New Edition of Creating a Super Free Society 5: Super Pop Strategies

■ New Edition of Creating a Super Free Society 5: Super Pop Strategies

　Recent book "New Edition of Creating a Super Free Society: After Coronavirus is the Era of Cats." An excerpt is below.

From Chapter 3, Super Pop Strategy.”

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○ Cool Japan is a foreign word

Magical Lovely won the M1 Grand Prix 2020, the final battle of manzai. The art of tsukkomi and boke, who goes on a rampage without speaking, sparked controversy as to whether it was a comic dialogue or not. Punk that overturns the expression of interaction and chatter that this tournament, which has a history of 20 years, has nurtured from Nakagawa-ke to Milk Boy.

However, manzai has had various styles since ancient times, such as music, dance, thuds, and grumbles. Fixing it to chatty talk is a way to throw away pop and escape to traditional performing arts. Inverting and diversifying forms is a requirement of pop culture. Pop manzai dared to dominate punk expressions in the midst of the Coronavirus crisis.

Entertainers, artists, and creators had no choice but to stay at home. There is an expression that is born in a difficult era of peace and harmony. Both jazz and punk were born out of repression. “Good Times Bad Times” (Led Zeppelin)

Yoshimoto comedians called themselves a home theater and rolled out stories on their smartphones one after another. A new kind of laughter was born. Gen Hoshino's post on Instagram, "Let's dance at home," involved artists and politicians, and created a series of expressions such as videos and dances. Live music performances with avatars were also made.

In e-sports, which has become a global boom due to stay-at-home demand, top players from F1, tennis, and the NBA have participated, and efforts have been made to integrate them with real sports. The virtual Tour de France, in which athletes ride bicycles on indoor machines and compete for time, was held, showing the possibility of holding the Olympics virtually.

Coronavirus is giving birth to new expressions and new entertainment. Even now, there must be sprouts that cannot be seen, fetal movements that cannot be heard. I hope a neo-renaissance emerges.

Super free society is a dazzling entertainment society. It will be a pop and cool entertainment life. How will technology expand entertainment and pop culture? How will entertainment and pop culture survive in a super free time society?

Shonen Knife is a female band from Osaka. I was a director in the 80's. In the 90s, they replaced the Rolling Stones in a Microsoft commercial and partnered with Nirvana on their world tour. They were the most famous Japanese band in the world. 

An artist who surpassed that popularity has appeared. It's Hatsune Miku. In 2012, they won first place in an international vote for the singer most wanted to sing at the opening ceremony of the London Olympics. Paul McCartney sang “Hey Jude” on the show, and Hatsune Miku never materialized. However, this shows that Japanese digital pop has taken root worldwide.

James Bond escorted Her Majesty the Queen from the air at the London Opening Ceremony. Mr. Bean played the synthesizer. David Beckham assists and Paul appears. Cool Britannia. Good for them. So I asked 1,000 students in London: who is worthy of being on stage at the opening ceremony of Tokyo 2020?

Unfortunately, the name of a politician is not mentioned. Unfortunately, neither artists nor athletes are mentioned. Gundam, Son Goku, and Pikachu were mentioned. I don't know if they are Japanese. But they can represent Japan. Because Japan is a land of characters. There is no longer an image of a country of harakiri and kamikaze fights. There is no image of competing companies such as Toyota, Honda, and Sony. Now it is Naruto, Death Note, One Piece, Bleach, Yugioh, Sailor Moon, Conan, Grendizer, Cowboy Bebop, Ranma. Japan is a land of pop culture.

Closing ceremony of the 2016 Rio Olympics. After Captain Tsubasa, Doraemon, Pac-Man, and Hello Kitty, Abe Mario appeared from a clay pipe. Manga, anime, and games used to be subject to government regulation, but now they are showing that they are national treasures on the other side of the world.

　

The face changed completely. At the beginning of this century, things were different.

A woman in her 20s living in a high-rise apartment in Hong Kong said, "I want to live in Japan." Why? "Because all Japanese people live in single houses." I've never lived in a single house, though? Who lives in one? "Doraemon." "Chibi Maruko-chan." Oh. "Crayon Shin-chan." Yeah. "Arale-chan."

Hey, do you know the Japanese Prime Minister? "I don’t know him." Do you know the CEOs of Sony, Toyota, or Honda? "I don't know. Only those people I know." I don't know if Doraemon and Arale are "Japanese." But it is certain that they are the face of Japan.

