Daisuke Yokozawa, Executive Managing Director and CCO of Dwango Co., Ltd., and General Producer of Niconico Chokaigi

Combining the real and virtual worlds to offer customers new ways to play

■ Profile

Born in Tokyo in 1981.
As the content strategy manager for Dwango Co., Ltd., he began producing Dwango's mobile content in 2001, and has been involved in the official Nico Nico Douga live broadcasts, various events, and new business ventures. As the general producer of Nico Nico Chokaigi, he has worked on events with an audience of over 160,000 people, and is the general producer of "Cho Kabuki," an original new Cho Kabuki production that combines the traditional art of Kabuki with digital technology. The 2000 Nico Nico Chokaigi (spring and summer) was held online, with a total online attendance of 17,738,806 people, making it one of Japan's largest online participation events.
This year, the event was titled "Niconico Net Chokaigi 2021" and was held over eight days as Japan's largest internet festival, bringing together a variety of entertainment from across Japan.

Dwango Co., Ltd. is a well-known IT company known for Nico Nico Douga and Nico Nico Chokaigi, but it also focuses on the education sector. We spoke to Daisuke Yokozawa, Executive Managing Director and CCO, who came up with the idea for Nico Nico Douga, which aims to provide a more human-like online experience to its customers, about Dwango's strengths and what is required in an increasingly complex society.

■To convey the value of reality

At Dwango, we aim to fuse the virtual and the real through our four main businesses. Our largest business is our portal business, centered around Nico Nico Douga. Here, we are primarily responsible for the operation, management, and development of Nico Nico Douga and Nico Nico Live Streaming. We also manage and operate related services such as Nico Nico Seiga and Nico Nico News. As the internet evolves, we aim to incorporate new ideas and combine digital and analog to create better business models.

Our second business, the mobile business, previously focused on ringtones and ringtones, but is now exploring content that is in line with the times.

Our third business is events such as Niconico Chokaigi. We hold real-life events for subculture, cosplay, and voice actors, as well as events that combine the online and offline worlds. We are coming up with many interesting projects to convey the fun of the real world online and to create new ways to present it. Recently, we produced and performed Cho Kabuki, a fusion of the virtual and the real world, featuring Hatsune Miku and Kabuki. It was a groundbreaking production that used the latest technology to bring out and deepen the value of long-standing traditional culture.

Finally, as a fourth business, Dwango is also involved in education. N High School and S High School are high schools that combine online and correspondence high school systems, with 2 students. Students can take classes from the comfort of their own home, taught by leading instructors in a variety of fields. Students can study whenever they like, which gives them time to explore what they enjoy and what they want to try. The "N" in N High School has a positive connotation, like "New" or "Next." We hope that each student will find their own "N" and seize the opportunity to discover what they love.

■Dwango is a company where you can do what you love as a job

At Dwango, the things that employees like are often directly connected to their work. There is a strong sense that they are doing what they love, rather than being forced to do a job. I believe that entertainment is something that comes from something you enjoy from your heart. Therefore, Dwango employees are clear about what they like, and they share their individual "likes" with each other.

At Dwango, we create content in a variety of fields, including anime, art, shogi (Japanese chess), history, and politics. Employees who are passionate about a particular field are put in charge of the project, and in many cases, those around them provide support for any skills they lack. Perhaps because we value each person's passion over their skills, the content produced by Dwango is warm and human. Sometimes work progresses beyond the organization, and I truly feel that everyone's passions are connected to form the work.

So how can you turn your passions into a career? It all comes down to how you combine them. We also focus on creating content and mechanisms that have a core fan base, rather than mass-market content that everyone will love. Rather than targeting everyone, we excel at digging deep into niche areas that only we might like, knowing that there might be others who like them. At the heart of this is a desire to provide content that respects each individual's passions and creates a place for them. I believe this is why Nico Nico Douga has such a large membership base of 8000 million. As for future prospects, there are still many areas where digital and analog have not yet merged. We aim to combine the efficiency and streamlining benefits of digital with the warmth and ambiguity of analog. Dwango aims to continue creating these seemingly unique experiences.

■Responding to a complex society

I believe society will become increasingly diverse and decentralized in the future. With the proliferation of information, it's now easier to find what you like and what interests you. As society becomes more complex, it's more important to master your areas of expertise rather than developing a wide range of talents. While a foundation of comprehensive abilities will remain necessary, it's also important to be selective. Have the courage to rely on others for things you're not good at or can't do. It's better to spend time developing your strengths than wasting time on things you're not good at. It's best to combine everyone's strengths, assign roles, and unleash the full potential of the team. It's also important to find things you can do without putting in the effort. Things that may seem difficult to others but aren't a burden to you are a good way to develop and grow your abilities without stress. Try a variety of things, be selective, and rely on others. People who are lacking something but can still live doing what they love are highly valued.

■Message to university students

I want all university students to be clear about what they want to do and why they are attending university. University is a place to study, working backwards to what you want to do in the future and the world you want to create. I learned more after entering the workforce than I did at university. Rather than simply hoarding knowledge, I think it's better to be clear about how you will use that knowledge. Attending university is not an end in itself, but a means to an end, leading to what you want to do in the future. To do this, first find something you love. Nothing you have done up until now will be wasted. Face a variety of things, discover what you love, and combine what you love to create new values.

Interviewed by Student Newspaper Online on July 8, 2022 by Meiji University 4th year student, Yaku Sakai