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The Japanese manga culture faces threats because of the rise of Internet piracy.
The Research Institute for Publications has reported that the total sales of digital comics in 2017 increased by 17.2% from 2016’s ¥171.1 million. This is the first time that digital comics outperformed its print counterpart in terms of sales.
However, the rise of digital comics paved the way for pirated manga sites. These sites do not charge visitors but earn from advertising revenue instead. According to the findings of a 2014 research by the Ministry of Economy, pirated manga sites have caused damages worth ¥50 billion to the manga business.
While the Japanese government plans to block illegal sites, Intellectual Property Strategy Headquarters counselor Orie Kishimoto mentioned that it will be difficult. This is because doing so will require authorities to disclose the name of the illegal sites, which can end up boosting the sites’ web traffic.
Nevertheless, a report by the government identified three leading illegal manga hosting sites, Mangamura, Anitube, and Miomio, which are all targeted to be shut down. Mangamura alone has reportedly drawn over 174 million users in March. Because of this, it became the 25th most active site in Japan.
Manga Japan, a Tokyo-based organization for manga creators, stated that the proliferation of manga piracy can eventually lead to the end of the manga industry. A representative of the organization said that those who run illegal sites care only about raking in money and are thoughtless when it comes to their impact on manga creators. These manga creators are not receiving fair compensation because their content is being distributed for free without their permission.