2023年10月8日日曜日

The OTAKU SUMMIT was held

■The OTAKU SUMMIT was held


Based in Ikebukuro Sunshine City, as Tokyo 2020's official cultural Olympiad.

Representative of The International Otaku Expo Association (IOEA), Kazutaka Sato, was the president of the executive committee.

I gave a congratulatory speech and talk at the opening.

https://otaku-summit.jp/


Plague in the 14th century. The authority of the church declined and the Renaissance was born.

There was the birth of art and science. The Middle Ages departed, and the modern age arrived.

What will COVID-19 produce?

Artists and geeks are resting at home.

There is expression born from difficult times.

Jazz and punk were born out of oppression.

I hope that new pop music will be born.


It has been 20 years since the term "Cool Japan" was coined.

In the past, the image of Japan was that of a "Fighting nation", typified by the words "Harakiri" (ritual suicide by disembowelment) and "Kamikaze" (a suicide attack).

This image was transformed into "Fighting companies", such as Toyota, Honda, and Sony.

Now this image has been replaced by "Fighting characters", such as Naruto, Pikachu, and Super Mario. 


The Western reception of contemporary Japanese culture exhibits different characteristics from that of the old exoticism and Orientalism of Kabuki, Sumo, and Geisha.

And the power to spread, penetrate, and influence, that Japanese pop culture now demonstrates is thought to be far greater than the inspiration that Ukiyo-e once provided for the birth of Impressionism.


In 2018, the "World Otaku Institute" was launched.

The idea is for the CiP Council - an incorporated association that is creating a special zone for the concentration of pop culture in Minato Ward, Tokyo - to collaborate with the International Otaku Expo Association (IOEA), to create a headquarters for otaku researchers from around the world.

In founding this project, I stated the following.

"I want to create a network of leading experts in otaku research, and develop that into a research institute that will bring joy to researchers and fans on all five continents.

I want the World Otaku Institute to be a sandbox for researchers from all over the world, where they can play freely, make mountains how they want to, and dig in.

At the same time, I want to devise ways to circulate research funds and business money."

The trouble with Cool Japan is business.

In 2004, the government set a goal of expanding the content market from ¥11 trillion to ¥15 trillion by 2010.

Currently, the market is at ¥13 trillion, so the target has not been reached.

However, the market for character products, tourism, and other related markets that use this content will amount to ¥57 trillion.

This accounts for 10% of GDP, and is close to the amount invested in construction.

If we look at the content industry by itself, even though it's scale may not be so large, the related industries and the ripple/external effects are significant, and a composite model of earning "By" content is expected.

The government's aim is to use the content industry as a catalyst to enhance brand power and image, and to grow overall industry, including consumer electronics, food, and tourism, etc.

In recent years, the content market has been on a trend of expansion, and in particular, "Online content", such as streaming, has tripled in 2019 since 2011.

Overseas markets are also being developed, and the overseas market for Japanese content has more than doubled in the past 10 years. We can see the light.

Barcelona, Spain, 2019.

IOEA and the World Otaku Institute teamed up to host the "Otaku Summit" at "Manga Barcelona", an event focused on Japanese manga, with a 25-year history, attracting 50,000 people.

Researchers and activists from the United States, Italy, China, and Japan spoke passionately about the challenges and prospects of otaku culture.


In all of these countries, the image of otaku culture is changing for the better.

Once a niche area, it has now become mainstream.

It has become the main culture, rather than a sub-culture.

At the same time as such things were being pointed out one after the other, there were strong opinions that otaku culture is spreading globally, transcending national borders, systems, and religions.

What can otaku culture do in response to global trends such as protectionism, and the swing towards conservatism?

How can we make the most of this power to reconciliate?

How can we strategically utilize the soft power of otaku culture?

Various questions were raised.

It was an opportunity to try and take a fresh look at the possibilities of otaku culture.

The Minister of Culture for Catalonia, Ms. Mariàngela Vilallonga Vives, also attended the event, where she and the CiP Council held a ceremonial signing of an agreement to promote the integration of digital culture and technological innovation.

The idea is to promote a strategy in which cities in the East and West of the world can work together to demonstrate their strengths through pop culture.

The World Otaku Institute is located in CiP, a special tech and pop zone in the Takeshiba district of the Tokyo Bay Area. The project is to create a digital national strategic special zone where content and IT industries are concentrated.

The CiP Council is the parent body that is driving the project forward.

The city opened in September 2020 with the participation of 50 companies and organizations in the animation, game, music, and IT industries.

Pop music and tech events will also be held in Takeshiba.

A showcase for the near future.

"An interesting future that lies a little further ahead". "Change Tomorrow", both of which are abbreviated as "CHOMORO".

The first event will be held the week after the Otaku Summit.

I want to develop research on otaku culture around the world at this new center that combines technology and entertainment.

This is my presentation.

"Otaku culture - the new normal!"

https://youtu.be/1Byq4l1vhy8


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