Stepping Down as Chairperson of the Intellectual Property Strategy Headquarters Committee - Part 1

 ■Stepping Down as Chairperson of the Intellectual Property Strategy Headquarters Committee - Part 1

The Intellectual Property Strategy Headquarters Committee underwent a renewal. I will continue to serve as a member of the committee, but I am stepping down as Chairperson. This comes after serving as the Chairperson for 10 years.

10 years ago, I wrote, “Although the cultural abilities (expressive abilities) that Japan excels in, along with technical abilities, are recognized around the world as “Cool Japan,” our latent potential on the industrial side are not being fully expressed, resulting in us not making the most of our soft power. I will form intellectual property strategies that will comprehensively utilize the combination of technical abilities (manufacturing abilities) and cultural abilities (expressive abilities).”

My principal objective was to transition the domestic emphasis and industrial development of the past into global emphasis and infrastructure preparation.

The 2 main pillars were 1. the Cool Japan Policy (overseas development) and 2. digital internet support (foundation preparation).

At the same time, this was also a strategy to shift the axis of content policies from digitalization to smartization.

The shift was from computers + the internet + content to smartphones + the cloud + social media (platforms).

I exerted myself toward these policies for the first half of my 10 years. In 2013, I decided on the “Intellectual Property Policy Vision” as the strategy for the next 10 years.

1. A promotion council was set up for the Cool Japan Policy to formulate foreign strategies.

I also served as the Chairperson of the “Pop Culture Subcommittee.”

In my proposal, I wrote “Everybody should ‘participate’ in transmitting information. This should not be led by the government and should involve everybody instead.” I denied the government taking a lead in a government council.

The Cool Japan Fund was established in 2013, and policy tools for funding were enhanced.

The overseas market grew by 26% over the last 5 years, 500 businesses working with video content made efforts to expand globally in 5 years, and overseas sales of companies supported by the government increased by nearly 200 billion yen.

Looking at the 5 years since 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.

2. Online support is not succeeding.

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

There are wide discrepancies in network transmission rates 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.

Pirated versions are a headache for manga.

Netflix is trying to corner the global market in anime.

Even in games, Google is working on transitioning to the cloud on 5G, presenting the possibility of a structural change.

CDs account for 70% of music in Japan, while the structure is completely different in the rest of the world, where subscription services already make up near 50% of revenue.

During this time, results were made in systematic preparation of a foundation, as the Intellectual Property Promotion Plan was used for systemization in many aspects, such as the revision of the Copyright Act to correspond to the online age and systemization of digital textbooks.

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National Association of Commercial Broadcasters in Japan Online Digital Strategy 2019

 ■National Association of Commercial Broadcasters in Japan Online Digital Strategy 2019

I will serve as the chairperson for the Online Digital Research Society for the National Association of Commercial Broadcasters in Japan.

The report for this fiscal year has been put together, and I wrote the foreword.

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For last year’s foreword, I wrote, “The fishy wind of politics is blowing.” This was to cast doubt on the principles of the administration to review broadcasting regulations and the radio wave system. The discussions subsequently normalized, and once things had settled down, a revision was enacted to the Broadcast Act that would clear the path for regular simultaneous online transmission by NHK. A new chapter begins.

Although there was some concern directed toward NHK, there have been 12 years of solid experience with digital online support outside of Japan, as simultaneous transmission for the BBC began in 2008. During this time, a legal system to bring together communication and broadcasting was prepared in Japan, and preparations for terrestrial digital broadcasting were completed, but communication has led digital online elements.

While smartphone-first is becoming the norm, Netflix and Amazon are taking video transmission seriously, following in the footsteps of the efforts of Google and Apple toward smart-TV. As soon as the curtains open, the next wind blows in. The report by committee member Takashi Uchiyama drills down on this situation and the business of advertising and VoD.

What should be done? The members of this project decided to research the United Kingdom. What we saw was the BBC and commercial broadcasting cooperating to fend off the United States. They created BritBox, the common platform, and formed a community so that broadcast stations can use viewer data.

