What does the renowned editor-in-chief, who is always challenging the ‘new’, see in today's ‘crypto assets’ and ‘web3’?
--Please tell us how you got to your current career.
Yusuke Shitara (Shitara): When I was a student, I worked as a magazine editor at an editing production company, and later joined Mainichi Communications (now Mynavi) as a new graduate and worked in advertising sales. Then, at the age of 25, I moved to Gentosha.
At Gentosha, after working in the sales department, I created a department called the Content Business Department, which was in charge of new digital businesses. There, I launched an e-book business, owned media business and content marketing business. I also created joint ventures with several major IT companies and launched a community service called NewsPicks Academia in a joint venture with NewsPicks.
I am also a director of Gentosha Comics, a group company, where I am involved in management, digitalisation of comics and the licensing business. I also edited several books. In fact, I am still editing a book on blockchain.
Of course, it has to be a business, but Gentosha was an environment where if I had an idea, I was allowed to do it. That's why I was able to experience so many different genres of work in my 20s and 30s, and I'm still grateful to the company for that. I also started doing podcasts and other things on the side.
And while doing various jobs, I came across Bitcoin in 2017.
At first it was for investment purposes, but when I read Satoshi Nakamoto's whitepaper, I got excited and thought, ‘This is a technology that will change the internet in a big way’, and since I had always been a bit of a programmer, I got really into the crypto asset and blockchain area.
I remember being as excited as I was when I first discovered the internet as a teenager, or even more so.
--What kind of involvement does Gentosha have with crypto-assets and blockchain?
Shitara: As Gentosha, we wanted to commit ourselves to this area, and that's why we launched the media ‘Atarashii Keizai’ (Atarashii Keizai). 2017 was the so-called ICO bubble, when information on scams was overflowing and the information gap with overseas countries was still huge. I myself almost got fooled a few times.
That's why I wanted a media outlet that was due-dated and operated by a proper parent company, so I decided to create it myself and launched Atarashii Keizai in 2018.
--Gentosha was quick to enter this area in the publishing industry. How do you see other publishing companies moving in this direction?
Shitara: Looking around the publishing industry, there have been some initiatives using NFT, but it still seems like companies are taking a wait-and-see approach. I thought that some of them would follow up on the web media business, but they haven't. I think they are only publishing books on web3.
I think that if we make more use of IP such as comics, we could do some interesting things, but the comics and animation market is very profitable at the moment. Existing businesses are doing well. So there is no need to force innovation. I think the fact that the existing model is sufficient for business is a disincentive.
On the other hand, in the area of so-called textual content, such as novels and business books, the market is becoming much tougher. People are not reading general books anymore. So, on the contrary, I feel that the use of technology, including Web3, may advance from this area.
