January 5, 2026

AI Takes on Piracy as Japan Moves to Triple Overseas Manga Sales

Cultural Affairs Agency Trains AI Translators and Develops Detection Systems to Protect Copyright and Expand Global Reach

The Agency for Cultural Affairs is stepping up efforts to boost exports of Japanese manga by harnessing artificial intelligence. The agency is fostering a new generation of specialists capable of rapid AI-assisted translation, supporting the overseas distribution of legitimate multilingual editions, and preventing readers from drifting to pirated websites. It is also seeking to develop AI that can automatically identify illegal sites, positioning the content industry as a new pillar of economic growth.

Japanese manga enjoys enormous popularity abroad, yet a large share of overseas readers rely on pirated versions. According to a survey by the Authorized Books of Japan, which represents publishers and related organizations, around 900 piracy websites focused mainly on manga were identified. In June 2025 alone, these sites recorded 2.8 billion visits from 123 countries and regions, with an estimated 1.4 billion pages viewed. The resulting annual damage is put at 8.5 trillion yen, far exceeding overseas sales of Japan’s content industry, which reached a record 5.8 trillion yen in 2023.

To counter this trend, the Agency for Cultural Affairs will fund programs to train professionals in AI-based manga translation. Dozens of institutions, including universities, vocational schools, and industry groups, will be eligible to apply in fiscal 2025, with each recipient receiving grants of up to 100 million yen. Beyond translation techniques, the curriculum is expected to cover practical methods for deploying AI in publishing workflows.

In parallel, the agency plans to develop an AI system to automatically detect piracy websites, aiming to put it into operation in fiscal 2026. At present, publishers must monitor such sites manually, but the new system could eventually automate processes such as issuing takedown requests.

Private companies are also advancing AI translation technologies. Mantra, a startup based in Bunkyo, Tokyo that spun out of the University of Tokyo and is backed by major publishers including Shueisha and Shogakukan, has developed a tool that learns entire works and translates them while reflecting each character’s voice and the narrative context.

The tool supports 18 languages and typically cuts processing time by more than half. It is already being used to translate around 200,000 pages per month, equivalent to roughly 1,000 volumes.

Shogakukan has used several AI translation tools, including Mantra’s, for the past two years. The system recognizes and translates dialogue, automatically resizes speech bubbles when translated text runs longer, and then hands the draft to human translators for final refinement.

The publisher aims to raise the share of overseas sales, currently 3 to 4 percent of total revenue, to 10 percent within the next four years. At present, only about 10 percent of newly published manga titles are translated into English, with even lower coverage for older works and other languages. This leaves substantial room for growth.

Working closely with the private sector, the Japanese government is now targeting more than a threefold increase in overseas content sales, setting an ambitious goal of 20 trillion yen by 2033.