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Japanese manga and anime are highly acclaimed overseas, but it is hard to say that their foundations as a cultural industry are firmly in place. It is important to strengthen their international competitiveness and nurture them as a key industry.
The value of exports from the content industry, which includes manga, anime, movies and games, totaled ¥4.7 trillion in 2022, approaching the steel industry’s ¥5.1 trillion and the semiconductor industry’s ¥5.7 trillion.
This has also spurred overseas fans to come to Japan to make “pilgrimages” to places where stories are set and scenes were filmed.
The government has set a goal of increasing the value of exports from the content industry to ¥20 trillion by 2033. However, international competition is increasingly fierce with the rise of South Korea and China. Japan will be tested as to how it charts a course to realize this goal.
Until recently, Japan has lacked a system for providing one-stop support for everything from the production of works to overseas distribution. To this end, the government established in September a council through public-private partnerships that serves as a command center for overseas expansion. A subordinate organization specializing in supporting the film industry was also set up.
In France, about 10% of movie theater admission fees are collected as a special tax for the film industry, to provide integrated support for activities from script writing and production to distribution and overseas expansion.
South Korea has also worked to promote its films and music overseas as a national strategy, by investing a portion of cinema admission fees and government subsidies in a fund. The overseas revenues of South Korean movies and drama series are more than three times those of Japanese productions, and the content has also helped boost exports of cosmetics and other products that have appeared in the stories.
Japan has taken a step forward by creating a forum for the public and private sectors to work together to develop its content industry. It is appropriate that the government has devised a policy to improve the environment but not interfere, so as not to hinder the free creation of works.
Japan is said to not be doing enough to market its movies and drama series overseas and is lagging behind in digitalization. It is necessary to analyze what Japan lacks in comparison with other countries and take relevant measures.
People producing works in the field must have an environment in which they can fully express their creativity. In France, for instance, there are reportedly rules for the working conditions on film productions.
It is essential to make efforts to improve the industry by learning from the examples of other countries. The problems of low wages, long working hours, abuse of power and sexual harassment must be urgently resolved so that young people can become established in the industry.
The ideal would be for Japan to increase the number of competent personnel dispatched abroad to learn about the legal systems and content business structures of other countries, to create expanded contact networks. The government should also put in place a system to protect intellectual property rights to ensure that painstakingly created works do not fall victim to piracy and other forms of infringement.
