Strategy for media growth in the era of super smart technology

 ■ Strategy for media growth in the era of super smart technology

I have come to talk about the integration of communications and broadcasting for the first time in two years, after being invited by the Investment WG under the Council for Regulatory Reform.

As the meeting will not be open to the public, we will take notes to the extent they do not exceed the content briefed by the secretariat to reporters after the WG. 

After the previous discussion, the Broadcast Act was revised, and NHK simultaneous broadcasting started. It was a great achievement and great progress. However, 28 years after the phrase, joining communications and broadcasting was born, NHK simultaneous broadcasting was still 12 years behind the BBC.

The legal system for communications and broadcasting was drastically revised in 2011, and the judicial system was almost done with handling it, with the remaining task being NHK simultaneous distribution.

Ten years after the revision of the law, with the exception of terrestrial digital broadcasting, broadcasting has not changed, but communication has grown, and the gap has widened to the extent that all key stations have been taken over because of NTT's gains from operations.

American giants including Netflix have come to Japan, and soon there will be a strong influx of Chinese capital. At the same time, we are approaching the age of AI and data. Our current mission is to think about broadcasting among such things. 

A year ago, when revising the Broadcast Act, the case of the United Kingdom was brought up by the Diet. The BBC and commercial broadcasting are united, with a clear attitude for confronting Netflix and Amazon. We are taking measures on three things, 1. broadcasting platform; 2. IP cloud; and 3. data usage.

Now, the Broadcast Act has stipulated that there is an obligation for cooperation between NHK and commercial broadcasting. We are taking notice of this. Is it possible to create this 3-piece set of joint platform, IP cloud, and data usage, through the collaboration of NHK with commercial broadcasting? One point is not the small matter of a 2.5% reception fee that is a little under ¥20 billion, but whether such infrastructure can be created on a scale of several hundred billion yen.

Broadcasting is ¥4 trillion. Communication is ¥15 trillion. When we talk about merging, we tend to look at how they intersect and their common factors, but how do we increase the common multiple? We should draw up a strategy for growth, with an eye on the overall market. Is it necessary to reconsider foreign capital restrictions on the broadcasting industry? Is it still necessary to regulate the decentralization of mass media, and NTT's media investment regulations? These are the kinds of new points at issue.

The next thing that remains is copyright. As the merging of communication and broadcasting progresses, there is also the point of the division of communication and broadcasting under the Copyright Act becoming a bottleneck. We have been raising the issue for about 20 years, but the problem is that the Japanese system has the Galapagos effect, which hinders online distribution.

What I mean to say is that there are no particular systematic issues (except for copyright), but rather the strategies and vision of the private sector and business, including TV stations, are being questioned. How do we face the US-China offensive and technology shifts? I want to ask this to media companies, not the government.

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Kuni-umi Manga World Cup, 1st Award Ceremony!

 ■ Kuni-umi Manga World Cup, 1st Award Ceremony!

The "National Kuni-umi Manga World Cup".

The first award ceremony was held on Awaji Island.

The aims are to spread "Awaji Island Japan Heritage" through manga, and have exchange between domestic and foreign people by utilizing history and folklore.

http://kuniumi-mangaworldcup.jp/

It was held in two categories, "Awaji Island Japan Heritage Category" and "The Kojiki and Nihon Shoki/Man'yoshu Category".

Stories based on "The Myth of the Birth of a Nation", etc., of Awaji Island, Hyogo Prefecture, certified as a Japanese heritage site, and manga work with the subject of folklore and myths passed down throughout the country relating to "Kojiki", "Nihon Shoki", and "Man'yoshu", were collected. 437 works including those from overseas were gathered.

The honorable first prize winners ranged from professional illustrators and aspiring manga artists, to elementary school first graders.

Committee members made the following comments:

Mr. Yoshimura said, "It's a contest that requires the ability to draw manga and the ability to study history. There were also submissions from overseas, so I saw international perspectives on myths and manga."

Mr. Horii said, "Both the quality and the quantity were high."

Ms. Satonaka said, "It is the ability to shape the imagination that is the power of human beings. It is more important to be moved than for something to be useful. The world of manga is an equal and fair one, regardless of whether you are a veteran or a newcomer."

