■The iU is now open. Six months have passed since that time.

It has been six months since iU, also known as the Professional University of Information and Management for Innovation, opened.

I had the opportunity to issue a report online to our 250 partner companies and 300 visiting faculty members.

This is a university that fosters professionals industry experts who can usher in innovation through information, that is, ICT, in the domain of management, that is, business.

Linking these ideas together gives us Professional University of Information and Management for Innovation

Its formal name is iU. But that name alone is too short for formal approval, so we went with Japan's longest name instead.

It was the first university in the world to include innovation in its name.

But it's long, so the name is ultimately iU.

We are implementing five key points.

1. Utilize ICT, business, and English.

Have a curriculum available nowhere else.

2. Learn "at" companies.

This is a university, but provides the context offered by companies.

All students intern for half a year.

3. Create new things "with" companies

Eighty percent of the 27 faculty members are from the industry.

Professionals teach the student body.

There are already 250 partner companies. And that number is still growing.

4. Thorough online education.

The school opened online due to COVID-19, but we had made the necessary preparations, so there was no confusion.

By contrast, the campus is dedicated to real-world activities such as business development, manufacturing, and the like.

Many universities are currently closed, but iU will open starting in June.

However, classes continue to be online. Students are taking classes via their computers here and there from different places.

5. Two sites in Tokyo.

The main school building is near Tokyo Skytree in Sumida Ward. It's an open environment without walls.

A satellite campus is located at Takeshiba in Minato Ward. It's an industry-academia collaboration special zone for smart cities.

The SoftBank headquarters is on the upper floor, and we will pursue work on 5G, robots, and AI facilities together.

Minister Takuya Hirai has requested that we cooperate with the Digital Agency.

We have already achieved the above five points. This alone is revolutionary, but we are taking on five more challenges.

1. Visiting professors: 100.

A pool of talent. If you set a goal of 100 people, visiting professors will bring their friends. Sometimes the students bring new talent in.

Now it's 300 people.

Since there are 200 students in a given grade, the university now has more professors than students.

2. Everyone joins the company.

Create the i Co., Ltd. where everyone can enroll as employees. Everyone earns money to pay their tuition fees.

3. Everyone starts their own business.

All students take on the challenge of starting a business at least once in their four year program. It's likely a world first.

If everyone succeeds in starting a business, the employment rate would be zero.

That's the goal: everyone an owner out of college.

But 90% will likely fail. Failing is more likely to lead to learning.

You could call it Failure University.

4. Special education zones.

Takeshiba CiP has been certified as a National Strategic Special Zone, but the main school building in Sumida also intends to aim for special zone designation.

Special zone could be a radio zone where special radio waves can be used, a copyright-free archival zone, a special zone where robots operate, and a special visa zone for international students.

5. Overseas partnerships.

Promote partnerships with overseas universities and create passports that allow for traveling back and forth.

Various projects are already underway.

Entrepreneurial support. Taking action through the "Super Entrepreneurship School."

Build communities around universities, technical colleges, and high schools. Match entrepreneurs, consultants, and VCs.

E-sports. In collaboration with the Japan esports Union and other groups, we launched the "Super E-Sports School," a community of schools from universities to elementary schools, along with researchers.

iU recommends club activities such as e-sports.

What I want to create myself is an athletic club.

By exercise here I don't mean sports, but rather student movements about exercising their rights.

Students, as stakeholders, could proactively suggest ideas to university management.

The club would provide helmets, masks, and sunglasses. However, we would not provide them clubs, as that would incite violence.

Let the students create the university as they see fit.

Approval was delayed, but the first year was quite competitive. And there were many unexpected students.

Some who quit college:

Several students quit Keio University or other prestigious schools to join us.

Existing schools must have failed to satisfy them.

Parent-child enrollment:

A father and son and a mother and son have enrolled.

How surprising to see such demand. Should we make a course for families?

"I persuaded my parents to let me join."

That is what many of the students have to say. Sorry to the parents. But also, thank you. How promising.

"Let us start a business already."

Our original design was to let them intern as juniors and start a business in their senior year, but some students wanted to start a business in year one, and some already have.

The students are a lot more interesting than I expected.

I have two requests to the companies and guest professors.

First, have fun with it.

You can use the university. When I was at MIT and Stanford, companies made liberal use of the university. In Japan, things are cut off.

Evaluate it as you would.

I hope people will sharply rebuke our flaws. This will improve us for the better. In that way, I want to grow it into a strong community.

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A consortium of professional colleges has been established.

■A consortium of professional colleges has been established.

The School Education Act was amended, and for the first time in 55 years, in 2019, a new type of university ("professional university/professional junior college") was created.

Th iU (Professional University of Information and Management for Innovation), which I opened as president, is one of them. Eighty percent of full-time faculty members are real-world practitioners of the field they represent, and the system of imposing half-year internships on students as compulsory is now possible because of this new scheme, whereby professional colleges are treated as professional universities.

In this way, "professional universities and professional junior colleges" strengthen cooperation with industry and local communities, provide high-quality practical vocational education that responds quickly to changes in social conditions, and develop human resources that contribute to the development of Japan.

Therefore, a professional college consortium was established to share the educational approaches, initiatives, and outcomes of each professional university and professional junior college, further improve the quality of education, and disseminate this widely to the world, and develop and improve upon this.

It will begin as a coalition of 11 professional universities and professional junior colleges nationwide.

Through 1-2 meetings a year, as well as ad-hoc online meetings, we aim to share initiatives and outcomes from these educational bodies and realize improvements in their management and educational approaches. Furthermore, we aim to contribute to the development of professional universities and professional junior colleges by discussing and examining their significance and roles expected of them.

Tokyo Professional University of Health Sciences and iU will be responsible for this secretariat.

At the time of the launch, the symposium was held online out of the iU campus in Sumida Ward.

There were 10 presidents all together.

It was a star-studded group that sent shivers down my back, among them Hiroyuki Yoshikawa (formerly president of the University of Tokyo), president of the International Professional University of Technology in Tokyo; Seiichi Kndo (former director of the Agency for Cultural Affairs), president of the Professional Institute of International Fashion; and Takao Kitabata (former vice minister of the Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry), president of Kaishi Professional university.

