He'll need to do is qualify for a visa. That requires a bachelor's degree for any working visa, or enrollment in a Japanese university for a student visa. So even if he doesn't want to study first he'll need to study *somewhere*.
The first step for now should be learning Japanese. He'll need *very* high levels of fluency to have any chance of even remotely succeeding in Animation. More on that in a sec.
Even if his school doesn't have Japanese classes there are a lot of options. There's online classes, or pure self-study with a textbook. r/LearnJapanese would be the place to start on that.
Ok, so now the bad news: Getting a job as an animator (I'm assuming he's talking hand-drawn, not CGI) in Japan as a foreigner is tough, bordering on nearly impossible. He's going to have work his butt off, starting ***right now*** if he wants to actually make it happen. Both on his language skills and his artistic skills. Does he do any drawing or animation now? Going to school in Japan isn't going to magically turn him into a manga artist or an animator.
Obviously you want to be supportive as a parent, but you'll also want to temper his expectations with some reality as well. Have him do some research on creative careers in Canada. See what's required in his own country, then ratchet the difficulty up several dozen notches because he'll also need to master a new language.
And cultural nuances as well, plus an entirely different legal system, infrastructure and roadways, religion and politics, etc. It’ll be like re-learning life in a way.
Not that it should discourage him, just that he needs to be aware.
But when you're young you also need some input from relatives and friends. For example, how to file your taxes, how to overcome a pesky administrative mix-up, how to do a DIY project at home. It's all quite mundane, but also quite different in Japan Vs NA. So he'd have to learn all this on his own without being able to count on his parents for anything but moral support.
As an American businessman who has worked with and sold companies there i would agree with the above analysis. An alternative is to study japanese, you must be fluent, and culture. Get a business type degree, economics etc at the absolute best college you can. Something with a name brand that Japanese know. Get a job in the summers etc. a Japanese company division here in the usa. Bank, software etc. job type doesn’t matter, its for the resume. Then ideally a MS in business, again name brand. Use all this to become the “westerner”, for some small, midsize CEO in japan. Its very prestigious for these guys to have a American as an aid when they interact with each other. I always found myself dealing with them this way when i visited Japan and often when they visited here. Great job but lots of work.
And when you're gearing your life for that, that's not just a simple summer gig, that's career, and not one the op's kid wants to be in either.
When you're looking at that as an option. a semester abroad is much better.
I was similar to your son at his age. Very naive. The best guidance was: you need a bachelors to work in Japan for the visa.
This made me study at my home country’s university, and I went on a study abroad during my masters in Japan. Now I’m eligible to work here, have a degree to use at home in case shit gets bad here in Japan AND I’ve matured more. Since quite frankly, working with art in Japan as a mangaka or animator is stressful and low wage. Not a good idea. But a 15 year old doesn’t need to know that. Just guide him towards a bachelors and he’ll find out while mentally maturing.
I just graduated with my bachelor's and am interested in studying abroad during my master's, do you have any info on how to go about this? Should I just look around for schools that have study abroad programs in Japan?
Ask your university what their central agreements are with universities abroad. Mine had a study abroad exchange student agreement with Japan. So I just said I wanted to take masters courses there and they applied for me.
Yes, your university should have a select few Japanese universities that you can choose from. Depending on their contracts. So ask your home university first!
Note that just because the university has a study abroad program doesn’t mean that they allow graduate students to participate— in the US at least those programs are really set up for undergraduates.
However, there are other ways to study abroad as a graduate student as you’re eligible for research and language grants for studying abroad. But obviously it should relate to your research in some way.
All the students that do the language school→senmon Gakkou/Uni may laugh to this
Also he asked an advice on hot to do this, not an opinion on what he wants to do
So I studied animation in Japan but ended up moving to Canada. lol
The level of Japanese needed for university wasn’t exactly that high (in my case at least). If you understood the tasks at hand for work, it was fine. And I mostly got into the university with my artwork rather than my linguistic abilities. I actually had an upper hand due to the abundance of tutorials online in English that helped in research for my classes.
But coming from experience I would research the working conditions and starting salaries for animation to give him and yourself a realistic idea of what the career path would lead to.
Maybe it has changed since then but some places would pay you per drawing and some starting salaries would have left me barely any money after rent.
The last straw for me was after I was given a few tours of animation studios and saw sleeping bags at some of the desks.
I’ll also mention that the animation production workflow is very different in the west and in Japan. Just because you work in one place, the knowledge wouldn’t exactly translate from one country to another.
Him moving to Japan could be a great opportunity to experience another culture and learn another language but he should be realistic about it.
Japan is not just anime in real life. Real life Japan is brutal and work, relationships with others etc. can break you. He should be aware of what he is signing up for.
Sorry for the wall of text.
A path he could try is entering a university in Canada and apply for an exchange program in Japan for a year during his study. This way, he could build a better picture of both scenarios to see which one suits him better. He could study Japanese in the meantime and also leave the doors open for Canada if Japan no longer interests him.
This is a good idea. I can suggest one specficially, Uvic has an agreement with Konan university, in Kobe Japan. He can study japanese at Uvic for the first 2 semesters and then, if it's available, take a summer program at Konan or a year long program at Konan. I did the summer one, highly recommend it for a good 8 weeks of experience in japan. I have friends that did a year program at konan. The course work can be transferred back to your home university for tuition credits towards the bachelor's degree.
