Japanese DVD Anime Pricing (How Does It Work?)

[Kaioshin Sama]

I'm trying to find a suitable answer based on either a good theory or hard evidence as to how pricing of DVD's work in Japan. I've wracked my brain with it and have noted that media prices in Japan seems out of sync with other markets around the world, while other products tend to remain at least somewhat in sync with international prices. The best I've honestly been able to come up with is that it has something to do with brand loyalty and the degree to which companies believe the fans appreciate the proven brand behind their products in relation to how much they will be likely to pay for it. I've guessed this because I've noticed that Japan appears to be a very brand concious society where a proven brand (in several degrees of noteriety ranging from strong loyalty to borderline household name/national symbol loyalty) is as good as a sold product once it hits the market barring a huge scandal that upsets the target consumers sensabilities.

I don't know if I'm right and I could be far off the mark, so hopefully somebody here who knows more than I do about the Japanese market in comparison to say the North American market can explain the pricing of DVD's in Japan.

[Quarkboy]

To simplify your question: Why are DVD's in Japan so much more expensive relative to the rest of the world?

There are a few factors to this, but first let me point out this is not limited to anime. ALL DVDs are about 2x as expensive in Japan than in the US. Anime DVDs are 2-3 times as expensive, on average.

There are a couple of different factors that contribute to this: Living space in Japan is significantly smaller than in most other countries. Houses are small, and storage space is at a premium. Therefore people do not tend to keep large libraries of books or media of any sort in their homes. This goes back a very long way, probably to post-war reconstruction period. Therefore a culture of renting and borrowing books and tapes and videos was developed. Today, most Japanese will rent movies and tv shows instead of purchasing them, and rental prices are much closer to the prices in the US (about $2-5 dollars per disc, depending on how new the disc is). Because of this culture of rental and the inherent space considerations, the total size of the DVD buyer's market is much smaller than in the US.
Therefore, those people who DO wish to buy the DVDs do so because of an urge to OWN them, not simply watch them.
The remaining set of DVD buyers in Japan are mostly "collectors", who prefer quality over price. Therefore the DVDs released in Japan often have fancy packaging and neat extras, with correspondingly high prices. The audience for DVD purchases in Japan and the US are very different.

Factor number 2 is price fixing, and the corporate oligarchy. Most of Japan is controlled by a smallish number of very large companies. Unlike the large companies in the US, the Japanese companies tend to work together and have many "silent" agreements with each other on various things like prices and product availability, etc. This is a reason why DVDs have stayed so costly even despite a growing market in the 90s... If one company lowered prices it would destabalize the markets for the other companies, so everyone played nice and kept prices high. Also, the way anime is budgeted, most of the production costs need to be made up by the DVD sales. The only way to be assured of a certain gross revenue from DVD sales is to have a core base of buyers you know exist (hardcore collectors), and price the release high enough to recoup your costs just from these guarrenteed sales.

So to sum up, there are 2 reasons why DVD prices are so high in Japan that are specific to Japan: 1. Less people are interested in buying DVDs because of a tradition of space considerations. 2. The Japanese Corporate Oligarchy has structured itself to function by releasing high-priced collector's items instead of mass-market release.

[xris]

I think your question should actually be "could someone explain the pricing of videos in Japan".

I think it has nothing to do with brand loyalty but simply that the prices are based on how much people (i.e. the Japanese) were prepared to pay for a product (this is going back to the day when video tapes were first released). DVDs were considered superior to video tape so the prices took another hike when introduced and since it appears the Japanese consumer are still prepared to pay such prices then the high price and low episode count (for anime DVDs at least) has remained. To justify the prices the DVDs do come with some extras mind.

Don't forget the price of a product isn't always based on just the manufacturing cost, it's more often based on how much the local consumer base are willing to pay for such a product. In Japan it would seem they put a high premium to a product such as a DVD.

