A new film incentive and the weak yen are attracting more international productions to Japan, according to the Japan Film Commission (JFC).
The incentive, which launched in 2023 following an earlier pilot programme that helped finance projects such as HBO series Tokyo Vice, offers a cash rebate of 50% to selected productions whose direct production costs in Japan exceed $3.3m (¥500m) or whose total production costs exceed $6.7m (¥1bn) and whose direct production costs in Japan exceed $1.3m (¥200m ). The upper limit for subsidies is $6.7m (¥1bn).
The incentive has been awarded to six projects this year, including Brendan Fraser vehicle Rental Family; sports biopic The Smashing Machine, starring Dwayne Johnson and Emily Blunt; Cine France-Toho Tombo co-production Yoroi; and South Korean drama series What Comes After Love, a love story between a Korean woman (Lee Se-young) and Japanese man (Kentaro Sakaguchi) that began airing in September.
The selection of that series for the incentive has led to more interest by Korean producers at this year’s Asia Contents & Film Market (ACFM), said JFC secretary general and film commissioner Ruriko Sekine. She adds that Japan has also seen an increase in interest from India, perhaps because Indian film Ek Din was the sole project approved during the incentive’s first year.
Tokyo and Kyoto remain Japan’s most popular locations, though more filmmakers are becoming aware of scenic locales such as Nagano, and productions from Southeast Asian countries are attracted to Hokkaido for its snow. In addition to the national incentive scheme, more localities within Japan are now offering incentives through their own film commissions. Productions selected for the national incentive are allowed to take advantage of these local incentives, said Sekine, offering them the chance to effectively double dip.
Other draws to Japan for international productions include its “unique culture, increased tourism, and its popular animation,” all of which have led to increased awareness of the country.
One challenge for Japan is its limited number of bilingual crew members. Sekine estimated their number at about 200 in 2021 and said that number has increased only slightly since. Japan’s filmmakers are “passionate about what they do, but they don’t make much money,” so those with multi-language skills often drift to higher-paying industries. Japan’s declining population also means fewer human resources in general, a problem faced by virtually all the country’s industries. One goal of the incentive programme is to help train Japanese crew members in foreign production methods.
A further challenge for Japan is limited studio space, which is often fully booked for domestic productions. When studio space is available, it is often smaller than what Hollywood productions are used to.
Japan’s film incentive, which is offered by the country’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) is funded by a supplemental budget measure called JLOX+, meaning it is not yet a fixed, long-term part of the government’s annual budget, explained Sekine. That has effectively limited applicants to one-year projects to be completed by January 31, 2025. But with the momentum created by the programme and its positive economic knock-on effects, “the government can’t stop now,” Sekine predicted.
Domestically, Japan’s recent government shakeup, in which the Liberal Democratic Party’s Shigeru Ishiba replaced Fumio Kishida as prime minister, may affect the country’s film industry, though it is “too early to say how,” aded Sekine, who notes Ishiba’s reported love of anime. Earlier this year, former PM Kishida established a joint public-private organisation to promote Japan’s content industry.
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