Corporate support for the arts in Japan: beyond emulation of the Western models

Abstract

It is generally understood that the arts and culture are supported mainly by government and its agencies in Europe and by private individuals in the USA. In Japan, business support for the arts at corporate level not aiming for commercial, immediate return has taken off since the early 1990s. Unlike public sector support for the arts in Japan, which tends to be centred around building cultural facilities while failing to provide sufficient financing to artists and arts organisations, businesses have been strategic and creative in policy formulation and programme planning in supporting the arts. The article will discuss some of the distinctive feature of Japanese companies, support of the arts and argue that businesses have helped shape a new form of cultural policy.

Keywords:

• Japan
• corporate support of the arts
• cultural policy
• arts sponsorship

Acknowledgements

I am grateful to the two anonymous reviewers for helpful comments.

Notes

1. Throughout this paper, the US dollar equivalents will be provided to help readers understand the values of figures. The exchange rate used is 77 yen to a US dollar. The equivalents are approximate and for suggestive purposes only.

2. There have been some legal changes in 2008 and 2011, but latest information is not easily available in the English language. Kawashima (2006) can still be of help for general information.