How does Japan benefit from the export of its media products - Essay Example

How Does Japan Benefit From The Export Of Its Media Products? Discuss From Economic, Political And Cultural Points Of View. Table of Contents Table of Contents 1 Introduction 2 Critical Analysis 3 Economic Benefits from the Export of Media Products 3 3 Political Influence on the Export of Media Products 5 Cultural Benefits from the Export of Media Products 8 Conclusion 12 References 13 Bibliography 16 Introduction Animation industry in Japan is gaining due spotlight within the country and as well as from overseas. The use of modern technologies in making animation films has attracted producers and directors from all over the globe to import Japanese animation film features. Media industries from the western countries have shown interests in making 3 dimensional (3D) movies. 3D movies have proved to offer viewers a life-time experience in watching movies. In 2010, a survey conducted by the Japanese government found out that 127.08 million people are residing in and around Japan. Among them, 65.7 million belong to the labour force. Furthermore, the unemployment rate surveyed in the same year showed that it has the lowest unemployed people among the G7 nations (Stanley St Labs, 2012). The ageing population of Japan has been a concern for the government. 22.9 percent of the total population is beyond 65 years of age (Stanley St Labs, 2012). Thus, the survey shows that though Japan has the lowest unemployment rate, the ageing population might hurt the production of successful animation films, leading to low exports and revenue. Though Japan is considered to have the latest technological equipments, most of the country’s infrastructure has been destroyed by the natural calamities, such as earthquakes in 2011. It has been estimated that India may overtake Japan as the third biggest economy in the world in terms of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) (Stanley St Labs, 2012). The recent earthquake in 2011 has affected the animation industry which accumulates approximately USD 2.5 billion each year (Stanley St Labs, 2012). Thus, it has been noted that the American animators have grown interests in working with Japanese animation companies which are generally viewed as the leader in this industry. Moreover, the contribution from different sectors is evident for making the animation industry the best in the world (JETRO Japan Economic Monthly, 2005). Critical Analysis Economic Benefits from the Export of Media Products The animation industry of Japan exports its media products throughout the world. Data provided by the member companies that combine the Association of Japanese Animation shows that income from exporting media products was nearly 16.2 billion Yen. Furthermore, big anime companies that are not a member of the association, generate profits of around 1 billion Yen to about 4 billion Yen through overseas sales. Thus, the country’s estimated revenue through media products can be almost 18 to 20 billion Yen (Japan External Trade Organisation, 2012). The targeted market for the animation market is mostly the children. Therefore, among animation movies, animated video games have been amongst the popular sales category. Statistics reveal that overseas sales of Japan’s anime products are one tenth of the total domestic sales, whereas the amount is the second largest in terms to sale of video games (Japan External Trade Organisation, 2012). Thus, Japan’s overall anime products are recognised as a unique feature of the country’s content. The animation industry of Japan has used the element of soft power in their anime products that have forced global investors to generate interests in their media products. According to Joseph Nye (2004), soft power is defined as a country’s capabilities to attract and influence through the political policies and cultural activities. In other words, making others do what one wants without manipulating any service is known as soft power. It is an intangible effect that influences others to act, how one may want. Thus, the animation industry through its expertise in the field has been able to attract producers and directors all over the globe. This has led to an inflow of foreign capital in the country through exports. Due to the lack of agricultural land in Japan, most of the products need to be imported by the country. In general, if a country’s imports are in excess of the exports, then the inflow of foreign currency is less, thus, leading to low currency value of the nation. Therefore, the visual effects developed in Japan’s animated movies may cost less compared to other countries media products. This can be due to the use of unique technologies that Japan is famous for. Therefore, producers from around the globe are spending huge amount in creating 3D movies to offer the audiences a memorable viewing experience. Therefore, the use of Japan’s technologies might cost cheaper comparatively thus, attracting investors. Moreover, the Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) has been round the corner. The investment amount per film can range from 2 million Yen to approximately 1 billion Yen (Japan External Trade Organisation, 2012). Thus, it can be assumed that due to the recent hits by the earthquakes, Japan’s has faced substantial loss of infrastructure which needs huge capital for restructuring. Therefore, the increased GDP due to the inflow of foreign capital and FDI will help its cause. Moreover, Japan has the lowest rate of unemployment among the G7 nations. Therefore, the country’s employee skill levels and available labour force has given the country an advantage of creating innovative anime products with incurring fewer costs. It is worth mentioning that Hollywood enterprises engaged in producing films have increased the financial strength of Japan’s economy. The per capita income of Japan has also increased simultaneously due to the involvement of employees in anime media around the globe. Political Influence on the Export of Media Products Before the mid 1980s, the Japanese