Sharing Popular Japanese TV Programs to Viewers in the Philippines

Sumitomo Corporation is an active investor in Japanese films, as well as an exporter of Japanese broadcasting content to overseas media outlets.

One such exporting project, which began in November 2014, concerns the broadcasting of Japanese drama series and reality shows in the Philippines. In the campaign, "Lakbay Japan" (Lakbay means "journey" in Tagalog, Philippines' local language) which will run until March 2015, a CATV channel of ABS-CBN, the largest media conglomerate in the country, will broadcast 160 hours (including re-runs) of Japanese television. The programs to be aired are produced by Japanese broadcasters, and include romance drama series, the most popular genre in the Philippines, such as "I'll Still Love You 10 Years From Now" (NHK) and "Fukuoka Love Stories" (KBC), and a popular reality renovation show, "The Before and After" (ABC).

Sumitomo Corporation's role includes obtaining the airing license of those programs from Japanese broadcasters, dubbing in Filipino, and total coordination concerning broadcasting in general. In collaboration with Fuji TV, who has experience in co-production of a program with ABS-CBN, this undertaking is a part of FY2014 "Model Business of Overseas Export of Broadcasting Content using Terrestrial Broadcasting" of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications. Additionally, we will broadcast a program in Malaysia from January 2015, co-produced by Nippon TV and Malaysian Media company MediaPrima, under this same model.

With the aim to assist in the government's "Cool Japan" and "Visit Japan" initiatives to increase Japanese fans overseas, we will continue to promote Japanese content, specifically in Asia, where we foresee a high potential demand.