Furthermore, the BBC and commercial broadcasting have both outsourced hardware (transmission through radio waves and cables) to Red Bee Media, which manages the content from all broadcast stations on an IP based system, which involves the use of software on a cloud environment. This was shocking.

Content is sent to the cloud and then delivered to TVs, smartphones, computers, and various other devices through radio waves, cables, and various other devices. This is likely the future state of the fusion of communication and broadcasting. There was also a rumor that the BBC will give up ground waves in 17 years.

Having been invited to the Diet as a witness regarding the revised Broadcast Act, I tried raising a question with these conditions in mind.

Could Japan be like the United Kingdom and institute a strategy involving the preparation of a foundation that connects the NHK and commercial broadcasting? A simultaneous transmission platform, like radiko for TV, should be created. A connected foundation to promote IP cloud support and the use of data should be build out.

By forming a shared platform across broadcast stations, promotion can be improved. By preparing an IP cloud base, content can be deployed to various devices through various transmission paths while significantly reducing costs. Big data on viewing histories can be used to lead viewing behavior through AI. Can a foundation like this be created?

During last year’s foreword, I concluded that “proactively presenting a vision that determines the future” was necessary as we enter fusion 2.0. However, now that we have already entered a new stage, I am rethinking this statement, as individual actions at each site may be what is required instead of a vision.

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Plans, Execution, and the Other Side

 ■Plans, Execution, and the Other Side

●Plans

　I call myself a policymaker because all I do is draft policies. However, this is a concept I came up with, and “social entrepreneur” is the closest title among those that are commonly used in society. 20 years have passed since I left public office to go to university when I was almost 40 years old, and I have started over 20 social businesses, such as public service corporations and projects.　

Let’s promote entrepreneurship. Let’s lower the threshold. iU aims for everybody to start a business and produces entrepreneurs. In “A World of Three Zeros,” Muhammad Yunus states that over 80% of Ugandans start a business at some point in their lives. These involved opening a small store or buying a goat. These types of business are fine to begin with.

　What kind of abilities are necessary to accomplish this? Some examples are the ability to plan, come up with ideas, discover things, frame questions, find interest, and identify problems. Each time that a student asks me what should be done, I respond that I take drinking parties seriously. What is important is to jot down all of the ideas from these parties in a project book the next day.

●Execution

　The main issue is that “how” is more important than “what.” How should plans be carried out? How should problems be resolved? How should technology be introduced? This involves the abilities of execution, resolution, and implementation.

　I only spoke about this to students for 10 years at KMD. The idea is to prioritize “how” over “what.” This holds more importance in society than coming up with ideas, which big-headed students are good at, and planning skills that students want to learn. iU will also emphasize this. This involves the legs rather than the head, the ability not to get discouraged, and endurance.

　In reality, most of this involves persuasion and adjustments, pushing and pulling, listening and speaking, bowing and being assertive, crying and laughing, and sweating a lot.

　Is something so unrefined being taught at university? That’s right. The industrial world seeks these types of communication abilities from human resources, but universities have not responded to this. Instead of the ability to make plans, I believe that the ability to carry them out over a year without getting discouraged is on a much higher level. This requires strategizing, military logistics, organizational management, and schedule adjustment.

●The Other Side

　Actually, the main issue is what comes next.

　When I watch a program on Netflix about Michelin starred restaurants, a surprisingly high number of chefs do not create recipes. They say, “I make what flows out of me,” and “I take my morning inspiration and turn it into food,” as if this is the obvious thing to do.

　They have no project book. They don’t work on design. Their ideas and implementation are unified.

　They are like improvisational musicians who do not write songs or lyrics.

　With that said, they simply repeatedly make food for guests who are not enthusiasts day after day and get the reputation of being first-class. What is the true nature of these abilities? Is it God-given or the accumulation of training?

　Chefs then share this inspiration by mouth to staff members and turn it into food as a team. This ability to convey concepts and manage a team while maintaining a standard for the output is a mystery to me.

