Private-sector leadership sought for Cool Japan strategy

July 26, 2019

Tokyo--The Japanese government Friday proposed that the private sector take the initiative to drive its "Cool Japan" strategy aimed at spreading the attractions of the country to others.

The private sector should have an organization that will play a central role in the strategy to respond to the diversification of interest in Japanese culture among foreigners and discover the attractions of regional communities, the government said.

The proposal was broadly approved at an experts' meeting of the government's Intellectual Property Strategy Headquarters.

"There is a limit to the government's ability to maintain a leading role," Takuya Hirai, minister in charge of the strategy, said at the meeting.

This will be the first review of the strategy since it was crafted in June 2015. The government plans to adopt a new Cool Japan strategy by the end of August.

The government said that the current strategy fails to pay sufficient attention to how Japan is perceived by other countries. It also cited a delay in utilizing digital technology to send information to the rest of the world.

It called for strengthening cooperation between the public and private sectors to adapt to rapid changes in interest among foreigners, from animation and games to fields such as colored nishikigoi carp, ninja and convenience stores. Jiji Press