Working in asia

Jonas Ronnegard

So since I went to high school in Nara/Japan back in 2005 I have always longed to live a secure life in Japan, without having to be afraid of running out of time on my visa.

sadly I have been there many years without feeling that security, although i have worked part-time and freelance gigs in japan for gfx studios, I have never been working for a real japanese games studio.

But now finally I'm going to fukuoka to start my new work with a new and fresh 3 year engineer visa, quite a surprise as I don't really reach the requierments for a working visa.

I do know many foreigners working in the industry over in japan, but not in fukuoka, So anyone over there? perhaps at cc2 or level 5?

EmAr

Hey, I have no answer for your question but can you tell a little more about how you got a 3 year working visa as an engineer? This is important to me as I'll graduate as a materials engineer this summer.

I wish you luck

Jonas Ronnegard

Well seems like all my foreign friends that have a working visa for japan,and is working in the media, design industry have a engineer visa, seems like that is the category we fall under.

As for the process in getting a visa, I went to japan from taiwan after sending around my portfolio, got quite a large amount of interviews, and most of them wanted a 2nd interview as well, so be prepared to stay for a while, for me it took all most a month.

In the end many of the companies was unfamiliar with the difficulties about hiring a foreigner, with the background I have, and many turned me down after looking into it a bit more.

But I ended up with 4 companies that wanted to try and sponsor my visa,
Picked the one I thought I had the biggest chance with, and as I have heard
the less foreigners in the company the better, as they can't go over a certain % in foreign workers vs japanese workers, at the company I choose they told me they had one person except me on 200 people. also I choosed a non tokyo studio as I have heard It can be bit more strict there.

So what we do is that me and the company have to fill forms to apply for a certificate of eligibility, which takes around 1 - 3 months to get, If you pass that the company will send you the certificate that you can use at an japanese embassy to obtain the visa, which is used to enter japan

Be aware that you need a minimum of 10 years experience in the field you wish to work in, or atleast a bachelors degree, but as i said earlier I'm not even close to that, I think i have around 2 years of official experience, and I attended a 2 year long vocational school game art program, so someone had a really good day.

EmAr

Thanks for the detailed reply, it's really helpful

Jonas Ronnegard

Np , If you do want to get work in Japan, try to work in your home country first.
The one thing that makes us different from Japanese applicants is that we have
different knowledge to bring to the table, and I think that is what they hope and expects, So If no experience they can probably find an equally good employee in Japan.

EmAr

Of course I'll apply to local studios first but sadly we have very few of them here. That's the main reason I'm looking into working abroad.

There's about half a year since I graduate though. Lots of things may change

Jonas Ronnegard

I see, where are you from?

EmAr

I'm from Turkey. Some studios in my country are Taleworlds(Mount and Blade series), Sobee and Ceidot. There's a possibility that Crytek will open a studio which is based on an interview made with Yerli brothers but there's been no news about that so far.

Actually, this is one of the reasons why I'm trying to get this engineering degree. It's not like lots of people are making money out of games here. It's also good to have something to fall back on anyway.

Jonas Ronnegard

Well being able to fall back on another work category sure is a good thing. Also having that degree helps you a lot when it comes to obtaining a visa in Japan, They don't actually care about what kind of degree you have as long as it's an higher education, So free pass to get a visa to work with games, that is ofcourse for the immigration part, still have to find the company though.

Eric Chadwick

You should try a PM to hawken, he's a non-native who has been in Japan for a number of years I think.

Lamont

The visa laws are changing/have changed here so it may be easier to get a longer period of stay.

Hawken may be married and if so he's on a Spouse Visa, golden ticket of visas when it comes to work in this country because of lack of paperwork required. Also, he's freelance, I think he deals with his visa issues on his own.

thatanimator

yeah Hawken is cool eh
I was hoping to get a golden ticket to Japan by marrying my Japanese wife.. but, she wants to travel the world and all that shizzle butts so I'm stuck Sweden for another year I guess lol

Jonas Ronnegard

I think Hawken is in tokyo right,

that's kinda the issue, everyone I know working in the game industry in japan is located in tokyo.

As for the golden ticket, I kinda dodged that one when i switched my jp gf for a tw gf hehe.

Kwramm

Jonas Ronnegard wrote: »

But now finally I'm going to fukuoka to start my new work with a new and fresh 3 year engineer visa, quite a surprise as I don't really reach the requierments for a working visa.

congrats - another ex Funcomer in asia I think we never really met in the Oslo office though.

Jonas Ronnegard

Ah really? you worked on the secret world? So where in asia are you?

Kwramm

Shanghai now. I used to be in Beijing on TSW.

Jonas Ronnegard

ah yeah I heard they sent someone over there,

mdeforge

Sorry if this derails the conversation, but is there any sort of stigma against foreigners there in Japan? Any sort of harassment issues? I can't say I'd want to work in Japan, but I'd definitely like to take an extended visit at one point. I'm just wondering if it's hard to fit in or not. I mean, in America is always one big melting pot. But in Japan, a white male is probably the minority... which can get awkward at times.

Jonas Ronnegard

Well it's on good and bad, I went to highschool there, and I have had experience living in small villages in the mountains, so I have really experienced being the circus monkey,

this can be a bit fun in the beginning and it can be nice with some attention, but well in the long run you just want to be accepted as a normal human being, which won't really happen 100% so It can get a bit tiring, I know a couple of people that lived there 30years + but well they still get the pointing and staring talking behind the back,

Most japanese don't have anything against foreigners, It's just for them a foreigner is a foreigner, been living there 30 year + or not, If your not asian then well you can never be japanese, even if you hold a japanese passport.

In many ways it's like nice racism, and they are easy to put foreigner in stereo types, If your white your supposed to be one way, So I always tried to explain that a stereotypical swede probably have more in common with a japanese then an american, which I really do think is the case.

But to round it off, this is just something you will care about if you live there long enough, and you won't really notice it if you don't speak the language.

And even then, I'm still having a great time.

well thanks for reading my book hehe

"btw if you go, watch out for the foreign hunters
and stay away from roppongi

thatanimator

Jonas Ronnegard wrote: »

and stay away from roppongi

+15

rasmus

Jonas Ronnegard wrote: »

"btw if you go, watch out for the foreign hunters
and stay away from roppongi

Oh shit now you tell me!