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From anime to VTubers, how fan culture could encourage spending and boost Japan’s economy

Fans of bands, anime characters, mascots and online entertainers in Japan may spend as much as US$23 billion a year

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Momoka Matsui and her co-worker Saki Matsumoto at After All Coffee in Tokyo, where Matsui’s favourite boy band stopped by. They are taking part in “oshikatsu”, a fan-driven phenomenon in Japan that is boosting consumer spending. Photo: Reuters

In Japan, policymakers and economists are paying close attention to the oshikatsu phenomenon as a growing driver of consumer spending – and 24-year-old Momoka Matsui is one of many doing her part to shore up the economy.

Matsui is part of an expanding demographic of mostly twenty- and thirtysomethings engaged in activities supporting one’s favourite celebrities, anime characters, cuddly mascots or any oshi – the Japanese term for the object of one’s adulation.

“If my salary goes up, I’d like to go to concerts out of town, even overseas, more frequently,” said Matsui as she, like many workers in Japan, waits eagerly for another year of bumper wage increases.

Matsui, who does oshikatsu-related marketing and research as part of her overall work at advertising giant Hakuhodo, declined to identify her bands of choice because of conflict-of-interest concerns in her job.

Momoka Matsui takes photos of acrylic stand figures of their favourite idols with cakes and teas which she and a colleague ordered at a Tokyo cafe where Matsui’s favourite boy band stopped by. Photo: Reuters
Momoka Matsui takes photos of acrylic stand figures of their favourite idols with cakes and teas which she and a colleague ordered at a Tokyo cafe where Matsui’s favourite boy band stopped by. Photo: Reuters
The explosion of oshikatsu, which entered the mainstream lexicon during the Covid-19 pandemic, as a social phenomenon has economists and even the Bank of Japan taking note for its potential to prop up Japan’s tepid consumption.
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