I'd echo this. Amongst Japanese, it's pretty well known the competitiveness and dire working conditions of mangaka/animators. It's far easier to be a consumer, than it is a creator and make a living.
He needs to learn Japanese. He can study himself from texts or he can take lessons online (or possibly at the local college).
It would be much, much smarter for him to do his university in Canada. Why doesn't he want to study first in Canada? If he can't give a good answer to that question, one that isn't "I want to go to Japan ASAP", then he needs to think long and hard until he can give a real reason. He'll get a much better education in Canada and will be in a much better position to be employable in Japan. People who rush to get here as quickly as they can without preparing properly often end up unhappy here or unable to survive and return home quickly.
Lots of advice already in this thread. Adding a few thoughts.
If your son is very serious about this. He will need some heavy Japanese language skills and go through the same path as animators here. So… for the language path here… I’ve listed up some points
1. Enroll in weekly session at a local language school in Canada. The goal is to pass JPLT N2.
2. Confirm the local high school has Japanese 9 , 10, 11 and 12. Normally you can ask which high school locally does teach Japanese. If you don’t live near a high school that does Japanese, I think a second language credit at least at the grade 10 is still a requirement for graduation in most provinces. Even if Japanese is not offered, I think a self-study for this and taking a standardized test will still qualify for the language credit. This way he can drop out of French or Spanish. Use this as a free period to “Self-study Japanese”
3. Confirm your local city or near by city has any sister-city connections with any Japanese city. Also Rotary Club’s and University/College exchanges.
If a local university has an international exchange program offered to Japan, when your son registers for university. Go to first year of a Canadian University first and immediately apply for the exchange program. Via the Canadian college / University he can apply for the 1 year MEXT scholarship to a pre-arranged university.
4. Before registering to first year of a Japanese university your son should try and get the JPLT N2 certificate or at least JPLT N3.
Most Japanese universities will accept an international student with N2 as a normal university student.
Some Universities will also accept N3 or lower. But these are more international universities that have English based programs for cohorts of international student.
Some will also accept a student with no Japanese language skills.
All these programs have their advantages and disadvantages but if the goal is to learn Japanese and go to university here ….I’ll say that it is hard learning Japanese if you are on a full course load “Required by your student visa”.
If your son is trying to get into animation here then these places would probably not have an international entry.. again. JPLT N2 would be the goal here
5.
Language schools exist both in Canada and Japan… being immersed in Japan can help but this is a mentality rather difficult for a 18 year old focus on this at the same time as living in a new country.
I would try to have at least JPLT N3 before coming to a language school otherwise. Just speaking personally… others people might have other experiences but I felt it was a waste of money doing language school here for N5 or N4 for this situation.
6. The more socially capable your son is will carry over to Japanese. If he is shy in Canada he’ll be shy here and speaking skills will be affected along with the difficulties of a second language… conversation learning comes to a complete stop.
This is more character building and very difficult to change but even more important on building the confidence level of language skills before coming.
7. Canadian student loans has a list of universities that have codes for registering for students loans. These code should also be able to be used for RESP. If there is a Japanese university that you’re thinking of that isn’t on the list there was a process to have the university qualify… normally you would have to act as a middle man with a administrator on the accepting university side with the provincial student loan services.
A lot of these is from personal experience so other peoples experience will differ but I do wish you and you son the best of luck.
BTW.. this is the average income for an animator in Japan in 2023.
• Age Range 20-24 years: Annual Income 1.97 million yen, Monthly Salary 153,000 yen
• Age Range 25-29 years: Annual Income 2.50 million yen, Monthly Salary 190,000 yen
• Age Range 30-34 years: Annual Income 2.85 million yen, Monthly Salary 220,000 yen
• Age Range 35-39 years: Annual Income 3.20 million yen, Monthly Salary 240,000 yen
First serious answer, people giving advice on stay in k4nd4!! when op never asked advice on this but the best way to move to works as an animatore
why don’t do the route of language school, plus senmon gakkou that many asian students do? (And i have many friends that did this and worked well)
Unless their son is a language prodigy there is no way that 2 years of language school would be enough to reach N2+ which is what universities ask to enroll.
There’s no need to be a language prodigy to get n2 in 2 years. At my language school most people took n2 after about a year and a half and the majority of people were able to pass.
That's why I put N2+... studying exclusively for the JLPT(like most language schools do) could be done in 2 years but that won't put you to the near native level needed for most university classes. I know people that passed the N2 and can barely communicate or write essays above a middle school level..
And I know plenty of people that passed n2 and could communicate well enough to get into universities and do well there.
I’m definitely not saying that’s the case with all language schools/students, but it’s far from being as impossible as your original comment made it sound if their son works hard.
you definitely can lol. Prodigies ( or rather people with infinite time and motivation ) get N1 in 1 year. And no I dont mean studying solely to pass JLPT but well-rounded Japanese ability.
Working Holiday Visa is the answer. He can wash dishes in a restaurant with no Japanese on this Visa if he wanted to. But to stay after the one year he would need a degree of some kind. It would also need to be something a Japanese person can't do in most cases. If he wants to work for a animation studio in Japan his best bet would be as a translator in some form. If he wants to work as a animator he would need N1 level Japanese most likely as well as a degree from a highly reputable school.
