Producers of Japanese anime and manga are seeing more of their work being copied illegally. Operators of piracy sites have been moving out of the country to try to evade the law. Now authorities in Brazil have joined the fight against piracy by taking such sites down.

NHK has learned Brazilian officials conducted raids in February based on information from Japan. This led to 36 websites being shut down.

A Japanese industry group called the Content Overseas Distribution Association, or CODA, had asked Brazil to take action. CODA had come across pirated Japanese content with Portuguese subtitles.

Earlier this year, another request from CODA led to a crackdown on sites in China.

Piracy of Japanese anime and manga has caused huge losses for publishers and rights holders. An industry organization estimates the damage in 2021 was more than 1 trillion 1.9 billion yen, or 7.4 billion dollars. The losses far outstripped the value of the legitimate market.

Japanese anime and manga is increasingly popular around the world. A preview screening in China for an anime movie titled "The First Slam Dunk" attracted more than 4,000 fans.