日经特稿报道日本综合商社加码动漫周边海外商品化业务，但无具体新增催化

TOKYO/JAKARTA -- Tania, a 25-year-old civil servant in Jakarta, started watching the Japanese anime series "Demon Slayer" during the COVID-19 pandemic, suddenly finding herself with plenty of free time at home.
She quickly became a devoted fan, but was soon disappointed by the lack of official merchandise available in Indonesia's capital.
"They are difficult to find or excessively expensive," she said. "Many local toy and hobby stores carry only a limited selection, mostly action figures, which I don't find especially appealing."
She now sets aside a sizable budget for trips to Japan, "where the selection is broader and the prices are often more reasonable."
Tania's frustration is shared by fans around the world. Japanese anime and manga have surged in popularity in recent years, fueled by the pandemic and the global reach of streaming platforms such as Netflix. Yet the industry has struggled to keep pace with demand, particularly when it comes to overseas merchandise distribution.
Fans outside Japan are often left starved of official products, from plush toys and printed T-shirts to figurines. Many make the trip to Japan, to places like Tokyo Character Street, a shopping area in Tokyo Station. One district of the travel hub is packed with stores dedicated to Japanese content, from "One Piece" and "Chiikawa" to Studio Ghibli, and overseas tourists with large suitcases are regularly seen browsing everything from key chains and stickers to apparel and even anime-inspired cutlery. But that does little to make up for the trillions of yen insiders say the industry is missing out on in potential overseas sales.
That opportunity has prompted Japan's major trading houses to double down on the market. Better known for the global networks they built over decades to move commodities and manufactured goods, they feel these established connections can help bridge the gap between global fan demand and the supply of official "merch."
"While the recognition of Japanese intellectual property [like anime and manga] is expanding overseas through streaming services, we believe there remains an opportunity for trading companies to provide support in addressing challenges related to merchandising and distribution," said a spokesperson for Itochu, one of the traders who recently set up a dedicated subsidiary to deal with Japanese content.
"We think that trading companies can leverage our global distribution networks, local partner networks, and expertise in legal systems and credit management to support the overseas expansion of Japanese intellectual property," the company added.
The rise in anime's global popularity is evident in the numbers. The overseas market reached 2.1 trillion yen ($13.25 billion) in 2024, more than six times its size a decade earlier, according to the Association of Japanese Animation. Yet while streaming services have succeeded in bringing Japanese content to global audiences, the industry has been far less successful at monetizing those eyeballs.
An internal industry estimate suggests the overseas market is heavily skewed toward content consumption rather than merchandise. Of the 2.1 trillion yen market, toys, apparel, events and other merchandise-related businesses are estimated to account for less than a quarter of the total, compared with more than 70% in Japan. To industry participants, that gap highlights the scale of spending that remains uncaptured.
"Many of [the overseas anime] fans are eager and willing to spend money on merchandise if it is available. Despite this demand, there remains a distinct lack of supply," said Akihiko Iwasaki, director of PwC Consulting, who advises government ministries on Japan's content strategy.
One reason for the gap has been the way the content industry developed. "Japanese [media] companies have generally lacked sufficient overseas retail and distribution networks as well as marketing infrastructure, and it has often been more efficient to license rights to local partners," said Yosuke Nakai, IP Value Chain team leader at Mitsubishi Corp.
Nakai added that the "production committee" model widely used in anime creation, in which broadcasters, publishers, toy manufacturers and animation studios jointly fund projects to spread risk, has reinforced the licensing approach.
It has "fragmented rights ownership, making it difficult to unify overseas strategies and make decisions quickly," he said.
What the industry lacks is "a one-stop partner that can be entrusted with merchandising and product commercialization" worldwide to "manage distribution, and ultimately deliver products directly to fans, where the real demand exists," said Iwasaki of PwC. "In other words, there is currently a gap in the value chain where such a globally integrated player should exist."
Japan's trading houses believe they are well placed to fill that missing role because connecting Japanese products with overseas markets has long been their forte.
During Japan's postwar economic boom, trading houses evolved from importers of raw materials for the resource-poor country into sprawling conglomerates that helped bring Japanese products to overseas markets, earning them the slogan "From ramen to missiles," reflecting the wide range of goods they exported, from staple foods to sophisticated hardware.
"Trading companies have long engaged in selling products in which Japan has a competitive advantage, such as consumer electronics and automobiles, into overseas markets," said Shuichi Nagasawa, Media Strategic Business Unit general manager at Sumitomo Corp.
"Exporting and commercializing IP and anime content globally is simply an extension of what trading companies have been doing for decades," he added.
The Japanese content industry, by contrast, evolved primarily to serve a domestic audience, leaving many companies without extensive overseas sales and distribution capabilities.
