Japan will rebuild itself

I originally wrote this article for my client based in Kyoto, Japan. However, I take the opportunity to reproduce this article by making few tweaks as a way of paying my tribute to a country that I love and have strong connections with.

Like everyone else, I was horrified and shocked to see the large-scale devastation and human cost caused by the earthquake and the tsunami. The massive waves that ripped through the coastal areas of north east Japan is the largest peace time disaster in living memory. The aftermath of the earthquake and the tsunami has been life-changing, leaving the entire nation in a state of shock as the news of deaths and destruction continue to unfold on television. However, despite being in a state of loss, the Japanese were quick to show how resilient they can be and strikingly, in Tokyo, life was approaching normal just 24 hours after the quake.

Almost a week after the terrible disaster, there are now fears of radiation leaks at a power generation plant affected by the quake – an additional challenge that could not have come at a worse time. As the only nation on earth to be hit by atomic bombs over 60 years ago, Japanese society still grapples with the suffering and horrors of nuclear radiation. As rescue and search operations continue at the quake and tsunami affected areas, the government has stepped up efforts to cool over-heating fuel at the Fukushima plant. Helicopters have been dumping tonnes of sea water to try to prevent a meltdown of fuel rods, and there are media reports that water cannons have now joined in the operation on the ground. The hardest thing about writing this piece is the fact that the news is changing so swiftly the first few paragraphs will be wrong by the time I reach the conclusion.

Though Kyoto remains physically unaffected by the disaster – with events even taking place here this week – the scale of the tragedy is so incomprehensible that it is having a knock-on emotional effect all over Japan. People are concerned about the radiation risks as far away as Tokyo, and many families have already started moving to areas of the country considered safer zones. This has become a twofold crisis in terms of evacuation and displacement as pressure increases on fuel, food and medicine supplies. To cap it all, the latest figure by the police say that 5,400 people are confirmed dead and about 9,500 more are still missing.

There have been some disturbing stories emerging from the immediate vicinity of the  and the disaster zone. While people have been asked to stay indoors, many are making their own decisions on where they and their families should be at this time. Hotels in Kyoto and surrounding region are filling up fast with people moving their meetings from Tokyo because they do not want to impose extra demand on the restricted power supply and other after affects of the earthquake. In Kyoto as with other parts of the country hotels are keeping their prices low to help out, demonstrating the country’s willingness to work together and create a successful solution.

Amid all the gloom and the horror that has hit this proud and beautiful country, there have been stories of hope, miracle and extreme courage. In Sendai, a woman has been collecting names of survivors and trying to cross them off the missing lists and make contact with their families. In Kyoto, the famous annual Highashimya Hanataouro illumination event has been renamed – a direct translations would be A flicker of hope for Tohoku.  There are also prayers for the aftermath of the earthquake and thousands of people have come to write their prayers and make financial donations. Literally, tens of thousands of dollars are being collected every night.

In particular people's perceptions of the size of Japan and the impact of the quake need to be managed as we move forward. There is no denying the fact that the country faces tough times ahead, the clear up will be lengthy, and  the economy will take a battering but above all else the human cost is likely to be overwhelming.  However, as a nation  Japan is  incredibly well prepared for natural disasters and the relief effort began almost instantaneously.

 In the face of this extreme adversity, the Japanese people are showing extreme courage to withstand the situation and are determined to rebuild the country. Japan has been historically a country of hard working and proud people. The country splendidly emerged from the devastation of the Second World War to become a dominant economy of the world. I am sure that history will repeat itself in the land of the rising sun.

Youth, Internet and the revolutions

There should be a feel good factor in the way social media has shaken the bedrock of global politics in the recent months. From the wiki leaks that embarrassed governments by tapping on diplomatic cables to the revolutionary demonstrations in the Middle East, these events have one common thread underlining them: the power of the internet to spark controversies and it's ability to mobilise large scale protests. Surprisingly, when it came to the protests in Tunisia the main stream media took time to get into grips with the situation, whilst hints of unrest was  already brewing on Twitter soon after Bouazizi ,the vegetable vendor, who later became an immortal face of the protests  set himself on fire.

The protests across the Middle East and North Africa have another powerful element to it. They are being lead by the youth, who are actively using social media tools like Facebook, Twitter, blogs and You Tube to mobilise the crowd. At the peak of the revolution in Egypt, 87, 293  signed up the Facebook page “We are all Khalid Said”( Khalid Said, a 28-year-old Egyptian from the coastal city of Alexandria, Egypt, was tortured to death at the hands of two police officers became a symbol of the protestors). Later, Wael Ghonim, the Egyptian-born Google marketing executive, who first played a role in organising the opposition through Facebook, told the American audiences that without Facebook and Twitter their revolution "would never have happened".

