I went to AIU (Akita International University) @ Akita.

■ I went to AIU (Akita International University) @ Akita.

I went to AIU (Akita International University) in Akita.

With Yoshimoto Kogyo Chairman Osaki Hiroshi and bright first-year student Sugiyama Kotaro.

Founded in 2004, this global liberal arts university is

Once enrolled, all students live in the dormitory for one year.

All classes are in English. Students study in English. All students have studied abroad for one year. 60% of teachers are foreigners.

70% of students are female.

It is highly regarded by the industry and has one of the highest academic achievement scores.

The employment situation is excellent, but it seems that the enthusiasm for starting a business is also on the rise.

It is a miraculous rural public school.

iU 's landmarks.

library.

As soon as I stepped in,

Ah! It's the same as the recently opened Ishikawa Prefectural Library!

I heard that both were designed by Senda Mitsuru.

Recently, I was proudly introducing the Kanazawa library, saying, "Kanazawa's library is amazing," but this one was here first. How embarrassing.

It operates 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, and students apparently study there in the middle of the night.

That's nice

The first president of the university was Nakajima Mineo.

He went from the 1960 Security Treaty protests to Tokyo University of Foreign Studies, and then founded AIU. He was a fighter.

Having opened the school and served as its president, I understand this.

This university would not have been possible without tremendous conviction, strength, fighting spirit, and trust.

Moreover, they must be academics with a proven track record.

It's a great achievement. A great man. I wish I could have met him.

If you get an A from AIU, you're already in iU . The number of students is almost the same as iU . We also aim to be global.

AIU is liberal arts, iU is IT business.

AIU is in the countryside surrounded by nature, while iU is in urban Tokyo.

They are similar, but different. That's why I want to work together. I know it's a bit rude, but...

President Monte Cassim is a gentleman from Sri Lanka, and was also a fighter when he worked with AIU to oppose the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology when he was president of APU (Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University).

The current APU President, Deguchi, was also a participant in the 1970 Security Treaty protests.

I was also fighting when I recently visited Sanjo City University and was impressed by its president, Shahriar Shahriar (from Bangladesh).

President Kasem and the AIU staff about collaborating in student entrepreneurship support, education and research. It would be interesting to connect with APU, Kindai University, and other cutting-edge universities with which Yoshimoto Kogyo is affiliated. We would also like to involve the University of Tokyo, Tokyo University of the Arts, Kyoto University, and even friendly cutting-edge universities overseas.

in 20 years, iU will be like AIU.

The only souvenir I bought was a Namahage doll.

I'll come back later.

Toppinparari no Puu

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iU President Gachon, Mr.Oji Hiroi

■iU President Gachon, Mr.Oji Hiroi

legend who created "Sakura Wars". He is currently the general director of the girls' troupe "Mimozane". A punk, unconventional senior. If you want to learn about "creation", this is the person for you.

https://bit.ly/3Ip8Jse

What we are currently focusing on

takt op. An anime called Destiny has started. I'll be out of the game soon. It's been 4 years so far. 3-4 years for one project.

I continue making products when I'm asked to; I've never initiated any sales myself.

◆ What inspired me to create this

I create things as a solo activity. I drew pictures on the edge of a notebook to make flipbook animations, cut out magazines, wrote articles and made books, and even filmed movies. I just played in my own playground. Self-contained.

When I was painting rocks and selling them on the street in Harajuku, a Lotte distributor saw me and gave me his business card. I went to hang out with them and ended up working on making freebies for Lotte. It became a hit and I went professional.

The family was well-off and there was no problem with food. I thought I would never have to work. Many of the husbands were hairdressers. The rules were of the downtown area. It was a close-knit community. We all participated in festivals together.

◆Working overseas

in Taiwan . Because of language barriers and cultural differences, I was a foreign customer for the first six months. Even if I told them to do something, they wouldn't do it. I had the 50 people who were in charge at first bring their families over, hold picnics once a month, and communicate with them. After about a year, they started doing their jobs. I think the environment in which they were born and raised plays a big role.

At school

At first I thought it was stupid. I was being bullied, so I gave out money to solve the problem. As I continued to do this, I was able to communicate with the people around me, so I no longer needed the money.

I was writing a script for the elementary school drama festival. I was not good at schoolwork, but my teacher had entrusted me with it.