Men dancing with Yoko Maekawa's Cutie Honey in the background. Women in Japanese high school girl cosplay costumes. Ganguro is also Yamanba. Cosplay, headgear, visual kei, kiwamono, lolita, gothic lolita. In the manga corner, not only French translations but also original Japanese versions are lined up. Fujoshi-style flocking to anime DVDs, children trying out the latest PSP games, swords, stuffed animals and dolls, and live performances. Long lines for takoyaki. Ramen, curry, gyoza bowls, beef bowls, udon, rice balls.

This is the venue for the Japan Expo held in the suburbs of Paris in early summer. A festival of Japanese culture that combines pop culture centered on manga, anime, and games with traditional culture such as calligraphy, martial arts, tea ceremony, and origami. Started in 2001, 250,000 people visited in 2019 in 4 days.

Los Angeles "Anime Expo," 350,000 people, Barcelona "Manga Barcelona," 150,000 people, London "Hyper Japan," 130,000 people. Pop culture festivals held in various parts of Europe, America, and Asia are troubled by overcapacity at the venues. 2020 was forced to be postponed and online due to Coronavirus, but how should we judge the demand to return after Coronavirus? The Japanese department at the University of Frankfurt has only two professors, but has 500 students because of the Japanese pop culture craze. Overcapacity.

Stanford University Professor Robert Laughlin won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1998. So I asked. What did you enjoy most about winning the Nobel Prize? "It's about getting Otomo’s autograph." AKIRA and Steamboy 's Katsuhiro Otomo? "I kept sending fan letters to Mr. Otomo, but they were all in vain. When I reported the Nobel Prize, he sent me a signature. The Nobel Prize is amazing." Mr. Otomo is more amazing than the Nobel Prize. I later told Mr. Otomo that Professor Laughlin had said so. Mr. Otomo didn't remember who it was.

In both the United States and Europe, Japanese manga has surpassed local comics in popularity. In Europe and the United States, where from ancient times books were written horizontally and bound on the left, there is now a cultural and historical phenomenon in which translated versions of Japanese manga that are opened with the right hand and bound on the right are lined up in bookstores.

I entered a bookstore in La Défense, a suburb of Paris. The Japanese manga section is much larger than the French manga bande dessinée section. In one corner, the alphabet "YAOI" is written. It says "Boy's Love" in lower case below. Putting aside BL, there aren't many Japanese people who know the word "yaoi." But the first Japanese word that La Défense children learn may be yaoi. Ganguro and Yamanba, which were extinct in Japan, or should have been exterminated, survive here. The power of propagation and permeation of that culture.

Angered by the Senkaku issue, the Chinese cursed him violently, calling him "Leven Guiz." Japanese netizens created a moe character "Hinmoto Oniko" and knocked the other party on their knees. During that time, when I gave a lecture at the Political Science Department of Peking University, I was bombarded with questions about Japanese anime and games from dozens of doctoral students. If you like it so much, I ask you to stop the Senkaku turmoil. What Japanese do they like? 3rd place was Hayao Miyazaki, 2nd place was Doraemon, and 1st place was Sora Aoi. They say they’re watching a pirated version. Hey, Political Science.

"People's War of Resistance against Japan Memorial Hall" in the place where the Marco Polo Bridge Incident occurred in 1936. The Chinese army, fighting the Japanese opponent anyway . A cruel picture is still displayed. The store was overflowing with Prince of Tennis key chains and Hello Kitty pens. What is it that you really like?

According to Takamasa Sakurai's "Chinese Girls Who Love Japan Too Much," 10,000 Chinese people will sing anime songs in Japanese at AniSummer Shanghai. It is said that Chinese girls are proud of the word otaku, as well as BL and fujoshi. It is said that the BL girl is really fine. They are quite energetic.

In 2002, Douglas McGray published his thesis, "Japan's Gross National Cool," which inspired the term "Cool Japan." Gross National Cool is a concept likened to GNP (gross national product), and it is an index of national power that can be called "fashionable cultural power." Cool Japan is a foreign word.

At the outset, he states: "Japan is reinventing superpower -- again. Instead of collapsing beneath its widely reported political and economic misfortunes, Japan's global cultural influence has quietly grown. From pop music to consumer electronics, architecture to fashion, and animation to cuisine, Japan looks more like a cultural superpower today than it did in the 1980s, when it was an economic one."

In 2002, there was another incident that made the world recognize the power of Japanese pop. Hayao Miyazaki's "Spirited Away" won the Grand Prix (Golden Lion Award) at the Venice International Film Festival. A coming-of-age story of a girl who survives in a ubiquitous space inhabited by eight million gods. This esoteric animation was evaluated at a prestigious film festival. James Cameron's "Titanic" is the highest-grossing movie in the world, but this work has long held the number one position at the Japanese box office. Japanese pop is supported by an aesthetic audience.

