerization of Education” in 2015, and a policy to assign a caucus of the Diet to establish this law was put in place in 2016.

　There were troublesome issues also. At the beginning, members of the caucus of the Diet, including myself, were blacklisted by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science, and Technology, perhaps because our political activity was frowned upon, and members of the industry hesitated to cooperate.  Given that government officials change every 1-2 years while we had not changed for 20 years, and that we are used to bans, we ignored this and carried on.

　When I was asked for my opinion during the caucus of the Diet, I pointed out that the rest of the world was 2 laps ahead of us in terms of advancing education in the age of AI. Therefore, I established the nongovernment Learning of Tomorrow Association and advocate for a system of cooperation between industry and academia. I stated that preparing infrastructure, such as for bring your own device (BYOD) and the cloud, and developing the latest technologies, such as AI and blockchain, are both important.

　The Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science, and Technology became more forward-thinking, given that the departments and managers had also changed, and began to promote usage of the cloud. A path was also cleared for BYOD, in which students bring their own device to study. They are also showing a proactive stance toward the use of data and AI in education. This can be considered a policy shift that has never been seen before.

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Report from the Riken Center for Advanced Intelligence Project (AIP) - Part 2

 ■Report from the Riken Center for Advanced Intelligence Project (AIP) - Part 2

The AIP center has a three-layer structure involving the Generic Technology Research Group, the Goal-Oriented Technology Research Group, and the Artificial Intelligence in Society Research Group.

Basic research to build a general foundation involves personal battles, as researchers who are strong in mathematics explore principles in a straightforward manner. We must exert ourselves in this field as a nation.

Goal-oriented applied research is a highly competitive field around the world that is driven by massive capital. The key is for research institutes to be open to cooperation instead of being closed off. Regarding this point, a hub has been formed through the creation of a center to connect with NEC, Toshiba, Fujitsu, and Fujifilm.

What is also significant is that efforts toward social issues are being insourced. The aim is to integrate arts and sciences to build AI society while also researching ethics, privacy, and systems. Given that AI provides the world with anxiety as well as hope, it is important for key personnel involved in research and development to have conversations with the public.

AI and robots will take jobs. Restlessness spread across Japan based on the results of research by the University of Oxford and other institutions. While there is no country safer than Japan, there is also no country with more anxiety than Japan.

Cashless settlements cannot be advanced due to anxiety. The process of introducing IT to elementary schools also stalls. The sharing economy does not spread either. This is a problem involving the atmosphere. I want to change the atmosphere.

If AI takes over 90% of jobs without reducing productivity, we only need to do 10% of the work to live if we can distribute funds properly through a basic income or other measures. There is no better news than this. I believe that a “super bored society” will come and I want it to come soon.

This society will seek a “playing style” revolution rather than a “working style” revolution. This society will involve super entertainment, super sports, the learning of tomorrow, and super romance. Creative ways to pass the time will become important. I believe it will likely become a society that is busier than it is now.

More than being a major nation in the development of AI, Japan should aim to be a major nation in its usage. This is similar to how female high school students turned emojis and photo sharing into a culture using IT and mobile technologies. Another example is how Japan created the video game industry using technologies produced in the United States. The idea is to implement new technologies ahead of the curve in fields like pop culture that Japan thrives in and fields like welfare and disaster prevention that Japan faces as a troubled advanced nation.

I would like the Japanese government to funnel policy-based funds toward research by Riken and other institutions. More than that, I would like it to provide guidance for the proactive usage of AI. We must first use it ourselves. AI can write all replies to Diet deliberations. AI can read it also.

Japan will be the center of global attention during the Tokyo Olympics. This is a great opportunity to show off the development and introduction of AI. As a personal endeavor, I am also working on a project to establish a special district in the Tokyo Bay area for the introduction of all technologies including AI, robotics, 5G, and 8K. The World Expo will be held in Osaka in 2025. I would like AIP to take advantage of these opportunities to make progress in open activities.

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Report from the Riken Center for Advanced Intelligence Project (AIP) - Part 1

 ■Report from the Riken Center for Advanced Intelligence Project (AIP) - Part 1

AIP, which is Riken’s AI research center, held a symposium. I serve as the coordinator of this center and provided a greeting.

I used to be a government official. When I was starting my career in the mid ’80s, I took charge of a project to develop an automatic translation phone using the shares from the privatization of the Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Public Corporation. As a result, Advanced Telecommunications Research Institute International was established in the Kansai region. I then went to MIT and developed a project with Marvin Minsky and others. Being the coordinator at AIP is my third involvement with AI.

AI is becoming the hottest issue in the world. Not a day goes by without AI being mentioned in the news. Seeing an elderly lady praise AI while trying a massage chair while I was at a household electronics store the other day, I felt that it was amazing that we have reached the point where people refer to AI instead of artificial intelligence from the development to implementation stages.

