japanamerica

  Anime is now booming everywhere, driving streaming platform profits, filling cinemas. Yet Japanese animators remain underpaid, overworked, and harder and harder to find and keep.  We'll talk about the answers on JULY 7th at this very special event Live in Tokyo . I'll be joined by executives from Studio Ghibli, Polygon Pictures and Studio Ponoc for this unique presentation for Asia Society Japan at International House of Japan.  This will be in-person only and exclusive, confidential material will be edited out of the video to be posted later.   So: Who's making the money? And how should you and your partners invest? Featuring Geoffrey Wexler, Shuzo John Shiota and hosted by Japan economics expert Jesper Koll. Register to join us here .

In my interview with Deutsche Welle (DW) I explain why and how Japan’s Anime industry is embracing AI . Miyazaki and many fans may not like it but the industry needs AI—especially if it hopes to retain the aesthetic properties that are essential to its appeal: the “hand drawn” 2D look, stylized key frames, and cool choreography requiring hours of hard labor by so-called “in-betweeners,” many of whom are already working outside Japan for long hours and low wages. Even more important: Japan’s relatively loose copyright laws make AI a realistic legal option. <<The use of AI in anime can therefore be seen as a solution to fill in the gap, points out Roland Kelts, an anime expert and visiting professor at Japan's Waseda University School of Culture, Media and Society. "The population is shrinking, so there are not many young artists, and they are paid very poorly to do a lot of hard labor," he told DW.>> *video forthcoming. Thanks to Chermaine Lee.

I was interviewed by the Financial Times about the global Anime Boom and domestic Anime Bust, and how the Trump tariffs could kill the golden goose: https://archive.ph/NA572 <The global market for anime is now expected to almost double from $31.2bn in 2023 to $60.1bn by 2030, the investment bank Jefferies wrote in a 2024 report.  But as the popularity of anime and manga — the comic books from which many anime characters and stories are derived — grow, Japanese studios and the country’s government are increasingly concerned that financial value is disappearing overseas. “What we are starting to see from the anime companies is an awareness that the production and distribution side of the industry is inefficient,” says Roland Kelts, the author of JAPANAMERICA: How Japanese Pop Culture has Invaded the US . “The middle men are making a lot of money, but that isn’t trickling down.”> *My thanks to ace reporter Leo Lewis. Again.

What an honor to be on "60 Minutes," a show I've watched since my teens. Talking depopulation in Japan and the rest of the world with veteran host and writer Jon Wertheim in a segment beautifully produced by Jacqueline Williams. The CBS crew really takes care of you.

Speaking Live at World Expo 2025 Japan in Osaka this Thursday April 24, 6pm.  Space limited so please preregister here and join us! https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfRn4SV9ovqjCqG-vMaMxvEtGwGslysVGT0yGecVUx2cvhE_g/viewform?pli=1 See you in my old hometown!

I wrote about the Kurosawa/Star Wars/Gatchaman/Gundam continuum in the first few pages of JAPANAMERICA. Hosting this panel with some of the most brilliant minds in anime and dear friends of mine feels like full circle.  This Friday, April 18th, 2:30pm at Makuhari Messe for the Star Wars Celebration Japan 2025 .

I've given a number of talks and interviews on Japanese pop culture over the years but this one will be different: a look at the industry from the inside, via the artists and producers I now know well. Things have changed and are changing fast, my friends. Register for great convo and catering here: https://hcjapan.clubs.harvard.edu/article.html?aid=599   photo: Timothy Scott Ralston I'm honored to be joining Harvard Club of Japan on behalf of the Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard for this special evening Wednesday March 26th with some of those industry professionals on hand. From my book, JAPANAMERICA. "The value of Japan's pop culture exports anime and manga now rivals that of Japan's steel and semiconductor industries, making it the centerpiece of recent government meetings. Overseas sales of anime have grown exponentially, its market size more than doubling over the past decade. Major funds like Blackstone and Mizuho are now investing in ...

I was interviewed by National Public Radio for their excellent segment on extreme social withdrawal in Japan (called "Hikikomori") now airing across the US and online here .  Extreme social withdrawal was first diagnosed in Japan in the late 1990s and I wrote about it most recently in this Op-Ed essay for The New York Times . The pathology is now spreading worldwide, with Hikikomori cases spiking in other regions of Asia, the Americas and Europe.    Digital dependency is identified as both a symptom and cause of self-isolation. I shudder to imagine the coming impact of AI distractions like ChatGPT as they become increasingly advanced and accessible--especially to those whose IRL interactions have already been diminished by the pandemic years.  In 1985, Neil Postman wrote a groundbreaking book called "Amusing Ourselves to Death." And all he was talking about was television.