The future of soft power policies

 ■The future of soft power policies

I was invited for a talk at the LDP's Soft Power Special Committee.

Appearing there were people like Chairman Takeo Kawamura (former Chief Cabinet Secretary and Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, and Science), Toshiaki Endo (former Olympics Minister), Masahiko Shibayama (former Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, and Science), and Takeaki Matsumoto (former Minister of Foreign Affairs).

I shared my personal opinion on the current state and issues around soft power, Cool Japan, and content policies as follows.

About 30 years ago, Harvard University professor Joseph Nye, who proposed the theory of soft power, pointed out that Japan should make use of the power of pop culture in particular.

The term "Cool Japan" originates in 2002, when Douglas McGray published a paper called "Japan's Gross National Cool," stating that the country changed from an economic powerhouse in the 80s to a cultural powerhouse in the 90s.

Compared to hard power, the evaluation criteria for soft power are not clear, and it is difficult to handle in terms of policy. And Cool Japan refers to things discovered about Japan from overseas. So the point is less about how to launch what Japan wants, but how to develop the kind of content people overseas are looking for. It was because of that trend that pop culture was the central theme, rather than traditional arts.

One frame of reference is NHK's Cool Japan program. It is a long-lived program that has run for 14 years since 2006, where foreigners living in Japan talk about what is cool about the country. I appear once monthly, and there are seemingly endless topics. The foreigners propose idea after idea. The more you explore, the more cool content Japan has to offer.

At first, a lot of the content was around pop culture like anime and games, but now it covers a wider range. Food topics include rice bowls and ramen. Other topics are friends, shopping, books, club activities, aquariums, convenience stores, deliveries, manners, and more. A recent topic was take-out food. The program talks about how a new culture is being born out of the bento box culture in the wake of COVID-19.

The government began paying particular attention to the content industry from the early 2000s.

In 2003, the Intellectual Property Strategy Headquarters was established, and together with related ministries and agencies such as the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry and the Agency for Cultural Affairs, they began focusing on intellectual property policies such as those around use of content. There has been a shift from domestic emphasis and industrial promotion measures in the past to an emphasis on overseas expansion and growth on the Internet.

First is overseas expansion. On a funding basis, policy tools have been built up, such as the establishment of the Cool Japan Fund in 2013. Overseas sales increased by 26% in 5 years. Anime increased by 3.6 times, and movies by 4.3 times. Broadcasting increased by 4.3 times. It could be said to be the result of the policies that were made. However, Japan's sales account for just 2.5% of the overseas market, so further growth is expected.

Next is development online. Online streaming grew from 9.5% in 2008 to 26.0%, but there is a big difference by area, with manga taking up 40%, anime 15%, music 8%, and video 4%. Sales in publishing increased last year for the first time in 23 years. The electronic publishing copyright business saw growth. On the other hand, the Japanese music industry has not been able to ride the wave of the global market growing online.

Overseas players are a threat, such as from pirated manga, anime on Netflix, games being made for the cloud, such as by Google, and music on Spotify. However, they also provide production funding and overseas sales channel expansion. Streaming has grown in unique ways due to emergency demand under COVID-19, but the question is how Japan's content industries should get on board with that.

I propose two trajectories to take.

First is matching between content and other domains. Strategies that leverage synergistic effects through collaborations between content and fashion, food, tourism, and other industries are key.

Of the 10T JPY from Pokémon-related sales, more than 6T JPY is in the character merchandise business.

Sales from anime creators are 240B JPY, and the rights business is 2.1T JPY. It's nearly 10 times larger.

Another issue is compatibility with Society 5.0. The content industry, which is mainly made up of small and medium-sized enterprises, has been unable to adapt.

Distribution will shift to 5G and the cloud, and content will be viewed through diverse environments such as IoT and VR. In particular, it is important to develop systems for data usage. Netflix is a targeting business based entirely on data, but domestic TV is unable to use viewing data.

Also, coordination between intellectual property strategy (copyright) and IT strategy (telecommunication encryption) is an important issue in anti-piracy measures. Similarly, policy issues surrounding intellectual property, content and IT, and technology are likely to grow. The Digital Agency has become an important issue for the Suga Cabinet, but the state of administrative organizations around Cool Japan should also be evaluated.

Here are two private sector projects I was involved in. The first is e-sports.

Japan has been late to the game in e-sports, but the environment is in place, so it looks poised to set off as an industry. According to a report by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry and JeSU, it is predicted that it will grow by 16 times in the next five years. It is growing rapidly due to demand under COVID-19, and growth is slated to be faster than expected. However, to that end, there are issues that should be addressed by both industry, government, and academia.

