Japan wants to export more of its cool

Japan is trying to hearken back to an era when Pokémon, Hello Kitty, and Tamagotchis dominated pop culture across America and the rest of the globe.

The island nation’s government has relaunched its “Cool Japan” campaign, which seeks to reestablish the creative industry as one of its leading exports and boost the country’s soft power globally.

• As part of Cool Japan, the government wants to quadruple the amount of content it sells in overseas markets to ~$133 billion by 2033, primarily in the form of new anime, manga, and video games.

Driving the move: From Super Mario Bros. to Studio Ghibli to Elden Ring, Japan’s cultural offerings have gained widespread fame across the globe over the past several decades and lured millions of tourists to the island nation.

But, in recent years, Japan’s position as the world’s coolest country has faced challenges.

• South Korea (K-pop, Squid Game) and China (Genshin Impact, Black Myth: Wukong) have seen their cultures become more mainstream globally.
• The rise of generative AI has also enabled anyone, anywhere to create convincing knockoffs of Japanese content, drawing concern from the country’s business lobbies.

🇯🇵💹 Bottom line: Despite these obstacles, Japanese culture is still wildly popular globally. Overseas content sales nearly tripled between 2015 and 2022; American companies like Blackstone and Netflix are investing billions in manga and anime; Shogun is sweeping award shows; and Shohei Ohtani is sweeping MVPs.