(Tokyo) Japan wants to quadruple the overseas market for its manga, cartoons and video games to reach the equivalent of CA175 billion by 2033, the government announced on Tuesday.
The country, cradle of manga and epic cartoons like Dragon Ball or One Piece, and globally successful video games like Super Mario and Final Fantasy, considers its creative industries as an engine of growth in the same way as steel and metals. semiconductors.
In its revised “Cool Japan” strategy released on Tuesday, the government said it aims to increase exports of such cultural goods to 20 trillion yen (C$175 billion) by 2033.
“In recent years, content such as anime and manga have played an extremely important role in attracting a growing young audience from overseas, serving as a ‘gateway’ to Japan,” he said. commented the government in its new roadmap.
The rise of streaming, fueled by the COVID-19 pandemic, has helped boost the global profile of Japanese anime, including franchises such as Demon Slayer, whose feature films are huge hits at the global box office.
The booming phenomenon of virtual animated YouTubers, or “Vtubers”, playing video games, is also helping to strengthen Japan’s power of attraction abroad, according to the Japanese government.
The new strategy also plans to strengthen the fight against websites illegally distributing cartoons and manga translated into other languages, such as English or Vietnamese.
“Strengthening measures against piracy sites is essential for the expansion of the global market” and “rapid intergovernmental action is necessary to deal with this “crisis”, insists the Japanese government, according to which part of the advertising revenue from these sites are donated to criminal groups.