government took very few initiatives to promote the export of products that they were specialized in, to the world. In the early days of export, the major companies of Japan focussed on exporting cars and electronic goods. However, it has come to notice that the animation media has presently developed interest from the government to export it to the world. Recently, the government of Japan understood the value of the media contents industry, both from the cultural and commercial aspect. Thus, in the year 2003, the then Prime Minister Koizumi Junichiro and his government decided to establish a strategy that will protect and promote Japanese media throughout the world. They introduced an Intellectual property promotion plan that was responsible for promoting the media contents. Moreover, the current Prime Minister and his cabinet reintroduced the promotion plan and are continuing to take strict actions to protect the intellectual property rights. They are developing new regulations to make the Japanese media industry realise the value of media cultural products (Yasumoto, 2010). Thus, a positive financial return from the media segment will ensure further use of Japanese talent in the future. It will help companies to export more of its media product in order to enhance the flow of foreign capital in the country. Moreover, most of the media developments are fuelled by the government regulations, innovative ideas from skilled artists and writers and the growing recognition from the international media houses. Furthermore, the Japanese government is providing grants and is helping the industry to sustain and to continue in domestic production that enables a good amount of earnings through exports. The greater exports will help to promote the uniqueness of Japanese culture and traits, like animated films. Statistics reveal that 60 per cent of anime and manga productions around the globe are Japanese (Yasumoto, 2010). Therefore, it is worth mentioning that Japan is benefitting from the exports of anime products which indirectly are increasing the economy of the country. According to the Ministry of Economy Trade and Industry (METI) the media sector in Japan is highly valuable for the growth of economy. There are more than 2,500 media production companies in Japan specialising in different kinds of films productions, such as, animation films and television productions among others. Thus, METI brought in the Creative Industries Promotion Office under the head of Manufacturing Industries Bureau. This office is responsible for planning and implementing inter-ministerial measures to promote the media industry in the country and overseas. Moreover, Japan has a variety of contents in the media industry, like, movie, anime, manga comics, and video games. Thus, Japan holds the commercial advantage for the diversity in its media products which is been highlighted by METI (Yasumoto, 2010). Initially, Japan focussed from the business point of view but later realised that they can include the cultural aspects in their media business that create a high level of economic value. The overseas market generally considers children for most of the anime production market. The makers had issues regarding the difference in code of ethics. Recent trends show that the makers of Japan’s anime are not producing for the domestic market, rather targeting the overseas market. For instance, the makers are initially seeking partners for producing the anime production, from the planning stage to the end process. This approach is gaining profit for the makers, thus generating the foreign capital inflow to the country (Yasumoto, 2010). The government’s appointed organisation, METI has taken few measures that will promote exports. It has set a certain criteria to avail their services by the companies involved in exports. It has introduced Trade and Investment Insurance via Nippon Export and Investment Insurance (NEXI) that will provide services to firms that fulfil the criteria. In the event of losses to an exporter such as, non collection of payments from the importer due to war or terrorism attacks, natural calamities and bankruptcy, NEXI covers the companies with an insurance bond. Furthermore, NEXI is developing ways to simplify the insurance process so that even small and medium sized exporters (SME) can cover their losses. Thus, the initiative prompted by the government of Japan has influenced various SMEs towards exporting their media products (Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, 2012). Cultural Benefits from the Export of Media Products The popularity of Anime and Manga comics is constantly growing among the millions of children around the world. These animation films and comics are largely encouraged from the Japanese culture. In Japan, all age groups have been considered while developing the domestic market for the anime and manga. While in the overseas, the targeted group mostly consists of children. The uniqueness of the animation films or comics is that they involve various subjects like educational learning, romance and adventure among others through the portrayal of different cartoon characters. The enthusiasm animation in Japanese culture can be gauged from the fact that the visitors to the country are generally stunned to see that most of the train passengers read manga comics while travelling in trains (The Japan Foundation, Sydney, 2012). The direct involvement in distribution of anime and manga around the world is very different to the previous distribution of Japanese ‘pop culture’. Initially, the overseas market edited most of the original characters from the animation movies thus, inventing new characters that would relate to their own country’s audiences. However, the modern fans of Japanese anime and manga comics have been able to use the internet for any doubt arising from the modification to the original contents that led to direct export of these media products. The makers of anime and manga certainly believe that their products do have the potential to influence goodwill towards Japan’s culture from