The political developments in the Middle East indicates how the world is going to be shaped in the coming years as cyber savvy generation become more conscious of their political and social rights and take centre stage in making their voices heard on national and international issues.


Let’s look at the positive aspects. According to the CIA World Factbook, more than 1.7 billion people on earth today are between 15 and 30 years of age, with an average age of 28. This number of this Gen Y or Millennia generation, as it is known are set to grow phenomenally within the next few years. Clearly with further internet penetration and with more people becoming literate, the access to information for the vast majority of the people will be far greater than any point of time in human history.


These changes will structurally affect the way the governments and businesses communicate. For businesses and brands, marketing strategies will have to undergo a radical shift. Their messages have to be fragmented, based on understanding of the cultural dynamics of its targeted audience. For example, the outlook of a teenage girl in Shanghai and Paris using a Louis Vuitton can be similar, but the Chinese consumer has to be approached in ways that makes her see Louis Vuttion as something that fits into her realm of things. In other words, in a flat world, it will be bit tricky to imagine that nationalism or individualism will disappear. One to one communication will be the need of the day; brands would have to increasingly act as services.

At the political level, governments in democracies will have to become more transparent. In many ways, exchange of information, knowledge and solidarity on issues of global importance will be much stronger. It need not be based on a TV or radio show but based on communities on internet with much sophisticated tools. Most importantly, hypocrisy of leaders, organisations and others that tend to safeguarded the interests of despots and oppressors with murky business deals will be increasingly questioned.

Finally, as seen in Egypt, the internet can be a catalyst in a change. An illiterate man many not be able to use Facebook, but he can surely understand a video on Youtube. This clearly demonstrates that technology can be used in various ways for the benefit of the masses. Today, only 30 percent of the global population use internet, the figure will double in next few years. To make that happen it is the responsibility of the digital natives as they come to power to make policies and take actions to uplift the poor in the society. Technology in the 21st century should be used to create a fairer and a better world.

The role of the BBC World Service in our lives

This week Suti focuses on the BBC…

The BBC world service last month confirmed plans to close five of its 32 World Service language services. According to Mr Thompson, the director general of the BBC, the cuts were necessary due to last autumn’s Spending Review. The recent plans will effectively end the radio programming in seven languages – Azeri (the official language of Azerbaijan), Mandarin Chinese, Russian, Spanish (for Cuba), Turkish, Vietnamese and Ukrainian.  Though personally not affected, I do share the grief of the regular listeners of the BBC in the above languages.

My association with the BBC dates back to the early days of my childhood. As a child growing up in a public boarding school in India, listening to the BBC world service news was a part of our daily routine. We had to listen to the BBC world news before breakfast. It didn’t really matter whether we understood global affairs or not, but the house master, like most of the teachers, felt listening to the BBC was absolutely necessary to improve our English!

As the Indian media boomed in the mid 1990s bringing along a plethora of private English and other language news channels, the BBC radio service’s popularity dwindled. However, the BBC radio service remained intimately strong with the older generation. I remember my neighbour, a lanky old fellow who would listen to the world service news on his crackling transistor that he has been using for half a century.  He would often proudly say how the BBC was the first one to broadcast the assassination of Indira Gandhi, the Indian Prime Minister in 1984, hours before the Indian media did. Clearly for a man who probably never moved out of his home state, the BBC shaped his vision of the world and global events throughout his life.

As I grew up and went to the university to study journalism, the BBC remained for me and my friends a model for its credible editorial and impartial news. We thought the simplicity of the BBC website and its adaptation of other aspects of the digital are simply remarkable.

In a global context, the BBC has also been a powerful tool for public diplomacy over the world and played a very important role for millions in shaping outlook and perception of some of the universal values like democracy, freedom and human rights. The BBC regional services get into territories and bring amazing human interest stories which otherwise in many countries are not reported by the domestic media. The BBC world service is not just about news and current affairs, its programmes spans across  global art, cultures, science, technology, music  and literature that stimulate intellectual discussions  and deeply  enriches our view of the world.

The other day I  took part in a discussion with someone, who argued that the BBC still suffers from the colonial hangover and tries to impose its views on the world.  Perceptions about news might differ from person to person, and now living in Britain; I have a better understanding about the organisation and the controversies surrounding it. However, I still believe that the BBC World Service gives good insight to some of the pressing issues of the world and it remains one of the most trusted organisations for news for many around the globe.