[Quarkboy]

To perhaps answer your question more directly, companies decide on the price of the release roughly like this:

If it costs X to produce the show, and a similar show in the past sold Y copies, then they would price the show at X/Y+a little bit.

So prices are based on previous sales numbers and production costs.

[Quarkboy]

Originally Posted by xris

I think your question should actually be "could someone explain the pricing of videos in Japan".

I think it has nothing to do with brand loyalty but simply that the prices are based on how much people (i.e. the Japanese) were prepared to pay for a product (this is going back to the day when video tapes were first released). DVDs were considered superior to video tape so the prices took another hike when introduced and since it appears the Japanese consumer are still prepared to pay such prices then the high price and low episode count (for anime DVDs at least) has remained. To justify the prices the DVDs do come with some extras mind.

Don't forget the price of a product isn't always based on just the manufacturing cost, it's more often based on how much the local consumer base are willing to pay for such a product. In Japan it would seem they put a high premium to a product such as a DVD.

But that then begs the more fundamental question: Why?

The answer is that Japanese (on average) aren't really willing to pay more for DVDs than in the US (on average), it's just that the market is structured differently to take advantage of the collectors instead of the general audience for the show.

[mandarb916]

Japanese generally invest more into their hobbies than their American/Western counterparts (anime, golf, photography, skiing, you name it). OTOH, though, R2 limited edition DVD's appear to come with much better bonus items than any R1 limted edition sets i've seen...and...well, Japanese are weak to the words "limited edition".

AIR on blu-ray went out of production at the end of March/beginning of April and I suppose news trickled out...I paid $200 for my copy...the next few on amazon sold for over $600...one went into the $700 range. The concept of paying such a huge premium exists to a limited extent in the US I suppose, but I think that's limited to high demand popular non-limited edition items (ie. Wii, tickle me elmo, PS2, etc) than limited edition stuff that only niche consumers would buy.

[SeijiSensei]

What about the potential for price competition that R1 releases pose in the Japanese market? Obviously for the newest series this isn't really an issue, but what about older shows? I presume Japanese consumers can buy American goods online in the same way I can buy Japanese goods online.

I can understand extracting excess profits from collectors and avid fans, but what about later in the lifespan of a show? R1 boxsets, for instance, are considerably cheaper than the same series in Japan. Since the R1 DVDs have the Japanese soundtracks, why aren't they imported back into Japan with resulting downward pricing pressure on the R2 releases?

(I can sit in my armchair and invent answers to these questions, but I'd rather hear from our friends here who are Japanese residents.)

One type of competition that I believe doesn't exist much in Japan is large retailers like Wal-Mart or the "big box" stores. Large retailers with substantial buying power can help keep manufacturers' pricing policies in check. Do these types of firms exist, or is Japan still largely dominated by "mom-and-pop" retailers, particularly for niche goods like anime DVDs?

[mandarb916]

Originally Posted by SeijiSensei

I can understand extracting excess profits from collectors and avid fans, but what about later the in the lifespan of a show? R1 boxsets, for instance, are considerably cheaper than the same series in Japan. Since the R1 DVDs have the Japanese soundtracks, why aren't they imported back into Japan with resulting downward pricing pressure on the R2 releases?

One example of an old old anime...Uchuu Senkan Yamato...it:s like what...35 years old? It's been bundled and rebundled as a limited edition numerous times and quite a few people re-buy the limited edition bundle for the various Yamato (or other) models and what not that come with it. This isn't the norm, but it happens.

Also, I think it's also sort of a nationalistic/xenophobic thing which I can somewhat comment on. (since i:m of that personality type as well). Regardless of actual quality, a LOT of Japanese perceive Japanese products as being superior to those sold in foreign countries. Add to that, there's a sense that a US release is somewhat "tarnished" for lack of a better term. Also, I don't think R1 dvd's necessarily contain the bonus footage that are on R2 dvd's? ie. cast/staff interviews and what not.

