Intellectual Property Plan, Deliberations in Final Stages.

■ Intellectual Property Plan, Deliberations in Final Stages.

The Intellectual Property Headquarters Concept Committee has discussed the intellectual property plan.

Three comments are made:

1. Overall Scope

The focus on data utilization rules and supports such as the metaverse/NFTs will be well-received.

Particularly, the latter is not yet firmly established in policy, but it is important to recognize it as a key issue. We want to adopt a proactive approach in anticipation of these supports becoming a global theme.

2. Content Strategy

The societal digital transformation accelerated by COVID-19 presents both a significant opportunity and a substantial shift for content creation. It is important to recognize that we are now at a turning point rather than merely an extension of the past. Three key points are:

1) How to deal with investments from Chinese IT companies in Japan, alongside addressing the dominance of American platforms from Big Tech.

2) How to incorporate emerging technologies such as the metaverse and NFTs into policy discussions.

3) There are likely structural changes and regulatory shifts in the broadcasting industry, provided the ongoing discussions within the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications. It is crucial to consider how these changes affect the content creation side.

These issues require a peculiar strategic approach rather than traditional copyright handling or international expansion.

How we hand these within the ongoing discussions will be crucial.

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BS Yoshimoto = Sumida Media Lab Open!

■ BS Yoshimoto = Sumida Media Lab Open!

The IU Film Studio "Sumida Media Lab" has opened on the IU campus.

It operates in collaboration with the broadcasting station "BS Yoshimoto." 

This studio produces and broadcasts/distributes programs and video content in a large-scale shooting and streaming studio, thus equipping the university for content creation.

"BS Yoshimoto" is based on the concept of "regional revitalization," featuring comedians living nationwide, YouTubers working in various regions, film directors, journalists, and local residents to broadcast programs like local attractions or news that offer hints for revitalizing areas and solving regional issues.

Through the national broadcast network, this station will become one venture that aims to create channels with the goal of "one broadcast, one business started," where programs generate new businesses and employment opportunities. 

"We've emulated IU's 'everyone an entrepreneur,' motto" says Yoshimoto's chairman Osaki. 

This is a challenge to create a broadcasting station that generates business without depending on advertisers.

BS Yoshimoto is primarily owned by Yoshimoto Kogyo, but it is also a digital consortium with capital investment from UUUM, J-Stream, Transcosmos, and Mixi. 

It aims to go beyond broadcasting and communication convergence to offer data-driven services that blend virtual and real elements.

IU will utilize this facility to the fullest for education and research.

1.　To be leveraged for a creative educational approach.

Students will be involved in video production and distribution, and it will serve as a tool for entrepreneurship related to regional revitalization.

IU's research institute "B Lab" will also be integrated to use it as a platform for broadcasting joint research with industry-academia collaboration.

2. To create university-centered content.

Web, YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok...

While IU is already promoting itself through various media, by having its own studio, broadcast station, and also setting up a physical base, it aims to demonstrate a model where "the university becomes the media."

Shōnen Knife became famous worldwide when they topped the charts for colleges on a U.S. college-based FM radio station. This goes to show that college broadcast stations have impact.

FM Tokyo was created by Tokai University. Radiko is a project started by my lab at Keio University. There aren't many other university-originated media in Japan yet.

3. To serve as a regional collaboration hub.

The studio is located on university grounds, adjacent to a vast vacant grass lot.

We're keeping the area open without fencing, accessible to everyone.

The Chiba University Department of Architectural Design is also adjacent for shared use.

We plan to use the entire area to launch events like festivals and markets.

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Jen Perry "Raincoats".

 ■ Jen Perry "Raincoats".

The Japanese translation for a four-year-old book, written about the 1979 debut in the UK of an all-girls band, was published at the end of 2021.

This is what I consider and revere, alongside PiL, as punk.

The full album is available to listen on YouTube, so please at least give the first track a chance.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pQlX3jgAbvc

Go Punk. This is my topic.

I define "punk" as "destroy to create."

It's about overturning history, tradition, and lineage to create something new.

It involves breaking style, fashion, legitimacy, and common sense to build anew on what remains.

