I'm not really sure what you're saying applies. Animators in the US make good salaries and a good living in contrast. Japan has an unusually exploitative struct

I'm not really sure what you're saying applies. Animators in the US make good salaries and a good living in contrast. Japan has an unusually exploitative structure and culture where animators can produce huge amounts of value, but see only the tiniest fraction of it. It's a highly specialized job that takes a huge amount of training and work to get good at. Almost all these animators have university degrees and spent significant amount of time in apprentice roles to even be able to start working.