"Trading companies already possess extensive networks, including local offices and branches staffed by professionals who understand the business customs, taxation, legal frameworks and languages of their respective regions. This on-the-ground presence enables us to navigate local markets effectively and support the international expansion of Japanese IP businesses," Nagasawa said.
Trading houses are now pursuing different approaches to the opportunity. For some, that means forging closer ties with manga publishers, which are often the source material for many blockbuster anime.
In March, Sumitomo partnered with Futabasha, the publisher holding the rights to the popular manga "Crayon Shin-chan," to expand the franchise's overseas reach. In June, the trader signed a memorandum of understanding with the Thai conglomerate Saha Group to promote the character through events and dedicated stores in Thailand.
Last year, Sumitomo invested in the anime distribution and IP management company Remow. The company's largest shareholder is Shueisha, the publisher of world-famous manga such as "Dragon Ball" and "One Piece."
Trading house rival Marubeni has taken a similar partnership approach, establishing the joint venture Mag.Net with publisher Shogakukan in 2024. The venture signed a strategic partnership with U.S. pop culture retailer BoxLunch last year and has begun selling merchandise based on four Shogakukan titles, including the recent hit "Frieren: Beyond Journey's End" and older titles like "Inuyasha" and "Ranma 1/2."
Although Shogakukan already owned a U.S. business focused on manga publishing and anime licensing in partnership with Shueisha, "as they sought to further expand the reach of their IP, they began looking beyond traditional licensing activities," said Shoko Matsuki, assistant general manager at Marubeni's Next Generation Business Exploration & Development Department.
However, Matsuki added that Shogakukan "did not have the network or human resources" to directly approach retailers and work with them on decisions such as which intellectual properties to feature and what merchandise to develop.
"Mag.Net has been able to leverage Marubeni's global network to identify leading local retailers and engage in direct discussions with them. This has enabled a more hands-on approach to developing and commercializing Japanese IP in overseas markets," she said.
Itochu, meanwhile, is seeking a broader role across the entire value chain. In March, it established a dedicated content subsidiary, consolidating its existing intellectual property businesses under one roof.
Those assets include stakes in anime producer Sky Perfect Pictures, licensing company Rights & Brands Asia, and PChome Bibian, a proxy purchasing service that enables consumers in Taiwan and elsewhere to buy Japanese anime merchandise.
Others are betting that fan engagement can be deepened through experiences as well as products.
Mitsubishi, together with game developer Sega and toy maker Takara Tomy, operates an amusement arcade in Los Angeles featuring claw machines and capsule-toy vending machines built around the partners' intellectual property.
Mitsui & Co, after helping launch the anime festival Mela! Mela! Anime Japan!! in India, has expanded the event to Jakarta this year in partnership with local conglomerate CT Group. Held in South Jakarta in May, CT acted as the operator, while Mitsui "provided support by connecting Japanese IP holders with prospective licensees, including local broadcasters," said Keisuke Honzawa, general manager of Mitsui & Co.'s IP Platform Business Department.
For the trading houses, content is seen as a means of establishing a stable source of cash flow through licensing and royalty income to complement their more cyclical businesses, helping diversify earnings and create opportunities across their broader operations.
"The trading houses always look for synergies," said Harunobu Goroh, an analyst at UBS who has covered the trading houses for 25 years. "They are likely approaching this from the perspective of what purpose the IP business can serve and how it can be utilized across other business segments. They are not organizations whose primary goal is to create, produce and grow content," he said.
Still, the traders' growing interest aligns with a broader national effort, with the government keen to position manga, anime, games and music among Japan's most promising export industries.
Government statistics show that the value of Japanese content exports, at 6.1 trillion yen in 2024, is already on a par with the country's semiconductor sector. And under the New Cool Japan Strategy hatched in 2024, the government aims to grow it to 20 trillion yen by 2033. That would put it level with where the auto industry currently stands.
The content sector was also selected as a priority area for growth under Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi's flagship $370 trillion yen growth strategy. Over 33 trillion yen in public and private investment has been earmarked for the sector, the fourth-largest among the 17 selected strategic sectors.
Those pushes have become more pressing given the competition with other Asian countries. South Korea has been the standout leader in content exports, building a sophisticated ecosystem predicated on K-pop and television dramas. China has also made significant strides in recent years; the animated film "Ne Zha 2" and the video game "Black Myth: Wukong" were global hits, while Labubu dolls from Pop Mart have taken the world by storm.
However, the trading houses believe that Japanese content still has a competitive edge, and filling the merchandising gap can unleash its full earnings potential.
"The Japanese content industry has grown to a scale that surpasses even the semiconductor and steel industries [in exports], but it has not yet been fully monetized overseas," said Honzawa of Mitsui.
"We have long taken pride in helping export Japanese products to global markets. In the same spirit, we want to engage seriously in this field as well and help content become one of Japan's core industries."
Additional reporting by Ismi Damayanti in Jakarta