Voice actors for "Pokemon: The First Movie" pose during a news conference in Tokyo in December 1999. Japan has long excelled at creating global hits but has too often let others capture the long-term value they generate. | REUTERS
Jul 20, 2026
Japan has no shortage of cultural influence. It has a shortage of ownership.
That distinction is becoming harder to ignore. The Cool Japan Fund, the public-private investment vehicle launched in 2013 under former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, confirmed June 24 that its cumulative losses had reached ¥54 billion (about $334 million), well beyond its target losses of ¥42.6 billion. Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry will now consider whether to merge or abolish the fund. Yet at the same time, the government still aims to increase overseas sales of Japanese content to ¥20 trillion (about $124 billion) by 2033, roughly four times the 2022 level.
Those two facts expose the real question facing Japan. It is not how much public money should support cultural exports. It is what, exactly, Japan wants to own.
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