The term Industry 4.0 was coined in Germany to point to AI, IoT, and the data-driven society that serves as the foundation. It is positioned as the fourth industry, following light industry, heavy industry, and the information industry. In contrast, the Japanese government proposed Society 5.0. This is the 5th society or rather 5th civilization following hunting, agriculture, industry, and information. Which term do all of you prefer?

I believe that the event of AI, which is a creation of humankind, surpassing the abilities of humankind and creations of humankind communicating with each other will be so significant as to divide the history of humankind before and after it and is not part of the Industrial Revolution, which took place for only 2-3 centuries after it began in the 18th century. At the very least, I believe it should be portrayed in the context of the theory of civilization, as the Japanese term suggests.

Every country is certainly aware of this. For this reason, the United States, China, and the EU repeatedly lock swords over data. Although GAFA has obtained power than surpasses an ordinary nation, its CEOs are being criticized for their outflow of personal information.

The EU implemented GDPR, while France and the United Kingdom have introduced digital taxes. The United States and China are sharply at odds over companies that handle 5G equipment. These are all examples of the struggle for hegemony in a data-driven society.

Land is the resource for an agricultural society. Oil is the resource for an industrial society. Information is the resource for an information society. Data is the resource for an AI/IoT society. Nations have repeatedly fought wars over land and oil. There have also been struggles between nations over hegemony in the field of information media. The battle over data is becoming serious.

The Japanese government has set up the “Council to Evaluate Principles of Human-Centric AI Society” in the Cabinet Office and prepares to lead international discussions among the G7 and OECD. The Intellectual Property Strategy Headquarters, which I serve as the chairperson of, has also advocated for intellectual property strategies involving AI ahead of the rest of the world. However, the development and introduction of AI, which is the core, is more important than discussions. There is a need to funnel efforts toward this. I understand that Riken plays an important role in this aspect.

This situation in which the United States, China, and the EU fight each other presents an opportunity. Even putting AI and data to the side, no end is in sight for the trade war between the United States and China. In the EU, domestic politics are turbulent in the United Kingdom, Germany, France, and Italy. Japan is in a position to find harmony regarding AI, which is the next common theme for humankind.

Japan is a troubled advanced nation due to aging society and natural disasters. How can AI be used to face these issues head-on? How can AI contribute to the SDGs? Is this not an opportunity for Japan to present its solutions to the world?

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The Learning of Tomorrow Business by Yoshimoto and NTT Supported by CANVAS

 ■The Learning of Tomorrow Business by Yoshimoto and NTT Supported by CANVAS

“Laugh & Peace_Mother” is the learning of tomorrow transmission platform by Yoshimoto Kogyo, NTT, and the Cool Japan Fund. Japan, which has been unable to produce a global platform like Netflix or Amazon, aims for success in the field of education. Moreover, it has received investment of 10 billion yen from a national policy fund.

The creativity, expressiveness, and objective of learning while playing that we have fostered at CANVAS for nearly 20 years would serve as the foundation. This suggests that our activities as digital kids were finally recognized by NTT and other adults after 20 years and received a valuation of 10 billion yen.

Computers are used to make anime and games. Programming is used to build robots.

Digital cameras and the internet are used to create and transmit commercials for the town. Futuristic cars and schools are designed.

Everybody does it together.

The “Workshop Collection,” which brings together various workshops, has grown into the world’s largest creative event for kids that gathered 100,000 people in 2 days.

There were 2 issues.

The first was the financial backing to move forward with activities. We had no relationship with money.

The other was overseas development. We were struggling just to change domestic policies and attitudes.

Technology has welcomed a new age. The transition went from digital (computers and the internet) to smart (smartphones and social networking) to super-smart, which involves AI and IoT. We are also at the stage when education must become “the learning of tomorrow.”

Under these circumstances, we launched “Laugh & Peace_Mother.”

I feel as if it was inevitable to begin a project that resolves the 2 major issues, as we received financial backing to the tune of 10 billion yen and would be expanding overseas.

CANVAS and Yoshimoto are truly a good match. Actually, we first reached out to Yoshimoto Kogyo when we were founding CANVAS. We asked them to do a stand-up comedy workshop.

CEO Osaki declares, “Yoshimoto will become an educational company.”

I had always seen Yoshimoto as an educational company that hypnotized those with nowhere to go and trained them to become entertainers, but now it is time for them to become a business that exerts its force outward. This is why CANVAS was chosen.

Through my involvement in programming at MIT and digital kids activities, 20 years have passed since I began to promote workshops and digital education in Japan, thinking that children in Japan would have more inspiring output in terms of creative and expressive steam. I finally feel that this has reached the point of recognition.

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