New Year 2021 began with the big news that "Kimetsu no Yaiba" surpassed the box office in just two months after its release. It changed the lead for the first time in about 20 years. But after all, Japan is anime.

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iU 's ambition, rejected by the Ministry of Education!

■ iU 's ambition, rejected by the Ministry of Education!

The Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology is promoting a university education DX project called ScheemD . Universities are soliciting digital education ideas, pitching them, and matching them with companies in an attempt to implement and expand them horizontally. It is a plan to prepare opportunities for open innovation rather than subsidies from the government.

iU was created in the first place to promote education and research in collaboration with many companies in order to promote the DX of the earth. This time, there were 104 applications, 10 of which were selected for presentation, but iU was not selected.

All of the selected projects such as apps and teaching materials look attractive, but they are different from iU 's approach of developing an entire university, so the prospects for adoption are slim in the future. It's a waste, so I'll show you the presentation I would have made if it was accepted. Welcome to interested companies.

This is iU President Ichiya Nakamura.

iU, which develops innovative human resources centered on digital technology, will build a future school that implements all advanced technologies, establish a participatory platform i Research Institute, and promote super-education as a horizontal development.

Therefore, today's purpose is to ask for three points: fund formation, overseas collaboration, and deregulation.

iU, which opened in April 2020, has 80% of its 28 full-time faculty members from the industrial world, and about 300 visiting faculty members.

The first pillar is Digital First.

Of course, classes and meetings will be held online, and we are working hard to build a hybrid environment even after the campus opens.

In order to expand the digital learning environment, we will develop our own web, software, applications, etc.

We will create a website for sharing university lectures, "Lectures for Everyone".

There is also a project to create a database of academic background/career such as resume, papers, and qualifications.

We will implement these applications and digital environments in cooperation with companies.

Another pillar is Project First.

We are already building various projects with 250 partner companies.

Students learn through projects.

On top of that, the biggest feature of iU is that all students start up their own businesses over the course of four years.

In order to create a university for Society 5.0, we will promote a concept consisting of 1. Educational test bed “Future School,” 2. Research platform “i Research Institute,” and 3. Collaborative movement “Super Education.”

By 2030, we aim to become a core educational and research institute that brings about innovation in the digital business field and function as an international hub.

First, we will build a “Future School” model that looks ahead to 2030.

All lectures will be online and archived.

We will make full use of the real campus and enhance hybrid classes such as workshops and manufacturing by connecting with digital.

We will also thoroughly implement digital work for faculty and staff.

We will develop a “future school” that is implemented on campus by fully mobilizing next-generation digital technologies such as 5G/6G, IoT, robots/drones, AI/data, and 8K/VR/AR.

The Takeshiba Satellite in Minato-ku, Tokyo is located in the Smart City of the National Strategic Special Zone.

This model will be connected and coordinated with other schools.

We wiill connect multiple points with 5G, share images with 8K and VR, and learn using AI and robots.

Mutual authentication of units will use blockchain between schools.

Other educational implementations are possible.

Second idea. We will establish a research institute "i Research Institute" based on a "future school" that implements advanced technology.

Focusing mainly on the digital field, it will be positioned as a participatory platform that connects universities, research institutes, regions, and human resources around the world.

A place for matching issues, ideas, technology, money, skills, and people.

We will form three communities: university/laboratory, field, and player.

A community that collaborates with universities and research institutes around the world.

Regardless of whether it is virtual or real, we will set up a laboratory and make it a field all over the world.

Our goal is to assign one million researchers.

Together with 250 partner companies, we will improve the learning environment for students, expand the possibilities of projects and entrepreneurship, and make it possible to draw a large output.

In order to promote this, I would like to establish an iU fund with a public benefit.

Concept 3. Through cooperation with the incorporated association "Super Education Association," we will improve and reform the education as a whole by connecting and integrating iU 's efforts with many educational institutions.

The Super Education Association is an organization that brings together economic organizations such as Keidanren and more than 30 digital industry groups such as IT and software, and has 8,000 affiliated companies.

AI, IoT, blockchain, and other technologies that represent Society 5.0 will lead to changes that reconsider the content, environment, and evaluation of learning, such as subjects, exams, and schools.

We will explore "super subject," "super exam," and "super school."

In order to realize this concept and expand it horizontally both domestically and internationally, I would like to request the following three points from the government and related organizations.

I would like to form a ten billion yen fund to promote this.

Since it will be a fund with a high degree of public benefit in the form of education and research, I would like to consult with you about its realization.

Next is overseas cooperation. We would like to collaborate with leading overseas educational and research institutions, so we would like to receive introductions through the national network.

