Japan Weighs $71 Million in AI Translation Subsidies for Manga and Anime Firms

TOKYO —

Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry is considering handing out 11.5 billion yen (about $71 million) in subsidies to 15 entertainment companies to help them use artificial intelligence for translation work, The Japan News reported. The goal is to help Japanese manga, anime and other content reach more readers and viewers overseas.

The ministry has not officially named the companies, but The Japan News reported that they are expected to include the publisher Shueisha Inc. and the anime streaming service Crunchyroll, LLC, which is owned by Sony Group Corp. Five of the 15 companies are expected to come from the anime sector, including Crunchyroll and Bandai Namco Holdings Inc., according to the newspaper. In manga, Shueisha, Kodansha Ltd., Square Enix Co. and NTT Solmare Corp. are likely candidates. The remaining companies would come from the music, gaming and live-action film sectors, The Japan News reported.

Anime News Network, which cited The Japan News, reported that the subsidies would cover half the cost of translating works, running ads and attending trade fairs abroad. The ministry wants the companies' combined overseas subscriber count to climb from 100 million to 300 million, and it hopes to triple annual overseas sales to 20 trillion yen (about $123 billion) by 2033, according to both outlets. Crunchyroll currently has 21 million paying subscribers, a number that has quadrupled since Sony bought the company in 2021, The Japan News reported. For manga, the program is expected to focus on Shueisha's Shonen Jump+ app, home to global hits such as "One Piece" and "Demon Slayer."

Piracy Losses Have Nearly Tripled

The push comes as piracy has cut deeply into Japan's entertainment industry. Losses from pirated anime, manga and related works climbed to 5.7 trillion yen (about $35 billion) in 2025, up from 2 trillion yen (about $12 billion) in 2022, The Japan News reported. Counting infringement involving related merchandise as well, total losses reached 10.4 trillion yen (about $64 billion). Pirate sites offer an extensive lineup of unauthorized translations, The Japan News reported, and Kotaku reported that those translations reach overseas readers faster than the official ones do. The ministry's hope is that AI translation tools will let licensed companies keep pace.

Kotaku, citing The Yomiuri Shinbun, reported similar figures, putting the subsidy package at roughly $70 million and noting that it would likely go to nine manga and anime publishers plus six companies from music, gaming and live-action film. Kotaku reported that the ministry has not formally announced the program.

Anime, manga and related Japanese entertainment brought in 6.13 trillion yen globally in 2024, more than the country's semiconductor exports that year, according to The Japan News. Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi's government has listed the content industry as one of 17 priority fields in its growth strategy, the newspaper reported.