[Potatochobit]

Walmart is actually suffering losses in Japan.

Japan has a distribution system similar to what you would find in tightly packed communities, such as India.

Convenience stores, and other old fashioned, person to person distro is what most of the country is based on.

SO why can't a large firm with streamlined distro, like walmart, come in and take over you ask?

because japan has alot of silly laws that prevent it.

most of the countries fortunes are owned by a small group of people. the ratio to rich vs middle class is quite large.

you see all these animes showing some conglomerate owning alot of businesses? such as hayate no gokuto?

well partly it is based on actual facts.

anyway, the point is there are lots of laws that try to keep the japanese way of doing things intact and prevent outsiders from coming in. Walmart attempted to purchase the distro chain a few years ago from a business that went bankrupt. however japanese law allowed another established japanese owned chain to acquiring it, even though walmart would have paid more and could have made it more efficient.

also, there is a 'myth' or it might actually be very true, that japanese people do not like low quality items. they tend to want only the best. such as paying 30$ for a perfect melon.

if this is actually causing problems for walmart, I dont know. I would think that the general public is smart enough to see a good product at a great price when one is presented.

however, I dont think most of the high prices in DVDs in japan is due to distro. I think its more of 'owning the brand/license' that is coming at a premium.

[SeijiSensei]

Originally Posted by mandarb916

Also, I don't think R1 dvd's necessarily contain the bonus footage that are on R2 dvd's? ie. cast/staff interviews and what not.

Some do. My copy of Noein, for instance, has the interviews, etc. And, again, I was asking about sales to a more general public for whom such "extras" probably have less importance.

I didn't want to tread in the cultural waters here, though I'm always curious when culture seems to trump simple economics.

The kinds of protectionist policies Potatochobit speaks of were very common in European countries during the second half of the 20th century. France, for instance, had a variety of statutes that restricted the growth of supermarkets, but those laws have fallen by the wayside in the face of pressures from consumers, the expansion of the EU, and other factors that are generally termed "globalization." Japan is clearly a more insular economy (in terms of domestic consumption, obviously, not exports) so those trends might take longer to have an effect in Japan. The bigger threat to protectionism I see is the Internet which makes shopping overseas as easy as shopping at home.

[mandarb916]

Originally Posted by SeijiSensei

Some do. My copy of Noein, for instance, has the interviews, etc. And, again, I was asking about sales to a more general public for whom such "extras" probably have less importance.

I didn't want to tread in the cultural waters here, though I'm always curious when culture seems to trump simple economics.

The kinds of protectionist policies Potatochobit speaks of were very common in European countries during the second half of the 20th century. France, for instance, had a variety of statutes that restricted the growth of supermarkets, but those laws have fallen by the wayside in the face of pressures from consumers, the expansion of the EU, and other factors that are generally termed "globalization." Japan is clearly a more insular economy (in terms of domestic consumption, obviously, not exports) so those trends might take longer to have an effect in Japan. The bigger threat to protectionism I see is the Internet which makes shopping overseas as easy as shopping at home.

Well, *otaku* is somewhat of a negative connotation in Japan...and that's the major demographic that buys DVD's. Once you start buying DVD's, that scarlet letter is placed on you...so I'm sure it's partly to be accepted by society that steers most people away from buying...so the remaining ones are those that delve into anime as a hobby and just end up spending the money, if that makes any sense.

In simpler terms, it's a niche market that caters pretty tightly to the otaku demographic...the negative connotation prevents other demographic from wanting to jump into it easily.

[mandarb916]

Originally Posted by Potatochobit

also, there is a 'myth' or it might actually be very true, that japanese people do not like low quality items. they tend to want only the best. such as paying 30$ for a perfect melon.

If people buy low quality items there, they want to buy for the lowest price possible. If people buy a high quality item, they want to buy the best they can buy. The half assed middle ground (which most likely R1 dvd's would fall under) is a much smaller market than those extremes.

