Entertainment Strategies Amid the Coronavirus Pandemic

■Entertainment Strategies Amid the Coronavirus Pandemic

The Intellectual Property Strategy Headquarters of the Japanese government held online meetings for the Cool Japan working group, content working group, and Conception Committee one after another.

I was the only committee member from the private sector involved with all 3 meetings, and although the meetings were closed, I would like to share as much as I can, given that entertainment measures during the state of emergency caused by the coronavirus pandemic are very important.

Of these 3, the content working group is a new organization.

In the past, the Intellectual Property Committee had discussed content and industrial property rights separately, but these elements were streamlined into the current Conception Committee because AI + data has become a major issue.

However, since content exists as an independent field, we set up a working group to do a deep dive. I am serving as the Chairman.

During these 3 meetings, I started off by emphasizing the importance of measures to support live events and entertainment.

Contribution deductions and other measures were incorporated into the emergency economic stimulus package, as restaurants, tourism, and content were considered fields that were directly impacted by the coronavirus pandemic.

However, I expect concert venues, promoters, and other small- to medium-sized enterprises to collapse one after another.

It is impossible to support these forms of culture through economic policy in ordinary times.

There is a need to come up with brand new measures as part of cultural policy. We must first stop the bleeding.

Measures related to the coronavirus pandemic have been drafted as short-term measures of the Cool Japan Policy.

Content and Cool Japan policies should focus on this immediate coronavirus pandemic for some time to come.

All other policies should be considered later as measures for a post-coronavirus world.

There will be no post-coronavirus world if we cannot survive the coronavirus pandemic.

Interested parties with a sense of danger are drafting an emergency statement regarding the fields of restaurants, entertainment, and hotels.

There are 4 suggestions that will likely be published soon: 1. Support to revive excellent content and put it back on a path of growth, 2. creation of new business models, 3. acceleration of the digital shift, and 4. preparations for the development of luxury travel.

I emphasized technology in these suggestions.

Entertainment after the coronavirus pandemic will likely take a different form compared to entertainment in the past. There may also be limitations regarding how much can be expected of inbound tourism.

However, I expect technology to be used more than ever.

There is a rush to prepare environments and foundations to use technology, such as live shows using 5G and VR, as well as copyright management using blockchain technology.

On this point, there are many small- to medium-sized enterprises in the content industry, which has a weak financial foundation. Support measures will be needed to promote the adoption of technology.

However, there are also limits on how much national policy can be relied upon. Things that the private sector can do should also be done in parallel.

For example, a charity can be set up to collect private funds to be used in this field, while the government sets up tax measures for it. I think it will be necessary to be clever in this way.