the audiences abroad. It further helps the viewers to understand Japan’s culture, likes and dislikes that would benefit them while visiting the country. Moreover, it may indirectly fuel the growth of tourism sector that could add up to the Japan’s economy. The then Prime Minister, Taro Aso a huge fan of anime himself, declared in the year 2009, that plans are being initiated to develop 500,000 new jobs in the field of media by 2020 (MediaCorp Pte Ltd, 2012). He further allocated funds for the creation of national anime, manga and arts centre in Tokyo (The Japan Foundation, Sydney, 2012). The modern era of media business has been focussing on cultural aspects that have emerged as one of the imperative factors in the economic growth. Thus, the animation industry of Japan has included the different cultural elements that have been able to attract exporters around the globe. This has been reflected in a video game product that was designed by a Japan’s production house (JETRO, 2007). The game famously known as ‘Super Mario’ was accepted by all nations due to the common elements of culture involved that was acclaimed by both, Japan and international nations. The success of the product prevented other production houses to edit or modify the original contents, thus generating revenue through exports (Yasumoto, 2010). There are three kinds of culture politics that influence the internationalisation of the anime industry, namely, de-politicized, Occidentalized and self-orientalised internationalisation (Lu, 2008). All of these cultural factors help the animation and media industry to prosper around the globe. The factors of internationalisation are discussed below: De-politicised: The animation makers of Japan focus to make animation films based on cultural mix. In other words, different culture along with Japanese culture are involved and displayed while creating an animation film. This strategy allows in attracting majority of viewers around the globe to procure Japanese anime. The video game products that have also included various cultural dimensions helped the media production houses to attract children all over the world. Thus, the cultural mix strategy helped media houses to export products that added up to the country’s economy (Lu, 2008). Occidentalised: Though most of the anime makers consider having a multiple culture mix in their animation films, other features of the anime are designed to have the Japanese authority over the product. These products generally are not considered for western regions, thereby, increasing the opportunities of selling the products in all the parts of the world, especially in the eastern region where culture is different from the western parts. Therefore, this strategy of internationalisation is generally focussed on expanding export of media products not only in the western region, but also in the eastern region. Thus, the revenue generated through the export in larger parts of the world has enabled the economy of Japan to grow superiorly (Lu, 2008). Self-orientalised: Japan has developed a third kind of Orientalism due to the exchanges of culture between the west and the east regions. Therefore, self-orientalism can be defined as implementing all aspects in their own culture first, before transferring it to other countries. It has been observed that Japan considers itself to be the Western country in Asia. Therefore, the media products did not require being imported from other countries, rather increasing the export of those products. The active participation of Japan in promoting global culture has been reinvented through animation films (Lu, 2008). Therefore, the cultural diversity in animation films has attracted many firms from the Hollywood to use Japan’s anime products in creating animation films. Few of the animation films produced by Japan’s media houses have recognised fame around the world. Thus, it can be said that culture has played an imperative role in developing the economy of the country. It has further developed to increase the sale of media products that has been realised as a new prospective for generating revenue through export. Recent disasters caused by nature have affected the industries largely that in turn disrupted the economic growth. Therefore, the anime products will help the economy recover gradually, thus contributing to the effective growth of the economy (Jan, 2009). Conclusion Animation media products around the world have emerged to contain 60% of Japan’s anime (Yasumoto, 2010). This is by large the most outsourced product of any country. Thus, the statistics show that the expertise required for creating animation films is available among the people of Japan. It highly signifies that globalisation of media can be achieved through adding various culture in their animation films. It has also been noted that the government of Japan has supported the exporting media industries. They encouraged the small and medium sized enterprises to do business with global firms by providing insurance cover from various threats that could lead to loss of the exporting firm (Human Development Reports, 2012). Furthermore, the understanding that adding culture to the animations will derive additional benefits to the country, have proved to earn revenue through the increased demand of media products. There have been evidences that the anime designers are paid lesser amount compared to the same designations overseas. Thus, it has to be addressed by the government that the talent pool consisting in Japan does not get de-motivated and shift from this industry to other high paying industries (AOL Inc, 2012). The shift of employees will decrease the revenue generation through export of media products, which has specialised around the globe. Last but not the least, the economy has often been hit by natural calamities, thus there is need for financial assistance from the government to recover from the loss. Therefore, the anime and manga products need more concentration from the makers to increase the volume of exports. 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