{"id":67912,"date":"2026-06-08T18:55:23","date_gmt":"2026-06-08T09:55:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/?p=67912"},"modified":"2026-06-08T18:55:25","modified_gmt":"2026-06-08T09:55:25","slug":"kadokawa-investigated-after-freelancers-allegedly-worked-without-written-contract-terms-and-received-delayed-payments","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/kadokawa-investigated-after-freelancers-allegedly-worked-without-written-contract-terms-and-received-delayed-payments\/","title":{"rendered":"Kadokawa investigated after freelancers allegedly worked without written contract terms and received delayed payments"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Japanese manga and anime publisher Kadokawa issued a statement <\/a>confirming that it is currently subject to an investigation by the Japan Fair Trade Commission (JFTC), as reported on June 8 by multiple domestic media outlets. Kadokawa is under suspicion of violating the Freelancers Protection Act for failing to specify contract terms and conditions \u2013 including payment deadlines \u2013 for freelance writers, illustrators and stylists working in magazine production (source: The Nikkei<\/a>).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Reportedly, since winter 2024 Kadokawa has failed to specify payment deadlines and provide written terms when outsourcing work for the production of monthly magazines and other publications. As The Nikkei writes, it was common practice to place orders verbally, and there were over 100 freelancers who were affected by this system.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to Japanese law, if a payment deadline for outsourced work is not officially specified, payment must be made on the same day the ordered goods are delivered. However, the JFTC discovered that Kadokawa has been breaking this law by delaying payments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This isn\u2019t the first time the JFTC has investigated the company. Back in 2023, Kadokawa and its subsidiaries were accused of violating the Subcontracting Act for unfairly cutting compensation rates for writers and photographers, and were issued a warning by the Commission the following year (source: Japan Times<\/a>).\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As of June 8, Kadokawa has admitted to the recent media reports about the investigation being true, and said that it is \u201cresponding to it with the utmost sincerity and cooperation.\u201d While the company decided not to disclose any details from its side, it explained that it would make a follow-up announcement in case \u201cany matters that require disclosure arise.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Related:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kadokawa cites excessive reliance on the isekai genre as one of the major causes of the decline in profitability in its domestic publishing business \u00a0<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

FromSoftware\u00a0parent company Kadokawa criticized for relying\u00a0on third-party publishing\u00a0and\u00a0allowing\u00a0\u201cprofit leakage\u201d\u00a0by\u00a0activist shareholder\u00a0<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Kadokawa announced that it is currently under investigation by the Fair Trade Commission for violating the Freelances Protection Act.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":79,"featured_media":63559,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_gspb_post_css":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3,65],"tags":[17,66],"class_list":["post-67912","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-nongaming-news","tag-japan-related-news","tag-non-gaming-news"],"blocksy_meta":[],"yoast_head":"\nKadokawa investigated after freelancers allegedly worked without written contract terms and received delayed payments - AUTOMATON WEST<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Kadokawa announced that it is currently under investigation by the Fair Trade Commission for violating the Freelances Protection Act.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/kadokawa-investigated-after-freelancers-allegedly-worked-without-written-contract-terms-and-received-delayed-payments\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Kadokawa investigated after freelancers allegedly worked without written contract terms and received delayed payments - AUTOMATON WEST\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Kadokawa announced that it is currently under investigation by the Fair Trade Commission for violating the Freelances Protection Act.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/kadokawa-investigated-after-freelancers-allegedly-worked-without-written-contract-terms-and-received-delayed-payments\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"AUTOMATON WEST\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-06-08T09:55:23+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-06-08T09:55:25+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/20260309-62412-header1-1.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"630\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"\u0110or\u0111e P\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@AUTOMATON_ENG\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@AUTOMATON_ENG\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"\u0110or\u0111e P\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Kadokawa investigated after freelancers allegedly worked without written contract terms and received delayed payments - AUTOMATON WEST","description":"Kadokawa announced that it is currently under investigation by the Fair Trade Commission for violating the Freelances Protection Act.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/kadokawa-investigated-after-freelancers-allegedly-worked-without-written-contract-terms-and-received-delayed-payments\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Kadokawa investigated after freelancers allegedly worked without written contract terms and received delayed payments - AUTOMATON WEST","og_description":"Kadokawa announced that it is currently under investigation by the Fair Trade Commission for violating the Freelances Protection Act.","og_url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/kadokawa-investigated-after-freelancers-allegedly-worked-without-written-contract-terms-and-received-delayed-payments\/","og_site_name":"AUTOMATON WEST","article_published_time":"2026-06-08T09:55:23+00:00","article_modified_time":"2026-06-08T09:55:25+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1200,"height":630,"url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/20260309-62412-header1-1.