About Writers Guild of Japan

The Writers Guild of Japan (WGJ) was founded by writers on March 1, 1966 as a cooperative society whose purpose was to improve the social and economic position of the writers who create scripts for television and radio broadcasts.

Since its foundation, the WGJ has worked to improve the conditions and terms writers receive for their work and the use of their scripts, through collective agreements with broadcasting organizations and production companies based on the Small and Medium-Sized Enterprise Cooperatives Act. In 1970 the WGJ started education activities with the aim of developing the next generation of writers, and in 1974 the WGJ was the first organization of its kind in Japan to receive recognition from the Agency for Cultural Affairs as a copyright administration organization for scripts. Since then, the WGJ has been active in copyright administration, signing trust contracts on copyright matters with writers.

At present, the WGJ grants license and collects and distributes royalties relating to scripts for airwave and cable broadcasts, videograms such as DVDs and Blu-ray Discs, online streaming and download services, etc. We administer script rights across a wide range of genres, including television dramas, animation, movies, online dramas, and theatrical works.

Distribution of audiovisual content has become increasingly globalized over the past decades, and the WGJ has been active in promoting exchanges with societies of authors in foreign countries, joining the International Writers Guild (IWG) in 1965 and the Confédération internationale des sociétés d'auteurs et compositeurs (CISAC) in 1987. Although we are not formally affiliated with any international organization group at the present time, we continue to actively exchange information with organizations including the CISAC and International Authors Forum (IAF) and have signed reciprocal representation agreements relating to copyright administration that follow the CISAC’s contract model with copyright administration organizations in numerous countries (see list here). We are committed to protecting writers’ rights from a position that is in line with international standards.

Today the WGJ is the largest organization of its kind in Japan, administering the copyrights of more than 2,200 writers, and handling royalties worth approximately 3 billion yen a year.

  • For inquiries about the use of works or reciprocal representation agreements, please contact us fromhere.