MESSAGE FROM THE CHAIRMAN

For the expansion of Japanese content industry

Not only does Japanese content industry raise Japan’s presence in the international community, but it is also arguably one of the most outstanding fields of art for gaining a deeper understanding of the Japanese and of contemporary Japan.

More than anything else, the core and the resources of the content industry, which plays a part in Japan’s economic growth, and which deepens the international community’s understanding of Japan, is the creativity of people. Today, Japanese culture is acclaimed as “cool Japan” and “cute,” but this is the end result of the creativity that many of our pioneers have toiled over throughout a long history since the war.

Looking to the future, I believe that the nurturing of people who can create, the development of an environment in which they can continue their activities, and the ongoing generation of top-quality works and productions will, as a result, lead to the long-term development of the content industry, and will bring about a virtuous circle of content production studios becoming more stable and active.

Presently at VIPO, we are expanding various projects around our core activities of ‘human resources development’ and ‘market development’, always with a mind to what is needed for the content industry at this moment, and with the support and cooperation of many different people from relevant government agencies, associated organizations, schools and private-sector businesses as well as private individuals.

Looking forward, through ‘human resources development’ and ‘market development’ in the content  industry, as well as through exchange projects with overseas and other means, VIPO will continue to play a role of strengthening the partnerships between the public and private sectors, between different sectors of the content industry and with government agencies, and we will contribute to the development and promotion of Japanese culture and Japanese content industry.

Personally, I have been involved in publishing and the animation industry for around 40 years. Through the activities of VIPO, I will do all I can to assist in the development of the content industry.
If we can interact with people from all around the world through content, then inevitably, Japanese culture will be spread across the globe. Moreover, by people around the world using culture to understand each other’s countries, this will lead to peace on Earth. My hope is that VIPO’s activities can contribute to this in some small way.

VIPO will spare no effort in maintaining an environment that can yield good-quality, communicative culture. We will do this by considering how all content industries can continue to actively create, and what is needed for this. With your cooperation, we will continue to make progress for the prosperous future of the content industry.