What lies ahead for television?

Mr. Kuroki, renowned as a top-tier producer at Fuji Television, and Mr. Kitakaze, Chief Solution Director at Dentsu Inc. Their dialogue, spanning seemingly different yet closely related fields, highlights the sharp perspectives and struggles unique to their generation! The future of television and advertising may well rest on this "in-between generation"... This series presents their daily struggles and passionate insights across five installments.

The theme of the final episode is "The Future of Television." How do these two individuals, who love television and grew up with it, envision its future?

Connecting with each other, moving toward the next vision

Kitakaze: With media like Netflix buying programs outright, how do you envision revitalizing television going forward, including program production?

Kuroki: This "super-global capitalist" system driving the world isn't going to change anytime soon, and the dominance of those with greater capital power will likely persist. While the distant future is unclear, the mindset of "cost-effectiveness" has become the primary criterion for decision-making. This makes the tendency to gravitate toward the "security" offered by financial power and uniformity feel far stronger than I ever imagined. This is my personal observation after living in Tokyo for 30 years since the bubble era.

Given that, I sometimes think the only way left is to fight back, bit by bit, with things like "teamwork," "the amount of sweat we put in," or "our own stories." If we can bring out even a little bit of joy or pleasure from places slightly different from the overwhelming "values of money and efficiency" in the world, maybe people will resonate and be happy too. When I talk with people from various new media, including the web, everyone keeps saying "monetization." But as a cultural festival committee member (laughs), I don't really get excited hearing only about monetization. This is probably a very inappropriate thing for a producer to say (laughs). But television still has that breathing room, that space that says, "There's a different kind of freedom and coolness here too." I absolutely believe we must protect that.

This is the single most important thing I've learned from many seniors at Fuji TV (laughs). It's the value that freedom and humor are paramount in television above all else.

That's why what Mr. Kitakaze mentioned—about "not being afraid to boldly say even silly things"—becomes even more crucial. Even if the whole world moves toward AI, my mission now is to cultivate juniors who move like Harrison Ford in Blade Runner, or like the professors in the Chinese sci-fi novel The Three-Body Problem.

Mr. Kitakaze, do you have any new projects in mind? I find your past initiatives—like programs for cancer survivors or content from parents' perspectives—truly unique and fascinating.

Kitakaze: With dual-income households now making up 70-80%, we've been compiling life hacks and time-saving techniques into a website. I want to do something that brings all that wisdom together. The details are crucial.

I recommend "buying deli food from the department store basement once a month and packing it into your lunchbox to make life easier." But most people get concerned about color and try to add cherry tomatoes. However, doing that adds extra steps that aren't so "petit"—washing them, removing the stems, patting them dry, and packing them. It's supposed to be your once-a-month day to relax, but one little cherry tomato can ruin it. So I've even decided on the detail: "Absolutely no cherry tomatoes!" (laughs). We've accumulated this kind of wisdom down to the smallest details, so my colleagues and I are thinking about compiling it all together.

Kuroki: Cherry tomatoes! You just can't help but add them, right?

Kitakaze: When adults have kids, they suddenly have zero time. Moms have networks to get info, but dads who are actively involved in childcare often struggle to find information. They lack the chance or energy to voice their concerns. I want parents raising kids to thrive in the business world, so I aim to make decisions as concise and efficient as possible during the day. Also, people who've experienced mental or physical illness, or who've faced setbacks for other reasons, often possess wisdom, ingenuity, and planning skills born from understanding that pain. We actively encourage them to join our team.

Kuroki: Society often makes people believe that "one failure means you're done for," but that's not true, right? It would be great if you could communicate this kind of company philosophy more widely. I'd be delighted if we could collaborate on initiatives like that in the future. Thank you for today.

Kitakaze: Absolutely! Thank you for today.

Source of this interview:

Editorial Perspective #05

In the first installment of this series, I wrote: "The core of your conversation is the stance that 'television is absolutely not over. It's just in a transitional phase of evolution.' I found that perspective fresh." Even now, after the series has concluded, that feeling remains unchanged. I find it not only fresh, but profound.

The bodies of all living creatures are merely "vessels" to carry DNA. The vessels themselves hold no value. Meaning lies solely in the act of "transporting" vital DNA to the next generation. However, unlike transient physical forms, the spirit is eternal. We leave behind writing, paintings, sounds, and images. Even content from 2000 years ago retains the power to move our hearts.

Thinking this way, it's impossible for television—which hasn't even been around for 100 years—to already be obsolete. The true essence of television, now sometimes called "old media," is like the flavor of a time-honored establishment. It preserves traditional "techniques" and "flavors" while adapting to the changing times. If a ryotei restaurant continuing since the Edo period can do it, television certainly can too.

"Talking about television in television's own space." What became clear through this series is the danger of prioritizing "uniformity" and "efficiency." Only by recognizing that danger can we dare to challenge the new. This dialogue deeply taught us the pain, and the joy, of creating something.