日本动漫产业面临严峻挑战

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二维时代，日本曾经是令全世界瞩目的“动漫王国”，这里拥有全世界最多的成人动漫阅读人口，拥有最为发达的动漫产业。更重要的是，这里大师云集，宫崎骏、大友克洋、押井守等动漫大师已经把动漫发展成了一种足以表达成人世界复杂与多元的艺术门类。但随着“三维”时代的来临，日本的动漫发展似乎正面临着危机……

Line by line, page by page, Nobuki Mitani has been eking out a living for six years.

"Every day I work about 10 to 12 hours", says the 27-year-old animator, "often we work on Saturday and if it's busy we work Sunday, too."

Japanese animation is a more than 2-billion-dollar-a-year industry, but for those who painstakingly draw each figure, the in-between animators, it's anything but lucrative. Nobuki is paid by the page or cell, each worth about 2 dollars. All told he makes less than 1,000 dollars a month. This is home, one room, no shower, no air-conditioning. Nobuki says he avoids drinking water so as not to sweat and he is not the only one feeling the heat.

Since its peak in 2006, animation earnings have dropped off. Industry expert Yasuo Yamaguchi says the recession has caught advertising. That's meant less money for new programs.

Even worse is Internet piracy.

"The spread of free Internet downloading is having a deadly effect", he says.