In the earlier half of the previous decade, Japan seemed almost overrun with entrepreneurs heading digital and cyber businesses. Few, however, have succeeded as well as Masayoshi Son, the founder and president of SoftBank, one of Japan's three leading mobile phone carriers and the only one built from scratch, meaning that it didn't emerge from an already existing telecommunications company.
Son will be the subject of the variety show "Shirushiru Mishiru" ("Know, Know, Find Out"; TV Asahi, Wed., 11:15 p.m.), which will present a dramatization of his life. The program will also shamelessly promote his line of products and services. As everyone knows, SoftBank is the only carrier that handles Apple's iPhone in Japan, and a veteran baseball pundit will demonstrate how some new applications make it easy for even the elderly to be able to use an iPhone productively.
Two other entrepreneurs are profiled on the special program "Yume wa Nihon no Hariuddo" ("The Dream is a Japanese Hollywood"; TBS, Sat., 9:55 a.m.). Five years ago, a movie producer and a local government official from the region of Shonai in Yamagata Prefecture teamed up to create a film production business that would take advantage of the area's natural beauty. They created the Eiga Mura (Movie Village) Studio, which has revitalized the local economy.