Once what's been overturned to create anew has then become stylized and fashionable, it's no longer punk; it turns into a target to make punk.

That's why punk is hard to sustain.

The punk music born after the start of punk is like enka (a traditional-style of Japanese popular ballads), and punk fashion is the traditional dress accompanying it.

The Raincoats were punk only up to their second album in 1981, as was PiL. Which is just enough.

The Raincoats. Drums, guitar, bass, violin, vocals.

Each part is independent in their own free spirited way, yet synchronizes.

Precariously delicate, suddenly fierce, and screaming.

One part rushes while another loosens up, playing with dissonance, achieving unity.

It miraculously works.

Dressed in plain everyday clothes, their sound is the true essence of being completely exposed.

Giving the soul a straightforward ride in a distorted, non-linear way.

Wild and minimal, opposite of pretentious artistry.

That’s why conventional rock fans and critics often harshly criticize it.

This is punk.

Oddly unique and standing apart.

Yet neither soaring at the pinnacle nor incomprehensible, but popular.

An irreplaceable presence gleaming in the rich nook of our world.

Perhaps it makes sense if I compare it to Henri Rousseau's paintings, Tsuge Tadao's manga, Ichiyo Higuchi's novels, or Pasolini's films.

Guitar (Ana da Silva) from Madeira, Portugal.

Bass (Gina Birch) from Andalusia, Spain.

Drums (Palmolive) from Nottingham, UK.

Violin (Vicky Aspinall) from South Africa.

Although I have no interest in the political aspect conducted by these girls from the countryside, the music they create is very much universal.

The all-girls lineup was only for the first album in 1979; from the second in 1981, a man joined on drums, changing the dynamic.

In the meantime, in 1980, John Lydon of PiL declared, “Rock’n’roll is shit … music has reached an all-time low – except for The Raincoats.”

PiL and The Raincoats were both making waves in London at the same time.

I, too, took in that atmosphere in London.

This book also serves as a mirror reflecting my youth.

In 1981, I raised my hand for an initiative by the Kyoto Yamashiro Lions Club, chaired by the president of Fukujuen’s Iemon, Mr. Fukui, and went on a short study abroad trip to the UK.

Amidst the light and shadow of London, turbulent due to the "British disease," yet energetic for the Royal Wedding, I walked the streets listening to PiL and The Raincoats on the first model Walkman.

That winter, upon my return, Shōnen Knife was formed.

Kurt Cobain of Nirvana loved both Shōnen Knife and The Raincoats.

In 1992, Nirvana and Shōnen Knife toured the UK together.

That same year, The Raincoats were also scheduled to tour the UK with them.

Just a week before the tour began, Kurt Cobain committed suicide with a shotgun.

During the summer of 1981 in London, I eagerly bought up singles from Rough Trade Records discussed in this book.

Cabaret Voltaire, Peru Ubu, Kleenex, The Pop Group, Young Marble Giants, The Slits.

And Scritti Politti, treated much like The Raincoats’ group.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fn4HC2Dfm_k

Scritti Politti became a popular, rhythmic pop band in the 1980s, but they were a punk band only with their 1979 singles.

Their 16mm films of that era still remain on YouTube.

I bought those two singles seen in the below footage; they are so precious to me.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fn4HC2Dfm_k

The reason I’m recounting my story from 40 years ago is that there hasn't been a musical impact that surpasses that era.

Alternative, grunge, hip-hop. J-POP, K-POP.

Even though rock has evolved since then, I remain frozen in the moment of 1979-1981.

Perhaps it was a blessing to have been showered in such profound influence during a sensitive period.

As punk, such as The Raincoats, is revisited on its 40th anniversary, one wonders why this book now.

Perhaps it’s because contemporaries like myself are aging and reaching our final years.

Punk emerged 30–40 years after rock's genesis, when expression had become saturated.

Now, 40 years later, have we reached another impasse? Is that why there’s a reassessment?

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A new fusion of content and media

■A new fusion of content and media

Content policy began in the 90s, and the Agency for Cultural Affairs, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, and the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications handled it in a disorganized way, but an IP Division was established in 2003, leading to horizontal control.