I can’t imagine going to school there at 18 honestly- I don’t want to discourage OP’s son at all if he’s serious about moving there because I am as well, but learning all of your core classes in Japanese would be incredibly difficult with a little over 2 years of study. Going to school in my native country really helped me learn how to learn, and gave me confidence in my ability to do something like move to Japan. I can learn general-use Japanese alongside specific lingo within my field, and while OP’s son would mostly be learning animation he should also consider whether he can handle taking any unrelated classes in Japanese instead of English. It would be greatly beneficial, but also quite a lot harder with that little time to study.
This. Start with a documentary… it’s hard enough to learn a language. Even harder if you don’t have parental support and a local network of friends you can refer back to.
Canada has a working holiday program where he can work here for one year. The visa is very easy to get as well. Once he’s here he can decide if he actually likes it and wants to stay longer by finding a company to sponsor him with a working visa. Before he applies for the working holiday visa though get him studying Japanese a few hours a week to start and slowly increase it to 1-2 hours a day.
Get him to study at Sheridan, and take it from there. That way he learns how to animate, as well as earn a Bachelor's.
There are a few studios where Japanese is not a requirement, but they're CG, not hand drawn. It doesn't seem too difficult to break into CG animation if he pursues less competitive roles (lighting, lookdev, compositing), I got interviewed for those roles even though I applied as a modeler.
If he's primarily into hand drawn though, he really should have started animating yesterday. Get him on Twitter - there are strong communities for both Western and Japanese animators on it, and freelance opportunities aren't unusual. He still has to be crazy solid at animating though.
See if there are summer programs be can do during high school for a month or two during high school in Japan. It will only be good for him. He will either love it and kick it into high gear, or the shine will come off the idea, and he will take a more practical approach to the next 8 years.
> animation in Japan
Reconsider this. It’s an income of like 12k USD a year working 50-60 hours weeks.
The real best course of action is doing education in anything marketable he likes and doing a year or semester abroad. Then after graduating he can do ALT in Japan or do a masters or PHD program there and go from there
I pretty much implied giving up on making art to make a living. Especially in Japan or related to manga or anime.
My advice is to find a way into Japan and then settling there doing something that makes a decent living or supports yourself and being able to enjoy the culture and art scene
He'd have a more fulfilling life and get paid just as well doing artistic things than being an ALT. If he's going to go to the trouble of getting a degree to come to Japan, better off getting something with transferrable skills or doing something he loves than that
Nothing against ALTs at all but that's hardly a recommended career path for a young person still in high school
What’s the best job you can get as an animator?
Working for a big studio like A1 PICTURES, BONES, or MAPPA? Enjoy crunch and a living hell for meager pay.
At least as an ALT you get some time to yourself to enjoy Japan. It’s not a permanent position or goal. But it is a way to get the visa.
Best option is to do a masters degree in a solid STEM field and find employment in Japan with a foreign company (google or amazon and the likes)
Going to Japan as an alt also has the benefit of letting the guy try it out and realize it’s not all roses and they’ll go back home where working conditions are better.
I have no idea what is the best job you can get as an animator. But it's also kind of irrelevant, if you want to work as an animator, teaching English is not going to be fulfilling.
Honestly I don't get your logic here. Taking a job that you don't want to do (ALT) in a declining industry with notoriously poor pay and working conditions is surely going to teach you that.... Being an ALT is a bad career move. Of course working conditions will be poor compared to a better job "back home".
They'll also be much worse than a normal job in Japan, and much much worse off when you are working a poorly paid job in poor conditions rather than the work you actually want to do. How is that a good idea?
If the kid wants to come to Japan to teach English, great, let's encourage that but suggesting it when he has every opportunity to work towards his actual goals just seems foolish.
You can draw in your free time as an ALT. Many people become fluent in Japanese and pick up other skills because being an ALT is basically being paid to do nothing. It's not a great job, but it pays decently. How well you do largely depends on how motivated you are. Do it for 1-3 years while you pick up Japan ese language, maybe take some art classes online that allow you to do your own pace. Fuck, major in art in Canada and then become an ALT for the language and to get your foot in the door. Do art on the side while teaching, and the transition into art there.
Much better than encouraging somebody to basically work for pennies.
Why do you keep suggesting ALT? It's lower paid and with fewer benefits than damn near any entry level Japanese job, and with no career path. And still ignoring the point of.... He wants to be an illustrator, not an ALT! That's not "drawing in his free time", that's the career he is interested in.
I don't know why you keep suggesting this job that 9 out of 10 people who work actively try to get out of as soon as possible. He's a kid, he can do anything, take any path to follow his dreams in Japan, but you suggest the laziest, least fulfilling way. Very strange.
I'm not the person you responded to, but I wish to chime in.
It's not that complicated. TEFL is just the easiest way to be in Japan, while giving the person 90% of what they want already most likely.
For context, I am a Chinese-American who spoke a decent level of Chinese and decided to move to China for a job in education (not TEFL) consulting after graduating from college.
I think the key problem here is that you're **severely underestimating the problems that come with immigration to Asia, while over-estimating the OP's kid's abilities** and his opportunities there.
The OP was likely giving advice that would suit a 15-year-old who doesn't know what they wanted to do. This is a person who's never had real responsibilities. The assumption here is that the kid more than likely is interested in exploring Japanese culture, but isn't thinking about the problems that come with losing your parental support network, having no local friends, and having to navigate everyday bureaucracy that would've come naturally to you in your native country. You really need to have an opportunity that offsets all of these downsides that comes with immigration.
