Animator wages in China three times higher than in Japan

The Twitter user @rurikoat recently posted one image section a program on Japanese TV reporting that animators in China are paid almost three times as much as their counterparts in Japan. This, of course, caused a stir and immediately went viral.

2.7 times salary

The show claimed that an animator in China would earn an average annual salary of about 5.2 million yen ($40,000), while animators in Japan would earn an average of just 1.9 million yen ($15,000). .

In summary, you earn 2.7 times as much for the same job in China. That confirmed also the experienced animator Jun Arai (»Fullmetal Brotherhood: Alchemist«), who has already received several requests from Chinese animation studios. He claimed that the salary offered was always a multiple of the Japanese market – even up to 100 times.

Still, in his experience, many more Chinese animators would go to Japan to work than vice versa. Although everyone knows that the salary is miserable, only in Japan can one learn high-quality animation techniques – or fulfill one’s dream and work on one’s favorite childhood anime.

But also the Twitter community sounds the alarm about the developments:

“One should not wonder why China pays so much… but why Japan pays so little.”
»The answer to the question why one works in Japan should be clear: to steal the technology.«
“I hope the Japanese anime industry can solve the problem soon.”
»If there is more money there, then they should stay there and not take away the jobs here.«