Film In Japan.

Films have always enabled audiovisual technology to capture tales and ideas for the audience's delight. People may also sense emotions and embark on experiences with fictional characters in different places and times. Due to the advancement of information and communication technology, the past several decades have seen both the growth of filmmaking and the changing of its function. Additionally, these technologies have made watching movies ubiquitous and integral to daily life. One of the oldest and biggest film industries in the world is found in Japan. The major film studios in the nation are Toei, Toho, Shochiku, and Kadokawa; these four companies are the only ones to belong to the Japan Motion Picture Producers Association. As a result of a large number of extremely wealthy customers in Japan, an advanced media economy can produce and share entertaining material with a wide audience. As a result, the research on the Japanese film industry brings to light the different conflicts and obstacles the industry has to overcome to grow, which has led to the creation of policies like "Cool Japan" and the Basic Law on the Promotion of Culture and the Arts.

Film Trends in Japan.

Between the 1980s and 1990s, foreign films appeared to be doing better than Japanese ones. However, Japan's domestic film market started to develop in the 1960s, accounting for 80% of the country's newly released movies (Tsuchida, 2017). Since then, its market share has been steadily declining, reaching 30% in 2003 (Tsuchida, 2017). In contrast to Hollywood movies, many thought Japanese movies were complicated, dark, and uncool; thus, they were unpopular (Ranger, 2020). However, more people have started watching Japanese movies in the past decade. Few countries have more than 60% of their local cinema market eclipsed by Hollywood productions, making Japan's position exceptional (Ranger, 2020). Nonetheless, given how little the Japanese government supported local film creation, the situation was reasonable.

The Japanese film business is growing despite these obstacles. The country had an 8% increase in theatrical attendance in 2016 and a rise in box office revenues. Since a minimum attendance of 119 million people in 1996, theater attendance has climbed to 180,180,000 (Tsuchida, 2017). Film continues to hold a relatively high position in the Japanese culture and their use of their free time, despite the development of television harming attendance and the prestige of films in the entertainment business. There are also disparities in access to multiscreen theaters since they are located in metropolitan regions (Lee, 2020). The restricted alternatives for where to see movies and the predetermined lineup of shows in theaters, thus, standardize how people perceive movies.

The audience's desire to travel to the places they witnessed in a movie has made film-induced tourism popular. Akira Kurosawa, a cinema icon and talented filmmaker whose accomplishment with Rashomon exposed Western markets to Japanese films, resulting in a blending of two cultures, made this endeavor feasible (Tsuchida, 2017). The Western world has also become fond of the movies shot in or affiliated with Japan. Therefore, the popularity of a movie is a key indicator of the number of tourists it will draw. As a result, Japan has leveraged the media mix in its marketing campaigns since the 1990s to encourage travel inspired by films (Nakayama, 2022). The Japan National Tourism Organization and the Japanese government are responsible for the country's surge in tourists from 6 million in 2009 to 13 million in 2014, which is a two-fold increase (Tsuchida, 2017). The revenue of Japan's nation is increased by utilizing the tourist potential of movies.

Film State Policy and Regulation in Japan

Japan's "Cool Japan" description policy emphasizes business, economic possibilities, cultural diplomacy, and soft power and is used for exporting and cultural branding. The problem with this approach, which also applies to television and films, is that it strives to explain and capitalize on the success of Japanese youth culture abroad (DeWinter, 2017). However, because television and cinema are part of a transmedia landscape and gaming regulations influence the film business, such as anime, it is difficult to rethink film policy in Japan. Traditional film regulations like classification and censorship, not seen as international commerce regulations like those that "Cool Japan" embodies, further exacerbate this problem. Clearly, media policies in Japan are uncoordinated and change in response to domestic politics, market demands, trade tactics, idiosyncratic leaders, and global politics. Japan advertises its movies, television shows, and other media abroad while attempting to regulate them at home. While exporting these cultures to overseas markets normalizes them, mainstream Japan is dissatisfied with its liminal youth cultures and sees them as aberrant and undesirable behaviors (DeWinter, 2017). Because of this, the "Cool Japan" regulations that affect the exports of Japanese films cause conflict and reflect the country's profound cultural ambivalence in its media and cinema policies.

