This book offers a comprehensive overview of Japan’s media policies. In light of the attention Japanese media content has attracted in recent years, not only in Japan but also overseas, the book examines the media industry that supports such content. Beginning with the traditional terrestrial broadcasting industry, it also covers cable TV, satellite broadcasting, and over-the-top media services (OTT), as well as media policies for film, animation, games and music. The Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications (MIC), a key media industry regulator in Japan, has been developing broadcasting policies for more than 70 years, and while their traditional policies have not changed in principle, the scope of their business sphere has expanded. For instance, major broadcasting stations in Tokyo, known as key stations, have played an important role in filmmaking with the big four film companies, and have started joint ventures with major OTT, such as Hulu. This book allows readers to gain a comprehensive understanding of the changes in the Japanese media industry in general and the related policies in Japan, while also offering insights into developments in the individual sectors.

Computers, telecommunications equipment, semiconductors - the products and technologies of the information and communications (IC) industry have transformed our world. Most of these products were initially developed in Western countries, but by the early 1990s some of the world's largestcompanies in the field were Japanese. This book explains the resurgence of Japan's IC giants, their global status, and their strengths and weaknesses. Empirical scrutiny of their evolution is the author's own theory of the most appropriate method for studying the dynamics of long-term industrialchange. While the Japanese motor vehicle and consumer electronics industries have been relatively well analysed, there are no comprehensive up-to-date studies of the Japanese IC industry. This book addresses the questions consequently left unanswered: How were Japanese IC companies able tocatch up with their western rivals--and in some cases overtake them? How have Japanese IC companies responded to the post-IBM world of computing? Why do they remain primarily dependent on the Japanese market? Why do they combine competences in computers, semiconductors, and telecommunicationsequipment, while their US counterparts are far more specialized? What role has been played by the Japanese government and the system of controlled competition in their success? Will Japanese IC companies become increasingly competitive internationally in the future? The author extends theevolutionary approach to the organization of the firm and industry developed by such writers as Schumpeter, Nelson, Winter, and Chandler. He argues that in order to understand the evolution of companies and industries, it is necessary to create a theory of the firm capable of encompassing thedevelopment of real firms in the real world in real time. This approach stresses the importance of the beliefs that are constructed in the firm under conditions of 'interpretive ambiguity', which guide the firm's decisions and its reactions to new technologies. Lengthy analyses of NEC and NTT (byfar the world's largest company in terms of market value; its future currently under government scrutiny), and of the computing, switiching, and optical fibre industries, illustrate these concepts. Based on over 600 personal interviews over eight years with Japanese leaders, this book providesimportant new material on the past, present, and future of Japanese industry.