Illustration: Excalibur for Bloomberg
Japan’s Hottest Export Is About to Be Its Cool
In a reboot of the ‘Cool Japan’ initiative, the nation is using anime and manga to boost its soft power.
If you were asked to list Japanese exports, it’s likely that cars, industrial robots and video game consoles would come to mind. Soon, you might also think of Dandadan or Jujutsu Kaisen.
You might not recognize those names now. But if the government and big business have their way, these and other anime hits will become as familiar to consumers outside Japan as a Corolla or a PlayStation. By 2033, the country wants to quadruple the amount of content it sells in overseas markets each year — primarily anime (animation), manga (comic books) and video games. That would put sales at around ¥20 trillion ($130 billion), almost twice the value of the cars Japan currently ships abroad annually.