In the 2010s, transformation to digital became a major talking point.

Our response was delayed compared to overseas, but in the past few years, the shift in the industry has become clear, and results are showing.

However, before we even noticed, overseas IT media has become a threat, in the form of piracy for manga, overseas distribution such as Netflix for anime, cloud-based games such as Google, and moving to platforms such as Spotify for music.

Also, countermeasures differ depending on the genre, such as anti-piracy measures for manga, development of new areas such as e-sports for games, and copyright processing rules for music.

National policies are also individual and small, and no comprehensive policy can be found. Measures across genres that collaborate with other fields are important.

As discussed in the Cool Japan Strategy, cooperation with other industries such as food, fashion, and tourism will also become important.

That is, “fusion” is an important issue. 

On the other hand, media policy entered the digital age in the 80s after a clash between computer policy from the Ministry of International Trade and Industry and communications policy from the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications, and the development of the Internet was a topic of discussion in the 90s, as was the development of terrestrial digital broadcasting in the 2000s.

After the reform and deregulation of the communications and broadcasting legal system in the Koizumi administration, “fusion” became an important theme.

Simultaneous distribution of television has finally recently become a reality, over 10 years behind other countries, and the Copyright Act has also been amended.

It looks as if it has been settled.

However, in this respect as well, before we knew it, in addition to the Big Four, Netflix and Disney came to pin down the world in the media market.

The fusion of communications and broadcasting had ended.

We have shifted to a theme of all-IP and all-cloud, and data and AI play the main role in business.

The majority of advertisements will be targeted advertisements made using data and AI, game consoles will become unnecessary due to the cloud, and broadcasting will be done over 5G.

I see no strategy that considers these comprehensively.

Overseas players will develop roll out data businesses in a borderless way, both for content and for media.

Chinese capital looks poised to make serious moves.

This capital is also being invested in Japanese content.

How will Japanese players deal with this? Sink or swim?

Previously, content and media, software and hardware were one and the same.

Equipment manufacturers made music records, and game console companies produced content as platform holders.

However, there have recently been many cases where the hardware and software industries are opposed to each other, whether it be for audio recording royalties or anti-piracy measures.

Fusion of the two is an issue as well.

Examining genres separately and individual policies such as copyright will no longer yield the best solution.

I want a perspective across both content and media.

We will need to fuse IP policy and IT policy and propose cultural industrial policy.

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A new round for content strategy.

 ■A new round for content strategy.

A new round starts at the IP Division. 

A recent action is strategies for content utilization. 

The direction that I laid out as chairperson was given to the Cultural Affairs Council for deliberation, and was summarized as “Copyright systems and policies compatible with the DX era”

There is also movement on anti-piracy measures.

In addition to finding piracy sites guilty, advertising agencies have been ordered to pay compensation to writers.

The Copyright Act has been revised in advance of this, and measures are being taken by all three branches: administrative, legislative, and judiciary.

And content strategy.

I agree with the perspective of define future predictions as 1. virtual space, 2. UGC, and 3. changes in industrial structures.

It is timely to focus on these three as policy themes for content that has been affected in two waves, namely coronavirus and technological changes, and the three are interrelated.

1. The metaverse will be a battle on a new platform. How should we confront US IT companies such as the Big Four and Netflix as Chinese companies such as Tencent also invest capital in Japan?

2. Concerning UGC, rumor has it that YouTube will provide NFT functionality, but will a new revenue/rights model be established, and how will asset values of content be organized?

3. Concerning industrial structures, while consolidation and restructuring of US media progresses, a review of the NHK’s management structure and the licensing system for commercial broadcasters is now being discussed in Japan as well at meetings of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications. There is a high probability that not only will content change, but the media industry as well.

I think we should summarize the policies prior to the coronavirus and move forward.

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Broadcasting systems have finally come an important point.

■Broadcasting systems have finally come an important point.

Broadcasting has been treated as an isolated and special position, both in industry and in government, so it has fallen out of the economic value chain and is now in trouble.