　Perhaps it is second-rate to include inspiration in designs, project books, or papers. Are these abilities a personality trait that can be attained? Maybe I should ask people at a culinary school.

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Sharing Economy Report Summary

 ■Sharing Economy Report Summary

The Cabinet Secretariat “Sharing Economy Evaluation Meeting” that I participated in put together a secondary report.

The mid-term report from 2 years ago was held up by the pillars of:

1) Securing safety and reliability through voluntary rules

2) Efforts to clear up gray zones

3) Establishing and sharing leading best practices through municipalities

Below are the results of these efforts.

1) Service popularization: Recognition increased by 11.8% in a year to 42.4%

2) Market size expansion: 50.3 billion yen in fiscal year 2016 and projected as 107.1 billion yen in fiscal year 2021

The plan for promotion is to carry out the following 3 elements together.

1) Make the contribution of platformers toward business more efficient

2) Prepare ways for providers and users to determine safety and reliability

3) Support social implementation and international development

With that said, the following comprise the “Action Plan to Accelerate Sharing Economy Promotion.”

1) Revise model guidelines and update certification standards

2) Evaluate consumer guidelines (how to use the sharing economy), compliance with international standards for reviews, and methods of visualizing trust

3) Create 100 regional use cases

Items to be assessed in detail moving forward are the following.

1) Smartization of dispute resolution functions

2) Creation of the “Certified Shared Worker System (tentative name)”

Based on the above, the sharing economy model guidelines from the mid-term report have been updated.

There was a tense exchange between committee members and the government during the meeting  regarding whether or not ride sharing should be listed.

There are still some walls that we have not broken down regarding regulation, but the situation is improving.

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I Learned About Cutting-Edge AI and IoT at Super University

 ■I Learned About Cutting-Edge AI and IoT at Super University

Super University was a 3-day course held at the Learning of Tomorrow Association to discuss cutting-edge technologies that will nurture next-generation leaders, hold workshops, and develop a community to break down the walls of universities.

There were tens of participants, including young proprietors and potential executives at major companies.

Professors Yutaka Matsuo and Noboru Koshizuka from the University of Tokyo spoke about AI and IoT.

Mr. Matsuo: “The Future of Artificial Intelligence: What Lies Ahead of Deep Learning”

Mr. Koshizuka: “IoT and AI Usage and Data Strategies Toward Society 5.0”

Mr. Matsuo: “Although the media, led by GAFA, is fighting over advertisements, the agriculture, construction, and food industries, which have not implemented automation and AI, are far larger than advertising.”

That is exactly the case. Industry sizes are 6 trillion yen for advertising, 9 trillion yen for agriculture, 50 trillion yen for construction, and 680 trillion yen for food. Education (20 trillion yen) and healthcare (30 million yen) are also massive. They have yet to come on board.

Mr. Matsuo: “Up to this point, the world has built models that can be handled with few parameters within the limits of human cognition. Deep learning allows for analysis and action with numerous parameters.”

In other words, this means that humans will finally accept the limits of their cognition and use technology that goes beyond these limits.

On the other hand, Mr. Koshizuka states, “IoT is a set of technologies, including AI, robotics, beacons, data, wireless, and servers, built around the internet.” He states it “includes everything,” and is “very difficult” because it is a “varied, complex system.”

Although people refer to AI and IoT together, they may have completely opposite traits.

Mr. Koshizuka: “GAFA only has 0.1% of all of the data in the world. The remaining 99.9% of unique and secret data that is dispersed and siloed causes issues in data circulation.”

Although there is a sense of danger when engaging in the same business as GAFA, but what must be done is different. This has the same origin as the business areas to aim for that Mr. Matsuo pointed to.

Mr. Koshizuka: “Let’s allow AI and robots to take our jobs and increase productivity so that things are easier for us.” This follows the same logic as my desire for a “super-bored society.” “The issue is distribution.” The greatest task for the super-bored society where AI and robots work is distribution strategies rather than growth strategies.

“The benefit of AI is that it does not become discouraged. Let’s make them do stressful jobs.