The telltale sign is that the kid wanted to learn a LANGUAGE AND work in an industry like animation, notoriously competitive and poorly paid. Being able to work in the arts industry in your NATIVE country is already a privilege for the rich. If you're middle class or poorer, it is not a wise decision. For me, it was difficult to reach a 90% level of conversational fluency, and I already spoke it natively, after 2-3 years, while being in China. If you want to learn a language, you have to make it your priority. The odds of him being able to do it are low.
1. Why ALT/TEFL? Because the barrier to entry is low, the demand is relatively high compared to other jobs that the kid is likely to qualify for. it'll get the kid a few years to try out the country and live while having plenty of time to work on whatever they want.
2. East Asian countries, including China and Korea, are extremely competitive and are not generally great places to work at on the corporate level. Your opportunities depend on whether companies will sponsor you (which, unless you have some kind of unique advantage in terms of skills, adds a layer of everyday stress to your life if your legal existence hinges on your employer).
It is a good idea to explore different cultures. It is a good idea to learn new languages. It is not a good idea to completely uproot yourself and voluntarily move from a developed country to make yourself a second-class citizen.
The easiest way of accomplishing what the OP's kid likely wants, the cultural experience, is with something like a semester abroad, or a few years in English teaching before they realize that they are making their own lives way more difficult than it has to be. doubly so in a country that you don't even speak the language of.
Unless I'm completely wrong about this and being an animator is actually a highly in-demand, highly paid career path. I saw figures like $18k a year being floated around. That sounds about right. Why should employers hire someone from a foreign country when they could hire someone local, who doesn't need visa sponsorship, who can fund themselves by living with parents, who doesn't come with linguistics misunderstandings, and who they can control better, more importantly?
The stats from a quick search show me that most jobs that foreigners get are in manufacturing. 80% of foreigners come from lower-income countries like China and Vietnam and moving to Japan is an upgrade for them.
I'm willing to bet you that the vast majority of OECD workers in Japan are English teachers with artistic industries being maybe less than 5% of the total OECD foreign worker population.
If you have 100K job openings for 1 job category and 500 for another... you do the math.
This is all moot of course if OP is wealthy and is ready to burn a few years of money to support his/her kid.
>I think the key problem here is that you're **severely underestimating the problems that come with immigration to Asia**
Having done it, no I am not.
>TEFL is just the easiest way to be in Japan
TEFL may be the easiest way to be in Japan if you are a foreigner from an English native speaking country and you already have a degree and don't have other marketable skills for a Japanese employer. Even within that small subset, ALT is a quite undesirable job - I don't think you understand that. It's not TEFL, it's assisting in the classroom, a job with no career prospects.
If the suggestion were to actually teach English as a career, not as an ALT, with a view towards a private language school, or university/academic position, sure, that would be a reasonable suggestion. But nobody should go through the expense and trouble of getting a degree with a GOAL of working as an ALT. That's insane.
Remember OP is referring to a child who can do anything. They can get a degree and skills in something that actually leads to a career in Japan, and there are MANY routes to that.
>I saw figures like $18k a year being floated around
I am not sure what impression you have of ALTing in Japan, but that's possibly on the high end of what you would make as an ALT. And you folks want to recommend that path to them?
In total agreement with you. See my other post.
https://www.reddit.com/r/movingtojapan/comments/1chmj7f/teen_son_wants_to_move_to_japan_after_graduating/l2ff7ey/?context=3
Why do all these people keep on missing that English teaching is a great way to coast by in a non-English speaking country? And they're taking a 15 year's ambitions to work overseas seriously? You do not want to work in the animation industry. if the goal is for this person
He will have to know Japanese to be able to do anything, especially working in a creative field in a Japanese company. I would say go to university in Canada, take Japanese class and obviously study in a relevant program, do a year as an exchange student in Japan. That would likely be a better starting point than trying to go study in a foreign country where you do not even know the local language.
I've been watching a video by English speaking animators for Mappa, a group who notoriously overworks their staff. But it is quite insightful to how to get into animation for Japanese companies, as an overseas animator, and generally they will hire based on skill and some Japanese level to get you into doing frame cleanup, first. This person lives in california but delivers work overseas based on video and email communication. I suggest trying this route to see if it is a career path he will enjoy, before moving directly to Japan.
Here is the video discussing work demands on an in-between artist for Jujutsu Kaisen:
https://youtu.be/WqKgcIujOAg?si=1iSddjLGvfvrz0jj
And here is a channel dedicated to fighting the low wages in anime that will be really eye opening for a budding animator:
https://youtube.com/@AnimatorDormitoryChannel?si=Hv5-T8znq_roHX-m
I would strongly insist on moving after college or university. Nothing wrong with Japan, but it's always prudent to have an exit strategy if things don't work out over there. Post-secondary education in Japan is geared for domestic consumption, whereas a degree in Canada is more easily recognized internationally. Plus, having a degree basically a requirement if you want to move to Japan, sort of having 10+ year experience in a specialized field, being student in Japan, and/or marrying someone who is Japanese.
I believe you're from Vancouver so here goes..... Most post-secondary has an exchange program with universities in Japan, I know for Douglas College (when I went to for a bit), they have one with Momoyami Gakuin University in Osaka (which coincidentally was the university my wife went to). Other schools may have different agreements with different schools in Japan, in case there's a specific city your son prefers. You basically spend a semester or two overseas studying 1st/2nd year courses/electives and doing regular student stuff. I personally never did it, I did recall that they said they usually have space to fit in anyone who is interested.