At a time, when countries like China are investing millions in international English channel, the BBC   should ensure the World Service remains an articulate and powerful voice  for free and independent reporting and be the collective voice of shared universal principles  in the world. Credibility is the key to the BBC’S success and it must ensure that it continues to enhance that.

The future of newspapers

There is an intriguing development in the media industry…

Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation is launching an  iPad only newspaper called Daily. It was initially supposed to be launched in January in the presence of Steve Jobs of Apple, but has been postponed as Steve Jobs is on medical leave. The product will be launched later in the year presumably along with the iPad 2.   Some industry commentators see this model as a  prototype for new way of selling newspapers, which is likely to be emulated by other tablet computers in the future. Above all else, the move is going to be watched with heightened curiosity by the newspaper industry.

It is a fact that the readership of newspapers is declining sharply as readers are increasingly moving on to the internet. The phenomenon, which is widespread in all countries, has severely affected many regional newspapers in different countries particularly in the United States.  Rupert Murdoch has been advocating the building of pay walls around news sites (The Times started charging readers online last year).

Recently Eric Schimidt, CEO of Google pointed out in a recent interview with The Guardian in London that the news reading  experience will undergo huge changes in the next few years. It will offer a new experience to the readers with rich text, colour, video and the ability to go very deeply into the story. Readers will be presented with what is latest rather than reading what we already know. In other terms, news will become more personalised and will be supported by sophisticated  multi-media centric advertising products.

Google feels since the internet is based on the concept of free information, pay walls shouldn’t be enforced.  I am inclined to agree with Google’s argument, and feel that as the digital era takes its grip, the readership of newspapers will pick up. There will be a greater source of revenue through advertising with increased readership. It will therefore make sense to have both free and  subscription models available.  In fact, several studies have shown that websites that offer free news don’t want to move to a pay model as the earnings through advertising is good enough. And, as news becomes more customised, people are likely to read the sections that they are interested in, which in turn will widen the scope of targeted advertising.

The iPad newspaper is going to be the first newspaper of its kind in this category. Apple should welcome it but as a company known for its innovation it shouldn’t endorse it.

Happy Birthday Wikipedia

15 January 2011 is the 10th anniversary of  Wikipedia. To mark the occasion, there is an explosion of discussions ‘in praise of Wikipedia’ on television, radio and newspapers. The fact that Wikipedia’s birthday has generated so much interest points out two interesting things. Firstly, how this online tool that contains a plethora of information about almost everything in the universe has become an important part of our life. Secondly, the power of the internet to create anniversaries of brands that are celebrated all over the world.    Brands existed much before the internet came into being. People across the world owned products but we didn’t have anniversaries that got people talking about Rolls Royce, Virgin or Rolex…

What makes brands like Wikipedia or Google so popular that the world takes notices whenever something is said about them? The answer is simple: these are the tools that have dramatically changed the way we consume knowledge and information.Wikipedia, for example, offers more than 17m articles in 270  languages without a charge. Every day thousands of people edit entries or add new ones. For someone looking for information Wikipedia provides quick summary or in-depth information about a topic.

There have however been serious concerns about the accuracy of information that is posted on Wikipedia.  Some academics frown, when Wikipedia is even mentioned. In 2009. Britain’s exam watchdog, Ofqual, warned that Wikipedia was not “authoritative or accurate” and entries “may be completely untrue”.  However, in my opinion, Wikipedia compares well with the accuracy of books, newspapers and magazines and it provides an excellent starting point for research. Its ability to provide a quick overview of a subject, with links to abundant references, is of immense value. I agree with those that say the references must not be taken on face value, and if it is being used for a wider  research, it needs to be cross checked.

The fact that Wikipedia has become an indispensible part of the knowledge economy has made institutions take it more seriously. Most researchers ensure that the pages are correctly updated. Most brands and companies like to have Wikipedia pages. After all everyone wants to be heard and probably the greatest success of Wikipedia is that also gives voice and shape to something. It is true that  references on topics in Wikipedia can be conveniently manipulated to raise doubts, but like any  product, it should be left to the discretion of the consumer to use the information or not.

 Wikipedia is a narrative of the past and the present. It plays an important role is democratisation of information and its dissemination. Clearly, it also holds a message for brands: one reason why we talk about anniversaries of Wikipedia, Twitter, Face book and  Google, is because these brands reach out to people and make themselves a part of their life. Above all, these tools provide a free and centralised view about the world.