・HR managers in charge of restructuring

・Phone support for customer claims

・Teachers (handling monster parents)”

“Jobs for robots are jobs in which people do not want to be seen by other people and jobs that people do not want other people to do.

・Bathing during nursing

・Electronic bidet”

Many things come to mind. Let’s let them take our jobs.

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The Intellectual Property Plan Somehow Came Together

 ■The Intellectual Property Plan Somehow Came Together

The Intellectual Property Plan was finalized during a council at the Prime Minister’s Office, which the Prime Minister and cabinet members attended.

This is the 10th plan since I was appointed Joint Chairperson.

Since Japanese clothes became mandated as part of the Cool Japan policy during the first round, this means that 10 years have passed since Japanese clothes became required.

First, the 3 pillars of “beyond average,” “fusion,” and “empathy” were established to achieve the “Value Design Society” that was included in the “Intellectual Property Strategic Vision” that was formulated last year.

Beyond average: Enhance individual entities and encourage them to take on challenges

Fusion: Bring together various dispersed entities and accelerate new bonds

Empathy: Create an environment in which values can easily be achieved

Up next was antipiracy measures.

The conclusion was, “Steps necessary to execute comprehensive sets of measures for related ministries and agencies, such as to execute effective copyright education, promote official distribution channels, strengthen international cooperation and execution, establish search site measures, regulate advertisements for pirated sites, and evaluate other potentially effective systems, will be carried out.”

During this term, intellectual property strategies in the field of content received a lot of attention among antipiracy measures, and although it was a great achievement that comprehensive measures were completed, differences in opinion regarding intellectual property and IT also surfaced, presenting a major issue for future attempts to build intellectual property and IT strategies. It would be beneficial to continue to explore intellectual property strategies in the digital age.

“Fusion” measures include the promotion of open innovation, establishment of an intellectual property platform, creation of a system and rules to promote the appropriate use of data and AI, and the realization of a digital archive society.

It was interesting that the revision of approval scheme guidelines for information entrustment features and the introduction of an information bank were brought up.

“Empathy” measures include the construction of a creation ecosystem and the continuous enhancement of Cool Japan strategies.

The preparation of database with rights information in the field of music and the preparation of foreign language metadata needed to enter the global market through international music transmission services are topics related to our Artist Commons and SyncMusic.

An important item was brought up.

“Regarding the facilitation of rights processing, including system revisions involving the handling of neighboring rights for simultaneous transmission, will begin to be evaluated in detail by related ministries and agencies soon within the fiscal year, with plenty of consideration of the will of related parties, and a conclusion will be made regarding the nature of the system will be made within this fiscal year, while also steadily incorporating operational improvements.”

A revision was enacted to the Broadcast Act to allow simultaneous transmission by NHK, but copyright processing is a bottleneck for online transmission. The Japanese system, which requires consent for each instance, is seen as a problem, and rightsholders, such as those in the music industry, have also sought changes to the system. This is the next major theme.

Next, the item from the Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry was, “The nature of governance over competitive tournaments will be assessed for sound development of the esports industry.” This is the start of the esports policy.

The last measure brought up was “the operation of a professional university system to assist in nurturing human resources for Cool Japan.” iU, which will be established as a professional university, will assist in this effort.

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Discussion in the House of Representatives Regarding Deliberation on the Broadcast Act - Part 2

 ■Discussion in the House of Representatives Regarding Deliberation on the Broadcast Act - Part 2

○Ideas behind a common platform

・Preparation can be expected for a platform that handles common issues, such as transmission bases, apps, and rights processing.

・Next-generation media measures, such as IP cloud and data analysis, can also be expected.

・Cooperation with the communication and IT industries would be preferable, instead of only working within the broadcasting industry.

○Copyrights issues

・Under the Copyright Act, records and productions can be freely broadcast if a usage fee is paid, but separate approval is needed for transmission.

・In order to facilitate this processing, revising the system regarding online transmission can be considered, but adjustments between private companies (internet/broadcast stations and rightsholders) should be the first priority. NHK is expected to take a lead.

