Founded October 13, 2007 Head union Osamu Yamasaki | Members 1142 （February 2011） Office location Tokyo, Japan | |
Full name Japanese Animation Creators Association Key people Toyoo Ashida, Osamu Yamasaki, Satoshi Kon (formerly), Rintaro, Koji Morimoto | ||
The Japanese Animation Creators Association (JAniCA) is a labor union representing workers in the Japanese animation industry. The group was formed back in June 2007 as a non-profit organization dedicated to raising the living standards of workers in the anime industry including livable wages.
History
JAniCA is the first labor union to be formed for the Japanese animation industry since anime production began. On October 15, 2007 over 500 animators gathered together to announce the formation under its president Toyoo Ashida. Among the other creators who spoke at the October 13 press conference were director Satoshi Kon, animation director Moriyasu Taniguchi, Tokyo University graduate school professor Yasuki Hamano, editor Nobuyuki Takahashi and animation director Akihiro Kanayama.
In June 2008 the union was legally incorporated as an Unlimited liability company intermediary corporation to further continue improving the work conditions in the Japanese animation industry.
In 2010 JAniCA launched their "Young Animator Training Project" (若手アニメーター育成プロジェクト, Wakate Animētā Ikusei Purojekuto). The animation labor group received 214.5 million yen (about US$2.27 million) from the Japanese government's Agency for Cultural Affairs, and it distributed most of those funds to studios to train young animators on-the-job during the year. One of the reasons for the support of the Agency for Cultural Affairs is the concern that more of the Japanese animation process is being outsourced overseas—thus leading to a decline in opportunities to teach animation techniques within Japan. In 2011 the Agency once again provided funding for JAniCA to select more young training projects under the same budgets. As of 2012, this project has been renamed "Anime Mirai" (アニメミライ, lit. Animation Future).