Even then, they expect high quality items at discount bargain bin prices (try going to Sushiro in Japan...100yen sushi...food is much better than a lot of sushi bars, yes bars, in the US)

[relentlessflame]

Disclaimer: Obviously this is my own point of view, as an observer, casual researcher, and Japanese anime DVD collector (but not in any way Japanese). So take it for what it's worth...


Personally, I think this all comes down to understanding the otaku mindset, which is essentially pure, unadulterated materialism/commercialism:

• Buying a DVD is a declaration of your dedication/fandom towards a show. It's not because you want to watch the show (although you may re-watch it). You're not buying a DVD, you're buying a piece of fandom.
  
  
• The extent of your fandom is defined by the quantity and rareness of the merchandise you own for said show.
  
  
• The primary purpose of buying said merchandise is twofold: 1) because you "must have it", and 2) because you can (even if that means cutting out all other "superfluous" expenses from your life (like eating, clothing, etc.)).

So, this serves as a foundation to answer the rest of the questions (again, bearing in mind the disclaimer above).

Why are Japanese anime DVDs so damned expensive?
It increases their perceived collectors value. If they were cheap and plentiful, they wouldn't be worth collecting.

Why not mass-market price it?
TV or rental are the preferred methods if you wanted to "just watch" a show. There isn't a vast cultural drive to collect things, except among "collectors". Not to mention, "anime is for children, geeks, and losers."

Why do Japanese DVDs often come in regular and limited editions?
Regular Editions increase the preceived value of the Limited Editions. "No one" buys the Regular Editions.

Why do Japanese DVDs often have "first press extras"?
Again, to increase the preceived value and feed the otaku need. An item being severely limited may convince someone to buy it, and once they buy one, they'll probably buy the whole set.

How much of this comes down to brand loyalty?
It depends on what you define as "brand". I don't think there's any loyalty to the publishers (i.e. Kadokawa, Geneon, Bandai Visual, Pony Canyon, Starchild/King Records, Avex, etc.), but there may be loyalty to the animation studio, staff, voice cast, author/source material, etc. There's a certain loyalty to anime itself, and a commitment to the whole anime merchandising scheme (that comes with being an otaku), but nobody would necessarily go "let's buy whatever <insert-publisher-here> is putting out this month!" (Though they may subscribe to/follow magazines published by certain anime publishers, or a certain publisher may happen to publish a lot of a certain genre/franchise they like.)

Why don't the Japanese just import the cheaper R1 DVDs?
They're cheap and plentiful, and often obviously cheaply-made (I say this as someone who owns hundreds of R1 DVDs myself); they have little-to-no collector value. If they just wanted to watch the show, it'd be easier to rent or watch it on TV (or heck, use this thing called "The Internet"). Plus, by the time the R1 DVDs are out, the show is completely passé. If you're going to collect something, it might as well be the best you can get.

Why, then, is the Japanese anime market in trouble?
Basically, the amount of collectors in Japan is relatively limited/fixed, but the amount of anime being produced has grown considerably. International markets were supposed to pick up the slack, but they've suffered tremendously as well. Flipping the whole system to a "mass-market-oriented" pricing scheme would be biting the hand that feeds you. No one's figured out how to properly leverage the Internet. On the whole, the market is simply in transition, and no one yet knows what form it will eventually take.

Is there a specific forumla that determines how anime DVDs will be priced in Japan?
Not exactly, but pretty close. It depends on the publisher, the length of the show's run, the show's perceived value, and the anticipated popularity. (All prices pre-discount.)