○The impact of simultaneous transmission by NHK on commercial broadcasting

・Commercial broadcasting should continue with free business judgment. This is an environment in which more rich content can be developed using data and AI.

・Various strategies can be seen, as Nippon TV acquired hulu, Fuji TV provides content to Netflix, and TV Asahi developed CA and Abema TV.

○The impact on local stations and their measures

・The question will be how much they have prepared during the 27 years since the theory for fusion of communication and broadcasting was introduced.

・They are holding up well, considering that in 10 years, CD sales have halved and bookstores have been reduced by 30%.

・A major wave is approaching. There may be industry reorganization and consolidation. Management capabilities will finally be questioned.

・Deregulation (the removal of mass media concentration, prefectural and regional licensing) can also be considered, but the will of the industry comes first. The government should not jump the gun on this matter.

・Each station has begun carrying out their strategies, such as offering more regional programming, enhancing events, and bringing in online users. Their activities will be interesting.

○NHK content should not develop overseas

・NHK programs are national assets. They should be utilized to their fullest extent.

・The government is also putting an effort into overseas development of broadcasting content, as the scale has increased by a factor of 4.4 times in the 5 years from 2010.

・There is still latent potential. I would like an effort to be made to cooperate with commercial broadcasting.

○Effective measures for utilizing satellite frequency

・I would like to promote their entry into broadcasting so that citizens can enjoy a richer video culture, but the biggest issue is frequency strain. Satellite waves are a valuable resource.

・It would be meaningful to develop compression technologies, make it possible to broadcast on a small frequency band, and improve and diversify services that promote new entries.

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Discussion in the House of Representatives Regarding Deliberation on the Broadcast Act - Part 1

 ■Discussion in the House of Representatives Regarding Deliberation on the Broadcast Act - Part 1

Having been invited as a witness to the House of Representatives’ Committee on Internal Affairs and Communications regarding the revised Broadcast Act that would clear the path for NHK to simultaneously transmit their regular programming on the internet, I received questions regarding all aspects from Diet members from all parties.

○Why regular simultaneous transmission?

・As the internet becomes infrastructure, being able to receive signals at anytime from anywhere without additional costs strengthens the right to knowledge.

・As normal simultaneous transmission takes place in the United Kingdom, France, Germany, and South Korea, as well as for the 4 major networks in the United States, it must be discussed why normal simultaneous transmission is not allowed in Japan.

・This is a policy decision on whether or not the internet is seen as infrastructure. I believe that it became infrastructure 12 years ago.

○Squeezing the private sector

・I understand concerns from commercial broadcasting. However, I cannot believe that there is a national basis for 2.5%.

・Looking beyond simultaneous transmission, it is important to consider the perspectives of how much investment is necessary to improve utility of IT utilization and use of data and AI for citizens, and how a new media environment will be built out in conjunction with commercial broadcasting.

・Under the circumstances of a changing global media environment, including IT, and expansion of foreign businesses into Japan, it is important to consider the perspective of what kind of media foundation and business environment should be prepared.

・Investment by and business costs for NHK should be set while considering these perspectives.

○NHK must not become bloated

・Citizens are unlikely to be understanding if NHK becomes bloated without reviewing its overall business and license fees.

・I would like NHK to thoroughly fulfill its role as a public media outlet of universally good broadcasting and cutting-edge development.

・I would like business expansion to be considered together with the revision of its overall business and license fees, as well as disclosure of information and revised governance.

○The state of license fees

・For the time being, it is appropriate to reach out to non-subscribers through the message screen.

・Considering cord-cutting and internet diffusion trends moving forward, there is a need to revise the license fee system.

・The method of collecting fees and charges regardless of whether or not people watch TV, which is utilized in the United Kingdom and Germany, is also worth referencing.

・Although it is not a tax, it is close to a tax. The understanding of citizens as a whole is a major prerequisite.

○The negative impact of the internet

・The internet is essentially infrastructure now, 10 years on from the introduction of the smartphone.

・While fake news becomes prevalent, communication opportunities and communities that were previously unavailable have been created through social networking services. There is an element in which democracy has been strengthened.

