Can NFTs and Crypto Help Japan’s “Cool Japan” Strategy?

Japan has consistently been a leader in the tech industry, so it’s a logical step forward that the Cool Japan movement, given current trends in the space, could incorporate Web3 to bolster its initiative. Bringing Web3 into the mix along with the popular culture aspects of the movement may prove to be a boon to the mission, but this move has yet to be implemented by the government-led movement.

Since much of Web3 is still unknown in terms of its capabilities and future prospects, it is understandable that the government has not yet combined it with its initiative to bring Japan into the future technologically and bring Japanese culture to other areas of the world, but doing so will certainly increase the potential in many areas.

The Making of “Cool Japan”

If Japanese culture is so popular in other countries, it is understandable that some may not understand why the government felt the need to create the Cool Japan initiative in the first place. But just because something is famous or popular doesn’t necessarily mean it’s thriving.

Ultimately, Cool Japan was created to promote positive attitudes toward Japan, increase sales of Japanese products worldwide, and promote tourism. The movement’s mission, as stated in its proposal, is that Japan, as a country, provides creative solutions to the world’s challenges. The aim was never to just promote the country as a cool place to be or go, but also to express that Japan can offer useful ideas to the rest of the world.

The country is known for its influence on popular culture as well as its consistent political stability and innovation. But while Japan may have a strong economy, it faces other problems, such as an aging society, the loss of local communities, and environmental and energy issues.

To achieve the country’s mission, the Cool Japan strategy consists of three steps: promote domestic growth, connect Japan and other countries, and become a Japan that helps the world. Each stage has its own missions, determined to achieve the overall goal, and there are several governmental organizations involved in the promotion of the initiative, such as the Ministry of Foreign Affairs; Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries; and even the Cool Japan Movement Promotion Council.

The success of the movement in recent times is not entirely known, but what is known is that as industries shift and times change, the strategy should also create a greater potential for success in the future.

Japanese culture has been popular abroad for decades without slowing down. Everything from anime to manga to food and traditional Japanese attire has spread to and influenced other areas of the world, especially in the United States. The Japanese government caught this trend and saw the potential. This potential grew into action and led to the “Cool Japan” initiative, which was created to promote Japanese cultural products and technologies globally with the aim of increasing the country’s cultural exports.

The current state of Web3 in Japan

While Japan may not be leading the way in Web3, it is certainly still ahead of many other countries.

Whiplus Wang, the head of the Japanese crypto conference IVS Crypto, told Cointelegraph about where Japan currently sits with regards to Web3 and whether the Cool Japan movement has any plans to include Web3 in its initiative to promote the country.

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While Wang said Cool Japan has no relationship with Web3, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida is putting forward an effort to increase Japan’s use of it.

“Right now, there are three policies in place. One policy is to tax companies, which has caused many Web3 companies to leave Japan and move to other countries, such as Singapore,” Wang said. “I think this will change soon . They want to create a better environment for Japan to have these kinds of businesses.”

Per Wang, it seems Web3 is moving slowly at the government level, but much faster at the community level. The government is still figuring out what Web3 is and what cryptocurrencies and blockchains can do, so movement in that regard is slow.

Widespread use of NFTs

At the community level, what Japan is doing with non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and Web3 is largely ahead of the curve. There are a couple of high schools that offer courses to students about NFT and Web3, some decentralized autonomous organizations educate individuals about the basics of Web3, and there are even special guidelines that include NFT.

“In Japan there is a special policy called the Hometown Tax. With this you can choose which region you want to pay tax to, it doesn’t have to be the one where you live. When you pay the tax to a region, you get a gift back, something special to the area, like a commodity they are known for giving,” Wang explained. “Areas that don’t have anything special, they give out NFTs. Some of them will be vouchers for local restaurants or something like that.”

If this policy were changed in a way that allowed exchanges with individuals outside of Japan, this could very well be a tactic used by Cool Japan to attract tourists from abroad just as it currently attracts tourism in Japan.

Much of what Japan does with Web3 and cryptocurrencies is domestic, but there is a particular market that sells NFTs abroad – anime.

Anime is an aspect of Japanese culture that has become popular worldwide, gaining a large and loyal fan base. Some anime-related companies have issued NFTs that were immediately bought by customers overseas.

Wang said: “For these companies, they are trying to use NFTs to attract revenue from overseas rather than in Japan, because the price for people in Japan to own a wallet is very low.”

This is another tactic that the Cool Japan movement can incorporate to increase visibility as a country and as a leader in the industry, combining the pop culture aspects that people around the world love with the innovation that can only be found with Web3.

Future prospects

For the Cool Japan movement to realistically incorporate technology and Web3, Japan will likely first need more widespread social implementation. Kohei Sagawaa promoter of the Symbol/NEM project and community, told Cointelegraph that the process could be slow.

“Blockchains empower individuals and creators, especially compared to Web2. The transparency is expected to guarantee the authenticity of the content, so you know the history, who made it, who bought it, etc.,” Kohei said. “It’s still evolving, and it is not widely recognized in society. Most people don’t even know what it is. Social implementation will increase, but will be little by little.”

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While those in the industry (or in the know at all) may be few, their numbers are certainly growing, and the same can be said of the Web3 knowledge base in Japan. Kohei said there are a number of services that currently accept crypto payments, and the government is working on regulations and taxation.

As Japan continues to move forward with its crypto and Web3 legislation and the government learns more about what it can do for the country as a whole, it will be interesting to see how companies will incorporate Web3 into their business practices. Once it takes off, it could give the Cool Japan movement ever more potential for success. But even if the movement itself doesn’t create a relationship with the tech industry, Web3 could still allow Japan to achieve the goals they set for it.