I made the following comments:

Everyone creates a new world by combining over 1,300 years of historical culture with world-leading expressions and manga. It's an endeavor that can only be done in Japan. It will be a model for the Cool Japan strategy to discover the charms of each place through pop culture, and share it with the world. The situation now makes it difficult for people to come from overseas, but when COVID-19 has settled let's share the information.

An appropriate amount of good quality works were collected. We received contributions of 437 works and paintings. There were also high-level works that seemed to be professional serializations, and works by elementary school first graders that make you feel happy as soon as you look at them. There were many works in which I myself learned about myths and Japanese culture.

Professor Satonaka once said, "Anyone can make manga. There are not only pictures, but also sentences, characters, and stories. That's why you should make a manga too." I replied, "Yes!", though I haven't submitted that assignment yet. Through this work, I too feel energized that I have to do my best.

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Now, Cool Japan Strategy - At the Liberal Democratic Party (Part 2)

 ■ Now, Cool Japan Strategy - At the Liberal Democratic Party (Part 2)

Presentation at a Special Committee for the promotion of the Liberal Democratic Party's Cool Japan Strategy, continued.

Here are two reference cases.

Firstly, e-sports.

The Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry-JeSU holds a review meeting.

Growing direct sales from the current ¥4.4 billion to ¥70 billion in 2025, and the ripple effect on markets such as product sales and education to ¥300 billion, is the target that has been set. 

The industry-government-academia actions, such as 1. formulation of usage guidelines for games, 2. base development, and 3. promotion of education, were organized.

The other is creating a base.

The CiP concept to create a base for integrating content in Takeshiba.

50 groups for content, broadcasting, communication, and universities, etc., will assemble.

Considering the introduction of the deregulation of radio waves, and robots, etc., as National Strategic Special Zones.

A base model for the government/Cool Japan strategy.

The private sector is also moving in the same way. 

Politics and government too, should please focus on the area of the Olympics. 

---------

There were some questions from members of the Diet.

Q: I think you should formulate a copyright law for the digital age, but what is your view?

A: It has been 50 years, this year, since the enactment of the Copyright Law, and so the time has come to give it a complete revaluation. We hope to focus on digital (technology), which is technology for copying and distribution, and have a system to promote its use. Would it not be a good approach to start talking about digital (technology), and create a new law?

The copyright law has become like an inn that has been repeatedly extended, and we don't know where and how it is all connected. It's a vicious cycle of not using it because we don't know how to. At the very least, we would like the law to be something that the people can read and "understand". This is what we expect from our political leaders.

Q: We should promote the development of digital archives. I also have high hopes for the National Diet Library. Will the CiP cooperate?

A: Even in government discussions, we have made proposals to request cooperation with the National Diet Library, which is a legislative body, so we are fully aware. The CiP also wants to play a supporting role.

Q: What is the World Otaku Institute?

Otaku related events held all over the world are managed by otaku from famous universities. The network's headquarters that connects these researchers is located in Tokyo. We would like your guidance.

Q: "SFX" is an important field, but it is neglected.

A: Tsuburaya Productions recognizes it as one of the world's treasures. Content policies are being promoted by different media such as movies, television, and the Internet, and 2.5-dimensional and Pokemon-like horizontally organized measures are weak. The same applies to special effects. We would like it to be taken as the theme. 

We were all able to have a really serious discussion.

Please do try to turn policies into action, thank you.

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The Report for the esports Evaluation Meeting Has Come Together.

■The Report for the esports Evaluation Meeting Has Come Together.

The Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry and JeSU, the Japan esports Union, hosted the “esports Stimulation Evaluation Meeting.”

I have finished putting together my report on the 5 meetings that I served as the Chairman for.

This may be the first governmental report related to esports in the world.

Here is a summary of the market size outlook and actions for development.

The committee members came from various fields, as participants included professional esports players, team representatives, event hosts, representatives from the gaming industry, and members of IT companies, TV stations, investment companies, research firms, law firms, healthcare institutions, health-based companies, and municipalities.

