Japanese Government To Set Up New Centralized Corporation For Anime & Manga’s Overseas Expansion

The Japanese government took official steps on Oct. 22 to establish a centralized public-private corporation to manage state subsidies and accelerate the oveerseas expansion of the country’s anime, manga, and video game industries.

The decision was formalized during a meeting at the Cabinet Office in Tokyo, with Minister of Content Strategy Toshiharu Furukawa presiding over the session.

Government officials plan to draft the basic outline of the organization by December, targeting an official operational launch within fiscal year 2027.

A panel of entertainment and media executives has been appointed to the Cabinet Office task force to help guide the organization’s structure.

List of Initiatives Planned Under New Organization:

The planned entity is designed to eliminate bureaucratic divisions by consolidating budgets and subsidy distribution programs previously handled across various ministries, including the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI).

Rather than providing individual studio grants alone, the new organization will focus on building industry-wide infrastructure that single commercial companies cannot finance on their own.

This includes multiple initiatives, including developing advanced translation and AI tools so manga, anime, and games can release globally faster in multiple languages.

Centralized anti-piracy enforcement will serve as another primary focus of the organization, with plans to introduce an automated pirated media detection system developed by the Agency for Cultural Affairs.

Furthermore, the organization will help publishers and animation studios build unified digital platforms to sell their work directly to international audiences, while also investing in talent training to address severe labor shortages and production bottlenecks across animation studios.

An independent audit committee will also be established to oversee operations and ensure fair allocation of state funds.

New Move Comes Following Cool Japan’s Failure:

This overhaul comes because Japan’s previous cultural promotion program, the Cool Japan Fund, failed.

Launched in 2013, the Cool Japan Fund used taxpayer money to invest directly in overseas retail ventures, specialty stores, and streaming sites. Over 13 years, it piled up roughly 54 billion yen in debt after several high-profile investments collapsed, including failed streaming services and a synthetic-fiber startup that went bankrupt.

Under government rules, repeated financial failure triggered mandatory shutdown procedures. The Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry stopped funding the program, and the fund is now being formally dissolved.

Minister Furukawa confirmed that the new 2027 organization will not buy equity or gamble on private startups. Instead, it will focus strictly on shared public infrastructure.

The policy overhaul forms part of Japan’s broader economic growth strategy, which aims to triple annual overseas content sales from 6.1 trillion yen in fiscal 2024 to 20 trillion yen by fiscal year 2033.

Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi has classified the creative content sector as one of 17 priority growth fields eligible for up to 34 trillion yen in combined public and private investment over the next decade.

Policymakers hope the concerted push will narrow the gap between Japan’s 12.9 trillion yen domestic entertainment market and larger foreign markets like the United States and China, leveraging the worldwide footprint of intellectual properties such as Pokémon, One Piece, and Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba.

Japanese authorities are modeling elements of the planned body on South Korea’s Korea Creative Content Agency, which centralized state coordination to expand Korean music and television dramas worldwide.

Source: Nikkei