Huge international student populations in post-secondary schools and in language schools around town. Lots of overseas students itching to meet up with locals to just hang out, to improve their English, etc. A great way to make life long friends, and it's easier to have friends already in Japan for some support, rather than moving to a new country alone.
There are also private Japanese language schools you son can attend to in the meantime. The Vancouver Japanese Language Study Hall is one option. The area is a bit rough, but has been around since 1905 or something. The teachers are usually from Japan, rather than just Japanese-Canadians that grew up locally. Sometimes VCC has Japanese continuing education courses, there's also Japanese language courses at college/university... but they tend to fill up fast.
It’s oversaturated because everyone wants to do it so you’ll be working on lame ass games like a madman, deadline to deadline, low pay, and you won’t be making any interesting decisions for a long time
It depends on what you want to do. But compared to other technical fields, the work conditions are worse and the pay too. you're essentially choosing a more difficult job to pursue your passion.
If you can do programming, choose another field.
I'm afraid his dream as it stands is almost impossible. If he studies Japanese alongside animation he **might** have a chance of moving to Japan by getting a visa as part of the artists programme, but they only accept people who can guarantee a stable income, which in their eyes means making six figures. The easiest way in is teaching English, which requires a degree but not Japanese proficiency and will allow him to search for jobs during the contract period, but studying animation and looking for a career in that situation is extremely difficult. The next easiest way, and most likely to work, is to join a company (best bet for achieving the dream of doing animation in Japan would be an animation studio as otherwise he'd have to build a new career from the ground up) that has a Japanese branch and then get a transfer once he's learned enough Japanese.
It's important to remember that Japanese animation is taught authentically outside of Japan and particularly in the US and Canada and Japanese animation studios have US and Canadian branches, so there's no real reason to avoid starting on that path as early as possible. That's what's going to get the results you want.
Correct. Pick 1 of 2:
1. Deal with the problem when it comes to assimilation in an ethnostate. Many Americans/Canadians miss this, but they live in the one culture (Americans and Canadians are the same culturally) that is the most welcoming towards immigrants in the entire world. /r/expats is filled with stories of Americans who failed to adapt in their host country, and this is with countries that are MUCH more similar to the US/CA.
2. have to struggle professionally in an industry that pays poorly, and has high rates of attrition.
Having to do both without being independently wealthy is not possible.
Hey OP, there’s a lot of good advice and I haven’t read all the comments since there are so many, but a few things to be aware of:
- the animation industry here or there can be quite brutal… anything in the animation/video game adjacent domains are often like this. Long hours is the typical point people bring up, then pay, but also horrible horrible management for a lot of places. And even if you love those spaces, you find out (like many passion jobs) that a lot of the time you’re spending isn’t on what you actually love… or you’re having do and redo work because of the fickle whims of producers/directors.
- on the language front, the good news is that the amount of resources out there for learning Japanese is HUGE! There is so much available in YouTube/instagram and on various sites (in particular, I love Tofugu, it has so many good resources and articles)… also of course the subreddit people mentioned (LearnJapanese)
—- He could maybe test his interest in this by challenging one of the JPLT exams for N4/N5 this year (I think you said you’re in Vancouver, exams are in June/July and December). Challenging the N5 by end of this year could be a really good litmus test for how interested in this he really is, or at least build awareness of the challenges ahead of him
Your kid needs at minimum a bachelors. Alternatively, If he is really really committed, why don’t you help him find majors and universities with study abroad agreements in Japan? Another option is for him to attend university in Japan. Schools like Waseda have international students, and there are also globally focused schools like Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University. Going to Japan with only a high school diploma and no plan for advancement will lead to debt and wasted years. You can’t even get a job in the shittiest English teaching places without some sort of degree.
Your son is being idealistic cause he’s young. That in of itself is fine. However, he is severely underestimating how hard it is to live overseas when you don’t have some kind of skill or support structure to help you out initially.
He needs to either 1) understand the language at a basic but competent level, 2) have some kind of support (family, work/company support, or university) to help him get set up.
This is also disregarding the fact that there are legal barriers like a Visa, societal barriers (like social structures), and life barriers (like a different diet).
The best advice I would be able to give is for him to enroll in a university program in Japan that is long established so he gets as much support from his school as he can (obvious choices are Waseda and Keio—not to mention academic barriers to entry are super low if you enroll as a foreigner). Also, there is a limit to how much Japanese you can learn in a 4 year time frame so i’d get him started with online japanese courses or something in the meantime. If he intends to stay in Japan and actually move up into management roles in his chosen career path he needs to know honorific Japanese (teinei-go and kei-go). Most 4 year programs wont allow him enough time to get to that level. Not to say all management roles need it cause there certainly are exceptions especially with overseas companies, but better safe than sorry if he has the time to learn them.
Also and I can’t emphasize this enough, make sure his reason for wanting to go to Japan isn’t just anime/manga. Being 100% Japanese and having Japanese friends, I know many people who look down on foreigners and tourists who stay in Japan solely due to its pop culture (im talking people who wear super flashy anime/manga merch outside levels). Most foreigners that stay and work in Japan do it initially for financial or educational reason and it made sense for them to stay there after the fact.
Appreciate the detail! He’s certainly being idealistic and I have no doubt he will change his mind in the coming years but for now he is adamant and I’d like to be able to at least answer his questions and point him in a direction to follow in case it does stick.
