Pursuit of Harmony and Mutual Development with SocietySUSTAINABILITY FOR THE MEDIA DO GROUP

Basic Policy

MEDIA DO’s name encapsulates the Company’s desire to become a medium that unites forms of value that would not have come together otherwise and thereby contribute continually to the evolution and development of society. The growth of the business of the MEDIA DO Group is linked to the ongoing and harmonious development of society as well as to the growth of the publishing industry. For this reason, we recognize that it is important for our business activities and services to contribute to the healthy economic development as well as to the enrichment of culture and society. Going forward, the MEDIA DO Group will continue to pursue growth through business activities matched to contemporary trends and changes while leveraging its unique strengths to generate social value.

Unleashing a Virtuous Cycle of Literary Creation

Fight against Piracy Together with ABJ
MEDIA DO is charged with the mission of continuously protecting the frameworks that support the ongoing creation of highquality content and provide users with a safe environment that can be used with confidence to enjoy this content. We are also tasked with maximizing the volume of content distributed through these frameworks. The spread of illegally reproduced content (piracy) is one of the greatest threats to the publishing industry and a constant source of economic and mental stress to all involved in the creation and distribution of content.

It has become clear that the fight against piracy requires consistent, long-term effort by a permanent organization. Based on this recognition, creator organizations, publishers, telecommunications companies, MEDIA DO, and other industry participants banded together to establish Authorized Books of Japan (ABJ) as their bulwark against piracy. As of July 31, 2022, ABJ was playing an ever-strong role as the nerve center for the fight against piracy with membership by 78 companies.

The damages of piracy remain severe, and the industry has maintained a unique front against this threat through strategies for improving user literacy and preventing damages to these users. Measures on this front have included anti-piracy campaigns advanced through coordination between creators and ABJ members as well as the use of the ABJ certification mark to indicate authorized stores and distribution services. These strategies helped the industry gain ground by closing down two major overseas piracy websites, cutting the access numbers to such websites to half their peak levels. Supporting ABJ’s flank, MEDIA DO lends its aid by supplying intelligence to filtering and security companies and by erecting a defensive line to protect users. Moreover, we pledge our full support to the efforts to battle piracy websites lurking overseas advanced through an alliance between the publishing and communications industries and the relevant government agencies as well as to their user education activities in order to help create an environment in which creators feel safe to create.

Participation in W3C Internet Technology International Standardization Organization
EPUB is a global standard file format for eBooks specified by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), an organization promoting the international standardization of internet technologies. MEDIA DO officially joined W3C in December 2018, after which Daihei Shiohama, president and CEO of overseas subsidiary Media Do International, Inc., was appointed as the Asian co-chair of the Publishing Business Group of W3C. In 2020, Mr. Shiohama became one of only about 20 W3C evangelists, an elite team of field specialists from around the world, and the first Japanese member of this team. International standardization will have a substantial impact on the creation and distribution of eBooks. Accordingly, the MEDIA DO Group is committed to sharing information regarding the future of the publishing industry together with advice on international standards through W3C while also encouraging members of the Japanese publishing industry to participate in this organization.

Expansion of Digital Library Services that Guarantee Access to Written Works
The OverDrive digital library service is a tool that can be used by the libraries operated by municipalities and schools to allow users to check out books online with ease no matter their location. This service can handle eBooks of various genres and languages, including eBooks with English language narration. MEDIA DO’s capital and business alliance with major paper publication wholesaler Tohan, which was formed in 2021, has helped double the sales of this service. This feat was accomplished by utilizing Tohan’s network of sales offices across Japan and by working together with physical bookstores through Tohan to promote introduction of OverDrive.

Furthermore, MEDIA DO developed Accessible Library in June 2022 as an unlimited-use eBook service for people with disabilities. This service makes it possible for publications to be delivered to the estimated 300,000 people with disabilities in Japan in an efficient and ongoing manner.

Legislation regarding the provision of reading opportunities for people with impaired vision that was implemented in Japan in 2019 is designed to contribute to a society in which everyone, regardless of whether or not they have a disability, can experience literature and its surrounding culture. The MEDIA DO Group believes that it is in a unique position to provide social value by facilitating the development of culture through such business and solutions as OverDrive and Accessible Library. Furthermore, the supply of these solutions to municipalities and schools is anticipated to drive the digital transformation of reader experiences and help deliver the joy of reading to an even wider range of people. These solutions are also expected to function as tools for supporting the development of human resources who can excel in Japan and on the global stage by expanding the range of education and learning opportunities available to them.

* Source: Statistics on children and other people with disabilities released by the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare (2016)

Community Contribution

Support for Entrepreneurship to Contribute to Regional Development

Japan currently faces a number of serious social issues, including the contraction of its workforce and the rapid aging of its population. Recognizing these issues, MEDIA DO is actively promoting regional development to ensure that Japan can hand down an energized society to future generations. In this endeavor, an issue that needs to be addressed is the concentration of information and production capabilities in major urban centers, a situation that results in regional economies lacking information and experiencing outfluxes of population. Part of MEDIA DO’s efforts to address this issue was the establishment in 2020 of TOKUSHIMA INNOVATION BASE ASSOCIATION (TIB) in Tokushima Prefecture, where Founder and President Yasushi Fujita was born. Created jointly with four local companies, TIB is charged with the mission of supporting entrepreneurs. MEDIA DO plays a leadership role in TIB’s activities.

TIB coordinates with universities and municipal government organizations as well as with the Entrepreneurs’ Organization, a global organization that has attracted participation by approximately 15,000 entrepreneurs from across the world and generates annual revenue in excess of ¥100 million. Through this coordination, TIB offers valuable learning opportunities as well as programs for fostering mutually supportive relationships between managers with the aim of cultivating prominent entrepreneurs outside of urban centers. Other companies have followed this example, leading to similar initiatives underway or being planned in more than 30 other prefectures as of July 2022. MEDIA DO hopes to spread such initiatives across Japan in order to create a robust flow of information and people into regional economies and to thereby contribute to the nationwide cultivation of new industries that will strengthen the Japanese economy as a whole.