Another example is about building sites. In September, the CiP opened in Takeshiba, Minato-ku, Tokyo as a site to aggregate content. Content creators, IT, universities, and other entities congregate here to run pop and tech projects. Digital Minister Takuya Hirai stated that he would like to make this location a branch of the Digital Agency, and preparations are underway.

We'd like to make it a hub by promoting cooperation within Tokyo, such as with sites like Haneda and Shibuya, and cooperation with other cities such as Sapporo, Nagoya, Kyoto, Osaka, Fukuoka, and Naha. Agreements have also been concluded with governments and local municipalities that are keen on content, such as the Korea Creative Content Agency and the Spanish state of Catalonia, and we will also promote collaborations with international cities. Talks are also underway with Shanghai.

The live entertainment industry has been hit the hardest by COVID-19. CiP has compiled some statements and is moving to ask the government and bureaucracy to take action. The content includes a mechanism to shore up content dissemination from rural areas, and support for utilizing the latest technology such as 5G and AR/VR. We have also expressed our interest in cooperating on measures such as the establishment of funds by the music industry.

Based on the above, I have 5 requests to make.

DX

This is the first topic of importance for the current administration. Digital support for content is still insufficient. There is an urgent need for live streaming, global expansion, and AI and data support. We should provide support and guidance through tax systems and the like.

Education

The foundation of soft power and Cool Japan is a creative cultural state where everyone can participate and create in a free environment. That requires education that maintains and enhances the creativity of the citizenry.

This year, the one computer per person policy will be realized in elementary and junior high schools all at once. I hope they will proceed with measures like enhancing creative activities through programming learning.

Core organizations

I want to create a core organization for public-private partnerships that advance the Cool Japan policy.

This has been repeatedly proposed at government meetings, and it has also been described in recent intellectual property plans. The private sector will prepare a context for this to work, so we should at the very least implement it and let them run with it.

"Ministry of Culture"

The Digital Agency is important, but administrative IT is the core pillar undergirding this. What is more important is the fusion of IT and intellectual property policies.

Recently, the Keidanren proposed the idea of a Ministry of Digital Affairs and Ministry of Information Economy and Culture. Digital is but a means, while the purpose is culture. I also agree with the establishment of a powerful ministry organ that represents the shape of the country to come. The core is culture, so the name should be the Ministry of Culture.

Olympics and Expos

There is no country that has had as many opportunities given to it as Japan. This should be used intensively for hybrids approaches, such as as a promotion venue for soft power.

Japan is seen by the world as creative, but it doesn't see itself as such. We have a low sense of self-affirmation. It's this issue of the prevailing atmosphere. We need to freshen things up and breathe new life into it so Japan can see itself for what it truly is. I hope the political leadership will take charge here.

A lawmaker asked how we should strengthen soft power through digital education.

Digital is a tool for creation and expression. It's therefore more effective for music, arts, and crafts than language, arithmetic, science, and sociology curricula. The extent of that education is the source of soft power. So double the time for music, arts, and crafts classes!

That was my reply.

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Looking back on Mr.Isao Okawa.

 ■Looking back on Isao Okawa.

I read Nishi Kazuhiko's "Record of Regrets" and I found myself deeply reflecting on the fact that it's been 20 years since Mr.Isao Okawa passed away.

He is a major entrepreneur who helped bring CSK, Sega, and Bell System 24 public, but there are fewer people who know about him nowadays.

None of the students at iU likely know him.

Yet it's a grave loss to forget about that old timer.

When he died in March 2001, I spent a lot of time writing memorial messages for him.

I left the government office and went to MIT, and since that time it was Mr. Okawa who gave me a chance to idle about in academia, and it was truly a shame that he passed away just before various digital projects and projects for children, such as the MIT Okawa Center, came to fruition.

One such message is here.

You can read it below. ↓

March 22, 2001: What Mr. Okawa leaves us (by Ichiya Nakamura), Nikkei Digital Core

http://www.ichiya.org/jpn/NikkeiNet/nikkeinet_010322_vol5.pdf

In other words, Mr. Okawa is the source of programming education and one computer per person idea that was later disseminated around MIT and elsewhere, and is a major global contributor to digitization of education.

But what I want to convey here is how he came across as that 20th century persona of someone who is wild and sexy, a flashy spender, which was in total contrast to his amazing feats. I have never met the likes of him since. He was quite an amusing man.