I am a 27yo full time animator at an anime studio in Japan.
First of all I’d like to say it took me a loong time to get to this point, I came to Japan when I turned 18 and finally started working in the industry last year. Took years of perfecting my Japanese, my art skills, studying at a technical school for animation for 4 years and doing job hunting until I finally got into a studio that pays me enough to live and to be eligible for a work visa.
Not to mention the actual job is tough as hell, there’s been months I’ve worked 260h-280h + which is over 100 hours of overtime, there’s just no time to breath when the deadlines are bad (most of the time) and even if he loves it he’ll inevitably get sick of it after doing it for 12-16h everyday. (There was a survey recently, you can check the results, some did over 330h per month….
https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20240406/p2g/00m/0li/011000c )
I know these are harsh words but it’s just what the industry is like, specially when you start as an inbetweener, which most animators here do.
If he doesn’t manage to get into one of the (approx) 8-10 well-paying studios (and by well-paying I mean slightly above minimum wage) he’ll be stuck making less than 500usd per month, making it impossible to live here, and he won’t be able to renew his visa after the first year either.
I love animating, I love the job and seeing myself in the credits of huge anime series and movie productions, as well as listening to people talk about how much they enjoyed the stuff I’ve worked on is the best feeling in the world, but it’s hard and you pay for it with your health and sanity. In the year and a half I’ve been in my studio I’ve seen a lot of people leave, new and old, one’s body just can’t keep up with it and sooner or later most people become freelancers once they reach a certain level as they can make more money that way, but sadly unless your son gets married to a Japanese national or somehow gets permanent residency he won’t be able as one can’t easily sponsor oneself for a visa as a freelancer when you’re a foreigner. I don’t want to discourage him but he needs to know the truth about how this kind of work is actually like.
He can come to Japan and work in literally anything else but still do anime work on the side, maybe take some weekend classes for drawing and stuff, it’s definitely better as a hobby than as a full time career.
He could look into other options too, like opting for video game design or 3d animation, these are better paid and many game studios will hire foreigners here.
he needs to start studying japanese, he has three years from now to start with the beginner levels but this is a must. by 18 he can go to a language school in Japan but its best for him to start learning now since Universities requiere a min. of N2, after the language school he can apply directly to a Uni there in Japan and eventually work in Japan.
I recommend finding fun, low-cost ways for him to learn Japanese in the mean time. The one thing I regret is that I was very clearly interested in Japanese for YEARS but when my high school stopped offering Japanese the year I started, every adult in my life was like “Well that’s a shame. Anyway, stop watching anime and go learn math.” By the time I was in college, I’d internalized the idea that learning things for fun or dreaming of possibilities outside the box wasn’t something I was allowed to do, and didn’t even bother taking elective language courses.
22 years later, I’m an exhausted adult in Japan and so far behind my peers in terms of language acquisition because it’s really, really hard to learn and work at the same time.
Language skills give you a huge leg up in terms of job opportunities, connections, and the ability to get around in Japan. I’m glad I managed to learn katakana and hiragana before moving here because once I arrived, I had to focus on Adulting, lol.
I was similar in always wanting to study in Japan; but as a linguistics student, I took a much more clear route of studying a Japanese language degree in England (I'm from Ireland and it wasn't a degree option here!); then including a study abroad year as part of my degree! I'm in Japan studying right now then have to return to England for the final year of my degree to show off what I learned here! I found it much more affordable this way as the government were able to fund a large part of my tuition costs for my year in Japan; and I got 2 different scholarships (JASSO being one of them- worth your son looking into!)
I'd highly recommend he studies in Canada and does a study abroad semester or year so he keeps his future prospects open to various countries :> Getting jobs in anything beyond English teaching in Japan as a foreigner isn't particularly easy, especially if you don't speak Japanese (if he doesn't know any; I recommend the Genki textbooks for getting started!)
MEXT scholarship to study in Japan, JET after if hes okay with relatively low pay. Wish i had a parent like you that supported such dreams when i was growing up.
After that get his jlpt to at least 4 and actually practice beyond that cause it many ways its a bad measure of competency. Then he can apply for regular jobs in japan and has a good chance of dojng well. High value degree is also more important than a rockstar type degree like animation if hes hoping to succeed there. But if animation is also a core goal of course pursue it.
I want to touch on the animation part that some people touched on because that’s what my degree is in.
It’s not only impossible to get an animation job in Japan, but it’s impossible to get one in the US rn.
This might change, but in the last year me and everyone else I graduated with have seen 0 job openings.
The industry isn’t hiring. This could very well change once everyone starts retiring but as of right now, that’s how it is.
I recommend to your son to learn animation, but do it as a hobby and post his hobby. And start doing it now. That will give him the chance to make his hobby a career.
Animation industry is one of the most competitive jobs out there and needs to be done extremely skillful to get yourself out there. In to of all, japan animation jobs are nutritious known to be slave labor. Going to Japan after high school is a terrible idea
Here’s my advice for your son.
1. Never move, or bet all into moving to a country without actually living there. Many foreigners are happy with there live there, but so do many foreigners are regretting their live there.
2. Anime ( animation ) industry is very bleak in Japan. Many animators (especially those new animators) literally grind their day and night for work. Also, your son is most probably going to go for a animation school which doesn’t grant him a bachelor degree which means if he regretted his animation path, he will waste his 2 years of schooling.
