Japan Moves to Abolish Cool Japan Fund After $340 Million in Losses

TOKYO —

Japan's government is moving to shut down the Cool Japan Fund, the public-private investment vehicle created to spread Japanese pop culture and products overseas, after years of mounting losses. The Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry plans to submit its budget request for the 2027 fiscal year without any money set aside for the fund, according to the Asahi Shimbun, the Mainichi Shimbun and other Japanese newspapers, as reported by Anime News Network. Without that funding, the fund would be unable to make any new investments.

The fund launched in November 2013 with a mission to help anime, manga, film, fashion and other Japanese cultural exports find bigger audiences abroad. It became a signature project of the second administration of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, according to Anime News Network.

Losses Kept Piling Up

The fund has run up 54 billion yen (about $340 million) in cumulative losses since its founding, News On Japan reported. Nippon.com reported that revenue for fiscal 2025 alone plunged 88 percent from the prior year to 4.4 billion yen, while the fund posted a net loss of 15.7 billion yen for the year. Through April 2026, the fund had invested a total of 151.3 billion yen, with the Japanese government supplying 140.6 billion yen of that, and it had put 204 billion yen into 83 projects overall, according to Nippon.com.

Ministry officials had set targets meant to turn the fund around. A revised plan from November 2022 aimed to stop the deficit from growing by fiscal 2024 and cut losses to 42.6 billion yen by fiscal 2025, but the shortfall kept widening instead, Nippon.com reported. Economy, Trade and Industry Minister Ryosei Akazawa had said that if the fund missed its targets, the ministry would "consider taking concrete steps either to abolish or merge the fund with other bodies," according to Nippon.com. The ministry convened an expert panel in late July to look at streamlining the fund, Anime News Network reported, and Nikkei Asia reported that talks on restructuring or eliminating it could begin this month. News On Japan reported the government aims to settle the fund's fate by the end of 2026.

Where the Money Went

The fund's investments touched some familiar names in anime. It put $30 million into Sentai Holdings, the parent company of Sentai Filmworks, HIDIVE and Anime Network, in 2019, and added another $3.6 million in 2020, according to Anime News Network. In 2014, it backed Anime Consortium Japan, a joint venture that ran the Daisuki streaming service until it shut down in 2017. And in 2015, it planned to put up to 450 million yen (about $3.7 million) into projects run by Kadokawa, including an effort to expand a training academy for anime and manga creators overseas with a goal of 2,000 graduates by 2020. The fund also helped finance Cool Japan Park Osaka, a hub for promoting Japanese culture that opened in the city, according to Nippon.com.