Anime is continuing to grow in popularity in the world, and with the medium’s expansion, Japan has been acting in kind to help promote the many projects that have been released recently. In Japan, there are several “business lobbies” that exist in the economic field, with one of the biggest taking a renewed interest in all things anime and pushing for the country to continue to promote the medium in any way that it can. Surprisingly enough, the plea is made for a shocking reason as the business lobby believes that Japan is seeing some unexpected competition.
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The Japan Business Federation, or Keidanren, focuses on the “contents industry” in Japan, with the medium of anime being a prime example of the creative side that the lobby is looking to promote. In attempting to continue to hype anime, Keidanren stated that Japan is seeing some stead competition in the animation department from South Korea and China. In the past, Japan has pumped funds and promotion into anime via endeavors such as the “Cool Japan Initiative” which had seen Sentai Filmworks, for example, receive a healthy injection of funds in 2019 to help the medium excel. With anime and manga seeing steady increases in sales in North America and the world over, it will be interesting to see the heights the medium can hit moving forward.
Promote Anime, Promote Japan
Keidanren also made a point of stating that should the country promote anime, it might do well in promoting tourism as well, stating that travelers from around the world might take the opportunity to visit Japan in order to see some of the sites of some major anime works. Certainly, Japan has its fair share of tourist attractions for anime fans that range from a Naruto theme park, life-sized Gundam statues, anime cafes, the anime attractions at Universal Studios Japan, and many other prime examples. The chairman of Keidanren, Masakazu Tokura, is also a big fan of anime and manga, having recently discussed the sports anime Slam Dunk, which was a major success in Japanese theaters.
Do you think the anime industry needs more promotion in reaching fresh fans around the world? Which anime franchise do you think has become the most popular outside of Japan in recent years? Feel free to let us know in the comments or hit me up directly on Twitter @EVComedy to talk all things comics, anime, and the initiative known as “Cool Japan”.