And deregulation. It is hoped that the regulations applied to the introduction of technologies such as robots, drones, and the use of radio waves in education will be relaxed.

Once again, I would like to thank you for giving me the opportunity to make this presentation.

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New Edition of Creating a Super Free Society 4: Super Tech Strategy

■ New Edition of Creating a Super Free Society 4: Super Tech Strategy

　Recent book "New Edition of Creating a Super Free Society: After Coronavirus is the Era of Cats." An excerpt is below.

From Chapter 2, "Super Tech Strategy."

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○ It can protect or injure

2020 is the first year of AC (after Coronavirus). BC (Before Coronavirus) and history before that are divided. The second year of AC was the beginning of a withdrawn, quiet, and tumultuous world.

Twenty years ago, the U.S. presidential election, in which Bush vs. Gore went all the way to the Supreme Court, showed that America was extremely divided, something continued between Trump and Biden. A mob, fueled by the incumbent president, took over the Capitol building, and some were killed in shootings. The world witnessed the live online broadcast.

I was surprised at the world's gaze, not surprised at America's deterioration, saying, "Oh, that's the kind of country there is." Both Facebook and Twitter have suspended the president's account. A company criticizes the head of state. I was surprised at the disinterested public gaze.

Compared to this, even if the state of emergency was declared for the second time, Japan remained quiet. No tear gas was shot and no bloodshed was seen. However, conflicts over the containment of infections and the maintenance of the economy are also quietly progressing. The division between BC and AC will become apparent in the future. Japan has escaped the hardships of the previous defeat, despite major incidents such as security disturbances, oil crises, religious cult terrorism, and earthquakes.

There is a case of separating AC and BC. The first year of AC is the first year of 5G. Until 4G, it was a generational evolution of high speed and large capacity. 5G is a service for IoT with ultra-low latency and simultaneous multiple connections, as well as ultra-high speed. There will be a shift from person-to-person communication to object-to-object communication. It is not evolution on a continuous line. It is a turning point where the communication signal is switched.

In parallel with the spread of 5G, the government is asking the industry to reduce mobile phone charges by 40%. Thirty-five years after the liberalization of telecommunications in 1985, deregulation has continued, and fees have become unregulated, but isn't it too expensive now? They say. It's hard for Rakuten, which just entered the market.

NTT made DOCOMO a wholly owned subsidiary. Also in 1985, NTT, which had changed from a public corporation to a joint-stock company, was split up in 1999 because it was considered too strong, and a collar was put on it to prevent it from rampaging. However, before I knew it, GAFA was in control of the business and data. The government has raised the white flag of digital defeat. 5G is also ahead in other countries, and Japanese companies are not doing well overseas. The government did not object to decentralized NTT's reversal of consolidation, and the reorganization was smoothly arranged. For me, who was involved in both the liberalization of communications and the breakup of NTT, it seems to me that the times have been divided.

During the liberalization of telecommunications in the 1980s, I was writing Diet statements as a bureaucrat. At that time, the government was aiming for an advanced information society. Minister, what is an advanced information society? Answer: "We are living in a society where people from all over the world can share images in real time." Minister, what will happen if that happens? Answer: "When people around the world understand each other, world peace will come."

September 11th, the year the century began. I got caught up in September 11 in New York and died. I was driving in a good mood listening to Puffy, so I don't know what's going on. I saw it on CNN at a coffee shop where I stopped by and learned that it was a vulgar terrorism.

When I called Tokyo in a hurry, everyone was confused after seeing the scene where the plane crashed in real time on the evening news. Americans commute to work or school on the East Coast, and sleep on the West Coast due to the time difference, so many did not see it in real time. It was an incident that shocked Japanese people more.

An advanced information society where people all over the world can share images in real time has arrived. But world peace was a lie. If you share the video, hatred will grow, isn't it terrorism? After that, the Iraq War broke out despite the anti-war movement in the Internet world. On the battlefield, pinpoint bombing with GPS and soldiers with wearable equipment killed people with digital technology.

The technology is already in your hands. It promotes both anti-war and war. The net is on the side of politicians and on the side of terrorists. It's like a knife, it can both protect and injure. It is up to the user to decide. The century of digital users has begun.

At the end of 2001 Osama bin Laden was second in an online poll for TIME magazine's Person of the Year. Masashi Tashiro won first place. In 9/11, it was the people of 2-channel who pushed the Japanese to the top of the world in terms of voyeurism. Far Eastern users have brought in the established Western mass media. Individuals are empowered. The mass media have become relative. The hierarchy has collapsed.