I'm a youngster by comparison.

I was told to state my aspirations, so I made a comment.

I wanted to create a university unlike any seen anywhere in the world.

This is unprecedented in the world, from the standpoint of a convergence of information + management + innovation. Over 200 companies from within and without Japan have announced themselves as partners, so I can sense there is a need.

Since it is more important to attract the abilities of real-world projects than pure academism in this field, 80% of teachers are actual practitioners of their disciplines. Furthermore, there are over 250 visiting faculty members, which outnumber the students.

We will thoroughly work "with" companies, and create and learn "at" companies.

As an extension of that, everyone aims to be an entrepreneur. All of the students intend to be entrepreneurs.

There is no other precedent like this. The plan was for them to take on the challenge of starting a business when they were in their fourth year, but the first year students are already moving towards entrepreneurship, being very proactive.

If everyone succeeds in starting their own business, the employment rate would be "zero"--so aim for "zero" employment!

Yet 90% might fail. Three years later, some indeed will.

Around that time, we could put up a sign advocating "Failure University," where people learn from mistakes.

Our challenge is a small one. The challenge is how to spread this wave by collaborating with other schools around the world.

We have already begun activities to create communities around universities and high schools that are passionate about entrepreneurship or interested in e-sports.

We are partnering closely with members from professional universities to offer something unique to professional education.

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”That is all for today.” The column has come to an end.

■ ”That is all for today.” The column has come to an end.

The Digital Agency has been established. Physical name stamps and faxes have been done away with. Digitization of government. Digitization of education. Digitization of medicine. Promoting cashless payments.

Digital-first is the government's number one challenge. It is now about priorities more than anything.

I was even more deeply impressed.

After all, that is what I had been lobbying for all this time.

I ended the "That is all for today" column on Yahoo!, which I had run for 8 years.

The date was September 2012 when I started. I began serializing this column around the time the administration shifted from DPJ control to Abe's LDP.

I broadly proposed digital policies to the Abe administration, and the column ended as that administration did.

"I'm a policy maker!" September 2012

https://ichiyanakamura-thatisallfortoday.blogspot.com/2021/01/blog-post.html

This is what I was saying at the beginning.

February 2013 "7 Digital Plans I'd like Abe Administration to Implement"

Digital textbooks, open data, digital copyrights, digital IP, digital infrastructure, smart cities.

Huh, it’s just like what I'm still saying now.

https://ichiyanakamura-thatisallfortoday.blogspot.com/2020/11/blog-post_4.html

Since then, I have been continuously making appeals about raising the priority of digital policy.

I do it every year. For instance...

2013: "IP vision: three trajectories"

"Improving our priorities. It is important to raise the position that content policy and intellectual property strategy occupy in Japan's policy."

https://ichiyanakamura-thatisallfortoday.blogspot.com/2021/01/blog-post_5.html

2014 "Miscellaneous thoughts on copyright issues, part 2"

"We need to establish priorities for intellectual property. However, for the sake of the future, we should avoid situations where intellectual property is sold for agricultural purposes. Considering the circumstances, appeals from the IP rights holder side have been minimal."

https://ichiyanakamura-thatisallfortoday.blogspot.com/2020/11/2.html

2015 "Points of concern while evaluating the TPP agreement."

"My concern comes down to what is a priority in terms of the national interest."

https://ichiyanakamura-thatisallfortoday.blogspot.com/2020/11/tpp.html

2016 Digital Textbook Promotion Q&A

"What is the cause of the disparity in dissemination? It's the motivation of municipal heads. The education digitization budget has been secured, but has instead been allocated to roads and other public works at the discretion of local governments. The problem is what priority digitization of education is given relative to other administrative projects."

https://ichiyanakamura-thatisallfortoday.blogspot.com/2021/01/q.html

2017 "Sharing Economy Interim Report"

"I hope that this report gives the government leverage to increase the importance of these policies."

https://ichiyanakamura-thatisallfortoday.blogspot.com/2021/01/blog-post_95.html

2018 "Intellectual Property Plan 2018, Full Discussion."

"I have always insisted on two points: the first thing to do is to raise the priority of intellectual property policy within Japan."

https://ichiyanakamura-thatisallfortoday.blogspot.com/2021/01/2018.html

2019 "The Education Digitization Promotion Act was enacted."

"I want to further raise the priority of digital education policies."

https://ichiyanakamura-thatisallfortoday.blogspot.com/2021/01/blog-post_61.html

2020 "Miscellaneous thoughts on COVID-19, Part 1: An Opportunity to Overturn Japan’s Failure Over the Last 30 Years."

"We will overcome the COVID-19 predicament. At the same time, we should leverage it to achieve a digital-first approach, which was not possible in the thirty-year Heisei period, and make it a future legacy."

https://ichiyanakamura-thatisallfortoday.blogspot.com/2021/01/30.html

This was followed by the "5 DX articles we hope to see from the Suga administration."

"The work cut out for the new cabinet is clear: DX. This and this alone."

https://ichiyanakamura-thatisallfortoday.blogspot.com/2021/01/dx.html

I said the same thing insistently, and the long-term administration came to an end.

Digital policy has secured the highest importance and a new cabinet was inaugurated.

As a column written by a single citizen, I hope it made a dent, maybe 1/100 millionth, in the conversation.

It's now time for me to step down.

That is all for today. Shop’s all closed up and empty now.

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These are educational manga, too!

■These are educational manga, too!

50 selected works from the "These are educational manga, too!" project.

The selections include Machiko Satonaka, Takafumi Horie, and Yohei Sadoshima.

bit.ly/3qNYFOe

Hakozume

Keep your hands off Eizouken!

Dance Dance Danseur

Blue Period

I wrote some comments about For Immortal Children in the Galaxy, so I'll share them here.

○Keep your hands off Eizouken!

bit.ly/3n6xXOV

This is a chronicle of some high school girls’ club activities, an anime creation diary, and a mecha science fiction plot that combines fantasy + delusions. The blend of three characters’ aesthetics is quite attractive.