It was a thrilling exchange of opinions, and each of the thoughts of the intellectuals who all shared the common goal of healthy development of esports was constructive.

The participants from Kasumigaseki were the Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry; which put this meeting together; the Intellectual Property Strategy Headquarters of the Cabinet Office; the Ministry of Public Management, Home Affairs, Posts, and Telecommunications; the Consumer Affairs Agency; the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science, and Technology; and the Japan Sports Agency.

This involves more than industrial strategy, as intellectual property strategy, telecommunications policy, regional policy, consumer policy, education policy, and sports policy are also involved.

The Japanese government also has the correct awareness.

The first success is that this forum involving the public and private sectors was created.

Here is the content of my report.

The first topic was the size of the esports market.

We will make the market that is directly involved with esports grow by 16 times from 4.4 billion yen in 2018 to 70 billion yen in 2025.

If we include peripheral markets, such as food and drink, merchandise, and education, we will make the current 34 billion yen grow to 300 billion yen in 2025.

We set lofty goals.

In Japan, esports fans represent 8% of the gaming market.

The strategy is to bring this up to Korea’s benchmark of 47%

This means that we want to have about 25 million fans, around the same as the number of fans of professional baseball.

In order to do so, we made suggestions like the following to industry and government.

1) Improve the appeal of esports games

2) Improve the appeal of esports events

3) Improve the economic status of players

4) Turn fans into hardcore fans

5) Lower the bar for establishing laws and rules

We also evaluated the significance of esports in society from the lens of the SDGs.

1) Make life fun, healthy, and lively

2) Realize a society of coexistence and long, healthy living and revitalize the economy and rural areas

3) Realize a world where diversity is respected, sustainability builds resistance to adversity, and everything is clean and fair

Under these circumstances, we raised the following items spanning industry, government, and academia that require continuous evaluation.

1) Create guidelines related to the use of game-related IPs and permissions

2) Prepare offices across Japan

3) Identify the significance of esports from an educational perspective and organize data

Japan had been an underdeveloped esports nation despite being a major gaming power.

By building momentum from the intentions of industry, government, and academia, Japan should be able to emerge as an advanced nation.

I get the sense that this is just the beginning.

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I Visited the Kaiyodo Headquarters

■I Visited the Kaiyodo Headquarters

“Kaiyodo” is a company that Japan boasts to the world.

They have worked with Jurassic Park, Gamera, and the American Museum of Natural History, while their Choco Egg became a big hit, leading to its development as gashapon

I visited Shuichi Miyawaki, who holds the title of Managing Director despite being the Representative Director, to ask him to cooperate with iU and become a Super Visiting Professor.

Their headquarters are in Kadoma, Osaka.

It is the first modern building built by “Kongo Gumi,” the world’s oldest company that was founded in 578 and built Shitenno-ji.

In the entrance stands a guardian deity in the form of the real “Daimajin,” which the company took in upon hearing that it was about to be discarded by Daiei Film from Kyoto.

The “Choco Egg,” which they made in collaboration with Furuta Confectionery from Osaka in 2001, became an explosive hit.

Managing Director Miyawaki states, “This building was built thanks to the Choco Egg.”

It is an elite production group that has remained a compact organization of just over 40 employees and continues to only do the things it wants to do, despite this level of success.

Mr. Miyawaki also hosts the “Wonder Festival,” which is the world’s largest garage kit event.

This is a festival for Japan’s vaunted otaku.

Heroes, monsters, beautiful girls, military equipment and personnel, animals, and everything else. Pop culture and manufacturing.

This is a concentrated form of Japan’s strengths. Extremely high-level makers line up their booths.

Quiet fans with a very strong passion come to make purchases.

Kaiyodo has also helped with international film festivals in Okinawa and Kyoto.

“Let’s Break and Make” is a workshop involving breaking down figurines before putting the pieces together to create new figurines.

Figurines from Disney or Marvel are taken apart to make something unique.

I want to do this “You Can’t Do That” workshop!

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The discussion stage has been shifted to digital education by COVID-19.

 ■The discussion stage has been shifted to digital education by COVID-19. 

The bipartisan ICT in Education Parliamentary Assembly was held.