The meetings of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications’ conference are treated as broadcasts in the diverse information space, including the Internet, and question the diversity, pluralism, and local properties of culture found there. This is the correct understanding.

In consideration of the deficit of local sites, what should be done about the number and scale of businesses?

Do domestic regulations aimed at eliminating the concentration of mass media from the era when Japan was thriving still mean something?

Things that I have always seen as problems are being discussed in public.

The NHK is also weighing the value of its existence against license fees.

A proposal to make its primary business simultaneous online distribution, as an entity responsible for basic information.

As talk of abolishing BBC license fees in the UK is coming up, it seems that the debate on NHK manner of existence will be taken seriously at last.

Joint ownership of infrastructure between the NHK and commercial broadcasters has also been proposed.

Amendments to the Broadcasting Act that permit NHK simultaneous distribution created an obligation of cooperation between the NHK and commercial broadcasters relating to online deployment, but the foundation for rolling out data business can be created using NHK license fees.

Copyright is also a topic of discussion. A discussion about facilitating rights processing by treating both IP multicast (broadcasting) and unicast (communications), which are handled separately, as broadcasting. The past decision to separate systems based on distribution technology was fundamentally flawed. It took us 20 years to realize.

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Wavering digital utilization and a business law framework.

■Wavering digital utilization and a business law framework.

Amendments to the Telecommunications Business Act are unstable.

1. Institutional development process

The procedure being hasty was presented as problematic by a portion of the industry.

As the state of the world changes rapidly and drastically in this field, it is a matter of the speed and coordination required for preparation of the requisite legal system.

The Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications has now held 16 meetings in 10 months, and vigorous discussions continue. It is not hasty in the slightest.

Despite that, a limited gathering of 10 selected experts met once or twice per month to deliberate, but submitted proposals were met with opposition from the business world, leading to readjustments.

This begs the question of whether that process will continue to be valid.

The same is true for coordination outside the conference room.

The lobbying power of the industry is demonstrated, but how will the voices of users, who are supposed to play the main role, be ensured and reflected?

Is the black box coordination in Kasumigaseki that occurs appropriate, not only in the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, but also the Personal Information Protection Commission, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, the Digital Agency, etc.?

I feel that it is being asked what form of policymaking is suitable for the digital and open era.

The reason for creating the “Digital Policy Forum,” too, is that we believed that a place where experts, stakeholders, policy makers, and others could openly participate and have discussions “constantly” is necessary.

2. Business laws and usage laws

It has been 37 years since the enactment of the Telecommunications Business Act. Now it has been proposed to make businesses that were previously exempt subject to regulatory rules. This is a major shift in legal framework, or policy.

The former Public Telecommunications Act (Public Act) was a law on how usage of NTT equipment of the Telegraph and Telephone Public Corporation.

The Telecommunications Business Act (Business Act) was enacted to promote and manage, as a business, the development and sophistication of communications equipment.

It is a framework that 1. regulates and manages telecommunications carriers that have line equipment, yet 2. encourages telecommunications companies, or providers, that do not have them to participate with minimal regulations, and 3. excludes: businesses that do not act as media for telecommunications: exempts databases, the web, commerce, etc.

In the 80s and 90s, competition policies for telecommunications carriers were so effective that they served as a model overseas. We became an infrastructure superpower.

In the latter half of the 90s, due to the spread of the Internet, the main role shifted from 1. the infrastructure layer to 2. the service layer. Significant deregulation was performed.

Then, in the 2010s, the center of gravity shifted to 3. the application layer, that is, the exempt region.

With deployment of the application layer and recognition of user protections as an important issue, two “Consumer” Policy Divisions have been established at the Telecommunications “Business” Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications.

Measures for Internet use safety and the like have increased in depth.

So now, user protections are the goal, and action will be taken for the application layer, which was previously exempt.

Protect users with the Business Act. As the focus shifts from the initial regulation of infrastructure equipment to services and then applications and we trend toward user-based policy and the focus shifts toward user administration, the question arises whether the Business Act is fine as is.

A large legal framework theory in the form of a shift to usage laws, or a return to the Public Act, may also be in question.

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