The United Nations report sounds the alarm: “Japan’s animation industry is full of exploitation” and the Japanese industry is worried about the collapse of the industry | Game Look | GameLook.com.cn

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GameLook report/According to Nikkei Business Weekly, a report on Japan by the United Nations Commission on Human Rights specifically highlighted the disturbing problem of worker exploitation in the Japanese media and entertainment industry, especially the animation industry. This has sparked concerns in the Japanese animation industry that deep-rooted problems in the animation industry may prevent the country from achieving its goals of increasing animation production and may even lead to the collapse of the industry.

Animation is a huge and growing part of Japan’s soft power. In 2023, 20% of animation industry profits will come from markets outside Japan, and the global market share is showing an upward trend. In addition, Japan revised its “Cool Japan” economic growth strategy in May this year, with video games and animation as its core industries. The plan aims to expand the size of the overseas market by more than 20 trillion yen by 2033. However, current problems in the animation industry may hinder this goal.

Japan’s then Prime Minister Fumio Kishida pointed out at a meeting of the Content Industry Public-Private Committee (a government committee aimed at strengthening Japan’s animation and film industry) held on September 9 that “[enabling]creators to be able to regulate labor conditions and wage payments. The environment for safe work is not yet in place.”

A report released by the United Nations in May this year found that problems within the Japanese animation industry were “creating a mature environment for exploitation.” Key issues highlighted by the report include the huge gap between the animation industry’s profits and animators’ wages, as well as contract and labor law issues.

Original address of the United Nations report:

The UN report also found that more than 30% of animators work as freelancers or independent contractors, which means they are not protected by current labor laws. This “results in excessive working hours and perpetuates unfair outsourcing relationships,” and the report also highlights issues with animators’ contracts, which often fail to protect animators’ IP (which also affects cartoonists). Overall, these circumstances and the lack of influence of anime production companies in unfair practices make it easy for animators to become exploited in this environment.

As previously reported, animator salaries, especially those at entry-level animators, are very low. As an industry source explained, “The unit price of animation is around 250 yen (approximately RMB 12), and this number has not changed for more than 10 years.” Even if an animator makes 300 pieces per month, they only A monthly salary that can reach 75,000 yen (approximately RMB 3,560) makes it difficult for animators to survive just by doing animation. The United Nations report found that the average starting salary of an animator is 1.5 million yen (equivalent to RMB 71,200).

In addition to the problem of low starting salaries, poor working conditions are also problems that the Japanese animation industry needs to solve urgently.

“Spell Return” animation screenshot

Previously, rumors of poor working conditions in the well-known Japanese animated series “Jujutsu Kaisen” were exposed. The animators even asked to delay the production plan in order to improve the working environment. However, their request was denied by the production committee, whose decision stemmed from the complexities of anime production, an industry in which rescheduling broadcasts, reworking marketing strategies, and dealing with Blu-ray releases all come with huge costs.

However, the problems of poor remuneration and poor working environment for animators cannot be ignored.There are reports that the animators on “Spellbound” were finishing work just hours before the episode aired.This has led to uncertainty about the future of the series, as this temporary delivery of products has led to concerns about the future of subsequent episodes of the anime.

In addition, on July 18, 2019, the first studio of Kyoto Animation, a well-known Japanese animation production company, was attacked by an arsonist by a man, resulting in the tragedy of 36 deaths.

The Nikkei Business Weekly article emphasized that animation production companies are in poor financial condition and lack influence, making it difficult for them to increase animators’ wages without going bankrupt. The IP of animation and merchandise is usually fully owned by members of the animation production committee (i.e. TV stations, advertising companies and other investors who fund animation). Some animation production studios are not members of the production committee, so they do not get any share.

This creates a situation where stagnant wages and overwork lead to experienced animators leaving the industry, resulting in a lack of technical skills. The exodus of experienced employees has made it harder for animation production companies to produce high-quality animation, let alone increase production, resulting in some animation work being outsourced overseas. The UN report states that “Businesses in the industry, including animation production councils, must address these issues and leverage their role to improve decent work for animators and prevent the potential collapse of the industry.”

Yosuke Yasui, a senior researcher at the Japan Research Institute who has studied this problem, believes that these problems are too deep and cannot be solved within the industry. “Industry practices are so entrenched that anime production studios cannot overcome the current situation alone, and the situation requires government intervention.”

The Nikkei Business News article also expressed concerns that labor issues in the animation industry could lead to boycotts by overseas distributors such as Netflix and Amazon. Although such measures have not yet been taken, Japan appears to need to reform its animation industry to achieve its high-growth goals.

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