I believe the thematic tone of this note is solid—but the stocks available to play it are ultra micro caps. So if small caps aren’t your thing, feel free to skip this note.

Japan’s content industry ranks second only to automotive in scale—and Gen Z is its biggest consumer. The bridge between them? Short-form video.

Gen Z’s purchasing power

According to a 3/13/25 article in the Nikkei, “Gen Z Becomes the Largest Consumer Group,” the estimated total consumption by Gen Z worldwide is projected to reach $10.25 trillion (roughly ¥1,500 trillion) in 2024 and expand by 47% to $15.12 trillion (roughly ¥2,210 trillion) by 2030

I’ve been thinking about how to make the most of Gen Z’s big wallets.

The explosive growth of short-form video content—such as TikTok, Instagram Reels, and YouTube Shorts—is deeply connected to the lifestyle and values of Generation Z. As digital natives, Gen Z has been immersed in smartphones, social media, and abundant online content since childhood. This constant exposure to information has fostered a strong sense of “time performance” (called “Taipa” in Japanese), which is the desire to gain maximum value or entertainment in the shortest possible time.

This doesn’t reflect impatience, but rather a practical mindset: confronted by overwhelming information every day, Gen Z feels that “time is life” and makes conscious efforts to use it efficiently.

This distinctive value placed on “time performance” has major implications for business and society. Companies and creators realize that to attract Gen Z, they must deliver content in short, captivating formats that align with their media habits.

The government’s involvement

A major move supporting short videos came in June this year, when Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry (METI) announced the “Entertainment and Creative Industry Strategy—A Five-Year Action Plan to Reach ¥20 Trillion in Overseas Content Sales.”

According to the strategy, content industries were positioned as “core industries” in the “New Cool Japan Strategy” compiled in June last year, with the aim of boosting overseas sales of Japanese content.

Specifically, the goal is to triple overseas content sales from approximately ¥5.8 trillion in 2023 to ¥20 trillion by 2033. Even the current ¥5.8 trillion market surpasses Japan’s semiconductor and steel export values, making it the nation’s second-largest industry after automobiles. Globally, the content market was worth ¥135 trillion in 2022, larger than both the petrochemical and semiconductor industries, so there is still significant growth potential for Japan.  To triple sales, capturing Gen Z worldwide is essential—making short videos indispensable.

But unfortunately, the pure short drama stocks are still tiny, as shown below. You can’t really touch them, or can you?

Material Group 156A Y8 Bn

PAPYLESS 3641 Y9Bn

Gaiax 3775 Y3Bn

My search for short-form video names continues—do you happen to know any others?

(source: Toyo Keizai)