OVA Episode: 5000 to 8000 yen per episode
Niche or "High Collector Value" show (1 or 2 cour): 2500 to 4000 yen per episode
General Late-Night Show (1 or 2 cour): 2000 to 3000 yen per episode
Long-running or Morning Show (2-4 cour+): 1200 to 1600 yen per episode

If you notice the trend, what this suggests is that a given collector will only spend so much on DVDs for a given franchise, so the more merchandise you're expecting someone to buy, the cheaper any given piece of merchandise must be. The most I've ever seen any publisher ask for a given show's DVDs in a given year is 100,000 yen (~$1,000) (that's whether the show has 24 or 52 episodes in that year). And the most I've ever seen charged for a 1-cour show is around 50,000 yen (~$500) (though they sometimes add an OVA episode to the end to push it up to near 60,000 -- again, the perceived value of an OVA episode is higher). Even a 5/6-episode OVA series won't typically cross the 1-cour 50,000 yen threshold. So, however it came into existance, the industry has basically settled into a pattern that determines anime DVD pricing that seems largely based on "how much would a collector be willing to spend on any one show".



...So I'm not exactly sure why I took the time to write all that, especially given that it's somewhat of a rehash of what a lot of other people already said put in a slightly different way... but I hope it's useful for someone!

[Kaioshin Sama]

Wow, such great answers, a lot of which are really close to theories that I entertained. One thing that I forgot to factor in and am kicking myself for is the rental market. I also wonder if pricing doesn't also take the whole resale market into account. There's been a trend in the Japanese gaming market as of later for gamers to buy a game, beat it in a night and then sell it to a store which will then sell it at a lower price to other consumers. The problem is two-fold for manufacturers here as a) They only see profit on the first release and b) the rental/used game market is growing substantial and some companies have even claimed it is strangling their profit margin and killing creativity by essentially forcing them to bring in the tried and true brand name franchises and appeal to proven methods in order to guarantee profit and survival and to try and compete with the rental market.

I wonder if the anime market is not the same, and I wouldn't be surprised if it is given the substantial number of sequels to popular franchises that have been coming out recently. Prices are kept high to insure a good cut of the intial profit margin, the one that will go to the original seller, and the Otaku market is obviously targeted a lot more directly these days as they will be liable to collect and buy the product at a high price, so long as their needs are met. Also the urge to resell and flood the market with less pricey DVD's before the manufacturer can get the next wave of DVD's out on the market will be lessened by the "limited edition" nature of the product. Either it's a brilliant strategy to survive and fight back against that which is threatening their profits, or I just came up with that out of the blue and it's really a fluke.

[Mushi]

Originally Posted by relentlessflame

• Buying a DVD is a declaration of your dedication/fandom towards a show. It's not because you want to watch the show (although you may re-watch it). You're not buying a DVD, you're buying a piece of fandom.
  
  
• The extent of your fandom is defined by the quantity and rareness of the merchandise you own for said show.
  
  
• The primary purpose of buying said merchandise is twofold: 1) because you "must have it", and 2) because you can (even if that means cutting out all other "superfluous" expenses from your life (like eating, clothing, etc.)).

• Guilty
• Guilty
• Guilty

I've bought 2 DVD's from Japan just for collectable items and/or they haven't been released in the U.S. If I could afford it, I'd be getting more. I have a thing for DVD art boxes. I've got 10 of them that only have one volume of the DVD's in each. Collections I intend to complete... one of these days.

...So I'm not exactly sure why I took the time to write all that, especially given that it's somewhat of a rehash of what a lot of other people already said put in a slightly different way... but I hope it's useful for someone!

I found it very interesting and well organized. Thank you for taking the time.

[KholdStare]

Originally Posted by relentlessflame

• Buying a DVD is a declaration of your dedication/fandom towards a show. It's not because you want to watch the show (although you may re-watch it). You're not buying a DVD, you're buying a piece of fandom.

This is pretty much my feelings about buying DVDs. I own one of the most boring anime of all time, The Place Promised in Our Early Days, and I don't usually re-watch it, but my dedication/fandom to this show is amazing. I'm also looking forward to getting the other ever so boring anime, 5 Centimeters per Second, when I get some cash. But seriously, apart from those two and Air, they are the only series I would ever think about getting on DVD. Actually, there's also CCS, but seeing how it's very rare now I might as well give up on that dream.

