Message from ISOMATA Akio, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Japan to the United Arab Emirates
2023/11/18
Manga, anime, game, and BUSINESS!
~Entrepreneurship in creative industries~ (November 2023) |
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Ambassador making opening remarks | Showcasing of manga, anime, gaming goods (c) Arab News Japan |
In early November, the Embassy of Japan organized an event titled "Anime, Manga and Games: Seminar on Entrepreneurship in the Creative Industry between Japan and the UAE" in Abu Dhabi. With a good line-up of excellent speakers and panelists, who shared with the audience their expertise and professional experience, the seminar became a very lively and useful venue to learn about and exchange views on the industry, putting creative contents and their production/dissemination into business perspectives.
It goes without saying that culture has a great value in its own right, but if it is effectively connected to business, its value can be further enhanced, and contents/creativity may also be further developed with the help of solid financial base, or newly-offered opportunities to be exposed to and interact with a wider audience. Cultural contents and its promotion thus go hand in hand with business interests, and synergy can be easily created between the two to help each other flourish further.
The event catered to three different categories of audience. For avid fans of Japanese manga, anime, games, etc., it offered some clues as to how to pursue their passion throughout life by building a professional career on these cultural contents; for those looking for a good business in the global market, these contents showed an area where they can find new ideas they may want to try their hands at; for those interested already in these contents and business at the same time, the seminar offered chances to listen to the first-hand accounts of those engaged in creative activities or related business in the frontline.
There was another important aspect in the event, which is human resources development. As the UAE is making great strides towards diversification of its economy and knowledge-based economy, the government is putting rigorous efforts to the implementation of emiratisation in the private sector, while continuing at the same time to invite high-caliber foreign talents with the provision of easy-to-live and smooth-to-work environment. The embassy had also in mind, in organizing this seminar, ways to make available assistance and relevant resources Japan can offer for the capacity building of creative talents under the UAE's National Strategy for Cultural and Creative Industries launched in 2021. I hope the event also served its purpose in this regard.
As mentioned earlier, cultural has its own value, and with that value, cultural exchanges can always find their ways to advance forward. But, with the push and help from different corners, government and business, we can facililtate the process together with the cooperation in the development of related human resources. Japan can be a good partner for this endeavor for the UAE and other countries, with manga, anime, games and other contents being the constant source of enjoyment as well as potential business opportunities!
It goes without saying that culture has a great value in its own right, but if it is effectively connected to business, its value can be further enhanced, and contents/creativity may also be further developed with the help of solid financial base, or newly-offered opportunities to be exposed to and interact with a wider audience. Cultural contents and its promotion thus go hand in hand with business interests, and synergy can be easily created between the two to help each other flourish further.
The event catered to three different categories of audience. For avid fans of Japanese manga, anime, games, etc., it offered some clues as to how to pursue their passion throughout life by building a professional career on these cultural contents; for those looking for a good business in the global market, these contents showed an area where they can find new ideas they may want to try their hands at; for those interested already in these contents and business at the same time, the seminar offered chances to listen to the first-hand accounts of those engaged in creative activities or related business in the frontline.
There was another important aspect in the event, which is human resources development. As the UAE is making great strides towards diversification of its economy and knowledge-based economy, the government is putting rigorous efforts to the implementation of emiratisation in the private sector, while continuing at the same time to invite high-caliber foreign talents with the provision of easy-to-live and smooth-to-work environment. The embassy had also in mind, in organizing this seminar, ways to make available assistance and relevant resources Japan can offer for the capacity building of creative talents under the UAE's National Strategy for Cultural and Creative Industries launched in 2021. I hope the event also served its purpose in this regard.
As mentioned earlier, cultural has its own value, and with that value, cultural exchanges can always find their ways to advance forward. But, with the push and help from different corners, government and business, we can facililtate the process together with the cooperation in the development of related human resources. Japan can be a good partner for this endeavor for the UAE and other countries, with manga, anime, games and other contents being the constant source of enjoyment as well as potential business opportunities!