Content Industry a Japan Priority Sector — Can Mexico Benefit?

For Japan, the content industry is one of the most prosperous for its economy. The sector covers games, animation, manga (publishing), live-action (film/drama/factual), and music/live entertainment. It is part of the entertainment and creative industry.

Nowadays, the sales value of Japanese content industry abroad is bigger than the sales value of the semiconductor industry. According to the paper, “Entertainment and Creative Industries Strategy,” by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry of Japan (METI), published in June 2025, the export value of Japanese content represented ¥5.8 billion (US$37.3 billion) in 2023 worldwide; meanwhile, the sales value of the Japanese semiconductor industry abroad was ¥5.5 billion in the same year. The winning sector in Japan is the automobile industry, which represented ¥21.6 billion in sales value abroad in the same year.

The content industry in Japan is considered a “basic industry” in the country's "New Cool Japan" strategy, due to its revenue. New Cool Japan is the current policy made public in 2024 that suggests certain actions to continue spreading the entertainment and creative industries abroad. According to this policy, the content industry is projected to grow to ¥20 billion in 2033.

New Cool Japan is the successor policy of Cool Japan. It refers to all Japanese topics that are considered “cool” according to the perspective of other countries. Japan wants to promote these, considering Japanese values and culture. The Cool Japan strategy covers a variety of topics, such as content, Japanese products, promotion of culture, places, and many more. The construction of Cool Japan policies began in 2010 as an initiative by METI and they continue to this day. In 2018, Cool Japan was added to Japan's intellectual property strategy vision.

At the end of 2024, METI created a research group related to creative and entertainment industry policies that promote mainly the content industry. This group conducts research and shares insights about potential avenues to consider to ensure the content industry's growth. Among the strategies implemented to promote content abroad is the promotion of Japanese content on digital platforms, which has created a direct and accessible relationship between the audience and Japanese content. The challenge for Japan in spurring greater interest in its content is creating awareness abroad that some content, like anime, is not just for children, as is often believed by people in countries like Mexico or Latin America, although in recent years this tendency has been changing and young people, especially those in their 20s-30s, are becoming anime fans.

Nowadays, new ways of doing business for the content industry are also increasing the number of fans around the world. As we noted previously, Japanese companies can distribute content, such as anime, directly to platforms, instead of to just a few local companies abroad. Positive secondary consequences such as selling merchandising, consumption of Japanese food, and travelers from all over the world who desire to visit the places they see in anime, movies, or manga means more revenue for the Japanese economy.

Another positive secondary consequence could be the interest of Japanese companies to establish branches abroad. For these companies, it would be useful to understand other cultures and consumer behaviors to ensure control over their own business in other countries.

Nevertheless, there are global challenges that should be resolved to develop a legal global value chain for Japanese content. Looking again at the study published by METI, for instance, the international development of generative AI could represent a problem in fields of 2D animation and manga design for Japanese companies that have been specializing in that field for many years.  

Another challenge is the damage to sales due to piracy. The study mentions that in 2022, the value of Japanese content sales lost to piracy around the world (excluding Japan) represents ¥13 to ¥20 trillion. In Mexico, according to the “Study of the Perception of Piracy in Mexico,” published in 2024 by Instituto Mexicano de la Propiedad Industrial (IMPI), piracy is a common and well-known practice. Movies, TV series, and music are the main counterfeit digital products. Among the reasons Mexicans continue to consume illegal products in general are the easy availability of illegal copies and cheap price.

There are many advantages that Mexico can gain from its own Japanese content consumption. Here are some of those and the steps Mexico needs to take:

• Mexico must be aware of the potential of its content consumption and industry to attract Japanese firms to Mexico.
• Alliances between Japanese and Mexican content companies to create a direct sales channel would result in win-win revenue.
• Mexico should pay more attention to intellectual property law to combat piracy, making the country more attractive for investment.
• Easy legal availability of Japanese content for consumers can counteract pirated channels.
• Strengthen the dubbing industry in Mexico to attract the interest of Japanese content companies, especially for anime and movies.

Without a doubt, internationalization of Japanese content companies will create more business for all the value chain companies involved, with the aim of transmitting the coolest Japanese content to the world.