Japan’s Kadokawa Group Publishing Co is planning to set up a digital media center in Taiwan to digitalize its catalog of publications — including comics and novels — paving the way for its entry into the Greater China market.
“Taiwan’s cultural and creative industry is full of potential,” said Susumu Tsukamoto, general manager of Kadokawa Media (Taiwan) Co (台灣角川).
Tsukamoto told reporters at an investment forum organized by the government on Tuesday that Taiwan has fewer restrictions in the cultural and creative industry, giving foreign content providers such as Kadokawa a playground to create, publish and digitalize their content.
Based in Tokyo, Kadokawa has been in business for more than 60 years. It has published a slew of magazines and manga titles such as the popular Young Guns series.
It has expanded into online gaming and owns a movie studio, which produced the blockbuster Ringu horror movie series, which were later reproduced by Hollywood as The Ring.
The digital media center in Taiwan will be Kadokawa’s first such center outside Japan. The center will edit, design and digitalize content for the Greater China market, the company said.
The company plans to work with more tech firms in Taiwan, including hardware device makers, to produce its digital content for marketing in the Asia-Pacific, Tsukamoto said.
Kadokawa developed a limited-edition e-reader in cooperation with BenQ Corp (明基) this year, called “nReader Young Guns.”
Tsukamoto said the firm prefers to work with Taiwanese, rather than Chinese, hardware partners.
“We need a partner that highly values our production content. Their devices have to be high quality and exquisite enough to complement our content,” Tsukamoto added.
The partners would have to match those in the ranks of Sony Corp or Panasonic Corp, which are currently in talks with Kadokawa for licensing.
If deals are sealed, Sony and Panasonic would roll out e-readers bundled with the publisher’s content by the end of the year, Tsukamoto said.
Kadokawa first ventured overseas in April 1999 by setting up a Taiwanese subsidiary.
The Taiwanese arm, which publishes Taipei Walker lifestyle magazine, is the first foreign publisher in the country.
The establishment of Kadokawa’s media center in Taiwan came amid government efforts to attract foreign investment in the face of intensifying competition from China.
“China has been jostling with us to draw in more foreign investment,” said Ling Chia-yuh (凌家裕), chief of the Ministry of Economic Affairs’ investment services department.
He said the ministry was boosting global efforts to attract foreign investments from different industries, including high tech, services and cultural and creative.
The government aims to attract NT$11.8 billion (US$369 million) in investment for the cultural and creative industry, one of the 10 star industries earmarked for potential foreign investment.
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