Insights
After the Konbini Revolt
How Japan's convenience store franchises are rethinking 24-hour work as wages keep rising
Insights
How Japan's convenience store franchises are rethinking 24-hour work as wages keep rising
Fifty years of acreage control met a market that had no slack left
A 25,000-word editorial guide to how the $20-billion Japanese anime industry actually works — for foreign buyers, investors, licensors and brand teams. Ten articles, four themes, one map.
Inside the working day of a rank-and-file Japanese in-between animator — and the structural reasons wages stay low, talent is leaving, and the global anime boom faces a capacity wall.
Japan's manga market — print, digital, app — is now estimated over ¥6.9 trillion, larger than its anime business. For foreign publishers and investors, the entry point is the four Tokyo publishing houses.
How a single anime figure travels from a Tokyo production committee through Good Smile, Bandai Spirits and Premium Bandai to a foreign retail shelf — and why most foreign retailers misread the licensing stack.
Behind the neon, Akihabara is a working B2B node — Japan's most concentrated test market for anime IP. A foreign buyer's guide to a 1-km square of Tokyo.
Five platforms now dominate global anime streaming, but each holds different rights, libraries, and business models. A region-by-region map for media buyers and investors.
Most foreign companies bungle their first anime IP deal because Western licensing instincts produce wrong answers in Japan. A practitioner's step-by-step guide.
Overseas anime sales topped ¥1.7T and overtook domestic in 2023. What the AJA data, geography and licensing terms mean for foreign buyers.
Almost every Japanese anime is owned by a multi-company production committee — not the studio that drew it. A B2B guide for foreign buyers, distributors and investors on how the 製作委員会 system shapes rights, deals and timelines.
1.27 million ownerless companies are driving a record M&A wave — and the rarest opening yet for global buyers