MUMBAI: Anime is no longer content to stay in one corner of the map. TIFFCOM 2026 is putting Japanese animation’s global ambitions centre stage, with sessions examining overseas sales, international co-productions and financing models as the Japanese content industry pushes deeper into international markets.
TIFFCOM, Asia’s leading content market affiliated with the Tokyo International Film Festival (TIFF), will hold its 23rd edition from October 28 to 30 at the Tokyo Metropolitan Industrial Trade Center HAMAMATSUCHO-KAN.
One of the key sessions, Japanese Animation’s Global Expansion: 2025 Overseas Sales Update and Strategies from Two Studios, will take place on October 30 from 13:30 to 15:00 at Port Hall. Organised by the Association of Japanese Animations, the session will provide the first public release of preliminary domestic and overseas market data from the 2025 industry survey for Anime Industry Report 2026.
The session will be divided into two parts. The first will present preliminary figures for the 2025 Japanese anime industry’s domestic and overseas market, while the second will feature international expansion strategies from NIPPON ANIMATION CO., LTD. and Production I.G, Inc.
The scale of the opportunity is significant. Japan’s content industry generated 6.1 trillion yen in overseas sales in 2024 and has been identified as a core industry within the country’s 17 strategic growth fields.
Anime accounts for around one-third of Japan’s overseas content sales. The industry has also set a target of 6 trillion yen for anime within an overall overseas content sales goal of 20 trillion yen by 2033.
The TIFFCOM session will use the latest market data to examine how Japanese animation is performing internationally and where further opportunities could emerge.
Opening remarks will be delivered by Kazuko Ishikawa, President of the Association of Japanese Animations and President of NIPPON ANIMATION CO., LTD.
Megumi Onouchi, President of HumanMedia Inc. and Vice Chairman of the Association of Japanese Animations’ Human Resources Development Committee, will moderate the session.
Speakers include Masahiro Hasegawa, Editor-in-chief of Anime Industry Report and associated with the School of Network and Information at Senshu University; Hitomi Hiratsuka, Director International Sales & Productions at NIPPON ANIMATION CO., LTD.; and Yoko Ueda, Director of Corporate Administration and IP & Communications at Production I.G, Inc.
TIFFCOM will also turn the spotlight from distribution to collaboration with its Anime Co-Production Conference, titled Anime’s New Frontier: Structuring & Financing International Co-Productions.
The session, organised through Tokyo’s Going Global: Overseas Expansion Support Program for Contents Industries, will take place on October 29 from 16:30 to 17:30 at Conference B.
The conference will examine international co-production models that bring overseas partners and financing into projects from the early stages of development. Discussions will cover financing models, deal structures, rights management and strategies for taking projects into global markets.
The programme will also look at the practical journey from development to market, including the use of film festivals and industry markets as part of international expansion strategies.
Speakers for the co-production session include Ervin Han, Co-Founder & CEO of Robot Playground Media Pte Ltd; Taiki Sakurai, CEO of Salamander Inc.; and Ilan Urroz, CEO of Foliascope. Masao Kawano, Programme Manager at Into Global, will moderate.
Together, the two sessions place a different question at the heart of TIFFCOM 2026: not simply how Japanese animation can travel further, but how its creators, rights holders and international partners can build the business structures to make that journey sustainable.
