It’s been reported that Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) has begun coordinating to abolish the “Cool Japan Fund,” a public-private fund saddled with a massive cumulative deficit.
The thread lit up over the fact that animators reportedly received almost no support while large sums flowed to Yoshimoto Kogyo (Japan’s biggest comedy/talent agency), the ownership structure behind the “COOL JAPAN PARK OSAKA” theater complex in Osaka Castle Park, and debate over exactly when — and under which administration — the fund was even established.
It has emerged that METI has begun coordinating to abolish the “Cool Japan Fund” (formally the Overseas Demand Cultivation Support Corporation, or “CJ Fund”), a public-private fund carrying a massive deficit. METI plans to forgo its budget request for next fiscal year’s Fiscal Investment and Loan Program allocation, which serves as the fund’s source of investment capital.
[Photo] What’s the real story behind Cool Japan’s failure? Overexpansion into too many sectors and staffing shortages also to blame
The information came from interviews with multiple government officials. The Prime Minister’s Office reportedly shares METI’s position and is inclined to accept it. If the fund is abolished, some of the capital the government contributed may end up unrecoverable.
Source: news.yahoo.co.jp / original article here
Eh, whatever. What matters more than the past is what we do from here.
Animators didn't get a single yen out of it — it all went to middlemen skimming their cut and to corporations. And somehow big money also went to Yoshimoto Kogyo, which never lifted a finger to promote anything overseas.
The "Comedians Who Live Overseas" project (settling Japanese comedians abroad to build a fanbase from scratch): stationing comedians in various countries to grow their popularity from zero, co-producing TV shows with local stations, even producing idol groups made up of local youth…
https://www.cj-fund.co.jp/investment/project/vol7/
What?? That's awful.
No criminal "collusion" has ever been uncovered, but because this was a flagship policy of the administration in power, there's strong criticism that it was run at the arbitrary discretion of politicians and bureaucrats.
* PR over substance: Projects were chosen for their public-relations optics rather than being rigorously vetted for market viability or profitability.
* Bureaucrat-led reviews in name only: Because the ministries ran the process, it lacked the harsh risk assessment you'd get from private-sector investors.
* Justified after the fact by "policy significance": Even when a project ran a deficit, it was excused as "contributing to spreading Japanese culture," making it easy to keep funding it.
* Slow to pull the plug (avoiding accountability): Admitting failure would mean political and bureaucratic responsibility, so they couldn't cut their losses and kept money-losing projects on life support.
They stationed comedians who weren't selling well in Japan overseas. What they actually did once they got there is unclear.
The "COOL JAPAN PARK OSAKA" theater facility in Osaka Castle Park
http://news.yoshimoto.co.jp/2018/07/entry84593.php
Ishin (Osaka Ishin no Kai, the regional political party that dominates Osaka politics) and Yoshimoto are deeply tangled up in it.
There's a theater called "Cool Japan" built jointly by Yoshimoto, Dentsu (Japan's biggest ad agency), and the Osaka-area broadcasters. That's just a small slice of the cozy relationship between the Cool Japan Fund and Yoshimoto, though.
The DPJ (Democratic Party of Japan), under the Noda administration.
It was founded in November 2013, so that's the Abe administration.
They know full well — foreigners watch almost all the newest anime and manga for free online.
COOL JAPAN PARK OSAKA
https://cjpo.jp/
"COOL JAPAN PARK OSAKA" is an operating company and multi-theater complex inside Osaka Castle Park, set up with investment from 13 private companies — including Yoshimoto Kogyo and the Osaka-area TV stations — plus the public-private fund "Overseas Demand Cultivation Support Corporation (Cool Japan Fund)."
Member companies (11 listed):
MBS Media Holdings, Inc.
Asahi Broadcasting Group Holdings Corporation
Kansai Telecasting Corporation (Kansai TV)
Yomiuri Telecasting Corporation
TV Osaka Corporation
H.I.S. Co., Ltd.
JTB Corporation
NTT Docomo, Inc.
Jikei Group
Famima Digital One Co., Ltd.
Yoshimoto Kogyo Holdings Co., Ltd.
What is this? So they're just handing money out to Osaka TV stations?
>MBS Media Holdings, Inc.
Founder Sugi Michisuke (a leading figure in Osaka's postwar business/media world) must be crying somewhere.
The public that keeps voting for the LDP (Liberal Democratic Party, Japan's ruling party) keeps "taking responsibility" for it, don't they…
Cut Diet members' take-home pay to ¥5 million.
If that causes seats to go unfilled at the next election, well, that'll tell you something.
Background and Key Points
The Cool Japan Fund is the informal name for the Overseas Demand Cultivation Support Corporation, a public-private investment vehicle METI set up to promote Japanese content, food, fashion, and tourism abroad by co-investing alongside private companies in projects deemed to spread Japanese culture. It draws its capital partly from Japan’s Fiscal Investment and Loan Program (FILP), a government-run investment pool sometimes called the “second budget,” which is why METI simply skipping next year’s FILP request effectively starves the fund rather than requiring a formal dissolution vote. It was launched in November 2013, which places it under the second Abe administration, even though posters in the thread argued it began under the preceding Noda-led DPJ government — a mix-up likely caused by earlier discussion papers on a “Cool Japan strategy” predating the fund’s actual incorporation.
The thread’s real disagreement was over the cause of the deficit: some blamed opaque insider dealing, pointing to money flowing to Yoshimoto Kogyo and the Osaka Castle Park theater venture while working animators saw none of it, while others insisted the loss was mostly one large bet — the Spiber synthetic-spider-silk startup — going bad, a legitimate investment risk rather than favoritism.
What the thread doesn’t mention is that Japanese investigators have found no criminal collusion in any of these deals; the criticism, as one reply notes, is about structural failure — bureaucrat-led vetting without the discipline of private investors, projects justified after the fact as “cultural contribution,” and an unwillingness to cut losses because doing so meant admitting political and administrative responsibility. That distinction between corruption and simple bad governance is the part most outside readers are likely to conflate.
※This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5channel (News Speed+) thread “[Breaking] Cool Japan Fund to Be Abolished Amid Massive Cumulative Deficit.”