The first is a girl who excels in creativity and drawing, but has some difficulty communicating. Another is concerned because she has drawing ability, but she is also a celebrity in her own right, being an attractive fashion model. One has a producer's temperament and is only interested in business. In this way, the story boldly weaves the otaku world over the stories of the backgrounds of these three girls.

Though set in 2050, there were 20th century style lines like the "Atto Odoroku Tamegoro" gag (popularized by Hajime Hana of the Crazy Cats) showing up in the barracks or public bath. Appearing in the delusions and animes are steampunk items like propellers, chainsaws, treaded vehicles, and robots. They are ever-present and everywhere.

It's not like there are bad guys or annoying adults. It's not like some shocking events take place. Nevertheless, while fighting with their parents and school, they struggle along to turn their dreams into anime.

The anime version directed by Masaaki Yuasa, which brilliantly visualizes the unique style of a combination of detailed mechanical items and grand delusions into in real life, is also excellent.

○Hakozume

bit.ly/3m2S2UZ

A tale of the brave battle of a young female police officer living in an unruly male society. This is not an action, suspense, or mystery piece that follows major incidents or great evils, such as the potboiler and police plots seen on TV or movies, but rather the daily life of a regular police officer who expends energy in dealing with pickpockets, molesters, and lovers' quarrels, all faithfully depicted.

The protagonists are also good-for-nothing, annoying types: they want to fall in love and have fun, all the while complaining about petty grievances like working overtime and handling dangerous duties. However, the bosses and senior colleagues, who sport fearsome scowls, are actually all kind-hearted, and their attentiveness to others is first-class. There is a certain beauty in putting effort into a job where you risk your life and where your efforts are unseen and unappreciated by the world.

It's also an elegant gag manga depicting subtle facial expressions and dialogue, carefully interwoven together. Each frame is rich in detail, so it takes time to read. It may not have the unbelievable characters of Kochira Katsushika-ku Kameari Koen-mae, but police are still a treasure trove of stories. The author was a police officer for ten years before becoming a manga artist, so the work is the perfect crystallization of affection for, and awareness of the realities of, the police force.

○Dance Dance Danseur

bit.ly/3n6y5Op

A junior high school student who was concerned about his masculinity and bottled up his interest in ballet awakens to the world of dance and delves into a primarily female world. He goes wild, has fun, suffers, and bursts with vitality. His dynamic energy is a joy to see.

He just lets himself go with the music, rhythm, physical expression, and emotions. He works hard with his partners and rivals to refine his own expressive ability, body, and skills. Nonetheless, he is in a sacred place of traditional art where history and theory have been built up over time. The highest peak in the world is ridiculously high. He learns with his coaches and teachers, gets in altercations, and moves forward. By the time he realizes, he is at the peak.

However, this work is not just a gutsy coming-of-age story. Its true value lies in the fact that it shows that manga can even depict dance in such detail. When it comes to dance scenes, the movement of the body, rhythm, angles and frames, and all of the expressions shine brightly, and you get a sense of immersion and ecstasy that you've never experienced before.

The protagonist is still growing. I'm interested to see where the plot develops.

○Blue Period

bit.ly/3n8fEc5

This is a story of a boy on a straight shot to Tokyo University of the Arts who is fascinated with drawing.

He has excellent grades, is flashy, and is a popular, handsome guy who drinks alcohol and cigarettes even though he is a high school student. But the truth is that he is empty inside. One day, he becomes captivated by a picture and drawn into the world of fine art. He embarks on a different career path than the one he had envisioned.

Of course, it's fun. Everything is new to him, and he learns. He gradually becomes able to depict things he couldn't. He suffers. And he struggles. Painting is a solitary affair. Yet you get to look all around you and notice new things. There are also things to be learned from interacting with one's friends, rivals, and teachers.

The duality of the self-portrait shown in the first exam clearly is faithful to the protagonist. Bad students and honors students, strivers and cowards, romantics and realists. But the main character is by no means special. Everyone is multifaceted, and our route is never a single track. Be it art, study, or sports, we think about ourselves, decide our own path, and continue on while carrying our own concerns. It's a path everyone goes through. This is a text that lets you think about your own life and growth.

○For Immortal Children in the Galaxy

bit.ly/378lODA

Children live through an endless eternity in a future where the rest of humanity has perished. A simple-minded older sister who loves rap and an introverted younger brother who loves reading. And also an immortal mother. The older sister seems to represent nature, the younger brother represents civilization, and the mother represents God.

The story is a depiction of eternal time, and starts with the premise: "10,000 years ago, I saw this future" and "I will surely see the same starry sky 10,000 years from now." Having an infinite amount of time means you can explore anything and everything, and still come back, no matter where you go. You are also free of the ultimate fear of dying.

Precisely for that reason, the only crisis that befalls is when the lives of those around them are lost. From their standpoint, a pet's life is but an instant, with its death representing a loss of love and a wound that remains forever. They raise a human child who comes from the sky, and eventually die. They reject immortality and die. Triggered by that, the elder sister sets off with excitement on a journey to become a human being, that is, in search of death.

What is life, what is death? What is eternity, what is a moment? Because the characters have a gentle touch, they are easy to relate to, making you think deeply.

 

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The CiP Manifest has been released.

 ■The CiP Manifest has been released.

The CIP Council, which forms the Pop & Tech Special Zone, has released the CIP Manifesto.

Following the opening of an industry-academia collaboration center in a smart building in Takeshiba, Minato-ku, Tokyo, it summarizes the activities of the past 5 years and seeks to launch priority projects going forward.

Initially, CiP set up a 10-article CiP Vision, and pursued various activities based around those tenets.

These included items such as "a fusion of the Japanese version of Silicon Valley and Hollywood," "a base where cosplayers congregate and robots fly around," "Dejima for the 21st century," and "a platform for industry, academia, and government."

http://takeshiba.org/vision/

The key theme for 2015-2017 was a "Hop," and 2018-19 was a "Step," with projects being carried out in the four quadrants of research and development, business support, hubs, and human resource development.

Starting in 2020, the theme is "Jump." That is the crux of this new manifesto.

Drawing on our activities so far, we will organize the four quadrants into content, business support, human resource development, and technology, and champion a new movement towards dramatic change.