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"\u0110or\u0111e P","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@AUTOMATON_ENG","twitter_site":"@AUTOMATON_ENG","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"\u0110or\u0111e P","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/kadokawa-investigated-after-freelancers-allegedly-worked-without-written-contract-terms-and-received-delayed-payments\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/kadokawa-investigated-after-freelancers-allegedly-worked-without-written-contract-terms-and-received-delayed-payments\/"},"author":{"name":"\u0110or\u0111e P","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/e62deb6406bad91fe5f441afc29c1696"},"headline":"Kadokawa investigated after freelancers allegedly worked without written contract terms and received delayed payments","datePublished":"2026-06-08T09:55:23+00:00","dateModified":"2026-06-08T09:55:25+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/kadokawa-investigated-after-freelancers-allegedly-worked-without-written-contract-terms-and-received-delayed-payments\/"},"wordCount":322,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/kadokawa-investigated-after-freelancers-allegedly-worked-without-written-contract-terms-and-received-delayed-payments\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/20260309-62412-header1-1.jpg","keywords":["News (Japan-related)","Non-Gaming News"],"articleSection":["News","Non-Gaming News"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/kadokawa-investigated-after-freelancers-allegedly-worked-without-written-contract-terms-and-received-delayed-payments\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/kadokawa-investigated-after-freelancers-allegedly-worked-without-written-contract-terms-and-received-delayed-payments\/","url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/kadokawa-investigated-after-freelancers-allegedly-worked-without-written-contract-terms-and-received-delayed-payments\/","name":"Kadokawa investigated after freelancers allegedly worked without written contract terms and received delayed payments - AUTOMATON WEST","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/kadokawa-investigated-after-freelancers-allegedly-worked-without-written-contract-terms-and-received-delayed-payments\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/kadokawa-investigated-after-freelancers-allegedly-worked-without-written-contract-terms-and-received-delayed-payments\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/20260309-62412-header1-1.jpg","datePublished":"2026-06-08T09:55:23+00:00","dateModified":"2026-06-08T09:55:25+00:00","description":"Kadokawa announced that it is currently under investigation by the Fair Trade Commission for violating the Freelances Protection Act.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/kadokawa-investigated-after-freelancers-allegedly-worked-without-written-contract-terms-and-received-delayed-payments\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/kadokawa-investigated-after-freelancers-allegedly-worked-without-written-contract-terms-and-received-delayed-payments\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/kadokawa-investigated-after-freelancers-allegedly-worked-without-written-contract-terms-and-received-delayed-payments\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/20260309-62412-header1-1.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/20260309-62412-header1-1.jpg","width":1200,"height":630,"caption":"Kadokawa"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/kadokawa-investigated-after-freelancers-allegedly-worked-without-written-contract-terms-and-received-delayed-payments\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"\u30db\u30fc\u30e0","item":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Kadokawa investigated after freelancers allegedly worked without written contract terms and received delayed payments"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#website","url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/","name":"AUTOMATON WEST","description":"AUTOMATON is a website that covers the Japanese gaming world. We bring you the news on video games from Osaka and Tokyo.","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#organization","name":"\u682a\u5f0f\u4f1a\u793e\u30a2\u30af\u30c6\u30a3\u30d6\u30b2\u30fc\u30df\u30f3\u30b0\u30e1\u30c7\u30a3\u30a2","url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/activegamingmedia_logo.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/activegamingmedia_logo.png","width":374,"height":190,"caption":"\u682a\u5f0f\u4f1a\u793e\u30a2\u30af\u30c6\u30a3\u30d6\u30b2\u30fc\u30df\u30f3\u30b0\u30e1\u30c7\u30a3\u30a2"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/x.com\/AUTOMATON_ENG","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/channel\/UCabvYnvuUUbbGUrxkaFRgSA"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/e62deb6406bad91fe5f441afc29c1696","name":"\u0110or\u0111e P","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/profil-150x150.jpg","url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/profil-150x150.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/profil-150x150.jpg","caption":"\u0110or\u0111e P"},"description":"Automaton West Editor","url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/author\/djordje-p\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67912","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/79"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=67912"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67912\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":67915,"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67912\/revisions\/67915"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/63559"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=67912"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=67912"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=67912"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}