Not too long ago, the Japanese film industry was enclosed in a tight domestic bubble, with local filmmakers mostly making local films for local audiences. Japanese studios appreciated international recognition, but regarded foreign sales as a sort of after-dinner mint – a nice extra, but not essential.
The most notorious example was the firing of Kurosawa Akira after two weeks of shooting the 1970 WWII epic “Tora, Tora, Tora.” More recently, one-time uber-producer Sento Takenori lost his production company Rumble Fish in 2008 after his strategy of making art films for the international festival circuit failed to bring in expected returns.
As a result, Japanese filmmakers no longer have to win the lottery of an invitation to Cannes or Venice to raise their international profiles and build their box office clout in Japan.