I was expelled three times in junior high school. But the pastor said it was just a suspension. I continued to clean the church from 6:00 for a month. During that time, the pastor prayed for me every time. On my last day, he told me, "God loves a useless kid like you." Those words had a big impact on me, and I thought, "God loves me. Yay! I'll be okay in the future."

My high school was far away. I was tired on Wednesdays, so I took the day off. I was in the film studies club, so I told my school that I was going to see a movie to challenge Kurosawa and Mizoguchi, so I was taking the day off on Wednesdays. My teacher told me that was fine, but that I had to explain the movie I had seen in front of the other students in homeroom on Thursday. This was a great learning experience. I needed to be able to talk and organize what I had seen.

When I was skipping class, the pastor came and asked me, "What movie should we watch now?" I answered, "Strawberry White Paper." The pastor was impressed, and the whole school started going to see it. The Bible test that year was "Describe the love in Strawberry White Paper." That's what makes a school interesting.

He was filming a record of club activities at the request of a classmate who found out he was filming.

The importance of being recognized

The most important thing is that I am recognized. I have been told since high school that "Hirai is a genius!" I went to Leo (Morimoto) when I was about 18. He kept me by his side for about five years. He disciplined me strictly. That's how I was able to have contact with society. Until then, I was arrogant. It was Leo who broke my arrogant nose and told me that I was fine with that.

Do what is asked of you

I have a sponsor, and the process of creating what they want is a never-ending process. I create things that make the person who places the order happy. And 20-30% of that is fun for me. I find it within the order. If the person who places the order is happy, and the customer at the other end is happy, then it's a great success. I look at the client rather than the customer. If the client is happy, then the customer is happy, so I've started looking one step further ahead.

Sometimes I fight with the client because I think the client might not be happy. But if the client says it's okay, I only look at the client. Sometimes I fail. But I think it's okay because I'm making what the client wants.

◆Message for you guys

Fail a lot. I hope we can become a society that accepts failure. Failure is what helps us move forward.

★Postscript

I cut a lot of the video. That's a crime. He talks like that. I want to be a person like him. His family home is a brothel in Mukojima, Sumida, where iU is located, so I asked him to be a super visiting professor, but he's the son of a pretty dangerous brothel. Because he was involved with Yoshimoto Kogyo, we both started playing golf around the same time, and it's thrilling to hear Prince's stories on the way to the golf course. He was so well liked by director Yoji Yamada that he was glued to the set, and the director was 90 years old and Prince was 68 years old, so the film industry seems to think he's a secret child. He's so cool.

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Cool Japan: Bags

 2025/4/13

■ Cool Japan: Bags

NHK Cool Japan: "Bags" edition.

I love bags, and my room is full of them. I'm always looking for a bag that goes well with my Japanese clothes.

A bag is not just a useful tool, but a fashion statement that expresses a person's lifestyle.

"Female, male."

The secret to making a Kabuki female impersonator's movements look feminine is to keep their arms close to their sides and not raise them.

Women's kimonos have a slit on the side called a mihattsuguchi, and it is considered indecent to show what is underneath. This is the same reason why many Japanese women wear their watches on the inside.

This may be one of the reasons why people have started carrying their bags on their elbows.

The reason why bags are important to men is that they often use public transportation and rarely travel by car, meaning they have no place to put their belongings. It may also be a difference between foreign countries, where people do not bring work home with them, and Japanese people, who are used to working at home 24 hours a day.

"school bag"

Some say that school bags are a symbol of uniform education, but they have also become a part of Japanese culture, with grandparents giving them as gifts to celebrate a child starting school.

They're now available in a wide variety of over 100 colors, which I think is great and fashionable.

When I was a kid, there were only black and red, and there was a strong feeling that black was for boys.

I really wanted red, but I wasn't allowed to.

That kind of atmosphere doesn't exist anymore, which is a shame.

However, from now on, children will study using computers instead of paper.

This will then lead to the development of school bags and other backpacks that are suitable for these children.

I wonder if school bags will also change.

"Toyooka, Hyogo Prefecture, the city of bags"

It's amazing that the culture of willow wicker has been passed down since the Heian period.

Regional revitalization and revitalization is not just about tourism; creating a brand through manufacturing and promoting it to the whole country and the world is a very effective means.

In the future, we will likely see an increase in initiatives that transcend corporate boundaries and foster horizontal collaboration in local communities.

