THE Philippine Embassy in Tokyo encouraged the Philippine creative industry to explore collaborative opportunities in Japan and leverage the gains from this cooperation to build a platform to promote Philippine culture in gaming and animation.

“Innovation and creativity are the drivers of growth in an era where the buzzwords are digitalization and sustainability. The Philippine Embassy supports efforts to help the creative industries grow and raise a new generation of Filipino creators, inventors, and innovators. But we must look beyond knowledge transfer and job creation and build a platform where we support the creation of our own content to promote Philippine culture and Filipino values,” Bolivar stated in his welcome remarks during their meeting at the Embassy on June 29.

During the business mission, a 36-member delegation from the Philippines met with Philippine Embassy Charge d’Affaires Robespierre Bolivar.

According to James Lo, president of the Game Development Association of the Philippines (GDAP), Filipinos frequently play games, spend 91 minutes using game consoles, and prefer mobile devices for online gaming.

Currently, the revenue for mobile games in the Philippines is $152 million.

Charles Kenneth Co, president of the Cebu Chamber of Commerce and Industry, talked about the “aspirations” of creative industry players in Cebu and wished to collaborate with counterparts in Manila and Tokyo to learn their best practices.

Co would like to “emulate” the Japanese ethos of bringing value and happiness through their products.

Through the embassy’s Commercial Section, led by Commercial Counsellor Dita Angara-Mathay, engagement with the animation and game and development industries has been active for almost a decade.

Business matching sessions with major Japanese gaming and animation studios have been conducted, and support was given to Philippine delegations to various international exhibits held in Japan.

Even amid the pandemic, the Commercial Section held meetings between stakeholders between the Philippines and Japan to explore opportunities for joint ventures and projects further.

This is the first Philippine business delegation to visit Japan since the pandemic struck.

Included in the delegation’s itinerary are site visits and meetings at ASEAN-Japan Centre, Creek & River, Tokyo Anime Centre, and NTT Art Technology Museum.

A lunch networking reception is also scheduled with Kadokawa, Nintendo, Goodpatch Inc., Altplus Inc., Active Retech, Katomasa Inc., and SpiderPlus & Co.

The delegation will also attend Content Tokyo, a comprehensive exhibition of five specialized trade shows related to licensing, production, ad creative and marketing, creative industry, and advanced digital technology.