The Japan Media Communication Center (JAMCO) promotes international cooperation through television programs with the aims of furthering mutual understanding between Japan and other countries and making contributions to broadcasting and social progress in the developing world. JAMCO has, as one of its activities, organized international conferences on diverse broadcasting-related themes almost every year since 1991.

The subject we have chosen in the 2021 fiscal year for the 30th JAMCO International Symposium is For a Sustainable World – Responses to the COVID-19 Crisis. Reports will be presented and debated online by researchers, specialists, and others engaged directly in the educational, health, corporate and other related fields, and I am looking forward to hearing everyone’s views and opinions.

JAMCO’s core activity is the selection of television programs broadcast in Japan that are suitable for sharing with the people of developing countries, and production of international versions of them translated into English, Spanish, French and other languages. As of 2021, our center currently has 1,807 international versions of programs in its extensive library across genres ranging from drama to children’s and educational programs and documentaries. We have supplied 13,468 programs to 100 countries in regions including Asia, the Pacific, Africa, Europe, Central and South America and other regions. Depending on the country, some of these international versions have been translated again for broadcast in the local language, or used as teaching materials at universities and other institutions.

The COVID-19 pandemic has now continued into 2022. Institutions of the developed and developing worlds alike have had to respond to this crisis through the use of digital technologies and other special means. Simultaneously, as common objectives for all humanity, the world has also had to focus more intently on the SDGs, the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals, including the eradication of poverty, furtherance of education, and responses to global warming. Here in Japan, voices in industry and various other fields have meanwhile become increasingly concerned that Japan’s tight border controls imposed during the pandemic have had a negative impact on corporate activity, and led to a further shift of both human resources and investment away from this country.

This symposium will receive and discuss presentations relating to COVID-19’s global impact from the widest possible range of perspectives, from the support provided to refugees to schooling, community development, SDG-related projects, and corporate activity. I hope it will prove a useful occasion for everyone, and am convinced it will also provide JAMCO with deep insights for our own future activity.