For most of its modern history, manga occupied an ambiguous position in Japanese cultural life — consumed voraciously by the population, enormously profitable, and quietly looked down upon by the institutions that conferred official cultural prestige. That ambiguity ended on 14 March 2025, when the cabinet of Prime Minister Fumio Kishida approved an amendment to the Law for the Protection of Cultural Properties that formally recognised manga as a category of intangible cultural heritage.

The practical consequences have been immediate. The Kyoto International Manga Museum, which has housed 300,000 volumes in a converted primary school since 2006, received a JPY 18 billion grant for a purpose-built expansion that will increase its collection capacity to 900,000 volumes and add dedicated conservation laboratories, a research institute, and a graduate programme in sequential art history developed jointly with Kyoto University.

The heritage designation also triggers export promotion mechanisms previously reserved for traditional arts. The Agency for Cultural Affairs has established a Manga Diplomacy office that will fund translations of culturally significant works into 40 languages and support travelling exhibitions in 60 countries.

Scholars of the form have noted that the designation arrives at a moment when manga's global influence is arguably greater than at any previous point: the global manga market exceeded JPY 900 billion in 2024, with growth driven primarily by readers in Southeast Asia, Europe, and North America who encounter the form first through streaming adaptations and then seek out source material.

"Manga has always been literature," said museum director Professor Shimizu Isao. "What has changed is that the Ministry of Education has finally read it."