[DarkCntry]

There are other aspects to this as well..

Cost of living is far different in Japan than it is in, say, the US. This allows for a higher chance for disposable income. Following this is simply that you're looking at shows whom air on TV generally sponsored by the same company that produces it, meaning that costs are inherently higher when you're self-supporting your own show, which is then mitigated to cover costs of merchandising, such as DVD sales and what-not.

Furthering this is simply the otaku market allows for higher prices, meaning companies can get away with selling the goods at specific prices because the consumer base will purchase it at that price. When you start getting into the nitty-gritty of CE/LE/etcs you start getting into the corporate push to draw in as many otakus as possible, and makes the regular editions sell slightly better to the non-otaku due to their perceived lower price (when it's not exactly all that much lower).

You also have to factor in quality. Some R2J DVDs sacrifice extra episodes and goodies in way of higher bitrate video and audio.

[mandarb916]

Originally Posted by relentlessflame

If you notice the trend, what this suggests is that a given collector will only spend so much on DVDs for a given franchise, so the more merchandise you're expecting someone to buy, the cheaper any given piece of merchandise must be. The most I've ever seen any publisher ask for a given show's DVDs in a given year is 100,000 yen (~$1,000) (that's whether the show has 24 or 52 episodes in that year). And the most I've ever seen charged for a 1-cour show is around 50,000 yen (~$500) (though they sometimes add an OVA episode to the end to push it up to near 60,000 -- again, the perceived value of an OVA episode is higher). Even a 5/6-episode OVA series won't typically cross the 1-cour 50,000 yen threshold. So, however it came into existance, the industry has basically settled into a pattern that determines anime DVD pricing that seems largely based on "how much would a collector be willing to spend on any one show".

Not the manufacturer's doing but collectors also push prices up pretty drastically. I think AIR on BD's list price was $275 give or take. While I was in Japan earlier this month, I saw a couple of copies selling on yahoo auctions for $600+ and actually saw someone buying a copy at a brick and mortar store in Akihabara for $790.

I highly doubt studios are blind to this...and it allows them to justify higher general prices.

As for DVD prices being high, it's not out of line compared to any other hobby over there. Sports, photography, anime, etc all fall into the hobby category there and Japanese consumers are willing to put in a lot more money into hobbies compared to their western counterparts and corporations know this and it can be seen on some packaging labels indicating that sale of said items are prohibited in Japan...a lot of ski equipment had this disclaimer while I was working in the industry. Add to that, hobby equipment at the gov't level supposedly had a higher tax rate which included a luxury tax (admittedly this might be urban legend) which was *transparent* to the consumer. So you basically have a society that is already used to paying high prices and corporations are using it to their advantage. I really don't think it has anything to do with perceived collector value as...well...remember the Tamagotchi boom? i think they were like...1500JPY or 1900JPY or something...not a price which really is indicative of an artificially increase in perceived value.

I think you're spot on about the cast/studio/VA loyalty thing vs brand loyalty. Not too particularly proud of it, but I fall into the seiota (声オタ) category and end up following certain voice actors (actually, mainly voice actress') which I think might be more common than following a particular studio around....at the very least, it's one of the primary reasons certain anime end up on my "want" list. If you take just KyoAni for example, though, there are a lot of people who like their Key productions but dislike Haruhi/Lucky Star and it's quite true for other studios, so I think it's much more unlikely to find a studio fanatic (not devoid though).

I don't know if I agree that buying a DVD is a declaration of fandom...of the few DVD's I own, all of them I bought new because I enjoyed the series (Outlaw Star, the BigO, AIR) and wanted to do the "right" thing for lack of a better term and give a little bit of royalty to whoever it is receives the cut of royalty. The same holds true for a lot of manga and music I own. Series I really enjoy (Hajime no Ippo, AQUA/ARIA, To LoveRu, etc) I generally try to buy brand new as used manga result in zero royalty going to the author, etc. I suppose it, in a very small and limited way, ensures that they keep doing what they enjoy doing, etc.