　

Ten years later, in 2011, bin Laden was killed. He went into hiding in Pakistan, didn't use the internet or phone, but his hideout was identified. Even though it was a large mansion in the city, it was exposed because there was no communication line. The secret is leaking. Offline is not safe either. “Secret” (Slap Happy)

In the same year, Colonel Gaddafi of Libya was also killed. It is questionable why the Colonel is the head of state, but it is said that a drone bombed him. There are no safe zones. In the same year, Egypt's Mubarak government was overthrown by a chain of people on Facebook and Twitter. It also launched suicide missiles. It was also an IT war that read each other's radar.

The Nagorno-Karabakh War began near the Caspian Sea in September 2020. Azerbaijan has destroyed 160 Armenian tanks with Turkish drones.

On the same social media, Islamist extremists gather young warriors from around the world. China has set up a firewall like the Great Wall of China and is desperate to control the people. It will also impose restrictions on the activities of foreign companies. They take intra-regional block tactics proudly. The octopus pot effect is strengthening.

In an agricultural society, land is the resource. Oil is the resource for industrial societies. In the information society, data is the resource. In search of land and oil, nations went to war again and again. But the company owns the data. Its champion, GAFA (Google, Apple, Facebook, Amazon.com), has gained power that surpasses that of ordinary nations. The position of the state and the company became even. A silent revolution that changed power without war.

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MaaS in Tokyo Bay, land, sea, and air!

■ MaaS in Tokyo Bay, land, sea, and air!

SALON CiP Online.

“MaaS Demonstration Experiments in the Bay Area" Part 2.

Sky and land. We invited two startups that are promoting new mobility services and asked them to present their ideas for demonstration experiments using the bay area.

This is the report.

Mr. Yusuke Haga, who is developing a "flying car.”

A small 2-seater 5m x 5m machine that takes off and lands vertically with electric self-driving. Flight distance 2~30km. Roughly 50 million yen.

I want it.

It is expected to be commercialized in 2023. It will be part of the contents of the Osaka Expo.

For practical use, it is said that rules such as safety, license, takeoff, and landing field requirements are necessary.

"We expect the area around Tokyo Bay to be the implementation area."

If they can connect areas such as Takeshiba.

In fiscal 2025, it is expected that demonstration will be carried out using the coastal sandbox system.

And electric scooter sharing, President Daiki Okai of Luup.

They handle electric assist bicycles and electric kickboards.

I want it.

They advocate an infrastructure that "turns the city into the station" with overwhelming high density and IoT management.

They are thinking of a car body that can move at 20km/h for young people, and move at 6km/h with a chair for elderly people .

The area has expanded from Shibuya to the Omiya district. Next is the bay area.

Cooperation with the local community is an important point, and it is said that the government and ruling parties are also being consulted on the development.

Unexpectedly, I am an adult.

When I was a child, the magazines were popular with the future fantasies.

The former has long been realized, but the air car remains a dream. It will come true.

And as I don't want to ride a bicycle anymore, I was thinking of buying an electric scooter, so it's timely.

In the last salonship, there was a story about ships.

Developing land, sea, and air routes to connect Ariake, Daiba, Haneda, and Takeshiba.

Exciting.

Luup’s Okai mentioned IoT management. Land, sea and air traffic control, network control, in other words, information technology is the core.

The point is the digital service in the layer above that.

And it is important to expand use cases and core users.

I want this technology, service, attracting customers, and CiP to be useful.

Haka from Skydrive: "Institutionalization is impossible for a single venture company; cooperation is important."

Okai from Luup: “It is important to have agreements with local governments in order to tune up the circumstances specific to the area.”

In response to these issues, Ito and Shirai from the port area of Tokyo showed a policy to demonstrate in the coastal area.

It is really heartening to hear a positive story from the authorities.

Tokyo wants to make the most of its advantage as a capital by the sea.

There are cities where the seaside is bustling. Singapore, Barcelona, Marseille, San Francisco.

But it doesn't go all the way to the bay.

You don't have models overseas, do you?

Okai: “Tokyo and Paris are the only cities with large urban areas. However, there are cities that have closed roads due to COVID-19 and turned them into bicycle lanes, but in that respect Japan is lagging behind.”

Haga: "I'm enthusiastic about the Expo in Osaka and Mie’s remote island, but I'm even more enthusiastic about Singapore, so I'm using it as a benchmark."

How to create a mobility infrastructure. It's an important issue.

IT = advanced information society, mobility = advanced mobile society are progressing at the same time.

The crux is electricity and IT data.

Post-Coronavirus, that fusion will likely make for an unexpectedly fun society.

Let's break through with this kind of bright story and become healthy.

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