According to the Monthly Labour Survey conducted by Japan’s Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, the annual total for hours worked (the average for one person working in a company of 30 or more people) in 2014 decreased 0.2% year-on-year, to 1,788 hours. Official working hours decreased for the second consecutive year, down 0.5%, to 1,634 hours. Meanwhile, overtime working hours increased for the third consecutive year, up 3.4%, to 154 hours. The increase in the ratio of part-time employees, who have shorter working hours, resulted in the reduction of overall working hours, while working hours for full-time employees increased.
In addition, both official and overtime working hours in 2009 decreased substantially, primarily in the manufacturing industry, due to the impact of the financial crisis in the fall of the previous year.

According to the Family Income and Expenditure Survey conducted by the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, disposable income (yearly average per month) for a single household in Japan (households of two or more people with average number of people per household of 3.39, excluding agricultural, forestry, and fishing households) decreased 0.5% year-on-year, to ¥423,907. Household spending (yearly average per month) was down 0.02%, to ¥318,650. As a result, the average propensity to consume, which represents the ratio of household spending to disposable income, rose for the third consecutive year, up 0.4 points, to 75.2%.
Both disposable income and household spending decreased following the impact of economic stagnation due to the consumption tax rate rising to 8% in 2014.

According to the Japan Productivity Center’s White Paper on Leisure 2015, the leisure market edged up 0.6% year-on-year, to ¥72,923 billion, in 2014. Growth was particularly strong in the domestic tourism and recreation markets, such as domestic travel, hotels, and amusement and theme parks, which increased 4.5% year-on-year, to ¥6,756 billion. With a growth rate of over 4.0% for the second consecutive year, this sector helped drive overall growth for the leisure market. Growth in this sector reflected an 11.0% year-on-year increase in the hotel market, to ¥1,201 billion, which was attributable to the increase in the number of foreign tourists due to the impact of yen depreciation. This growth also reflected a 2.3% increase in the amusement and theme park market, to a record high of ¥741 billion, brought about by the rising demand for interactive recreation.

In addition, the effects of consumption for interactive activities spread to music-related markets. The market size for musical entertainment, such as live performances and events, was ¥346 billion, up 13.1% year-on-year, and surpassed the CD market (including rentals) for the first time ever.
As the demand for interactive recreation continues to rise, all companies in the leisure industry are implementing initiatives to attract customers.
In regard to the pachinko and pachislot market, which accounts for approximately 30% of Japan’s leisure market, the Japan Productivity Center made retrospective revisions to market size estimates. Based on these new estimations, the pachinko and pachislot market decreased 2.0% year-on-year, to ¥24,504 billion.

According to the Digital Content Association of Japan’s White Paper on Digital Content 2014, the contents industry—comprising Japanese movies, anime, TV shows, games, and books—was approximately unchanged year-on-year, edging up 0.4% in 2013, to ¥11,909.4 billion, making it the second largest contents industry in the world next to the United States. Although growth in the industry in recent years has leveled off due to Japan’s declining population, the industry is anticipating growth from overseas development going forward through the METI-promoted “Cool Japan Strategy.”

Trends in the Content Industry

Source: White Paper on Digital Content 2014,
Digital Content Association of Japan

According to the Japan Toy Association, the size of the toy market in Japan in the fiscal year ended March 31, 2015, was ¥736.7 billion, up 9.0% compared to the previous fiscal year. This is the largest the market has been in the past 10 years. In addition, the market for capsule toys, a peripheral field of the toy market, increased 14.7% year-on-year, to ¥31.9 billion. The market for candy toys also increased substantially, to ¥65.9 billion, up 17.0% year-on-year.
The main reasons behind these increases were the success of character-related products, which became extremely popular especially among young children, and the rising popularity of products related to anime movies, which achieved record-breaking success around the world. These have had synergistic effects in the extensive development of the peripheral field of toys, such as capsule toys, candy toys, and video games, helping improve their popularity.