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iU President Gachon . Mr.Kengo Kuma

 ■iU President Gachon . Mr.Kengo Kuma

Shohei Otani, Ichiro, Naoya Inoue, Yuzuru Hanyu, Naomi Osaka, Akira Toriyama, Eiichiro Oda, Hayao Miyazaki, Yoshiharu Tsuge, Shigeru Miyamoto, Yoko Ono, Yohji Yamamoto, Haruki Murakami... As a world-famous Japanese person, this person will also be ranked high.

What we are focusing on now

We are trying a different way of working in our office. In addition to Tokyo, we have offices in Paris, Beijing, and Shanghai, but Tokyo is still the center of our work. We have been working by cramming people into a big box in a big city. We need to break out of that.

He will create several satellites in the regions and live between them himself and his staff. It's a kind of modern-day alternate attendance system. It would be nice to be able to experience the seasonal climate and food at the satellites. Higashikawa in Hokkaido. The water is clean. He built a wooden satellite called "Furniture House" and started work in April 2022. The office is a renovated building located down from Kokusai Street in Okinawa to the market. There is a wine and sausage shop below. A building in the mountains in Maniwa, Okayama Prefecture, one of the centers of Japan's lumber industry, has been renovated into a satellite office. It is scheduled to open in 2022.

By connecting several satellite offices, we are not only dispersing the people in our Tokyo office, but also trying to create a base for interaction between young designers and students in the regions. We are most interested in trying out a new network-based, mobile working style in this way.

About the school

My view of school changed drastically when I studied architecture. Until then, I thought there was a correct answer and that school was the place to teach it. The architecture department is a little different, and if you give the same answer as others, you'll be ridiculed. You have to give an answer that's different from others. I realized that there is no correct answer.

When I submitted my work, various teachers would give me completely different comments about it, and in some cases the teachers would argue with each other. Teachers do not represent one correct answer, each has a different idea and represents a different philosophy. I learned in the Department of Architecture that the world is a place of struggle between people with different ideas, different philosophies, and different interests.

I wanted to deny the actions I had taken at school up until then, which was to pursue the right answer. When I studied abroad in the United States, I saw that American teachers were more diverse than in Japan, and teachers argued heatedly with each other. Seeing this, I realized that Japanese architecture departments were still too lenient. A change in outlook on life. To what extent can I deny the right answer? In a sense, it was school that taught me this. I was able to see the diversity of people at school, which allowed me to embark on a different path. I hope that young people will make good use of school in this way.

◆Message for you guys

What I would most like to recommend is traveling. When I was in university, I realized that there was no right answer, so I gave up on the designs that were considered mainstream in the world of architecture at the time (such as Arata Isozaki) and went to investigate a village in the Sahara Desert in Africa. During my travels, I was able to communicate with local people and meet people who lived in a place with different values than I had before. Being able to come back from that trip also gave me confidence in my physical strength. Traveling is the best chance to train yourself. I would like to tell young people to try traveling that no one else does.

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The future of content, freedom, education and technology

■The future of content, freedom, education and technology

Kickoff of the LDP Intellectual Property Research Council Digital Content Subcommittee @ LDP Headquarters.

In the presence of relevant government ministries and agencies, including Takayuki Kobayashi, Takashi Yamashita, Norio Tokai, Taku Otsuka, Taro Yamada, and Ken Akamatsu, they were given the topic of "The Future of Content," and while introducing discussions at the Intellectual Property Headquarters and other organizations, they presented their opinions as follows.

Changes in the content industry environment. Documents from the Intellectual Property Task Force.

・Shift to digital distribution

・The rise of global platforms, i.e. changes in the global market

・Expanding creative talent : the era of all creators

While raising these points, he also expressed the view that content is an intermediate good and a communication consumer good in the economy and society.

The Intellectual Property Task Force has raised the issue of "balancing the facilitation of use with the interests of rights holders" as a future outlook and challenge, based on its recognition of changes such as digital distribution, the global market, the spread of creativity, and intermediate goods in the digital economy.

In other words, the direction is to "establish a creator economy for everyone."

My interpretation.

The word "content" was coined around 1993. In 2003, the Intellectual Property Headquarters was established, and industrial policies aimed at expanding the scale of the content industry.

However, 20 years later, the scale of the industry has not expanded significantly and remains flat, currently worth 14 trillion yen.

The policy is based on two pillars: Internet measures and expansion of overseas markets.

On the other hand, there were two major changes.

