Savings

It is highly recommended that you have some savings to live off of for your first few months in Japan. People like to say Japan is expensive, and I suppose it is but it isn’t as bad as you may have been led to believe. The reason you need savings is because it will probably be a while before you get your first paycheck. The typical Japanese system is to be paid your month’s wages on the 25^th of the month for either that whole month or a month-long period starting and ending during that time. Some companies, though this is rare, pay a month in arrears. There are no hard rules on this; either way you should prepare for a few months without an income, in the worst case.

If you plan on organizing your own accommodation, as few companies will provide one for you, you’re in for another shock. Between advance rent, deposits and the un-refunded “gift money” you are looking at a bill of 6 month’s worth of rent before you can move in. You’ll also need a guarantor, for which you’ll probably be forced to use your boss.

When it comes to applying, the situation is not much different than in the west. Some magazines, like CG World or the recruitment-only B-ing have job listings, but your best bet is to scour the internet and the homepages of the companies you are interested in. Most of these will have recruit pages, some even in English, which will be a good indication of their attitude towards hiring foreigners.

Some companies have a pre-application application system in an on-line form to fill in. These usually contain the usual resume information, like name, address, age, experience and specializations but probably all in Japanese. If you pass this kind of application you’ll be contacted and asked to send in your resume and show reel. It makes sense from the employer’s point of view, allowing them to quickly separate the chaff from the wheat early on, but it can add time to your application.

Also check web pages for application requirements. They’ll usually list what they want to see and how they want it delivered. On-line portfolios and e-mailed resumes aren’t yet the standard here, though sometimes these can be used, so be prepared with some paper portfolios and printed curriculum vitaes.

Alternatively you can try recruiters. There are several companies that take on foreigners but as game development isn’t a high-paying gig you may come across some apathy from headhunters. There aren’t many game development recruitment specialists so you may want to apply at technical or creative agencies and specify your needs.

On the subject of resumes, there is a long and tedious tradition of hand-written forms that you can purchase at convenience stores and stationers. These are pre-formatted sheets on which you fill in, by hand and in Japanese, all your relevant details. You must also attach a photograph, head on, pulling a serious face and wearing a recruit-suit. The Google-fu master should be able to find himself a pre-formatted Microsoft Word document or two on-line, but for the more conservative corporations you really should do things the Japanese way.

If you are invited for an interview, either by e-mail, return mail or telephone it means you’ve made a good enough impression. Japan is still very much a country where business is conducted in suits and though the game development world is a lot more laid back, you will show your conformity and understanding of Japanese culture if you turn up to the interview in a shirt and tie.

If you want to dazzle them with your Japanese skills, rehearse a little self-introduction speech as it is very likely you’ll be asked to give one. Other than that there is no real difference between interview techniques with the west, except that a reply can take a while. If you don’t hear anything back it’s probably due to the obtuse chain of command where emails and requests are sent back and forth within the company hierarchy before an official offer is made, so don’t panic.

Promissory notes are not the standard in Japan, a country where a gentleman’s word is still worth something. You can, however, specifically request one if you want and most employers will comply. Contracts are usually, though not exclusively, delivered during your first few days or weeks at work.

Do not panic if you’re not sent one before you start. Japan doesn’t hold much truck with signatures, so get yourself an “inkan”, a stamp with your name on. It’s extremely unlikely you’ll find your surname in perfect katakana in the rack at the 100 Yen shop, but there are many small custom inkan shops around where you can order one. Be the envy of your colleagues who’ll coo over your cool katakana name stamp.

That pretty much wraps it up for the preparations. Remember that life and work in Japan are what you make of them; no two people will experience Japan in the same way. You’ll find as many people who’ll agree with the advice written above as people that will vehemently disagree. But one message should be clear: working in Japan isn’t impossible and if you really want it, with a little effort you can make it happen.

In the next article I will tackle in more detail the different roles in game development in Japan, the development and business culture and some ways on how to survive them.