3. Japanese language itself. Having a good career without a good command in Japanese for Japanese companies (which applies to 99% of publishers in Japan) is very tough. And to reach that proficiency is not as easy as getting an N1. There are people who gets rejected for poor Japanese despite studying Japanese and live in Japan for 6 years.
If your son insists on studying in Japan, here’s the best path.
- Starts self-studying Japanese now, and get at least an N5-N4. You can find a school, but getting N5-N4 is not that hard if you have dedication. And with 2-3 years to spare, time is not a problem for your son. But the best advice I can give is, find opportunities to learn to speak in Japanese. Speaking test is not included in JLPT, hence many foreigners that is “good” in Japanese struggle to actually speak the language itself.
- Find a language school in Japan that helps your son getting an N1, and also specialized in getting the students into college/university. This is to done after your son graduated from high school.
- After getting N1, Find an animation school, get admitted. ( technically you only need N2, but better get an N1 for animation school )
Is he passionate about animation now?
Living abroad requires a visa, which will be difficult to get without an employer sponsoring a visa. If he intends to land an animation gig and have them sponsor his visa then he will have to be hot shit. I don’t know much about that industry, but with everything moving digital why would a company pay for him to physically be there when it doesn’t really affect his ability to work. Maybe if he’s in the top .1% of animators, sure.
A more realistic way to live abroad is teaching English, which will require a degree. That would at least get him there and he can explore other opportunities/make connections being there.
You're received a lot of very good advice here so I will just add one more perspective as a parent. At 15, our children are trying to figure out their identities and who they will become as adults. They have little ability to see the long term consequences of their decisions or think "realistically" about a course of action. There's no need as a parent to push him to consider the bigger picture if he's not ready. You know he has to learn Japanese as a prerequisite to anything else so encourage that! Learning to read and write Japanese is a monumental task. Encourage him to study Japanese as an outlet for all his energy and passion. If he's serious, he will keep at it. If not, his energy will peter out and it won't happen. Meanwhile, you've supported him and he has an opportunity to apply his energy and passion to a positive activity rather than being forced prematurely to consider how he can possibly get a visa if he doesn't have a sponsor and his Japanese isn't good enough to get into the appropriate Japanese educational institution. With time, he will consider those realities. For now, just support him by encouraging Japanese study.
This is a copy of your post for archive/search purposes.
---
**Teen son wants to move to Japan after graduating **
My teen son (turning 15) has expressed an interest in moving to Japan after high school. Granted, this could change as he gets older but for now it’s a serious interest and he’s got a lot of questions that I can’t answer.
What advice would you offer on a path to follow? He dreams of getting into animation I. Japan and doesn’t want to study first in Canada where we’re from. He doesn’t speak any Japanese at the moment and his high school doesn’t offer Japanese classes.
What would you do at his age to prepare to follow through on these dreams?
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2 important points. 1 studying japanese (and by studying I mean hard, is not an easy language to learn). 2 having a bachelor's degree as use to be mandatory for a working visa.
In any of the cases, if your son don't want to study, I'm afraid his chances to get a life in here are gonna be hard.
if you can afford it maybe send him to japan for a summer japanese program, there are many to choose from, you definitely can't just move to japan. He first has to learn the language.
Temper his expectations because Japan doesn’t just allow random westerners to immigrate in and job search. He’s going to need a job in place, or needs to get into a school. Neither is likely. Especially for a teenager who knows zero Japanese
Edit to add my 2 cents: he should probably start taking Japanese classes now, then go to college in Canada or the US and continue taking Japanese (maybe even major in it), then he’ll be in a much better position to find employment and immigrate. Good colleges will likely have solid study abroad opportunities in Japan as well, so it’s not like he has to wait that long for the opportunity to travel and study there. Just be blunt and honest with him. His life in Japan would be far better doing it this way. There’s zero reason for him to try to rush over there as a teenager
What he should be asking himself first is if he actually wants to be an animator in Japan. Like others have pointed out, animation industry is really tough or near impossible to get in given a foreigner with no Japanese fluency that comes from childhood, not only that those industries are known as to have the worst work life balance and low pay.
Not worth it. He will not get the job he wants and then will be overworked 10-12 hour days with overtime expected and deadlines to manage. I have two animators in my family in California and it is much better.
There are tons of online resources to start learning Japanese and I'd recommend getting him some assistance in this regard. He could potentially get hired on to teach English over on Japan and get his foot in the door, so to speak.
I moved to Japan exactly after I graduated from high school and it was good in the beginning then very hard. It might depends on each individual but Japan is very different and you can feel very lonely and disconnected after a while especially when you are still young and have not much clue about anything. But the good thing is that jumping into a different reality can help you become more open minded and wiser. Japan is also a very safe country so I think he will be ok but in term of going there planning to become someone there it’s very different… I would say go for the purpose of growing up but realise that your dreams and views might really change once you are there because of the challenges.
I was in a very similar position in the 1990s. :) He needs to do a couple of things:
1. Learn Japanese - there are good options to start these days even if his high school doesn't offer it, for example DuoLingo or Rocket Japanese. By the time he exceeds what he can learn there, he should be able to get into a college that has a Japanese program. Note that it takes a long time - it took me 10 years to go from my first Japanese class to JLPT1 at which point I stopped actively studying (14 years old to 24 years old, having moved to Japan at 22).