The content and technology on the right, that is, the part corresponding to pop and tech, will proceed using Takeshiba as a base of operations.

Business support and human resource development, shown on the left side, would be laterally rolled out, so to speak. This is a group of projects focusing on activities nationwide and overseas, including at the incubation facility Station Ai in Nagoya.

The manifest items are as follows.

1. Content: Change Tommorrow

Together with communities around the world, Change Tommorrow, a festival of cutting-edge technology that seeks to change and put a new spin on the rapidly emerging pop cultures and lifestyles, from e-sports to anime, comedy, live music, and more will be held.

〇SYNC NETWORK JAPAN

In order to promote the global expansion of content, we will consolidate networks with overseas events, media, and promoters, and expand Japanese content globally.

〇Cool Japan core organization

We will form a core organization for the Cool Japan initiative that creates networks around diverse content with the aim of global expansion, and develop inbound and outbound measures that transcend industry frameworks and cross over into other verticals.

〇Artist commons

Widely promote the abilities and appeal of artists, and create a system of artist IDs for distribution geared at maximizing their added value, with various organic content integrations and tie-ins around telecommunications and broadcasting, regardless of industry.

〇World Otaku Institute

We will create a place for researchers, creators, and the content industries in Japan and abroad to share research results and information about content that is intended for otaku and enthusiasts, or relating to the content industries supporting those demographics. By establishing an international research institute for otaku culture and connecting enthusiasts and communities around the world, we will bring new developments to otaku culture.

〇Superhuman Sports

Acquire powers that exceed human physical abilities to "surpass human ability," or "transcend barriers between people" which may occur due to physical differences like age or disability. We will create a new sport of "human-machine integration" where these superhumans can freely utilize technology and compete against each other.

2. Business support: super entrepreneurship

Through collaboration with stakeholders such as venture capital firms and mentors, we promote activities like the creation of joint curricula and hold pitch events, forming a school community that is keen on entrepreneurship education, and promoting the development of entrepreneurs.

〇CiP fund

Through venture capital, we aim to build up digital and content industries around human resource development and entrepreneurship support.

〇Station AI

　In order to promote the digital transformation of the economy and society, we will create and nurture startups together with Station Ai, and proceed with the development of a base to attract leading startups from around the world.

〇Craftsmanship x digital

We will form research and development sites that contribute to the creation of new mobility and robotics solutions, and create test bets that contribute to the implementation of XR.

3. Human resource development: super education

In order to take on initiatives around both catching up and leading the world, we will promote IT education infrastructure development and the creation of cutting-edge AI/IoT education, achieving a "super education" system, a place of learning that breaks down the boundaries of conventional schools.

〇KMD

In addition to nurturing "media innovators," who are creative leaders equipped to play an active role globally, we will develop various activities together with KMD to lead a creative society.

〇iU

Together with iU, we will partner with industry players to develop a new learning platform that fosters human resources poised to spark innovation around the world, allowing for the creation of services that solve social issues and businesses that anticipate the needs of the world.

〇CANVAS

Children from all over the world can connect, create new forms of expression, foster deeper communication, and build a new world. To that end, we aim to connect passionate adults to create a context in which all children in Japan can achieve their full potential.

〇Workshop collection

Disparate workshops for children will be brought together in one place, and expo events will be held all over Japan to introduce them to a wider audience.

〇Online workshop collection

Online workshops in various genres such as modeling and design, physical expression, science, digital, and more will be brought together under one place with the aim of developing and disseminating rich creative expression activities online as a form of future learning and play, creating a new site for children to create and express themselves.

〇 Super E-Sports School

We will form a community of universities, vocational schools, technical colleges, high schools, junior high schools, and elementary schools interested in introducing these e-sports into education, with the aim of providing educational opportunities through e-sports, creating communities and collaborating to carry out various activities like creating and providing curricula, certification of program completion, etc.

4. Technology "City & Tech"

　We will implement advanced technologies such as robots, AI, IoT, 5G, and 8K, and create integrated smart cities and present them to the world. Implementation, not experimentation. Concentration, not diffusion. We will proceed with activities with a view to expanding that sort of urban model in Japan and overseas.

〇 Super City Hub

This will become a hub linking smart cities from various countries, such as Woven City, Barcelona, Shanghai, and Shenzhen, and form smart city communities around the world.

〇IPDC

Together with the IPDC Forum, we will create a foundation for IoT broadcasting that utilizes the broadcast airwaves and simultaneously streams data using the IP protocol, and aim to make this system mainstream.

〇Digital signage

In order to solve the issues faced by the digital signage industry and create new markets, we work together with the Digital Signage Consortium with the goal of improving the value of signage experiences in everyday life contexts.

That sums up the manifest.

Moreover, CiP is seeking to remaster its original vision.

Specifically, item 10, "Window to the sea and sky," is being replaced with "Creation of a super-leisure society."

A wide range of technologies, typified by things like AI and robots, are rushing in. The super leisure society will be a dazzling entertainment-oriented one. Super pop, super sports, super education, and super cities to make use of them. CiP is creating a super-free, leisurely society.

That is our stated mission.

The real-world location is finished, with CiP 2.0 starting up. I hope you'll stay tuned for more.

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Learning of Tomorrow issues the Post-COVID Education Promotion Statement

■Learning of Tomorrow issues the Post-COVID Education Promotion Statement

Learning of Tomorrow, of which I am the managing director, issued the Post-COVID Education Promotion Statement.

Learning of Tomorrow has continued to make recommendations for education IT for 10 years, if we count the length of time the Association of Digital Textbook and Teaching, the body it absorbed, was in operation.

I was an early advocate for the institutionalization of digital textbooks and the creation of a "one person, one computer" system, and lobbied the government and stakeholders to take action.

The creation of a system for digital textbooks was realized through legal amendments, with the Education IT Promotion Act being enacted through the efforts of a bi-partisan league of parliamentarians, and this, along with school closures under COVID-19, has led to an outlook where the "one person, one computer" system is likely to be put into place this year.

First we need measures to get this system established and into place. Furthermore, we need to create a context where students can learn--not only at school, but also at home.

However, that amounts to a developing country in terms of education IT finally catching up to standard countries, so in order to really come to the forefront as a developed nation, we need to venture into AI and data-driven approaches.

