The Japanese government has been promoting Cool Japan since 2010 and ever since, various industries in Japan have had a keen eye on the rest of the world - some have taken action while others remain cautious.
This week, the Japanese Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) held the Cool Japan Conference where they invited about 90 of Japan's top corporations and content producers for a business matching session.
I had the honor of being invited to talk at the meeting along with the likes of AKB48 producer Yasushi Akimoto and Yukio Edano - currently the Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry but formerly the Chief Cabinet Secretary.
Since the Japanese government started to notice my shenanigans, I've been working for them on various projects. Recently, they have assigned me as a Creative Director for a project called Mazer which I talk about in this post.
Sega Toys is first up to give their pitch and is the exact opposite of what my product Moekana is aiming to achieve - using characters to teach English.
A quick going over my background - mentioning that I worked at Japan Airlines as an Engineer, Amazon as Website Manager and Microsoft as a Product Manager was a mouthful and took up time so I now combine everything into this slide and just mention that most of my previous work has been IT related without going over the company names as they can read it on the slide.
Japanese folks usually only do business with those who have a reputable background or through an introduction so this slide is important to have at the beginning. If you are giving a talk of any kind, let your audience briefly know what you do and what your background is which will help them decide whether they want to stay awake for the rest of your talk ^^;
One of the reasons why this meeting is so important is because the government is making the introductions for us.
The company that I setup after I left cooperate life is called Mirai Inc - the mission is disseminate Japanese culture throughout the world through various means such as web, TV and other media and products - this is done under the Culture Japan brand.
My job is to establish relations with various Japanese companies and work with their teams to produce content - web, print, mobile applications, products, events etc.
The last thing I talk about is character development - specifically Mirai Suenaga who helps me with my mission.
Lastly I mention The 1st product of my Japanese learning series - Moekana.
The surprise guests - AKB48 Producer Yasushi Akimoto and Yukio Edano - currently the Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry but formerly the Chief Cabinet Secretary. If you followed the earthquake, tsunami and nuclear crisis then you will certainly recognize him as he was the one who gave all the official statements on TV in his blue jacket.
Akimoto-san's final words of advice is "Collaboration is key" and gives an analogy. It does not matter how healthy a carrot may be for a kid - if the kid does not like carrots then s/he wont want it.
But what you do is add apple juice - its taste may be appealing to that kid who didn't like carrots - a successful collaboration.
Akimoto-san talks about how more and more young folks are wanting Korean products - music, cosmetics, fashion, electronics etc etc.
I speak, read and write Korean and have always been interested in Korean culture - but I dont get much opportunity to consume Korean content apart from all the Koren drama that wifey watches ^^
Tis the Good Smile Company big boss Aki Takanori. But I cant talk much about why he is here or I shall be impaled on the nearest spear.
Later that evening on my favorite news program - World Business Satellite (WBS). They cover the conference too.
It looks like WBS likes my Mirai Millennium ^^
Just some of the collaborations that Mirai has been involved in - Mayo Chiki!!, Twin Angel, Sonicomi and Culture Japan TV. Got more planned this year.
What sort of collaboration between content producers and makers would you like to see? For example recently there was Lagrange X Nissan.
You read what it was like for me when I was living in the UK - the Internets didn't exist back then! If I wanted information about Japan, I pretty much relied on two Japanese book shops in London where I picked up magazines, books and the occasional snack. There was hardly anything about Japan in local newspapers or TV.
These days however, you've got places like JList which can send just about anything to all corners of the world - including health material which I had to get from a newspaper ^^;;;
But how about brick and mortar stores? Are there shops readily available in your neck of the woods that sell japanese stuff? How about your local TV or newspapers - information available about the Japanese news you care about?