The market size of Japan's anime industry hit a record high of over three trillion yen in 2023, buoyed by brisk overseas sales.

In a report released this month, the Association of Japanese Animations says the industry's revenue for the year stood at about 3.3 trillion yen, or around 21 billion dollars. That topped the previous record posted in 2022 by more than 14 percent and was the first time for the figure to exceed the 3-trillion-yen mark.

The association says overseas sales, including distribution contracts and related merchandise, topped nine earnings categories in the survey. The total was around 11 billion dollars, up 18 percent from a year earlier.

Sales from online distribution surged by 50 percent year-on-year to about 1.6 billion dollars.

Merchandise sales stood at around 4.5 billion dollars and revenue from live entertainment at roughly 700 million dollars.

Masuda Hiromichi, chief editor of the industry report, says the overseas market is rapidly expanding due to the strength of internet distribution. He says Japanese animation remains popular at home, but it is also steadily gaining fans worldwide, giving a further boost to the industry.