Furthermore, we need to design post-COVID education that provides unbroken opportunities for learning as COVID-19 continues, or even in the event of another pandemic, large-scale disaster, or emergency.

The statement consists of the following three items.

1. Development of an online learning environment for schools and homes

2. Implementing hybrid education that combines online and face-to-face approaches

3. Making inroads towards future-oriented education

Specifically, the process is as follows.

-------

Under the supplementary budget and the COVID-19 emergency economic countermeasures budget, the outlook is that a context in which all elementary and junior high school students have one information device allocated to them will be put into place this year.

We must create a context enabling anyone to learn by connecting to the Internet from school or home.

Furthermore, we need to design post-COVID education that provides unbroken opportunities for learning as COVID-19 continues, or even in the event of another pandemic, large-scale disaster, or emergency.

I advocate the following measures.

1. Development of an online learning environment for schools and homes

1) Digital textbooks provided free of charge to all students at the compulsory education level. In addition, regulations that reduce the use of digital textbooks to less than one-half of the number of class hours for each subject will be abolished.

2) Implement policies to reduce cost burdens so that all students can learn through the Internet at home.

2. Implement hybrid education that combines online and face-to-face approaches

1) Relax requirements for distance education (the presence of a teacher on the receiving end, simultaneous interaction, etc.) and make it permanent.

2) Promptly carry out permanent relaxation of enforcement regulations for the School Education Act, University Establishment Standards, and related ministerial ordinances and notices, such as the abolition of the 60-credit limit for media classes at universities.

3. Making inroads towards future-oriented education

By introducing advanced technologies such as AI, IoT, big data, VR/AR, and blockchain into education, we aim to break away from the standardized class hour principle and shift to a learning-acquisition model. This allows for learning beyond one's academic grade, as well as individually-optimized learning where no child is left behind.

Post-Covid Education Promotion Statement

https://lot.or.jp/wp/report/2366/

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Commentary: Information and Telecommunications White Paper

■Commentary: Information and Telecommunications White Paper

The following is my commentary on the Information and Telecommunications White Paper.

This follows up on the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications Information and Telecommunications White Paper advisors meeting.

I made three comments on this year's white paper.

1. First, two positives.

It suggested a positive interpretation, namely that the social changes due to COVID-19 are creating new value.

- It emphasized Japan's need to promote employment and quality of life improvements through ICT utilization (with telecommunications policy shifting from telecommunications industry expansion policy to one around telecommunications use itself).

2. Two areas we have not fully delved into:

- Informatization of government processes. This falls on the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications.

- Informatization of education. Since policy issues are transitioning from school to household informatization, it becomes perforce an issue of concern to the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications.

COVID-19 and the Digital Agency are major topics that will likely continue to be talked about for some time, and these are future issues. In both cases, they are things the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications and the Information and Telecommunications White Paper will have to treat as things in which they have a vested interest.

3. Details on 5G.

5G is not yet realistic from a usage perspective, and is still at the stage of industry players sharing specific use cases.

So in that sense, the white paper's focus on that was good.

With 5G, IoT tends to be given pride of place, while businesses and lifestyles that make use of data are not talked about in a context that has the sense of reality people need. One issue is indicating to users the benefits of data utilization.

How will next year's Information and Telecommunications White Paper be formulated?

That's still a secret. I'll jot some notes down about it once it's out.

But the issue first on the table is COVID.

Moreover, how that has brought into sharper relief Japan's failure in the digital realm.

Just why did we fail to go digital? Did DX not go to plan?

I believe it's owed to the past successes of the Showa period.

Both education and the administration have lagged to take action since 2018.

Areas that experienced success in the past rested on their laurels and fell behind.

I hope the next white paper will provide a framework to debate that.

Will DX really go to plan post-COVID?

Recently, I saw some data stating that telecommuting dropped to 24% from 35% in April.

If we get through the pandemic successfully, I worry that we might feel a sense of security and go back to the days when we continued to be losers in the digital realm.

My thinking is that the next topics are going to be increasing digitalization and the hybrid approach taking root.

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Minister of Digital Affairs Hirai and others Gathered to Announce the CiP Manifesto.

 ■Minister of Digital Affairs Hirai and others Gathered to Announce the CiP Manifesto.

The CiP Council, based in the cutting-edge smart building "Tokyo Port City Takeshiba," held an opening event.

The CiP Council has been working to establish a center for "Content x Digital" in the special national strategic zone of Takeshiba.

Since its founding in 2015, many projects have been carried out simultaneously. The CiP Council has been triggering innovation in the content industry and as a hub connecting media, IT, universities, public authorities, governments, and domestic, international communities.

First, the CiP Manifesto with the four quadrants: content, business, education, and technology, was announced.

Inheriting the CiP vision from the council's inauguration, it was determined to make further progress with the completion of the base as an opportunity.

There was also a report on the "Super e-Sports School," a community that provides education through e-Sports, the "Super Entrepreneurship School," a community of educational institutions, mentors, and VCs working on entrepreneurship education, and the "Super Human Sports," a project to develop a sport that unites people and machines by fusing body and technology.

In response to the series of presentations with the word "super," Representative Takuya Hirai said, "Super means Beyond Limits. It means beyond conventional ways of doing things and preconceived notions.”

Mr. Hirai then went directly to the LDP presidential election and became the Minister of State for Digital Affairs, the main focus of the new administration.

In addition, nine projects were announced, including those related to contents such as "SYNC NETWORK JAPAN" and "World Otaku Research Institute," agents for sending out music and other contents to the world, and those related to technology such as "City & Tech Committee," which will create an entire city that implements all advanced technologies such as robotics, AI, IoT, and 5G.

Also, Station Ai is a start-up-support-based project promoted by Aichi Prefecture to generate innovation, and the CiP Council supports it. Aichi Prefecture's governor Hideaki Omura made a remote announcement showing the diversity of CiP projects and the possibility for applications in other areas.

The CiP Council is planning a Pop&Tech real event, “some humor for tomorrow” (Change Tomorrow), known as Chomoro, where pop culture and technology are merged. It continues to plan Takeshiba to the rest of Japan and the world.