Diet members and government officials participated in person, while a total of 40 private sector advisors and media, including myself, participated via the web.

From "ICT in Education" to "Super Education".

The main point of the discussion was this: Let’s think about post-COVID-19 education where that assumption “you go to school, you use textbooks, and teachers teach you” is not real anymore. 

It's been 10 years since we started advocating for the development of digital textbooks and one PC per person. Digital textbooks were finally institutionalized two years ago, but PCs at school remained at 1 PC per five students, the lowest level in the OECD.

The "Law for the Promotion of Information Technology in Education," formulated by this council and enacted last year, has been the driving force behind a great deal of movement since the end of last year.

With the supplementary budget at the end of last year, measures will be taken toward realizing 1 PC per person, and with this emergency economic stimulus package, we will be able to achieve this at once.

Measures to allow the use of copyrights for distance education without permission were also included in this package.

It seems like a decade old problem is about to be solved all at once, and it is like a dream come true from where we were six months ago.

At the beginning of the meeting, Chairman Endo made a speech, saying, "We want to make Japan a ICT education superpower.”

From ICT education underdeveloped country to a superpower.

Let's turn the crisis of COVID-19 into a hope.

These words have got a grip on reality. 

The first thing we should pay attention to in the discussion of the legislators is that the phase moves from school to home.

A number of members pointed out that "each student should be able to take home one device," and that "homeschooling should be the main method of learning.”

They also pointed out that the problem lies in "household communication costs.”

Developing digital textbooks and ICT environment in schools is much cheaper than developing the environment at home.

It only takes a few hundred billion yen. It is such a cheap investment for the country.

That is what we've been insisting. 

It is finally coming true.

But when it comes to homes across the country, the scale of the measure changes dramatically.

Former Minister of MEXT also commented on the division of roles among ministries and agencies, saying 

“MIC and METI should be responsible for the hardware in the first place, while MEXT should be responsible for the content. However, this division of roles is currently reversed.”  

This raises the question of whether METI should be leading the whole process.

Although MEXT, as the main driver to lead this project, and MIC as the second ministry to assist MEXT had been working together on the informatization of education, exchanging personnel and so on, but the progress had been slow. However, in the past few years, METI has finally gotten serious about the measure, and due to its proximity to the Prime Minister's Office, the measure has progressed quickly. That move made MEXT work on this more and quickly. I appreciate the move. I hope they keep up the good teamwork.

MIC has little presence here.

I've been making a lot of noise about this old government ministry.

In the past, I left the government ministry to take the initiative to further promote this, but now it looks like the two top leaders are MEXT and METI.

When measures move from school to home, MIC is supposed to be in charge. I wonder if they will be able be in charge. 

A former Minister of MEXT Hase moved the discussion even further, saying "Do we need textbooks? Do we really need to spend 45 billion yen every year to distribute them? If they are digital textbooks, they can be all on one device per person.” “Teaching materials can be developed across grade levels and across subjects. Do we really need to spend five billion dollars every year on academic tests too?"

His comments were a wakeup call that Japan's educational system of textbooks, curriculum guidelines, and examinations should be fundamentally reexamined. 

It means a lot and carries great significance that these comments came from a former Minister of MEXT. 

This also means that ICT in education has advanced to the next stage, which we call "super education".

The Association for Super-Education, of which I serve as the executive director, has been advocating that infrastructure development for ICT in education which Japan should catch up as well as a cutting-edge technology reform should be both promoted. 

A cutting-edge technology reforms means establishment of "super education", which is exactly the post- COVID-19 education that was discussed in the meeting

I had assumed that COVID-19's legacy would be the advancement of ICT in education, and that the stage would shift from ICT in schools to ICT in homes, but there are signs that things can move forward much further.

I hope that we can make Japan an educational ICT superpower, or even a super education superpower.

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One PC per student will come true.

■One PC per student will come true.

All-party parliamentary group for ICT utilization in education at the Diet Members' Office Building. 

Chairperson Endo, Secretary General Moriyama, Secretary General Ishibashi, former Ministers of MEXT Nakagawa, Kawamura, Hase and Shiotani, former members of MEXT, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications (MIC) and METI, and others participated.