Society is strongly influenced by culture and the arts, which include movies, manga, animation, dance, and music. Japan established the Agency for Cultural Affairs to cultivate them, encouraging artistic efforts and promoting various media arts, including animation, movies, and manga. The organization created the Basic Law on the Promotion of Culture and Arts in 2001, which permitted financial assistance for creating and distributing theatrical films (MEXT, 2022). The agency got together the next year to talk about how to promote Japanese cinema and its fundamental principles. In their final assessment, they saw the movie as synthetic art, suitable for audiences of all ages, acknowledged its contribution to a common understanding across the globe, and acknowledged that, given the pervasiveness of information systems, it would produce intellectual property values (The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan, 2022). Since the Basic Law on the Promotion of Culture and Arts was passed in 2001, rapid socioeconomic changes caused by the aging population, declining birth rates, and globalization have called for more reforms. These additional steps are intended to create a comprehensive art and cultural strategy that encourages cooperation across many industries, including tourism (The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan, 2022). As a result, the statute was altered to become non-partisan legislation. This amended law seeks to advance and produce new forms of art and culture by utilizing the various values they foster. Thus, the law encourages the individual pursuits of those working in the cultural and artistic fields. Additionally, it requires the creation of the Council for Promoting Arts and Culture, which comprises a multidisciplinary team that includes the Ministries of Economy, Health, and Foreign Affairs, the Cabinet Office, and the Ministries of Agriculture (The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan, 2022). By incorporating the numerous sectors that support culture and the arts, the government is attempting to promote the film industry holistically.

In a nutshell, the analysis of the Japanese film industry has shed light on the challenges it faces and the efforts in place to curb these challenges. The film industry has been of utmost importance in various societies, including Japan, due to its audiovisual equipment that relays an experience to the viewer. Japan’s film industry is therefore important and is mostly dominated by four studios: Toei, Toho, Shochiku, and Kadokawa. The country has faced challenges such as the harsh reviews of its films in the 1960s and the preference for Hollywood films, destroying its local market. Despite these challenges, film watching s still important to the Japanese. With time, their films have gained international popularity resulting in film-induced tourism. To ensure the prosperity of its film industry, Japan has the “Cool Japan” branding policy and the Basic Law on the Promotion of Culture and Arts. Although the “Cool Japan” policy has caused various tensions, it intends to brand the film exports in a way that attracts an international audience. Overall, the Japanese film industry is a great booster of the Japanese economy.

References

DeWinter, J. (2017). Cool japan and heated politics. In N. Mingant & C. Tirtaine, Reconceptualising Film Policies (1st ed.). Taylor & Francis. https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edit/10.4324/9781315189932-6/cool-japan-heated-politics-jennifer-dewinter

Lee, S. (2020). Exchange between theatres in South Korea and Japan after the millennium and its reflection in the theatre criticism in Korea. Dramart.Revistă De Studii Teatrale, (9), 55-74. https://www.ceeol.com/search/article-detail?id=986049

MEXT. (2022). MEXT: Basic Policy on the Promotion of Culture and the Arts. https://www.mext.go.jp/en/policy/culture/lawandplan/title01/detail01/1379343.htm

Nakayama, C. (2022). Destination marketing through film-induced tourism: A case study of Otaru, Japan. Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Insights. Doi: 10.1108/jhti-02-2022-0047

Ranger, S. (2020). Target Hollywood! Examining Japan’s film import ban in the 1930s. Global Policy, 11(S2), 65-71. Doi: 10.1111/1758-5899.12818

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan. (2022). Article 14/Article 15. https://www.mofa.go.jp/policy/human/econo_rep2/article14_15.html#:~:text=In%20Japan%2C%20vigorous%20measures%20to,encouragement%20of%20people's%20cultural%20activities.

Tsuchida, T. (2017). The current situation and trend of film exhibition general situation. http://jc3.jp/wp/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/1_The-Current-Situation-and-Trend-of-Film-Exhibition-General-Stuation.pdf