What this is
How long Pokémon toy licences run: 14-month rolling terms in Japan with Takara Tomy, against a 77-month master licence in the West with TOMY International.
How it’s built
- Japan: each yearly row runs 1 April to 31 May the next year, a 12-month selling period plus a 2-month sell-off; seven terms from 2015 to 2023 were read.
- West: TOMY International’s licence ran February 2012 to June 2018, 77 months, 5.5 times longer.
What we assumed
- The one unread Japanese year followed the same pattern.It sits between observed terms with identical structure, so eight consecutive terms are implied.
Sanity check
For comparison, Funko’s licences run 24–36 months and are not automatically renewed. Japan’s licence is yearly on paper but has never lapsed.
Where it comes from
Our calculation from other figures in the trainer’s notes:
- FiledPokémon licence agreement row, year to March 2017
- FiledThe length of TOMY International’s Western master toy licence for Pokémon77
Show the working
- Japan contract term months: 14
- Japan selling period months: 12
- Sell off tail months: 2
- Observed terms: 7
- Implied consecutive terms 2015 2023: 8
- Last observed term end: 31 May 2023
- Each Japan row runs 1 Apr→31 May of the following year = 14 months, licence (selling) period 1 Apr→31 Mar = 12 months, so consecutive terms overlap by a 2-month sell-off tail
- Observed terms 2015/16, 2016/17, 2018/19, 2020/21, 202
Where it’s used
- StoryLicensing & merch
- Chart · Licensing & merchJapan’s toy licence runs a year at a time; the Western one ran for more than six years
- ProfileThe Pokémon Company
- ProfileThe Pokémon Company International (TPCi)
- ProfileShoPro (Shogakukan-Shueisha Productions)
- ProfileTakara Tomy (incl. TOMY International)
- ProfileFunko
- ProfileBuild-A-Bear Workshop