This year has been an eventful one for the Japanese animation industry, so we thought it prudent to put together this brief summary of the goings-on.

It's an election year in Japan, and Prime Minister Taro Aso, a self-proclaimed manga fan, is busy promoting the ¥11.7 billion "National Center for Media Arts," a project which opposition-party leader Yukio Hatoyama derided as a "national manga cafe."

The media-arts center would serve to preserve and promote anime, manga, games, and other contemporary Japanese art, their "soft power," as well as educate new talent in an industry whose level of fragmentation (e.g. in-between work increasingly farmed out to Korean outfits) means fewer opportunities for mentorship.

Aso's Liberal Democratic Party is facing low poll numbers, due in part to the worldwide recession. Hatoyama isn't doing so hot himself, thanks to some pointed inquiries about his fund-raising efforts. The Media Arts center is sure to be a hot issue as the October elections draw near.

Meanwhile, the fault lines in the animation industry itself are showing clearly. Funding is drying up, sales are declining, and laborers are organizing. Not all are in agreement that the whole industry is foundering, however.

Here's some selected news from over the last year:

• 06/06/08 (Anime News Network):

  The Japanese Animation Creators Association, JAniCA, incorporates, to be able to negotiate with government and industry. Their aim is to improve the working conditions of animation-industry workers.

• 11/20/08 (Reuters):

  Hayao Miyazaki criticizes Aso's fixation on promoting manga abroad, stating that a child's time is better spent experiencing nature than TV or games.

• 02/13/09:

  Gonzo announces that they're going to reduce staff by a hundred heads over the next five years.

• 04/10/09 (Asahi):

  The government announces its Media Arts center plans, which are under the direction of Japan's Agency for Cultural Affairs.

• 05/06/09:

  Yasuo Yamaguchi as AJA director declares that the anime industry is a bubble that burst. JVA and JETRO report that DVD and other media sales are down across the globe, blaming the whole thing (notwithstanding Yamaguchi's comments) on fansubs.

• 05/10/09 (ANN):

  Yukio Hatoyama derides the Media Arts center idea as a "national manga cafe."

• 06/14/09 (Japan Times):

  Several US scholars register support for the center, with reasons ranging from the attractiveness of anime and manga to Western crowds, to the convenience such a center could offer to researchers and other museums.

• 06/30/09 (AltJapan):

  Producer Junichi Takagi (Gonzo) comes out in opposition to the center, stating that the funds would be better spent reorganizing the animation industry. Gundam character designer Yoshikazu Yasuhiko adds that "anime has the vitality of a weed. I want it to be left alone."

• 07/08/09 (AltJapan):

  Famed mangaka Leiji Matsumoto (Space Pirate Captain Harlock) supports the center in govt. hearings, stating that the center could promote the development of future talent — something the industry needs immediately. Shinji Higuchi (Wings of Honneamise) suggested that the center as proposed is a political tool and needs rework (though he feels that creating a center is necessary).

Should the Japanese government give that ¥11.7 billion to animation producers instead of creating a center, as Takagi says? Gonzo, his employer, could clearly use some assistance, as the prices they can demand per episode produced continue to drop. The Japanese government has plans in place for a fund to help promote anime and manga overseas (acquisitions, awareness), but according to a Harvard Business School working paper (via AltJapan), the animation producers would see none of the proceeds from license fees, due to the fact that the production committees, not the creators, own the copyrights.

And what about the little guy? At the point of JAniCA's incorporation, ninety percent of all animators and animation directors were contract workers, denied the benefits of full-time employment. A survey recently conducted by JAniCA of its members suggests that young animators in their twenties are toiling in poverty, with the average salary at less than $12,000.

There might be good reason to dispute those numbers. Cindy Yamauchi, animation director and animator for Madhouse, states in her blog:

I can only imagine that artists who make a decent living may have not have participated in the survey since they have no need for a labor union (even though JAniCA is technically not an union.) I, for one, did not return the survey because I felt that it was no one's business but my own to know what I earn.

Yamauchi also addresses the training issue, a key argument advanced by JAniCA in support of the Media Arts center project:

Inbetween work used to be a training ground for animators to learn the fundamental skills needed to become key animators, and from what I've heard, JAniCA sees the near-elimination of this position locally as the main cause of the shortage of skilled animators. I understand their point, but I tend to disagree. Learning how to do inbetween work itself is not a prerequisite to be a key animator in anime—what's important is receiving proper training, inbetweens or not, and having the passion to achieve higher goals. What we are losing by the elimination of this job locally is the mentorship/apprenticeship between senior artists and junior artists, which was once considered the training program for the animators.

She doesn't offer an answer to the training issue in her posts, but her points do suggest that offshoring of in-between work is not the cause of the problem, but the fact that mentorship ceased as a result. Disputes over the perceived shortage of talent notwithstanding, the partnership between Nerima Ward (Tokyo) and the French city of Annecy might enable the Japanese companies to recruit additional talent and expertise.