・In order to enrich this culture, education to utilize information is important.

○Regulation of content through fusion of communication and broadcasting

・Japanese broadcasting programs are involved in a system that gives autonomy to the program council at each station and the BPO.

・This system functions effectively and maintains the binary system of NHK and commercial broadcasting, as well as a rich broadcasting culture.

・The internet and content represent the third element in this system. Japan is fine, as it is autonomous and free, but the information literacy of its citizens is important.

○Would it be all right to abolish NHK?

・Europe is transitioning from public broadcasting to commercial broadcasting, while the United States is transitioning from commercial to public. However, Japan has a special binary system.

・Since Japanese TV builds a rich culture, the binary system is functioning. This pillar does not need to be changed.

・How can the internet, which is the third element, be enriched? How to educate these users is worth discussing.

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Revisions Enacted to the Broadcast Act with Approval of Simultaneous Transmission by NHK - Part 3

 ■Revisions Enacted to the Broadcast Act with Approval of Simultaneous Transmission by NHK - Part 3

Now I would like to touch on this revision to the law.

I do not have much of an opinion on the enhancement of governance over NHK, duty of loyalty for executives, and the disclosure of information because they are a matter of course, but there is hope that NHK will finally be able to carry out simultaneous transmission.

In addition to the approval of standards for execution and checks in the form of the requirement to submit plans, NHK will be asked to cooperate with commercial broadcasting for their online business.

Attention is being focused on how this cooperation will go.

Japan should take a similar approach to the United Kingdom and implement strategies based on a foundation that connects NHK and commercial broadcasting.

A simultaneous transmission platform, akin to the TV version of radiko, should be created.

A foundation that connects NHK and commercial broadcasting should be built out to promote IP cloud support and data usage.

A shared platform for broadcast stations should be formed to support promotion.

An IP cloud base should be prepared for delivery to various devices through various transmission paths while also significantly reducing costs.

Viewership activity should be solicited using AI to handle big data on viewership history.

It would be beneficial to create this foundation while cooperating.

In addition, the facilitation of copyright processing is presented as an issue to promote online transmission.

Copyright processing is complicated because the positioning of copyrights differs for broadcasting and communication.

There may be a need to revise the system to improve this matter, but efforts between private companies are the first priority.

It is thought that the role that NHK will play here is significant.

The reason that I personally believe this is happening late is because online support is NHK’s obligation in my mind.

Under the Broadcast Act, the objective for NHK is to provide universally good programming, or in other words secure the national minimum and take a lead in making progress on an international scale.

The reason that the Japanese government is involved in designating NHK as a special public corporation is because it must lead Japan while developing and introducing technology.

On a side note, NTT has been designated as a special public corporation in order to provide reliable service and conduct technological research.

However, NHK has fallen behind in introducing new technologies.

Given its relationship with commercial broadcasting, it is rumored that there is a cap of 2.5% of license fees for NHK in order to avoid squeezing the private sector.

There is no special basis behind this figure from a national perspective.

The total is just short of 20 billion yen, but this is not a scale that requires adjustment on a national scale.

I would like there to be an evaluation on how to invest in this field in the 100 billion to 1 trillion yen scale as a national strategy.

What I would like NHK and the Japanese government to do is to improve utility for citizens.

I would like for it to be possible to watch on multiple networks on multiple devices anywhere at any time.

Next is to flesh out support for commercial broadcasting.

Regarding the aforementioned issue, I would like for a next-generation environment to be developed, even if it means using a larger portion of the license fees and cooperating with commercial broadcasting.

It is not time for petty domestic quarreling, as we must pursue policies from the perspective of how the Japanese media industry can survive on the global scale.

There are major tasks associated with this bill.

A discussion from a long-term perspective is now required.

Various themes come to mind, such as systems specific to broadcasting, such as prefectural and regional licensing and the removal of mass media concentration, the objectives and management style of NHK, and the research and development capabilities for communication and broadcasting.

I believe it would be best to carry out major discussions regarding the future of media.

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