According to Yomiuri Shimbun on June 23, the Japanese government has initiated plans to form a support body intended to be the cornerstone for boosting Japan’s content sector internationally. The government intends to allocate a total of 34 trillion yen across public and private sectors by the end of 2033, with the goal of establishing the content industry as a primary component of its 17 strategic industries.
Japanese anime, manga, and video games have experienced a notable surge in global appeal in recent years, with overseas revenue from Japanese content hitting 6.1 trillion yen in fiscal year 2024. The government considers this sector vital to Japan’s economic prosperity, aiming to increase the international market value of domestic content to 20 trillion yen by 2033. Various government agencies and affiliated groups, including the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI), have been taking separate steps toward this objective. For instance, last October, the METI introduced a fresh set of policies to aid domestic creators and broaden the reach of their intellectual properties to Western markets.
Nevertheless, as reported by Yomiuri Shimbun, METI and the Agency for Cultural Affairs have faced criticism in Japan for their lack of efficiency, which has prompted the government to explore the creation of a unified organization to support Japanese content abroad.
The proposed organization is expected to emulate the structure of Korea’s KOCCA (Korea Creative Content Agency), a central coordinating entity for the nation’s content sector that has achieved significant success in globalizing K-pop. Its objectives will include fortifying international market tactics, establishing distribution networks for overseas growth, investing in talent development, and providing backing for large-scale productions.
Although Japan has doubled its financial assistance for the content industry annually, reaching approximately 58.9 billion yen, Yomiuri Shimbun notes that this figure still falls short compared to investments from competitors like South Korea and China. In 2023, South Korea allocated about 76.2 billion yen to its content sector, while China invested 128.3 billion yen in 2024.
Looking ahead, the Japanese government intends to unveil a substantial lineup of medium-to-long-term investments, particularly targeting the private sector. The new strategy, slated for determination this summer, will encompass public and private investments projected to total around 24.5 trillion yen for the video game industry, 3.3 trillion yen for anime, 1.6 trillion yen for manga, and 3 trillion yen for the music industry by fiscal year 2033. The government also anticipates that the economic benefits stemming from Japan’s content industry will amount to 326 trillion yen by the end of that same year.