Japan suffers $38 billion loss over anime piracy

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Illegal downloading and sharing of anime, manga, and video games is becoming a much bigger problem globally. Recent government figures show the financial impact of this piracy has almost tripled in the last three years.

Automaton recently pointed out key details from a new report by Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry.

As a huge fan of digital entertainment, I was really shocked to see the latest numbers on piracy. Apparently, it’s costing the industry a lot more than it used to. Back in 2022, losses were around 2 trillion yen, which was about $13.3 billion. But now, in 2025, those losses have skyrocketed to 5.7 trillion yen – that’s roughly $38 billion! It’s crazy to see how much it’s increased in just a few years.

These numbers come from a 2025 survey of consumers in Japan, China, Vietnam, France, the United States, and Brazil.

Anime & manga piracy caused $38 billion in losses

As a book lover, it’s disheartening to hear that even though fewer people might be downloading pirated books individually, the overall problem is actually getting worse. Apparently, things like changing exchange rates, higher book prices, and more people getting online are all contributing to this. Plus, more and more people are simply choosing to access books illegally, which is really damaging to authors and publishers.

The report highlights the growing international popularity of Japanese entertainment, especially anime and manga. The Japanese government announced in November 2025 a goal to significantly boost its overseas entertainment market, aiming for a 20 trillion yen increase (approximately $130 billion USD) by 2033.

To fight online piracy, Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) plans to work more closely with local governments, improve legal processes for pursuing copyright violations, and increase efforts against both AI-generated fakes and counterfeit merchandise.

Okay, so this is pretty cool. Japan’s basically putting a ton of money – around $650,000 – into building an AI to fight manga piracy. It’s designed to find stolen pages online and track down where they’re being shared. As a manga fan, I’m totally here for this – protecting the creators is huge!

Even with increased efforts to stop piracy, the report states that simply enforcing rules won’t fix the issue. Instead, Japan’s METI is planning to help more Japanese movies, shows, and music become available worldwide, hoping people will choose official sources instead of illegal ones.

We’re already noticing more Japanese movies and shows becoming available in Western countries. Recent films like Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle and Chainsaw Man: Reze Arc have proven popular in theaters, showing a growing interest from Western audiences.

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2026-01-28 19:20