Less is More: Japan's Creative Edge Depends on Saying No to IP Harmonization

Maya Lorigiola

Every summer, over half a million people descend on Tokyo Big Sight for Comiket, the world's largest self-published comic market, which technically infringes copyright (Muthusi, 2025). In most Western countries, these creators would face cease-and-desist letters. In Japan, this copyright grey area is what makes its animation industry so vibrant: what seems like a legal loophole is actually the “strategic ignorance” that helps sustain the country's $25 billion anime industry (He, 2014, p. 1017)

Since the withdrawal of the United States in 2017, Japan has become the largest economy within the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) and positioned itself as the primary “rule-maker” in intellectual property (IP) enforcement (New Zealand Government, 2018). In pharmaceuticals and advanced technology, Japan leverages stringent IP standards to lock in competitive advantages over rivals such as China. But as pressures increase to harmonize IP enforcement across member states Japan should not pursue deeper IP integration within the creative sector.

The conventional argument for stronger IP protection is straightforward: patents and copyrights incentivize innovation by ensuring creators can profit from their work, attracting foreign investment and supporting knowledge-intensive industries (Mattoo et al., 2020). The conventional critique is equally clear: stricter enforcement delays access to affordable medicines, slows technology diffusion in developing economies, and concentrates market power in the hands of major corporations while stripping governments of policy tools to nurture domestic industries (Mattoo et al., 2020).

But Japan’s creative sector defies this “conventional” binary. Here, the doujinshi phenomenon—fan-created works that technically infringe copyright—functions as a talent incubator, an informal R&D lab, and a grassroots marketing engine (Górska-Jankowska, 2023). These fan works not only generate cultural buzz that sustains franchises between official releases, but also constitute a unique economic powerhouse. According to the Yano Research Institute, the doujinshi market reached an all-time high of 150 billion yen in the year ending March 2025, equal to an 80% increase from fiscal 2020 (Asia Daily, 2025). This figure constitutes roughly 22% of mainstream publishing revenues.

Japan has actively sought to protect this ecosystem through deliberate policy mechanisms such as the shinkokuzai system, under which copyright infringement is prosecuted only when rights holders file complaints. When implementing CPTPP provisions in 2018, Japan deliberately hedged its commitments to ensure that regional enforcement applies only when infringement threatens the profitability of original works or cannibalizes their markets (Agency for Cultural Affairs, 2018). In practice, this shields transformative fan works while enabling robust enforcement against commercial piracy.

Some argue that deeper standardized IP enforcement is necessary to protect Japanese creators from overseas infringement. But this conflates two fundamentally different phenomena. Unauthorized streaming platforms and counterfeit merchandise genuinely harm creators and are already illegal under existing Japanese law. Transformative fan works, by contrast, generate cultural and economic value. Subjecting both to the same enforcement logic would dismantle the participatory creative culture that has consistently produced talent, innovation, and global demand.

Japan’s IP model is fundamentally different from that of the EU or Hollywood. The Western model thrives on vertical integration and aggressive IP enforcement because its creative economy is organized around studio control and exclusive licensing (He, 2018). Japan’s model, by contrast, thrives on horizontal participation and selective tolerance, relying on a symbiotic relationship between corporate rights holders and grassroots fan culture. Forcing Japan to adopt Hollywood-style enforcement would be like asking Silicon Valley to adopt Japan’s lifetime employment system, a structural mismatch!

Resisting deeper IP integration in creative industries also aligns with Japan’s current political agenda. Under Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s administration and the “Japanese First” economic framework, policy increasingly emphasizes strategic autonomy, i.e., the capacity to set domestic priorities without external constraint, and cultural sovereignty, defined as the protection of institutions rooted in Japanese social practices (He, 2018; IAIS, 2025). From this perspective, aggressive enforcement against Japan's participatory creative culture does not fit within the political direction.

Arguing against deeper integration of IP enforcement does not mean Japan should lower its IP standards overall. While I believe flexibility should be the priority for Japan’s creative IP industries, the country has strong incentives to lead regional standard-setting in pharmaceuticals, advanced technology, and emerging challenges such as AI governance (CSIS, n.d.). When OpenAI launched Sora, major Japanese studios, including Studio Ghibli through the Content Overseas Distribution Association, publicly demanded safeguards against the unconsented use of copyrighted material for AI training (The Japan Times, 2025).

Ultimately, these threats require robust responses. In some spaces, Japan benefits from deep integration, whereas elsewhere—like with doujinshi—domestic flexibility is tantamount. Embedding these regulations into CPTPP-level harmonization risks spillover effects, eroding the cultural norms that sustain Japan’s animation business.

Japan’s deep integration strategy is, and should remain, bifurcated. As a champion of IP protection that uses regulatory alignment as a tool of national advantage, Japan must also know when not to align. Deep integration works when it reinforces productive institutions, not when it flattens them into generic templates. Japan’s anime industry thrives because the country preserved policy space for a culturally embedded system. The question facing Japan is not whether to integrate deeply, but where. And in its creative heartland, less truly is more.

Works Cited

Mattoo, A., Rocha, N., & Ruta, M. (Eds.). (2020). Handbook of deep trade agreements. World Bank. https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/bitstream/handle/10986/34055/9781464815393.pdf

Muthusi, V. (2025, November 6). Comiket: Where half a million fans rewrite the rules of creative culture. GeekSpeak. https://www.geekspeak.co.ke/post/comiket-where-half-a-million-fans-rewrite-the-rules-of-creative-culture

He, T. (2014). What can we learn from Japanese anime industries? The differences between domestic and overseas copyright protection strategies towards fan activities. American Journal of Comparative Law, 62(4), 1009–1042. https://doi.org/10.5131/AJCL.2014.0029

Górska-Jankowska, A. (2023). Creative freedom and copyright: Doujinshi in contemporary Japan. Gdańskie Studia Azji Wschodniej, 24, 67–79. https://doi.org/10.4467/23538724GS.23.024.19019

Asia Daily. (2025, January). Comiket celebrates 50th anniversary: A half-century of manga, anime, and doujin culture. Asia Daily. https://asiadaily.org/news/11542/

Agency for Cultural Affairs, Government of Japan. (2018). Copyright policy and implementation under CPTPP. https://www.bunka.go.jp/english/policy/copyright/pdf/93468601_01.pdf

CSIS. (n.d.). Japan’s agile AI governance action: Fostering a global nexus through pluralistic approaches. Center for Strategic and International Studies. https://www.csis.org/analysis/japans-agile-ai-governance-action-fostering-global-nexus-through-pluralistic#h2-leading-by-example-the-government-ai-initiative-and-public-sector-adoption

The Japan Times. (2025, November 18). Japan’s animation sector in danger of collapse. https://www.japantimes.co.jp/commentary/2025/11/18/japan/japans-animation-sector-in-danger-of-collapse/

New Zealand Government. (2018, October 31). Japan, the world’s third-largest economy, ratifies CPTPP. New Zealand Government. https://www.beehive.govt.nz/release/japan-world%E2%80%99s-third-largest-economy-ratifies-cptpp