Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry is extending its film and television incentive program through fiscal 2026 with strengthened provisions aimed at attracting more foreign productions, the Visual Industry Promotion Organization and the Japan Film Commission revealed.
The most significant change to the scheme is the introduction of multi-year grants, allowing projects to receive support for up to two years. This marks a departure from the previous system’s strict deadline requirements for expenditure declarations.
Under the previous framework, only expenses declared before the end of January following the subsidy decision could be reimbursed. A one-year project in the current fiscal year was scheduled to run from March 27, 2025, to January 31, 2026. The updated program allows for spending spanning multiple fiscal years and accommodates project timelines that exceed Japanese fiscal year limits.
The revamped incentive program is expected to launch in late spring 2026, and application guidelines will be announced later.
Since its inception in 2023, the program has supported 18 film and television projects through the end of 2025. Notable productions include “The Smashing Machine,” starring Dwayne Johnson as UFC fighter Mark Kerr, which earned director Benny Safdie the Silver Lion for Best Director at the Venice Film Festival earlier this year.
The American-Japanese co-production “Rental Family,” directed by Hikari and starring Brendan Fraser, premiered in the special preview section of the Toronto International Film Festival and was later shown at the London and Tokyo festivals. The film follows an American actor in Japan who joins a “rental family” agency.
The program also supported the second season of “Drops of God,” the international Emmy Award-winning French-Japanese drama series about gastronomy and fine wine. Starring Fleur Geffrier and Tomohisa Yamashita, the series is adapted from the New York Times bestselling Japanese manga.
The program is an initiative of METI, with VIPO as operator and the Japan Film Commission as coordinator.