On Christmas Day, Minister Hirai held an event to announce the "Digital Day," and CiP Council will support the Digital Day. First, we cooperated in compiling video messages from celebrities in the field of sports and other content.

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A Cutting-Edge Smart Building in Takeshiba has Opened.

 ■A Cutting-Edge Smart Building in Takeshiba has Opened.

Tokyo Port City Takeshiba, a cutting-edge smart building full of robots, AI, and IoT, has opened.

The building was built by Tokyu Land Corporation and Kajima Corporation on 1.5 hectares of land owned by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government on the shore of Tokyo Bay. The CiP Council (which I represent), a group of 50 companies and organizations, helped the Tech & Pop plan and design of the building.

Of the 40 floors, the lower floors have halls and exhibition halls, and CiP will be on the 8th floor, running industry-academia collaboration projects.

Above that, Softbank's headquarters will be established there, providing an environment for 5G and data distribution.

The first thing you'll see are the robots: the AI receptionist/guide robots and information signage robots that make humans appear.

Some robots carry your luggage and serve you drinks.

Some avatars connect to remote areas, and there are others running around giving something out to visitors.

At the Lawson convenience store on the first floor, Model-T, a robot developed by Telexistence　Inc. from the University of Tokyo-KMD, is placed in the backyard to remotely sort drinks and lunch boxes displays.

This is a remotely controlled convenience store where robots can work without the need for staff.

Digital signage has also evolved. The availability of stores and restrooms is monitored by sensors and displayed. Stores are cashless, of course.

Face recognition will be used to enter Softbank, and elevators will be assigned according to a person's designation.

The infrastructure that supports all of this is, of course, 5G. There are 1,300 sensors embedded, and data on human flow, attributes, congestion, weather, and so on is analyzed and collected for edge analysis.

Softbank intends to assemble these as an "urban OS" and expand it to other areas.

500-meters from Hamamatsucho Station, a pedestrian deck has been built 15 meters above the ground directly connected to the building.

Beyond the building is Tokyo Bay.

The 20-hectare Takeshiba area has been approved as a national strategic special zone, but it wasn’t a glamorous area lined with warehouses.

However, this building has triggered a rapid redevelopment of the area.

The idea for this Tech & Pop special zone started eight years ago.

It was planned and designed almost entirely during the Abe administration.

The opening ceremony was held on the same day that the Kan administration was elected as the LDP president.

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Five DX Articles Expected from the Administration

 ■Five DX Articles Expected from the Administration

The Fourth Industrial Revolution is the story of modernity's inner circle, but Society 5.0 is a theory of civilization from the ancient hunting days.

It is a term that refers to the next step after industry and information, that is, the next step after modernity.

Society 5.0 is a major historical turning point.

The last 30 years have been a defeat in terms of digital technology.

The coronavirus situation was helpful in that it shed light on the situation.

We lagged behind implementing digitalization and ranked at the bottom of industrialized countries at 34th in terms of competitiveness.

Digital education ranked lowest among industrialized countries.

The government still relies on FAX machines and can’t deal with the coronavirus.

The coronavirus, however, became a messenger of anti-civilization that shed light on the situation.

The job of the new cabinet is clear: digitalization.

It is not politics that has hindered DX. It is everyone, everyone in the industry, academia, and government.

It's not a matter of different fields, but it's a matter of generation.

I want to purge the old generation that includes myself for a new system.

In foreign affairs, while the U.S., Europe, and Asia were writhing in agony, only Japan continued to have a stable and strong government.

There is no easier environment in terms of diplomacy and trade.

I would like to see the new cabinet focus on domestic affairs (digitalization).

When the new administration took office, I submitted a proposal to them, acknowledging their achievements to date but also taking into account the digital defeat and the need for digitalization in domestic affairs.

Here are the five proposals: Industry, Education, Contents, Local Government, and Administration.

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1 Industry DX　

Provide substantial tax breaks for telework and other DX costs and investments.

Introduce an announcement policy that encourages managers who do not promote DX to leave the business. Encourage all industries to shift their management to a generation that uses digital data and celebrate management that has strengthened its competitiveness by supporting DX.

2 Education DX

While commending the realization of digital textbooks and the deployment of one PC per person after ten years, take the next steps toward putting digital education first, including free digital textbooks, measures to deal with the burden of household communication costs, and the total abolition of online class regulations. The increase in administrative costs will be funded by an increase in radio wave usage fees.

Furthermore, by introducing technologies such as AI and blockchain, we can implement "super-education" that goes beyond the boundaries of subjects and schools, leading to a review of the school system.

3 Content DX

While appreciating the realization of NHK's simultaneous distribution, build a system compatible with the era of communication/broadcasting convergence, global focus, and data-driven nature. In particular, a fundamental review of the copyright system, which has been in place for half a century, and a review of the broadcasting system to prepare for changes in the industrial structure will be undertaken.

4 Regional DX

Encourage local governments to promote regional development through their own DX and deregulation, rather than transferring the power from Tokyo.

Create new subsidies to promote regional DX.

Support the formation of smart archipelagos by connecting smart cities in each region.

5 Administrative DX

Establish a "Digital Agency" to serve as an engine for promoting DX in education, medical care, and other areas organized around administrative IT. The first step is to abolish the Fax and stamp system in government offices.

In addition, we aim to establish a "Ministry of Culture," which will link the Intellectual Property and Cultural Affairs Agency and other software administration, as an organization that will show the shape of the nation beyond the modern age.

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The World's first IoT Broadcasting

 ■The World's first IoT Broadcasting

IPDC transmits information and data using the communication protocol IP on broadcast radio waves.

I founded IPDC as the chairman in 2009.

Ten years have passed since then, and some specific actions are starting to be in motion.

Broadcasters such as TBS, Nippon Television Network Corporation, Mainichi Broadcasting System, Yomiuri Telecasting Corporation, Kansai Telecasting Corporation, Asahi Broadcasting Corporation, and TV Shinshu, content companies such as Space Shower and Sony, advertising companies such as Dentsu and Hakuhodo, and systems companies such as NTT Smart Connect, NEC, SCSK, and Maspro Denko are also participating.

