Hulu in Japan is a subscriptionstreaming service owned and operated by HJ Holdings, a subsidiary of Nippon Television Network Corporation.It was launched on September 1, 2011 as the Japanese version of Hulu, the U.S. video-on-demand joint venture of The Walt Disney Company, 21st Century Fox, and NBCUniversal.On February 27, 2014, Hulu's Japanese operations were acquired by Nippon Television and spun off to become a distinct entity.[1]
The platform offers a library of television series from Nippon TV and other major domestic broadcasters as well as original programming, international films, and foreign seriese. Over the years, Hulu Japan has expanded its offerings beyond traditional video streaming; in October 2025, it launched an integrated e-comic service, allowing users to purchase and read digital manga directly within its app and website.
By March 2015, Hulu subscription's numbers had risen to 1 million memberships.[2] As of October 5, 2021, Hulu Japan has a total of 2.8 million subscribers.
On September 1, 2011, Hulu, a video distribution service operating in the United States, launched its first overseas expansion in Japan.The business in Japan was to be conducted by Hulu Japan GK, a wholly owned subsidiary of Hulu.[5] The company signed content distribution agreements with CBS, NBC, 20th Century Fox, Warner Bros. and The Walt Disney Company.Users were charged a monthly fee of 1,480 yen, and unlike in the U.S., no free service was offered.[6][7][8]
In January 2012, Hulu Japan began streaming films owned by Toho, a distribution company primarily responsible for the release of Universal films in Japan.[9] The following month, Hulu Japan announced that it had signed contracts to distribute content from Japanese film distributors Asmik Ace Entertainment, Kadokawa Shoten, Shochiku, Toei, Nikkatsu, and AMG Entertainment to distribute their content.[10]
The fee was reduced to 980 yen in April 2012.[11] The number of users of the service exceeded 1.85 million as of March, seven months after its launch.[12] In November 2013, Hulu Japan announced a partnership with TBS Television to distribute over 3,000 episodes of TBS content.At the time, the service delivered approximately 14,000 titles.[13]
Acquisition by Nippon TV
On February 27, 2014, Nippon Television Network Corporation acquired Hulu's Japanese business from Hulu, LLC for an undisclosed amount; the new company, HJ Holdings GK, established by Hulu, LLC through a corporate separation, would become a subsidiary of Nippon TV.[14][15][16] The service would continue to license and retain the "Hulu" brand and technology in Japan under a subsidiary of Nippon as part of a separate agreement.[17] After the acquisition of the service Hulu Japan's Vice Chairman Masafumi Funakoshi would state that he was aiming for the service to reach ¥150 billion in revenue by 2020.[18] Even after the acquisition by Nippon TV, Hulu Japan continued to distribute programming from NHK, TBS Television, Fuji Television, and
Contents
Programming
The distributors who license content to Hulu Japan include major broadcasters such as NHK, TBS Television, Fuji Television, TV Asahi, and TV Tokyo, among others.
In addition, Hulu Japan features original programming supplied by its parent company, Nippon Television, which is exclusively available through the service.
Sports
Hulu Japan streams Japan Rugby League One events, B.League basketball, Yomiuri Giants baseball (owned by Yomiuri Shimbun Holdings, which also owns Nippon Television), and All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW) events. (The AJPW footage covers the period from 1972 until 1999, with the rights held by Nippon Television.)
Starting from August 2022, Hulu Japan signed a multi-year domestic distribution partnership agreement with Eredivisie to broadcast games from the 2022–23 season onwards, primarily focusing on AFC Ajax and AZ Alkmaar games.[37]
On May 29, 2015, Hulu Japan and Fuji Television entered into a reciprocal content-sharing agreement. Through this partnership, Hulu Japan acquired streaming rights to 20 anime series originally broadcast on Fuji TV's Noitamina block, including Psycho-Pass, Anohana: The Flower We Saw That Day, Library War, and Nodame Cantabile.In exchange, Hulu provided Fuji TV's streaming service, Fuji TV On Demand, with a selection of its foreign television series. This agreement marked a significant milestone for Hulu Japan. Having progressively integrated domestic television programming into its catalog since April 2012, the addition of Fuji TV's content allowed the platform to successfully aggregate programming from all six major Tokyo-based broadcasting networks.[21][22]
In June 2015, Hulu Japan released its first original drama series, The Last Cop, a remake of the German drama series Der letzte Bulle.[23] In October, a sequel drama series was co-produced with Nippon TV and broadcast on Nippon TV.[24] A sequel was released in theaters on May 3, 2017, as Last Cop The Movie and grossed 400 million yen at the box office.[25]
On February 16, 2016, Hulu Japan announced that it had signed an exclusive contract with the American cable channel HBO for a subscription video on demand (SVOD) service in Japan.[26]
On May 8, 2017, Nippon TV announced a revamp of the Hulu Japan streaming service. The update was necessary because, despite the acquisition, Hulu Japan still shared its distribution system with the U.S. service, preventing Japan-specific modifications.[27] Additionally, the service's domain was changed from "hulu.jp" to "happyon.jp", though it later reverted to "hulu.jp" in 2019.This temporary change was intended to mitigate risks during the system migration and ensure uninterrupted service.[28] However, the sudden URL change caused user concern regarding a potential rebranding or drastic alteration of the service.[27]
The revamp took place on May 17, 2017, but the service experienced disruptions for several days. Furthermore, unannounced changes to copyright protection protocols prevented some users with externally connected displays from viewing content.[27] In response, Hulu offered affected users a choice between a one-month free pass, a ¥1,000 Amazon gift certificate, or a ¥1,000 iTunes code.The incident led to the platform's first decline in users since its acquisition by Nippon TV.[29][30]
In July 2017, Hulu Japan conducted a third-party allotment of shares with Hulu, LLC, Yahoo! Japan, Toho, Yomiuri TV, and Chukyo TV as subscribers of the service with the purpose being to strengthen the management foundation and enable the production and procurement of more attractive content and significantly improve promotional capabilities.[31]
Hulu Japan launched its TVOD service, Hulu Store, on June 10, 2020.The store being available for SVOD members.[32] In June 2022, Hulu Japan introduced a new feature called "Points" which would allow users to rent or purchase videos from the Hulu Store on the Hulu app for Android and iOS devices with that feature enabling users to make one-time purchases of content within the app.[33]
On July 12, 2023, Nippon TV and The Walt Disney Company announced and launched the first-ever bundled plan between Hulu Japan and Disney+ called "Hulu | Disney+ Set Plan".The new plan offers a monthly subscription price of 1,490 yen, which represented a savings of approximately 26% compared to subscribing to them separately.[34][35]
On October 15, 2025, Hulu Japan launched an integrated e-comic service within its streaming app and website. The feature allows users to purchase and read digital manga using their existing Hulu accounts. HJ Holdings introduced the service to complement the platform's video catalog, providing users with direct access to the original source material for anime and live-action adaptations available on Hulu, such as My Hero Academia, Case Closed (Detective Conan), and Chihayafuru.Additionally, the platform integrated e-comic purchases into its existing point-based payment system, which is also used for video rentals and live broadcasts.[36]
