On July 19th, at Tokyo Kioicho Campus, the Josai University Educational Corporation held a signing ceremony and press conference to announce the formation of a comprehensive agreement with Sun Music Group to foster the next generation of visual and media artists and entertainers.
   In accordance with this agreement, beginning August 26th at the Tokyo Kioicho Campus, Josai International University will offer a new “Course on Contemporary Arts and Entertainment” in the film & performing arts course, the Faculty of Media Studies to foster human resources for entertainments of next generation.

Chancellor Noriko Mizuta; Dean of the Faculty of Media Studies, Fukuyuki En; CEO of Sun Music Group, Masahisa Aizawa; and Director of Sun Music Production, Inc., Hiroyuki Oka were on hand for the press conference which gathered reporters from educational related magazines as well as the general media.

Chancellor Mizuta gave a brief address before the signing, saying, “At the Faculty of Media Studies, we have devoted much energy to the development of human resources who are capable of working at the forefront of society. We are extremely excited at this latest opportunity to fulfill a big dream of ours―that of developing human resources who can contribute at the global level in the field of entertainment, an area that will increase in importance in the near future.” This was followed by remarks from CEO Aizawa who expressed his ambition for this alliance by saying, “By combining JIU’s comprehensive system of human resource development with our cutting-edge know-how, I hope that we can foster human resources capable of producing new cultural content in this global digital age.”
   The agreement was then finalized with the signatures of Chancellor Mizuta and CEO Aizawa.

Following the signing, Dean of the Faculty of Media Studies, Fukuyuki En, provided an overview of the Josai University Educational Corporation and the Faculty of Media Studies’ approach toward the development of human resources, while outlining the goals for this cooperative agreement with Sun Music Group.
   Finally, Director of Sun Music Production, Inc., Hiroyuki Oka, who will serve as a lecturer for the “Course on Contemporary Arts and Entertainment” starting in August, closed the press conference with a presentation that summarized the objectives and curriculum for the program.

The festivities then moved to a classroom on the 3rd floor where CEO Aizawa and Director Oka served as guest lecturers in the Faculty of Media Studies course “Introduction to Media” where they spoke on “The Role and Function of Entertainment Production” before an attentive audience of about 200 students.

The curriculum for JIU’s Faculty of Media Studies at the Tokyo Kioicho Campus is comprised of eight specialties including (professionally supervised) production and direction, visual technology, visual arts, animation and CG, performing arts, theater, music and sound, and content business in the interest of developing human resources that can contribute in a diverse range of fields.
   Sun Music Group has been cultivating talent in the field of performing arts for over forty years, producing some of the most well known talent in the industry. They also operate the Sun Music Academy, and Tokyo☆showbiz that serves as a training facility for up and coming performers.
   This time, by combining a media related comprehensive education system of JIU with the exceptional know-how of the Sun Music Group, we can foster human resources who will carry the future of Japan’s cultural content industry including film, media, dance, and acting into the global digital age and can contribute to future socioeconomic growth through the development of new cultural content.

In the current world of broadcast media, the need for drama and entertainment programming is greater than ever, producing a tremendous demand for talent in the performing and commentating arenas. In this day and age there is also an increasing emphasis on service experience based on “comfort, hospitality, satisfaction, and impression” for the formation of brand identity. By following this sort of approach to entertainment education, JIU’s Faculty of Media Studies hopes to cultivate human resources who are prepared to compete in this era of “experiential economics.”

For our “Course on Contemporary Arts and Entertainment,” students will be encouraged to develop an individual sense of expression and production skills through lectures on entertainment principles (fundamental knowledge, theories of expression), training (basic training in physical expression), as well as practice (production training). In so doing, the hope is to produce human resources in a broad range of entertainment fields including not only those who work as actors, scenario writers, promoters, producers, and directors, but also those who work in departments of advertising and public relations, sales, planning, and marketing of the talent agency, content production company, and event company. This unprecedented alliance between the entertainment industry and an academic institution figures as a bold experiment that hopes to yield equally exciting results.