Government budget for art and culture Japan FY 2015-2024

The total art and culture related proposed budget of the Agency for Cultural Affairs in Japan amounted to 135 billion Japanese yen for the fiscal year 2024, representing an increase from the previous fiscal year. This was the highest planned budget during the surveyed period.

The Agency for Cultural Affairs

The Agency for Cultural Affairs is an external organ of the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science, and Technology (MEXT) in Japan. The agency was established in 1968 to design comprehensive developments of artistic and cultural activities in the country. Projects that are conducted by the agency include: promotions of art creation activities and international cultural exchange; protection of cultural assets and copyrights; improvement and dissemination of the Japanese language; and management of religious corporations. The agency planned to allocate the highest share of the annual budget to the projects for inheritance and utilization of cultural properties through proper maintenance. The agency additionally supports the Japan Arts Funds that subsidizes various types of culture-related activities.

Art and culture promotion measures

The current measures for the advancement of art and culture in Japan are based on the Basic Plan on the Promotion of Culture and the Arts, enacted in 2018. The plan specifies policies and programs for the period between fiscal years 2018 and 2022, such as the Cool Japan Strategy that aims to attract people from overseas by using Japanese traditional and modern culture. The development of the art and culture industry has been one of the focal points of the Japanese government in recent years, as the expansion of inbound tourism was initially estimated to rise in particular due to the Tokyo 2020 Olympics and Paralympics. However, the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games were postponed from 2020 to 2021 and were held mostly without spectators, omitting the much-anticipated boost in inbound visitors.