Digital cultural policy in Japan: decentralised digitalisation initiatives and their associated challenges

This article examines how diverse public authorities in Japan have committed to digital cultural policiesover the past two decades in response to the emergence of the creative economy, lockdown during the pandemic and political demands for Japan’s soft power. Drawing on the comprehensive review of policy documents and relevant media coverage with supplementary interviews with civil servants, this paper investigates cultural policies related to the digital archiving of culture and promotion of digitalised content, including funding for online streaming, digitalising museum and heritage collections, and amendments of copyright laws. It contributes to the scholarly discourse of digital cultural policy by (1) offering the first comprehensive review of digital cultural policy in Japan, (2) examining how these digital policies are shaped by institutional and historical contexts, and (3) discussing the barriers, inefficiencies, and challenges associated with these policies. By providing the first comprehensive overview of Japan’s digital cultural policy, this paper aims to advance the internationalisation and de-westernisation of the field, serving as a foundation for future scholarly dialogue.