I first met him when I was a newcomer at the government office. The year was 1984.

I was with the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications in the telecommunications bureau, and we were in the midst of formulating a bill for the Telecommunications Business Act to liberalize telecommunications.

On a nearly daily basis, Mr. Okawa negotiated with the executives.

Even though he was the president of a software company, he was like a private officer pitting the Ministry of International Trade and Industry against him.

I used to regularly serve him tea each day.

After that, in 1995, when I was sent to spy in Paris, I attended to him as part of G7 proceedings, as described in the memorial I wrote.

After returning to Japan, I started frequently taking part in a salon that Makoto Naruke of Microsoft held every month in Akasaka.

I met up with Mr. Okawa again there, but I wasn't in a position to talk freely with a bigwig who was 35 years my senior.

I would just get tipsy and gaze at him from a distance.

I burst open the door to the restroom and found Mr. Okawa there, pants down, taking a leak. I felt like I had seen something I shouldn't have, and scurried back to the parlor. I was sipping my drink, and he came out and shouted, "OK, who just took a peek at my ass?"

It was this guy, this guy.

It was like one of those interrogation routines in a Yoshimoto standup comedy duo, and he recognized me.

It was slightly later that Kazuhiko Nishi proceeded with the MIT investment project to save ASCII, pitching the idea of establishing a research institute to Mr. Okawa. It was then that he suggested I quit my government job and go to MIT.

Mr. Okawa appraised me over a round of drinks.

"So you'll leave the government. You sure you're okay with that?"

I would be going alone to the US, but I had no money to my name, and nowhere for my family to live.

"We have this apartment available, so they can live there."

It was a rather impressive apartment in Nagata-cho.

So my family moved in.

In the adjacent apartment was Koichi Hamada.

Across the way was Shin Kanemaru's office, from which illicit gold bullion donations were later found.

Many of the letters that arrived at the apartment were addressed to the Onko Chishin no Kai.

It was an office rented to Michio Watanabe, apparently.

And here were we, this suspicious family in the midst of it all.

As for what become of us after that, well, we still live on the fourth floor.

Mr. Okawa would take the stage and enthusiastically sing "Tokyo Rhapsody," which was tantamount to the CSK company song, leisurely dancing a traditional Japanese dance as well as the masters. He was a versatile entertainer. One of his other performative acts was handing out money.

Night after night, at high-end restaurants in Akasaka, he would slip envelopes with money in them into the sleeves of geisha entertainers.

He would put 10,000 JPY in small envelopes and bring lots of those every time, tossing them over to the entertainers while sharing frivolous and erotic stories with them.

What a bigwig.

That's not something your run-of-the-mill company president could do.

Only people who succeed at entrepreneurial ventures have the chutzpah to safeguard the old culture like this.

I often helped him prepare the envelopes by putting bills in them.

What a bigwig.

When Daijiro Hashimoto was elected governor of Kochi Prefecture, he donated more than 200 paintings by Chagall to the Prefectural Museum of Art to celebrate.

Why, I asked? He just said, "Chagall is dead. Dead artists are considered the good ones."

Although, he was enthusiastic about supporting Mr. Konishiki and other living people.

(I wish he had given me at least one...)

What a bigwig.

He went to the main Paris location of Hermes and said, "Give me all the neckties from this side of the display to that side." As his interpreter, I hesitated.

He then asked me to buy six bottles of milk, which I bought at the sticker price, and he spent an hour chastising me for not getting it at a discount.

It really gave me a glimpse into these two sides of him: the star-studded bigwig, and the penny-pinching man who had worked his way up from the docks.

He was the first person I worked for after leaving the government for the private sector.

Once I joined the private sector, I expected to find tons of these larger-than-life characters.

But the reality is that I never met another like him.

He had a vineyard on the west coast, and I had access to Bellinger whenever I wanted when he was around.

I still have a single 1999 vintage.

I plan to open it on the 20th, the anniversary of his death.

Thank you once again, Mr. Okawa.

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I recently read Dr.Kazuhiko Nishi's "Record of Regrets."

 ■I recently read Dr.Kazuhiko Nishi's "Record of Regrets."

Record of Regrets is written by Dr.Kazuhiko Nishi.

What would Mr. Nishi have to regret?

An unprecedented and rambunctious person who was Bill Gates' right-hand man, competing with him and succeeding at growing ASCII, a company with a punk mentality, although it later sunk, but he still was undeterred.

