JLOX+ is Japan's national incentive, and its thresholds are built for large studio features and streaming series. Below that tier, more than 40 separate prefectural and municipal programmes exist, run independently by local film commissions, each with its own budget, rate and qualifying test. Some — including Tokyo's own city-level programme — have minimum spend requirements far below JLOX+'s. Others qualify projects by hotel nights rather than budget at all.
なぜ見落とされるのかWhy this layer gets missed
Our guide to the 50% rebate covers JLOX+ in depth, because it's the programme with an English-adjacent name and a headline number attractive enough to get written about. It is also, structurally, out of reach for most commercials, branded content, and mid-budget streaming projects — the threshold starts at ¥500 million in direct Japan spend.
What rarely gets mentioned is that JLOX+ sits on top of a much larger, quieter layer: dozens of prefecture- and city-run programmes, each administered by a local film commission, most of them never covered in English at all. The Japan Film Commission's own membership directory currently lists more than 40 active ones, spanning Hokkaido to Kagoshima.
東京都自体の制度The one that changes the calculation: Tokyo's own incentive
The single most useful fact in this entire landscape, for the kind of production this site's readers actually run, is that Tokyo itself operates a rebate for overseas productions that is completely separate from JLOX+ — through the Tokyo Location Box, the city's official film office.
That is roughly a 50-fold difference in threshold. The Tokyo programme refunds up to 50% of eligible costs — rising to two-thirds if combined with the city's separate location-scouting subsidy — capped at ¥10 million. It requires that the majority of the production's Japan shooting days take place within Tokyo, with a minimum of five shooting days, and accepts applications four times a year, with rounds closing at the end of May, September, November and January.
「延べ宿泊数」という審査基準The mechanic most guides never mention: person-nights
JLOX+ and most prefecture-level programmes qualify a project by how much money it spends. A striking number of city-level programmes instead qualify a project by how many cumulative crew lodging-nights it generates in that city — a completely different test that a budget-focused reading of "Japan film incentives" will miss entirely.
| City programme | Minimum lodging requirement |
|---|---|
| Kagoshima | 300 person-nights |
| Sendai | 100 person-nights |
| Tottori (production support) | 100 person-nights |
| Fukui Prefecture | 100 person-nights |
| Goto City, Nagasaki | 3+ nights on site |
規模別に見る主な制度Notable programmes by scale
A representative sample, current as of the Japan Film Commission's June 2026 published directory. Every figure below is subject to annual budget cycles and should be reconfirmed directly before being relied on.
| Programme | Rate | Cap | Qualifying test |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gunma Prefecture | 50% | ¥20M | Min. ¥10M local spend |
| Fukui Prefecture | 100% | ¥10M | 70%+ local spend, 100+ person-nights |
| Yamanashi Prefecture | 50% | ¥20M | Min. ¥10M local spend |
| Hiroshima | 50%* | ¥10M | Min. ¥5M local spend |
| Tokyo Location Box (overseas) | 50–67% | ¥10M | Min. ¥10M spend, 5+ days in Tokyo |
| Kitakyushu (overseas) | 100% | ¥5M | City-defined economic benefit test |
| Saga Prefecture | 100% | ¥5M | Case-by-case |
*Hiroshima reimburses travel and lodging at 100% up to a separate sub-cap, with other costs at 50%. Figures simplified for comparison — confirm exact terms with each film commission.
実務上の動き方How to actually navigate this
The Japan Film Commission maintains the living version of this list, updated as programmes open, close and change terms — treat it as the primary source, and this page as an orientation to what's in it rather than a substitute for checking it directly.