Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) has set out one of the rules behind its anime and content policy: the government will not interfere with the content of creative works. The principle is part of METI's Entertainment & Creative Industry Strategy 2026, which the ministry announced on Thursday, August 20. Check out the official post down below:
The post says the government and private sector will speed up efforts to reach 20 trillion yen in overseas sales of Japanese content by 2033, with growth investment in training, production, overseas expansion and anti-piracy measures. It also calls on companies to aim for "3 times the sales, 3 times the investment."
The 5 Entertainment Policy Principles
The principle is not brand new. METI set out 5 principles for entertainment policy in October 2025, and the 2026 strategy restates them as the guide for all of its content policy:
- Support on a large scale, over the long term and strategically
- Support efforts to create in Japan and deliver to the world
- Don't interfere with the content of works
- Deliver support straight to recipients
- Prioritize challengers
The 3rd principle means government support should not influence what is in a work, protecting creators' freedom of expression. METI's strategy says it has strengthened this by changing how it reviews funding applications. Instead of screening based mainly on qualitative items, including creative evaluations of the content itself, the ministry now uses objective business metrics as its main criteria.
What The Plan Means For Anime
The strategy sets a target of growing overseas anime sales from 2.1 trillion yen in 2024 to 6 trillion yen in 2033. METI says anime already accounts for more than 30 percent of Japan's overseas content sales and has helped raise awareness of Japanese content around the world.
The document also lists problems in the industry:
- Streaming rights are often licensed for a fixed fee, so studios do not get enough extra revenue when a show becomes a hit
- Production companies have limited chances to invest in their own projects and receive limited production royalties
- Many studios lack the capacity to train staff, leading to shortages of skilled workers
- Piracy damage in the video field reaches 2.3 trillion yen per year
- Production costs are rising due to higher wages, higher quality demands, software and server costs and a weak yen
- Generative AI is spreading output that resembles Japanese characters
To address this, METI says it will focus on producing more blockbuster anime and raising the share of profits that goes to studios, including bigger investment stakes and production royalties.
More Money, Fewer Pages
METI says its support budget has more than tripled under the new IP360 framework, from 10.2 billion yen to 35.6 billion yen. Including other ministries, government-wide support has grown from 25.2 billion yen to 58.9 billion yen. Support periods were extended from 1 year to 2 years in principle.
Under the "deliver straight" principle, the ministry cut its application guidelines from 657 pages to 41 pages and reduced secretariat costs from 14.3 percent to 2.9 percent of spending.
The strategy also names priority markets. The United States and the United Kingdom are the top priorities among major markets, followed by Germany, South Korea and France, while India and Indonesia lead the growth markets, followed by Spain, Taiwan and Thailand. The United States is a market where MANGA Plus, K MANGA and Manga UP! editors think there could soon be more manga readers than Japan.
Do you think Japan's promise not to interfere with anime content will lead to bigger and bolder anime in the next few years?
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