There is also a move to provide information on disaster prevention and other topics using the V-high frequency band after the withdrawal of NOTTV.

CiP, a tech-pop special zone we are promoting in Takeshiba, Tokyo, has already obtained a license as a specific experimental test station and will conduct IoT broadcasting experiments to transmit emergency and disaster prevention data to IT devices such as smartphones and digital signage, and IoT devices such as sensors and RF tags. In addition, an actual field demonstration experiment will also be carried out in Anan City, Tokushima Prefecture, with the cooperation of Shikoku Broadcasting.

Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications has set the demonstration period to last until the end of this year and is calling for the early actualization of usages. It is preparing to formulate a policy for V-high, which is expected to be used to advance broadcasting services such as IPDC multimedia broadcasting and simultaneous data transmission systems for IoT terminals.

IPDC has been adopted by FM Tokyo Group in the V-Low frequency band. However, the service was discontinued at the end of March 2020. There is now an action to move the local governments' system for V-Low V-ALERT (disaster prevention information and public relations system for local governments) to terrestrial digital broadcasting. Already, TV Shinshu and Nankai Broadcasting have obtained an additional license to conduct IPDC on terrestrial digital and have started experiments working with local governments.

Based on this, this year, the IPDC Forum decided to proceed with two basic policies.

First was to make effective use of the existing terrestrial digital assets to achieve advanced disaster prevention administrative radio using terrestrial digital waves, and urge the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications to design a system (such as the concretization of licenses for both communication and broadcasting) that actualizes the transfer from V-low.

The second was to establish IoT broadcasting. We will continue demonstration experiments in FY2020, and based on the results, we will urge the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications to institutionalize IoT broadcasting in the V-high band, which is vacant in one wave nationwide.

Things are taking off, and I’m looking forward to it.

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White Paper on Information and Communication Concerning 5G Technology under the Coronavirus

 ■White Paper on Information and Communication Concerning 5G Technology under the Coronavirus

The White Paper on Information and Communications has been released.

The theme of the special feature topic was “Digital Transformation and Construction of New Daily Life Prompted by 5G.” It looks ahead to new lifestyles and ways of working under the coronavirus and analyzes the impact of 5G. Trends toward "Beyond 5G" are also introduced.

On the foundation of 5G, we have been aiming to improve efficiency and add value to industries using AI, big data, and IoT technologies. However, with the coronavirus, there is an irreversible evolution toward a society where cyberspace and real space are synchronized, based on the premise of protecting human life, showing positive recognition to "create new values.” 

First, regarding the changes in the telecommunications market, it is pointed out that the presence of Japanese companies in the cell phone handset/smartphone market is decreasing. I've long wondered about the policy goal of increasing the number of devices made in Japan, as I believe that the policy should be to maximize the benefits for users, regardless of where they are made. That opinion was ignored for a long time.

Would users, including start-ups, be complaining if the number of products made in Japan dropped to zero?　I don't think so.

Even if the equipment industry loses, it is better if the other user industries that use the technology win.

How can we visualize and analyze the benefits of users? Isn't that the policy theme?

Next, the White Paper recognizes that Japan is an advanced country in terms of challenges, with a declining population and aging society. It recognized that we should actively promote improving employment, quality of life, and labor productivity by introducing and utilizing ICT. This approach is correct.

In other words, the telecommunications policy has moved from the former policy of expanding the telecommunications industry to the policy of using telecommunications.

This year's white paper focuses on 5G.

It features ultra-high-speed, ultra-low latency, and multiple simultaneous connections.

But the reality of it is still not there. We still don't know much about it.

As a result, the white paper is also at the stage of sharing use cases.

The industries for usage are agriculture, infrastructure, construction, and mobility.

They are putting industrial uses forward before personal use. That is a natural order of things.

At the same time, data will play a key role in 5G = IoT.

However, this is not a common perception yet.

It’s because actual examples of business and life using data are still not shared with reality.

It will be a policy issue to show the advantages of data use and distribution for users.

By the way, I found some interesting figures in the basic data of the ICT field.

The domestic production value of the information and communication industry was 99.1 trillion yen, which is 9.8% of all industries.

The contribution rate of the ICT industry to the real growth rate is 40.8%.

The trade value of ICT goods and services is 12.8 trillion yen for imports and 8.7 trillion yen for exports.

However, the impact of the industry is significant. In particular, the treatment of the trade deficit of 4 trillion yen can be a policy theme.

Research expenditure in the information and communication industry is 3.9 trillion yen, 27.4% of corporate research expenditure.

The number of researchers in the ICT industry is 176,000, which is 34.8% of corporate researchers.

It takes up a very large portion of the nation.

Although the government's investment in R&D is often discussed at council meetings, I believe that the more important theme is how to improve the R&D capabilities of the private sector.

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Copyright System Needs Action before Discussion

 ■Copyright System Needs Action before Discussion

In the previous round of The Basic Policy Subcommittee of the Copyright Council for Cultural Affairs, the subcommittee made great progress in revising the Copyright Act to take measures against piracy, including countermeasures against leech sites and making it illegal to download infringing content. Furthermore, in response to the informatization of education, it allowed schools to use copyrighted works without a license.

We are now in the middle of the next round.

The following highly challenging topics are being discussed this term:

- Facilitating the processing of rights related to the simultaneous distribution of broadcast programs on the Internet.

- Review of the compensation system for private sound and visual recordings

- Ideal copyright measures that can adapt to the digital era.

I made two comments at the beginning:

One was on the informatization of education, and the other was on the broadcasting network distribution.

The former had already been dealt with.

Meanwhile, the broadcasting network distribution was a matter for the future.

1. About the informatization of education.

It has been ten years since we started the movement to give one PC per child. Japan used to be a developing country here, with one PC for every five children. Last year's supplementary budget and coronavirus emergency measures provided a little over 400 billion yen, so we expect to achieve the goal all at once this year. At the same time, the compensation system became a set, which made the scale balanced to pen up a new outlook.

As I said at the IP Headquarters meeting, I would like to express my gratitude to the government and other related parties involved in the revision of the system, and especially to the right holders, led by Commissioner Seo, as someone in the position to promote the informatization of education.