At least, that was my original thought, but it seems to be a serious look on the latter half of his life with a good dose of reflection.

He had a lot of turbulent times.

I have many people to whom I am indebted.

The person who created an opportunity for me to leave the government and go to MIT was Dr.Kazuhiko Nishi, after all, and it was Dr.Jun Murai who invited me to a project to create a graduate school in Japan, and Mr.Masayoshi Son supported me in launching a movement to digitize education.

And one such person is in the midst of serious reflections in this book.

I tried reading it in the context of my own career.

He is a true digital entrepreneur and tech nerd through and through. Ideas seem to just bubble forth aplenty.

He enters a pub, and orders items willy-nilly all across the menu, then takes out a red felt-tip pen and starts scrawling on the paper sleeve for the chopsticks, jotting notes about next-generation communications devices or acoustics systems, and pushes it over asking, "Well, what do ya think?"

So that must have been the framework out of which the "10 dollar PC" idea came about.

The fact that he garnered the support of Mr.Nori Oga, former president of Sony; Mr.Sohei Nakayama, special advisor to the Industrial Bank of Japan, and Mr.Shinji Fukukawa, vice minister of the Ministry of International Trade and Industry is a testament to his appeal as a business manager.

Yet the vexing trials and tribulations around financing, internal rebellions, restructuring, and betrayal that appear in the book would be fit to make a melancholy film.

He is mischievous, short-tempered, and focused on minutiae despite working at a macro scale.

That intriguing appeal may not fully come across in this 450-page autobiography, but give it a read all the same. It's quite interesting, I can tell you.

I had some involvement with the latter stories involving Isao Okawa of CSK/Sega, so I'll jot down some comments on that.

I first met Dr. Nishi at Charles de Gaulle Airport.

I was dispatched by the government as a "spy," and received a phone call from the White House.

Dr. Nishi, who had been discussing digital policy with the Clinton administration, said he would find someone to bridge the government and private sector, and got on a Concord jet then and there and arrived.

I think it was around 1995. It was a fun time.

But according to the book, ASCII fell on hard times and faced a looming deficit of 14.6B JPY.

Weekly ASCII, which was first published in May, featured me and Jun Murai, but the magazine failed miserably.

Dr. Nishi approached me and said, "Why not quit the government and handle the games division at ASCII?"

We were right in the midst of an agency reorganization, so it was neither the time nor place.

At the end of 1997, when the Ministry of Posts and Communications merged with the Ministry of Home Affairs and the General Affairs Agency to become the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, the internal reorganization was finalized, I began thinking about how to handle my responsibilities.

Around the same time, Dr. Nishi asked Mr. Okawa to invest, and he agreed in December.

Dr. Nishi was demoted as president of ASCII and became a non-executive director, acting as Okawa's secretary.

In 1998, Dr. Nishi mediated negotiations between Dr. Negroponte, director of the MIT Media Lab, and Mr. Okawa, to discuss a plan to establish a media and children's research institute dubbed the MIT Okawa Center.

Mr. Okawa immediately agreed to MIT's proposal and paid them 1B JPY on the spot.

On the condition of that investment, one visiting professor from Japan would be invited.

So Dr. Nishi approached me and said, "Instead of ASCII, why not become a guest professor at MIT?"

I think he was worried he might be sent instead.

Building a lab at MIT? I was definitely game.

We met at a wine shop in Nishiazabu to present ourselves, so to speak. And I passed the test.

There's no one who is usually able to go toe-to-toe with Okawa and drink that much, they told me afterwards.

I went to MIT, became a special advisor to Sega, and was involved in the development of the Dreamcast.

It was the first game console to be equipped with a telecommunications function.

That epoch-making decision was perhaps ahead of its time.

It may have been one of the factors behind the delay in e-sports in Japan.

In March of 2001, after a battle with cancer, Mr. Okawa donated 85 billion yen to Sega and gracefully passed away penniless.

The Okawa Center was not ready in time.

In July, Dr. Nishi proposed to MIT a concept that would become the basis for the "100-dollar PC," and laid the foundations for the Okawa Center.

Apparently, his "Japan Advanced University" initiative was sundered by the global economic crisis.

Yet he was indomitable. He wrote, "I want to make it a success and gain the approval of Mr. Okawa!"

I had some doubts about Japanese universities when I saw MIT's industry-academia collaboration, so I went ahead and created iU first.

I hope it will be useful in its way in achieving Dr. Nishi's university plan.

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■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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