Tokyo: TIFFCOM Market Chief On Riding the Japanese IP Wave as Entertainment Landscape Shifts Due to AI
TIFFCOM is expanding its role as a market for adapting and selling Japanese intellectual property, as global interest in Japanese culture grows. Managing director Kaori Ikeda says the market is responding to changes in the entertainment business, including the rise of short dramas, tighter streaming budgets and the impact of AI.
A revamped Tokyo IP Market is connecting international producers with Japanese rights holders across film, games and other formats, with plans to include smaller publishers. TIFFCOM drew about 4,600 visitors and 300 exhibitors in 2025 and expects to match or exceed those figures this year; its programme also adds an AI and storytelling keynote. The market runs from 28 to 30 October in Tokyo.
In short
- TIFFCOM is building on global demand for Japanese IP.
- About 4,600 visitors and 300 exhibitors attended in 2025.
- This year’s programme includes a keynote on AI and storytelling.
Explained simply
TIFFCOM is an industry market held alongside the Tokyo International Film Festival, where companies meet to buy, sell and develop entertainment projects. Much of its focus is Japanese intellectual property, or IP: stories, characters and worlds that can be adapted across formats such as films, games and television.
The Tokyo IP Market brings international producers together with Japanese rights holders, including publishers and other businesses that control the rights to stories and characters. Managing director Kaori Ikeda oversees TIFFCOM as it responds to shifts in how entertainment is made and funded, including short-form dramas, tighter streaming budgets and the growing use of AI.
These changes matter because they affect which projects attract investment and how stories reach audiences. Interest in Japanese culture has also created opportunities to adapt local works for viewers around the world.