However, the main topic was what to do with the measures next year and beyond. Therefore, I look forward to the coordination of the parties concerned.

2 Internet distribution of Broadcasting

I participated in the 2004 review of compensation for private sound and video recordings and was also involved in the organization of digital broadcasting in 2008.

There was a very fierce conflict of interest, several ministers appeared, and there were lawsuits. Still, the issue has not been resolved. That is the kind of issue this is.

On the other hand, the term "convergence of communications and broadcasting" appeared in official documents in 1992 in a report by the Telecommunications Council. It’s a topic that has been around for almost 30 years.

It has been 30 years since Japan's copyright system became uniquely designed to function only within Japan, but the discussion on the system review only started in the past one to two years.

There were numerous times this should have been discussed but was skipped:

- When the right to make transmission available was established (1997)

- When the Act on Broadcast on Telecommunications Services was established (2001)

- When the telecommunication broadcasting law was reorganized (2010).

To quickly sort out these problems, the private sector stakeholders need to be prepared and take action with a considerable amount of commitment.

The reality is that even if a third party makes theoretical organizations, it will not be put into motion.

Solving this problem is an important issue that Japan, which has lagged behind in digitalization, and cannot afford to wait. I believe that we should keep pace with overseas systems.

However, I hope to see the stakeholder groups gather their opinions and make concessions to move this forward.

Moreover, this case is also linked to the legal systems of telecommunications and broadcasting.

It should be noted that one of the reasons for the problem is that the copyright system and the telecommunication and broadcasting legal system had been discussed as separate entities.

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Kyotango City and iU have signed an agreement.

 ■Kyotango City and iU have signed an agreement.

Kyoto faces a sea. The northern end of the region faces the Sea of Japan. It’s called the Tango Peninsula.

Kyotango City and iU signed an agreement and held a signing ceremony.

Kyotango City said the agreement's mission is to revitalize the city's industries and promote ICT education.

The agreement's contents are comprehensive and promote education, culture, sports, industry, human resource development, and city planning/environment/life improvements through AI and ICT.

It is unusual for a university and a municipality to enter into a partnership of this magnitude.

Specifically, the mayor, Yasushi Nakayama, will become a "super-visiting professor" at iU, and a virtual laboratory will be set up in which iU faculty, students, and partner companies participate.

Ideas proposed include using ICT to solve Kyotango City’s issues, such as tourism promotion, and providing remote classes, such as programming classes, to elementary and junior high school students in Kyotango City.

The iU was established as an experimental university that allows all students to start their own businesses cooperating with 250 companies.

Although all students are on route to start their business, I think many students are interested in solving social problems and creating local communities, rather than wanting to get rich quickly by making a stock company.

I want to create the first model in Kyotango City.

I think we can promote human resource development and regional promotion through collaboration between the university and the region, involving faculty members, students, and partner companies.

I believe that there are things that can be created by directly connecting Tokyo and the regions.

Is it possible to expand this model throughout Japan and overseas?

That's my intention.

The signing was done by mayor Yasushi Nakayama and me, the President of iU.

Actually, mayor Nakayama and I have known each other for 40 years.

We were in the same class at university, and his name Nakayama was right after my name Nakamura, on the student name list.

The signing ceremony was also witnessed by "Carrot Cabbage," comedians who declared to live in Kyotango City from Yoshimoto Kogyo.

We wanted them to participate in this project for a lively launch.

Yoshimoto Kogyo has comedians living in each of the 47 prefectures in Japan and focuses on SDGs-like efforts to solve local issues by addressing them in “funny” ways.

Carrot Cabbage goes by the motto "Half Farmer, Half Comedian. They grow agricultural products in Kyotango-City and sell them in Kyoto in a “funny” way.

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The Super e-Sports School has been launched.

 ■The Super e-Sports School has been launched.

The Learning of Tomorrow and the Japan e-Sports Union, JeSU, have partnered to establish the “Super e-Sports School.”

Communities of universities, colleges, elementary schools, junior high schools, and high schools interested in e-sports are formed. With the participation of experts, joint curriculums will be created, and research will be conducted.

Recently, e-Sports is becoming popular in Japan, and a series of large competitions, formations of professional teams, and corporate participation have been taking place. JeSU ran a study group commissioned by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) in which I participated as a chairperson called the “Study Group on Measures to Revitalize e-Sports” (“e-Sports Study Group”). The study group estimated that the market size of e-Sports in Japan could reach 325 billion yen by 2025, including spillover areas.

In addition to its growth as an industry, the social significance of e-sports is also attracting attention in fields such as regional revitalization, inclusive society, and IoT education, etc. The e-Sports Study Group report cites “the search for the educational value of e-sports and the acquisition of evidence to support it” as future challenges. In light of the social significance of e-sports, the report recommends that “it is necessary to develop activities based on collaboration and cooperation among various parties, including educators at schools, universities and colleges, researchers in the field of education, and relevant administrative agencies including boards of education.”

The “Super e-Sports School” will be established by Learning of Tomorrow and JeSU to promote concrete initiatives by forming working groups as communities of universities, colleges, technical colleges, high schools, junior high schools, and elementary schools that are interested in introducing e-Sports into education.

- Creation and provision of joint curriculum and certification upon completion

- Research the educational effects of e-sports and obtain evidence.

- Activities to revitalize club activities

In addition, experts in the e-sports industry will be invited to participate as supporters to teach the joint curriculum and provide advice on the working group’s activities.

The organizers are Learning of Tomorrow and the Japan e-Sports Union, JeSU, with the cooperation of the CiP Council and local chapters of JeSU. Furthermore, The Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry and the Intellectual Property Strategy Promotion Office of the Cabinet Office are observers.

The initial participating schools are iU, Keio University KMD, Code Academy High School, Sapporo Shinyo High School, Sendai Ikuei High School, Chuo University Okajima Lab, Digital Hollywood University, Japan Electronics College, Musashino University Chiyoda Senior High School, Renaissance High School, and Waseda University Sports Business Institute.

We are looking for participation.

Supporters will come from a wide range of backgrounds, including experts who participated in the e-Sports Study Group, professional eSports players, team managers, event organizers, media, medical professionals, and local governments.

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