One reason is not the scale of the industry, but the explosive growth in the amount of content and creators.

the past decade, the fusion of the 3Cs is progressing, with content at the core, communication becoming more active, and communities being created.

Another reason is that the way the world sees Japan is that it is primarily focused on pop culture and content, such as anime and games. "Cool Japan." Japan is changing its face from an industrial country to a cultural country.

These will evolve through new technologies such as AI, VR, and blockchain, and expand into new areas such as the metaverse and web3.

Current state of the industry. The content industry was hit hard by COVID-19 but is now recovering.

The effects of the policy are being seen in the areas of online and overseas issues.

The online content market share has risen from around 10% ten years ago to 43%.

The overseas market has also grown to 4.5 trillion yen. It is important to involve overseas communities and capture inbound demand.

More importantly, as an industrial policy, is the ripple effect of content. The total value of content and five related fields such as communications and characters is 50 trillion yen, or 10% of GDP. Content functions as an intermediate good. How can Japan incorporate content into its economic ecosystem, following the strategy of Hollywood movies in which people drive American cars and drink coke?

Policy development.

The Intellectual Property Plan 2022 will first set out a content strategy for the Web 3 era, focusing on the metaverse and NFTs.

Regarding the copyright system, the government is aiming to realize simple and centralized rights processing through the establishment of a cross-sectoral contact point and a system through the development of a database.

It also lists strengthening measures against piracy.

We plan to advance these three pillars.

My comments.

In terms of traditional Internet compatibility, it is important for the copyright system to adapt to the digital age.

Now that system reforms have been made to address the convergence of communications and broadcasting and a major industrial policy task has been accomplished, the next major theme is a cultural policy that will make it easier for everyone to use and create content.

With regard to overseas expansion, efforts are being made to combat piracy.

This issue is also one in which efforts are being made across the Diet, the government, and the private sector, with the copyright system now in place and international cooperation also being strengthened.

In addition, measures for the metaverse and web3 are being implemented.

As new technologies such as AI, 5G, VR, and blockchain revolutionize the content industry, related policy themes are emerging one after another.

Moreover, since this involves a borderless virtual space, it needs to be approached as an international strategy.

In addition, I would like to see policies that take into account the three Cs: content, communication, and community, be strengthened.

This is a Cool Japan initiative that promotes so-called "oshikatsu," attracts inbound tourists, and links with food, fashion, tourism, and other areas.

These are short-term policies that we would like to see strong political leadership push forward with, but what I would also like to ask of you is longer-term policies.

I would like to see content recognized as a major national strategy and a sustainable cultural industry policy that makes use of Japan's strengths.

What are Japan's strengths?

There are many, but three to mention are freedom, creativity, and technique.

Freedom. Backed by historical culture, norms such as religion and class are loose, and there are few restrictions on expression. There is an atmosphere where both adults and children can enjoy anime and games.

And the creativity and IP production. From top professionals to amateurs and children, everyone can draw pictures and play the flute. The number of creators is huge.

Furthermore, although some say that the technology is declining, Japan also possesses high technical capabilities in media expression. It is important to maintain and develop these capabilities, and this is what we hope for from politics.

I hope that this cultural environment of freedom will be protected.

I believe this is the source of Cool Japan, and an invaluable source of encouragement for overseas fans to visit Japan out of their affection for it.

When it comes to creativity, education is paramount. Japan has a wide range of arts and crafts and music classes, which are directly linked to creativity.

Furthermore, in Japan, everyone is finally learning digitally at once through Giga Schools. The effects are more evident in expression and creativity than in academic ability. I hope the digital environment for education will be strengthened.

And technology. While maintaining the ability to create technology is important, the ability to use it is even more important.

There are many small businesses in the content industry, and there are concerns that the pace of introducing new technologies will be slow. I would like you to support digital transformation in the content industry.

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Cool Japan: Cold noodles

■Cool Japan: Cold noodles

NHK Cool Japan: "Cold Noodles"

Summer in Japan. Udon, soba, somen, and other cold noodles are a symbol of summer.

Eating any type of noodles cold is actually a Japanese characteristic.

The Japanese culture of surviving the heat by eating delicious cold foods.

"Chinese food, pho, pasta"

In summer, Japanese people eat cold foods to cool their bodies.

In winter, we eat hot food to warm our bodies.

Change the temperature of your food depending on the season to keep yourself in good health.

This is a characteristic of Japan.

