Photo/Illutration The opening event for Cool Japan Fund Inc. held in 2013 (Asahi Shimbun file photo)

Almost a decade after its founding, Cool Japan Fund Inc. may be merged with other investment funds or eliminated if it cannot turn around its losses soon.

That was a proposal a subcommittee of the Fiscal System Council, an advisory panel to Finance Minister Shunichi Suzuki, made on June 20.

Cool Japan Fund was established in 2013 with the objective of supporting sales overseas of cultural products, such as anime and Japanese cuisine.

As of the end of March 2022, the government had contributed a total of 106.6 billion yen ($789 million) to the fund.

At the end of fiscal 2020, however, the fund had accumulated losses of 23.1 billion yen, in part because sales at companies in which the fund was invested fell sharply due to the novel coronavirus pandemic.

Cool Japan Fund released a plan in May 2021 for improving its business operations and set a goal of keeping accumulated losses at 25.7 billion yen at the end of fiscal 2021. Such losses increased to 30.9 billion yen, however.

At the June 20 subcommittee meeting, officials of Cool Japan Fund said they expected a turnaround alongside general improvement in the economy as the health crisis is being brought under control.

However, some subcommittee members suggested eliminating the fund.

Although fund officials plan to compile another business improvement plan by autumn, the subcommittee consensus was to consider merging the fund or eliminating it if there was no subsequent improvement in its financial situation.

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