{"id":77979,"date":"2026-08-21T09:11:30","date_gmt":"2026-08-21T09:11:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/77979\/"},"modified":"2026-08-21T09:11:30","modified_gmt":"2026-08-21T09:11:30","slug":"govt-to-dissolve-cool-japan-fund-after-heavy-losses-of-340-million","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/77979\/","title":{"rendered":"Gov’t to dissolve Cool Japan Fund after heavy losses of $340 million"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\nCool Japan Fund Inc.’s business report showing a cumulative loss of 54 billion yen is seen June 24, 2026. (Mainichi\/Seiho Akimaru) <\/p>\n


\n TOKYO — The Japanese government has decided to dissolve Cool Japan Fund Inc., a public-private investment fund saddled with massive cumulative losses, sources revealed on Aug. 20. \n<\/p>\n


\n The Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry has also decided not to include funding for the organization in its fiscal 2027 budget request. \n<\/p>\n


\n Established in 2013 as one of the signature initiatives of then Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s second administration, the fund has struggled to generate returns on its investments. Its cumulative losses have reached 54 billion yen (about $340 million), raising questions about the government’s role in investment operations. \n<\/p>\n


\n The ministry decided not to request funding for the organization after concluding that it would be difficult to secure support for such a request. As a result, Cool Japan Fund will effectively be unable to make new investments. \n<\/p>\n

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\nPanel chair Takero Doi, a professor at Keio University, second from right, delivers remarks at a meeting of experts convened by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry to review Cool Japan Fund Inc., in Tokyo’s Chiyoda Ward, July 29, 2026. (Mainichi\/Kazuki Sakuma) <\/p>\n


\n At the end of July, the ministry convened the first meeting of an expert panel to discuss the fund’s reorganization or consolidation. Government sources, however, said arrangements are being made on the assumption that it will be dissolved. Attention will now focus on when the fund will be closed and where responsibility will lie. \n<\/p>\n


\n Public-private funds are investment organizations jointly financed by the government and private-sector companies. Cool Japan Fund was established as a flagship vehicle for promoting the government’s “Cool Japan” strategy, which seeks to boost overseas demand for Japanese culture, products and services. \n<\/p>\n


\n However, its cumulative losses continued to mount due in part to the deteriorating performance of companies in its investment portfolio. The losses grew more than expected in fiscal 2025. Among the setbacks was Spiber Inc., a Yamagata Prefecture-based biomaterials startup in which the fund had invested approximately 14 billion yen (around $88 million). Spiber decided to enter an out-of-court restructuring process after its liabilities exceeded its assets. \n<\/p>\n


\n (Japanese original by Seiho Akimaru, Business News Department) <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Cool Japan Fund Inc.’s business report showing a cumulative loss…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":77980,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[175],"tags":[541,217,215,8,214,216,186,180,187],"class_list":["post-77979","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-anime-manga","tag-business","tag-business-of-japan","tag-japan","tag-japans-business","tag-japanese-business","tag-latest-articles","tag-politics","tag-the-mainichi"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77979","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=77979"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77979\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/77980"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=77979"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=77979"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=77979"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}