Tokyo – Japan’s leading talent agency, Yoshimoto Kogyo, has formed a joint venture with Shanghai Media Group (SMG) to produce programming and advertising for distribution in China. “We will jointly look at whether Japanese TV programs can be localized for Chinese viewers,” said Hiroshi Osaki, president of Yoshimoto Kogyo at a press conference held in Tokyo. The new company will aim to attract advertising from Japanese firms targeting the growing Chinese market, as well as manage Chinese talent. Content from the joint venture, and acquired in Japan, is expected to be broadcast through a new Chinese satellite channel by the end of the year – and also online in the future. Yoshimoto, which was taken over earlier this year in a 54 billion yen ($617 million) deal by a consortium of all the major Japanese TV stations, Softbank, Yahoo Japan and ad-giant Dentsu, has been focusing on overseas expansion.