Exploitation in the Japanese Animation Industry

By Anthony A.
Abstract
The animation industry in Japan has boomed in recent years and has provided the world with content known as anime. However, the industry and almost the entirety of Japan’s work culture has evolved into a largely corrupted and abusive force. This is due to the industry sacrificing a good work-life balance for neoliberal economic greed which has resulted in countless suicides by overwork, sleep deprivation, mental health declines, and more. Thankfully however, a solution has presented itself in other abusive content industries, that being unionization. Unionization has recently been applied more and more in the US with cases such as the Writers Guild and the Amazon Labor Union, therefore it can applied to Japan's crisis of the corrupt and abusive animation industry as it has proven to be globally effective, enact successful changes to wages and more in other industries including animation, and improve the mental health of these animators. While it comes with its limitations, it remains a powerful tool that can be implemented to Japan’s animation industry and possibly save human lives.
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Summary 
The animation industry in Japan has thrived in recent years and has also remained anonymous to the public with its largely abusive and corrupt work culture. Until recent years, the animation industry was thought to be a thriving fun industry to work in, that is until word about certain animation studios such as MAPPA were overworking and underpaying their employees to the point of death and suicide. 
The most concerning impacts and causes were the Japanese economy, work culture, and poor work-life balance. The Japanese economy has been following a neoliberal economic style ever since prime minister Ryutaaro Hashimoto enacted his economic plan to address an economic burst in 1990, which consequently led to vast amounts of overwork and work abuse in many industries, more recently in animation. This subsequently led to the Japanese work culture present in today where many employees are brainwashed into working night and day otherwise they’ll be fired or feel like they failed themselves and their work. This leads into the poor work-life balance many animators in Japan face, and results in their sleep deprivation and other concerning results such as suicide. On top of this there were a number of other varying contributing factors. 
To address these causes and issues, unionization presents itself as a useful tool to counteract and solve these dire issues. For one it has been proven to be applicable in other nations' workplaces facing the same problem with cases such as the Writers Guild of America (WGA) who also support other national labor unions. On top of the national support from the WGA, unionization has proven to bring about successful changes to wages, working hours, and overall workplace satisfaction. This satisfaction leads into the vast mental health and work-life balance improvements to these animators. Therefore, unionization and the creation of a labor union for Japan's animation industry would not only create a more suitable and healthier work environment and work-life balance, but also end up saving the lives of these overworked employees.

Keywords: Animation, Animation Industry, Animators, Anime, Japanese, Economy, Neoliberalism, Work Culture, Work-Life Balance, Unionization, Mental Health, Suicide, Overwork