Following the enactment of last year's "the Act for the Promotion of Information Technology in Education," there was a big step forward in the form of a large supplementary budget, and the group meeting was filled with enthusiasm.

This is one of the achievements of the bipartisan promotion law that was passed.

One PC per person will be implemented at once, and the maintenance of the school LAN will make a great progress.

It took ten years to go from one PC for every seven people to one for every six people. We have made a huge step from there. 

Looking at it from six months ago, it's like a dream.

School informatization, which had been in the period of winter-like hardship for a long time, is now in the light.

The government will promote the project under the name "GIGA School Initiative."

Based on the Promotion Act, the government will formulate a promotion plan, and local governments will also create their plan to promote it. 

I hope that we will keep moving forward without going backward.

MEXT has taken the lead of the project, but METI, together with private companies such as COMPASS, is currently conducting a nationwide "Future Classroom Caravan" to promote the spread of the project. Furthermore, MIC is promoting the installation of optical fiber in schools and the demonstration of 5G usage, emphasizing the collaboration of the three ministries.

PC maintenance provided by the supplementary budget is 45,000 yen per person. Each prefectural government will coordinate the procurement.

MEXT has prepared a basic model for each of the three operating systems to see what can be done with it.

The supplementary budget at the end of the year was for only the grade 5 of elementary schools to the grade 1 of junior high schools as a first step. However, after the first phase, there will be a large increase in the budget, and the providing of PCs to all students will further proceed, as part of the COVID-19 emergency economic stimulus package.

80% of the LAN maintenance will be paid for by the government. That is very high percentage. 

MEX will recommend LTE use as well as Wi-Fi.

There was an explanation provided that LTE is cheaper for small schools. This is groundbreaking.

However, in response to this, a Diet member pointed out that LTE is not subsidized in this package, therefore this was intended to encourage schools to use Wi-Fi, not LTE. 

MEXT responded by explaining the budget constraint situation where Wi-Fi requires a heavy fixed cost and LTE has a running cost, and the Wi-Fi can be subsidized for, but the LTE is difficult to be financed. However, subsidizing for running costs will be an issue in the future.

MEXT’s statement that "BYOD will be introduced in the future" also made me realize that the situation has significantly changed, but whether or not to bring the devices home is "up to the local government.”

Some members of the Diet pointed out that “if that’s the case, it creates an educational gap in communication environment at home.”

That's right. They want to solve IT issues at schools as soon as possible and move quickly on to issues at homes.

Former Minister of MEXT Hiroshi Hase, urged the government to implement 1) the development of a communication environment in all schools, 2) the digitization of all textbooks, and 3) changes in teacher and student evaluation and entrance examinations.

Once again, we think we are at the stage of asking direct and very straight questions for actions to be taken. 

And now that the legislative and executive branches have taken actions, we believe that now it’s the private sector’s turn to take actions.

While school informatization seems to be over the pass, we hear from rural areas about ordinances to regulate children's use of smartphones.

The widespread restriction on the use of cell phones ten years ago is still a hindrance to school informatization.

We need to learn from the history.

The benefits of the new technology should go to children first.

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My comments on COVID-19, Part 2: Your Generation

 ■My comments on COVID-19, Part 2: Your Generation

Since I was so free and had so much time due to the stay-home by the coronavirus, I watched "My Generation" directed by David Bhatti.

The 1960s was a time when the younger generation smashed the old system. Not only in London, but around the world. Not only music, but also movies, fashion, and politics. Yes, and universities, too. What made them do it? Economic growth, population explosion, urban concentration, industrialization, media evolution, and democratization. At least it wasn't because of the plague.

What will be different after the pandemic from pre-COVID-19 era? The first would be distribution and virtualization. It will be an irreversible chemical change in society, and there will be no return to pre-COVID-19 world. It also means that community and communication will be rebuilt. 

Over the millennia, humans have been urbanizing. Civilization is the history of cities. The theme was concentration and accumulation. The residents protected themselves with city walls. However, that's why the plague spread within the walls, and by the 14th century, 20% of the world's population was dead. Wars, nuclear weapons, religions that cause conflicts, and economic depressions are all the result of civilization. If you die from it, you deserve it. The enemies of humanity are natural disasters and pathogens. All of them may shorten their own lives by concentrating in cities. Cities have learned that clusters of pathogens might happen. 