[relentlessflame]

Originally Posted by mandarb916

I don't know if I agree that buying a DVD is a declaration of fandom...of the few DVD's I own, all of them I bought new because I enjoyed the series (Outlaw Star, the BigO, AIR) and wanted to do the "right" thing for lack of a better term and give a little bit of royalty to whoever it is receives the cut of royalty. The same holds true for a lot of manga and music I own. Series I really enjoy (Hajime no Ippo, AQUA/ARIA, To LoveRu, etc) I generally try to buy brand new as used manga result in zero royalty going to the author, etc. I suppose it, in a very small and limited way, ensures that they keep doing what they enjoy doing, etc.

Well, I wasn't saying that's how it is in general, I meant to the otaku extreme-collectors who are (at least arguably) the primary target market for Japanese anime DVDs. For the casual DVD purchasers like yourself, it's more like what you say; maybe someone just likes the show, wants to give something back, it's just something they'd really like to have on their shelf so they can watch over and over, and so on. Maybe it would be more apt to call those people "normal DVD purchasers". People that don't have an entire room of their house/apartment dedicated to anime merchandise, let's say.

Basically, the difference comes down to the total amount someone's willing to spend on this hobby. The casual purchaser might be willing to spend let's say $500 to $2000 USD a year on this hobby. An otaku might spend 10 times that or more. If you look at the way DVDs are priced in Japan (unlike in North America, Europe, and most other global anime markets), it reflects the fact the average/"normal" purchaser won't buy many series, but when they do buy a series it'll be a "worthwhile" investment. (This is totally different in Northa America.) What keeps the industry afloat, though, are the serious collectors who buy a lot; they're the ones the marketing campaigns are going after with the limited editions, firstpress specials, mail-in offers, and so on. And they're the ones who I was referring to in terms of the aforementioned attitude about DVD purchasing. It's a totally different mindset.

[SeijiSensei]

Originally Posted by relentlessflame

Well, I wasn't saying that's how it is in general, I meant to the otaku extreme-collectors who are (at least arguably) the primary target market for Japanese anime DVDs.

Let me raise the demographic question again in this thread; usually I get ignored, but I'll try again.

Has what we generally call the "otaku" market shown signs of shrinkage as a result of the decline in Japanese birth rates? Do the anime studios show any signs of concern about the rapid aging of Japan's population in the years ahead and how that might affect their business models? Or is the expectation that habits learned in childhood and adolescence will carry forward into later life? From what I've read here and elsewhere, that hasn't happened historically. Otherwise we should have seen both growth in the total size of the anime market, and it's "graying" as well.

Originally Posted by DarkCntry

Cost of living is far different in Japan than it is in, say, the US. This allows for a higher chance for disposable income.

Actually Tokyo has a cost of living about 20% higher than New York City, which is itself obviously one of the most expensive places to live in the US. Tokyo is the 4th most expensive city in the world in the study I cited. Exchange rate fluctuations have actually made Japan relatively cheaper recently because of the dollar's decline. Still Tokyo has traditionally had one of the highest costs-of-living of any city on the planet.

A more likely reason for the higher levels of disposable income among the otaku-crowd is that many young adults, particularly young men, are partially insulated from Japan's high housing costs by living with parents.

Originally Posted by SeijiSensei

From this post
Nearly three out of five 25-29 year-old men are living at home along with just under half of the women. Even among those in their late thirties, a quarter of all men are living with parents as are an eighth of the women.

Personally, if I had a 25 year-old son living at home who is spending thousands of dollars a year on anime paraphernalia, I'd tell him to start spending that money on a place to live on his own.