There are four distinct seasons, with extreme differences between hot and cold.

He pays particular attention to the temperature of the food and changes the dishes he serves with each season.

That's how I enjoy the changing of the seasons.

"Somen"

Somen noodles were developed through the wisdom and ingenuity of the Japanese, who in the past could only grow wheat.

That's why it has been made in various parts of Japan for a long time.

Semi-dried somen noodles have also been made since the Edo period, taking advantage of the local climate and soil to differentiate the product from other regions.

Each region's somen noodles are infused with the wisdom and ingenuity of the area.

Following on from ramen and soba, somen may soon be discovered and go global.

"Cold cup noodles"

A lot of water is needed to make cold noodles.

Boil and rinse in water.

Nagashi somen noodles are mostly just water.

This is possible only in Japan, a country of abundant water, where water is readily available.

So it may be difficult to spread it overseas.

Everyone, please come and try it in Japan in the summer.

Udon, pasta, chilled Chinese noodles, Japanese, Western and Chinese food, I'll cool and chill everything for now, because it's hot in the summer and I have water.

I also like the rough feel of it.

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Government Metaverse Conference launched.

 ■Government Metaverse Conference launched.

has launched the "Public-Private Partnership Conference on Addressing New Legal Issues Surrounding Content on the Metaverse ."

Since it's too long, I'll call it the "Metaverse Conference."

I will be chairing the meeting.

The purpose of the agreement is as follows: "In light of new trends arising from the development of the metaverse, in order to respond to new legal issues, a coordination meeting will be established consisting of private sector stakeholders, experts, government stakeholders, etc. to identify issues and clarify points of contention, and, as necessary, promote the establishment of rules in cooperation between the public and private sectors."

The Secretariat presented three themes.

1. Handling of rights related to intellectual property use that intertwines real and virtual spaces, and the design of virtual objects

2. Handling of avatar portraits, etc.

3. Formulation of rules regarding actions toward virtual objects and avatars, and between avatars, and handling of regulatory measures, etc.

The committee members are Eiji Araki , president of REALITY, Tsukasa Iwasaki, director of Cluster, Yohei Ishii, COO of Virtual Cast, Shun Kubota, representative of Mogura , Kazuhiko Nakama, head of KDDI LX strategy department, Akira Asai, chief producer of Shogakukan, Yasuo Miyakawa, president of Bandai Namco Entertainment, Hiroko Ashiyama, head of the VN3 licensing team, Aimi Sekiguchi, VR artist,

Attorneys Kenshiro Michishita, Hisashi Nakazaki, Kensaku Fukui, Masashi Masuda, Professor Natsuori Ishii of Chuo University, Professor Tatsuhiro Ueno of Waseda University, Professor Hiroshi Okumura of Keio University, Professor Yoshiyuki Tamura of the University of Tokyo, Professor Hirofumi Okajima of Chuo University, and Professor Ichiro Sato of the National Institute of Informatics

Cabinet Office Intellectual Property Secretariat, Digital Agency, Agency for Cultural Affairs, Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, Japan Patent Office, and Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications.

It's not a committee but a "cooperation meeting," and it's a community that's a mix of industry, academia, government, players, and users. There are some stiff old guys, and some virtual people who participate with avatars.

It is available online.

I don't think it will be as quiet as a normal government meeting, but we will try to avoid making it as chaotic as an anti-piracy meeting.

The first points were as follows:

1. How do you aim to develop the metaverse space?

2. What kind of rules should be established?

3. How should rules be formed in a borderless space?

4. What are the roles of the public and private sectors and how should they cooperate?

For reference, a draft of the "Metaverse Trust Statement Kyoto Declaration" issued by Kyoto Prefecture and the CiP Council was introduced.

The topics are freedom and openness, tradition/local/overseas, young people/children/elderly/disabled people, technology/research, trial and error, secure/trustworthy, morality, and the future.

Virtual Beautiful Girl Nemu and KDDI's Kazuhiko Nakama, each committee member expressed their opinion.

- Boundary-less discussions through various interactions

- Future-oriented, ongoing discussion

・Discussions on a virtual open platform with industry, academia and government

I think we've now reached a consensus to move forward in this way.

Several committee members suggested holding the meeting in the metaverse.

Someone will say

And just as I thought, it did come out.

I took it on as homework.

Because we know that the government's poor digital capabilities are a problem.

Someone please help.

I'll think about what to do with my avatar.

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