The "Attack on Titan" which depicts another civilization, may have been a sign of COVID-19. The uncivilized civilization that keeps within the city walls is being devoured by creepy titans. The wilderness outside the walls is also the territory of unintelligent titans, intelligent titans, and unknowable myths. The residents living inside the wall are reeling and have no choice but to fight.

IT and transportation were the means to completely turn over the urban concentration at once. From the latter half of the 20th century to the present century, an advanced information society and a highly mobile society have been constructed. We now have the means to communicate anytime, anywhere, and to travel anywhere, anytime. It has given us the prospect of leaving a city and spending an elegant time in a countryside.

So, what happened? More and more cities are becoming concentrated further. Tokyo has seen an increase of 2 million people over the past 36 years since 1980, and we have seen severe concentration of those people especially in the central part of Tokyo. Once IT and transportation were developed, the community wanted more intense communication, and everyone wanted to be closer. The advanced information society and the highly mobile society were denied, and in spite of this prospect, a high-density economic society was formed. Decentralization? Technology has worked in the opposite direction.

COVID-19 is bringing down the hammer on it. You guys, get away from it. The plague repeats itself. Protect yourself with technology. You know it, so why don't you do it. Disperse. Keep your distance. Make the clusters smaller. Since the world is connected by IT and transportation, this time the alarm should be sounded not locally, but globally. That is the voice I hear from the above. 

I came to my senses and looked around. People around me started working virtually by teleworking. People started to work at home. Urbanization has brought us closer to jobs and housing, but that's not good enough. Why can’t we have our jobs and housing at the same place? Why have we put ourselves through commuting hell? Why did we choose to go along with boring drinking parties of our bosses? Just an internet drinking party would do. We didn't need paper or a Inkan stamps. I feel like an idiot for spending redundant time in a conference room. I could have had meetings and drinks at the same time if I had a few terminals. I can't go back to pre-COVID-19 world.

I am sure we have something that we lose due to the coronavirus. I was hoping for economic growth relying on inbound, but it may not come back for a while. I've been trying to grow an urban live event, but I may not be back for a while. We need a new design for post-COVID-19 world. 

I'll tell you my story. It's about a story when I was in a university. I think the coronavirus will destroy universities I've just established a university, and maybe It is not quite right to say this, but I think it would be a good idea to destroy them.

Nowadays, online education and online teaching materials are being presented one after another all over the world. A number of prominent professors from prominent universities are also working on this, constantly uploading various materials. Japan also has local elementary and junior high school teachers (world-class excellent teachers) who are uploading their lessons on the internet. This works well for traditional teaching. 

No more individual teachers using a single textbook and individually copying it into their students' heads. Instead, students just watch the videos that the world's best teachers have uploaded on the internet. But teachers at school are important. Based on the recognition, we all think together, discuss together, and create together. Teachers become facilitators, not a person to just teach or to give information. The world that IT introduction to education has been aiming for is finally coming true.

Then, a list of certificates from various online courses would be more valuable than a university diploma. Learning history on the Internet carries more weight than the world in the classroom. The school becomes a place to "create” something.

Such a world should be coming in five years. I really hope it comes quickly. I want to use iU as a platform for this purpose. I want to create a virtual school coalition called "Super School," to accelerate the response to the new world.

After the coronavirus pandemic, the landscape should be changed in all areas. There are some areas where things should go back to the way they originally were before the pandemic. However, there must be many areas where things will move forward at once without undoing anything. I have a feeling that the latter will occupy a pivotal place in society. I want to endorse it.

If that is going to happen, what we need to do in anticipation of this is to get rid of the generation that cannot keep up with these changes, and to transfer the post-COVID-19 world to the younger generations. How do we design post-COVID-19 er, or what we call it Reiwa? I think that is the mission of people who were born in Heisei era. I will comply with the new design, and I hope they will come up with an awesome blueprint.

I was so free that I saw My Generation. That was my comments on it

 

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