• 垣内　恵美子政策研究大学院大学
• 竹内 潔政策研究大学院大学

Due to social and economic changes and ongoing globalization, attention has recently been　paid to the importance of creativity and creative industries. In this article we use official　statistics to estimate the actual volume of creative industries in Japan. We find that most industries categorized as creative, with the exception of software and computer service, are not growing either in terms of sales or the number of employees. Data analysis indicates that creative industries are primarily small and medium-sized domestic enterprises which are comparatively weak in productivity. However, our study also shows that the categorization of industries as creative or non-creative involves extremely complex questions, and that such a simple two-way classification might not be realistic. Some evidence also suggests that culturally creative activities might be increasing in industries classified as non-creative.