HI-TRANSFER

Yesterday’s On Point with Tom Ashbrook NPR radio show featured a segment titled “A Lost Decade?” whereby several apparent policy junkies presented their outlook for the possibility of a Japanese-style “lost decade” here in the U.S. as well as their opinions on past policy and what must be done to avoid further economic weakness.

While interesting listening, this was a pretty disappointing segment given that all the guests appeared to be in the Keynesian camp, completely unable to acknowledge that the efforts by the Federal Reserve and Federal Government have not only been futile but have actually been hampering any chance of a real sustained recovery.

The only glimmer of truth to the entire hour were the two callers who, taken together, made the point that the U.S. has been slogging through major structural economic changes for over a decade already and that the topic should really be titled “A Lost Score?”

This month, the 10 winners of our YouTube NextUp contest in Japan attended Creator’s Camp at Digital Hollywood University in Tokyo. The YouTubers learned to use the magic of green screens, worked with editing pros, talked with industry professionals on brand management and got some hands-on time with high-end digital cameras. We have a summary video of the week’s activities here, and learn many of the same lessons from the YouTube Creator Playbook.

One of our favorite parts of Creator Camp is seeing the creativity coming out of the YouTubers collaborations, so we put together a playlist for you.



The YouTube NextUp winners are already working on their first big projects after Creator Camp, and here’s a few you can look forward to:

• HotchiKazuhiro starts work on his 26-part animated fantasy epic Jugaia
• SQUASHfilms will be touring all of Japan’s world heritage sites and making videos from each
• Two of the NextUp winners will shoot videos from the Northeastern Japan areas affected by the tsunami and earthquake — ChrisNolandTV chronicling rebuilding of the coastal cities and dfarm777 looking at the areas’ stray pets recovery effects

Congratulations again to all the Japan YouTube NextUp creators—megwin, sasakiasahi, soezimax, Kumigar, randomyoko, ChrisNolandTV, dfarm777, HotchiKazuhiro, SQUASHfilms and nariomaru!

Mami Ihara, Partner Program Specialist, recently watched “坂本龍馬 Japanese samurai ryoma sakamoto.”

Cross posted from the Official YouTube Japan Blog

We in the Tokyo office just opened “YouTube Business Support Channel” to assist businesses in areas of Eastern Japan affected by the recent earthquake and tsunami. We wanted to let everyone know that many businesses in Eastern Japan are rebuilding and operating once again.



We worked with seven local newspapers in Eastern and Northeastern Japan to produce short videos introducing small businesses such as hot springs inns and organic rice farmers. In each video, the proprietor appears on camera to talk about recent conditions and show off the premises or a few recommended items that can be purchased. Videos also feature on-screen annotations that link directly to Google Places pages, e-commerce sites, and travel services so that people in Japan can easily buy the shops’ goods or reserve rooms at the ryokan spa hotels. The channel currently has almost 90 of these videos, and our partners are planning to shoot more over the coming weeks.

Thanks to the support of companies Studio Alta and Avix, the videos will be broadcast around Tokyo on giant outdoor screens like the famous Shinjuku Alta Vision.

We hope the videos can contribute in some way to the economic recovery of the disaster-stricken areas.

Tai Hasegawa, Product Marketing Manager, Japan, recently watched “Wankosoba (soba noodles in broth eaten repeatedly in small servings) Shop is open for business in Iwate.”