At the invitation of Thailand’s Department of International Trade Promotion, the ASEAN-Japan Centre participated in Thailand Content Market 2026, held in Bangkok from 20 to 22 July 2026. As part of AJC’s efforts to strengthen ASEAN-Japan trade and creative-business collaboration, the Centre operated a shared pavilion and organized a main-stage session focused on practical pathways for content, intellectual property, licensing, localization, and business partnerships.
Objectives and Goals
The activity aimed to:
- promote collaboration between content-industry stakeholders in ASEAN and Japan;
- introduce ASEAN-Japan co-creating companies and organizations to potential partners and markets;
- facilitate discussion on content commercialization, localization, business matching, and co-creation; and
- identify practical opportunities for future cooperation among public institutions, support organizations, and private-sector companies.
Activities and Highlights
The AJC Pavilion featured seven companies and one organization from Japan, Thailand, Malaysia, and Viet Nam. Throughout the three-day event, participating organizations introduced their content, services, technologies, and partnership interests to visitors from across the creative and content industries.
The pavilion also generated active exchanges among the participating companies themselves. These interactions enabled participants to learn about one another’s capabilities, share market information, and explore potential cross-country collaboration beyond their original objectives for joining the event.
On 21 July, the second day of the event, the AJC organized a main-stage session: “Japan-ASEAN Content Co-Creation: Expanding Business Opportunities through IP, Licensing and Partnerships.”
The session brought together speakers from Thailand’s Creative Economy Agency, Visual Industry Promotion Organization (VIPO), JETRO Bangkok, TMS ENTERTAINMENT CO., LTD., and Pencil Group from Viet Nam.
The discussion examined:
- Thailand and ASEAN’s creative-industry strengths;
- Japanese companies’ growing interest in ASEAN markets and partners;
- localization, merchandising, co-production, and market development;
- the importance of clear communication, trust, and partner readiness; and
- practical follow-up after exhibitions and business-matching events.
The session was fully registered, with all 150 seats reserved, and received positive feedback from DITP for its informative, practical, and well-prepared content.
AJC also collected 23 formal Expressions of Interest (EOIs) during the event and, together with business-card exchanges and business-matching records, consolidated 81 stakeholder contacts for future follow-up.
Key Takeaways
- ASEAN should be viewed not only as a market for Japanese content, but also as a source of cultural assets, creative talent, production capacity, technology, and local-market knowledge.
- Localization requires more than translation. It must reflect local culture, audience behaviour, platforms, distribution channels, and community engagement.
- Successful partnerships depend on suitable local partners, transparency, cultural understanding, realistic expectations, and continuous communication.
- Small pilot activities, including merchandising, local brand collaboration, tourism applications, and limited co-production, can provide practical entry points.
- Governments and support organizations can facilitate collaboration by providing market information, business preparation, matching support, and clearer regulatory pathways.
Way Forward and Engagement
AJC will continue following up with DITP, the Creative Economy Agency, VIPO, JETRO Bangkok, participating companies, and other relevant partners.
Future cooperation may include market-intelligence activities, producer pitching, company-readiness support, curated business matching, and small-scale pilot projects. AJC will also explore opportunities to connect organizations with complementary roles in content promotion, cultural exchange, market access, and business development.
Join the ASEAN-Japan Content Co-Creation Network
Companies, creators, support organizations, and other stakeholders interested in future ASEAN-Japan content collaboration are invited to register their interest through the link below.
By submitting the Expression of Interest, participants can share their areas of interest, partnership needs, and potential collaboration ideas. The information will help AJC develop future networking, matching, and co-creation activities across ASEAN and Japan.
Expression of Interest:
https://forms.gle/gnTGekVw8RL4i5CX6
The experience at TCM 2026 demonstrated the potential to move from content export to content co-creation and to build more practical and sustained collaboration between ASEAN and Japan.