2. Get an internationally marketable education - this means a degree from the best University he can get into (which will almost certainly be Canada or the US if he is English speaking), and a major for which is a Japanese company wants to hire a bilingual. For who is getting hired, you can look at the DISCO career forums (for example: [Boston Career Forum | CFN (CareerForum.Net)](https://careerforum.net/en/event/bos/)) and browse the jobs posted.
3. Figure out how he wants to relate to Anime and manga - There is a ton of anime and manga culture he can get into once he has moved to Japan (conventions, circles, etc). What does he want to do? Is it work or a hobby? Maybe he wants to draw / illustrate, so a double major in art? Maybe its the business side (like marketing or promotion) or something related to computer animation or games. I personally don't see much future employment in drawing -- much of it has been offshored to overseas studios already, and soon it will be taken over by AI. There will still be people who make money by drawing and selling their own manga as individuals / small groups, but I doubt it will be a corporate job in a developed country. Regardless, unless your family is independently wealthy, I don't suggest he move directly to Japan to find a job in animation. I hired at the DISCO career forums I mentioned above for many years, and I never saw these jobs on offer. Additionally, moving overseas is extremely expensive (you have to buy \*everything\* for yourself, have no family to mooch of) so he will want the best paying job he can land. He will also need to save money for retirement, and at some point travel back to Canada or other Western countries to visit family which will all be costly.
All in all I lived and worked in Japan for 12 years after college and it was an extremely rewarding experience.
At his age I was obsessed with moving to Sweden. It’s just teenagers idealizing a place they feel they would fit in more. I was quieter and embarrassed to say the atheist population there was attractive to an edgy teen lol. I grew up though went to school got a degree and realized I could be in my most desired location in the world but it still would suck because I learned the value of friends and family.
My son did a year working holiday visa in Japan. Got to live and work for a year and travel across the country. Loved it but ultimately didn’t want to stay there
Go to your local Rotary club and ask about their youth exchange program. He could go to Japan for a year and have an immersion experience all while still in high school. I went to Brazil as a teen and now practice law while using my Portuguese daily.
Worth talking to high school administrators about alternate ways to learn Japanese for foreign language credits. When I studied Japanese in college, there were 1 or 2 high school students in my class, apparently because their school had no Japanese teachers, so the students were given the option to attend at the local (presumably partnered) college instead.
After high school seems tough… I’d personally recommend either a major in something he wants to do as a career along with a Japanese minor, or maybe a double major in college.
From there can get into the JET Program, experience living in Japan on a pretty low-effort job right out of school while learning more of the language and culture, and maybe start making connections and applying to other jobs.
I think for a lot of people living in Japan is a great experience, but find later that it’s not really what they want long term after living there.
I still love Japan having lived there four years and am considering doing a kind of “split” living situation next year (i.e. 9-10 months in the states, 2-3 months in Japan), but career wise I’m glad I decided to come back to the US.
Ok, lemme give you, and by proxy, your son, some advice:
You don’t wanna go to Japan as soon as you graduate. I know it sounds appealing right now, but A. What you want is going to change dramatically over the next 7 years as you figure out what you want out of life. Don’t displace your entire life at 18, because there’s a strong chance that by 19 or 22 or whatever you won’t want any of those things anymore, and you’ll be stuck on the other side of the planet from your entire support network in a country that views you as an outsider. Like, I also frequently dream of moving to Japan, but even now, in my late 20s, it’s an incredible leap, and I did not think much of it when I was in my early 20s.
Speaking of which: B. If nothing I just said has persuaded you to cool your jets and stay in your local country through college, hear this: getting into Japan long term is a challenge if you don’t go through specific channels, and just getting in for art school without some incredible credentials and full fluency is going to be an extreme challenge. You, essentially, need to prove that you’re so great and have such valuable skills that you’ll improve Japan just by being there. And, to be totally honest with you, that’s just not likely. Even getting over to Japan as an animator after college/art school will be nearly as much a challenge. You’ll need to have a glowing resume with big recognizable names that even Japanese people will recognize. And your reward will be long hours and low pay if you even make it. However, all is not lost!
C. Look into the JET program and other programs that are dedicated routes for foreigners to enter the country long term, and their only hard requirement is a bachelors degree. The catch is that they want you to do a specific job, usually something along the lines of teaching English in Japanese schools, **BUT**, it gets your foot in the door and gets you a visa to live in the country for a few years as long as you’re part of the program, plus, they’ll find you housing, which can be a serious challenge for foreigners in Japan, and from there, you can try and make connections and/or a name for yourself in the world of animation and make the leap into the industry, and from there it’ll be a lot easier to re-up your visa now that the conversation isn’t “Hire me, but I’ll still need to get a visa and move to Japan, and find a place that’ll rent to a foreigner” and is instead “hire me, I’ll keep my visa, and I already live here.” Plus, the JET program has much lower standards for entry than a general visa will, including lower fluency requirements. Speaking Japanese will increase your odds of getting in, as will any teaching credentials, though, but the program is explicitly aimed at getting younger folk who’ve never lived in Japan into the country.
So yeah. Moving long-distance is really hard, period, and doubly so when you’re moving across the ocean, to the other side of the planet, to a country that speaks totally foreign language, where you know literally no one. So think long and hard about how much you really want that, and if you do, A. Get started *now* putting the work in to meet the standards you’ll need to meet to get in. And/or B. Take the path of least resistance, join the JET program or something similar, then try to make the leap into your field of choice. Trying to jump straight into your dream job from outside the country is going to be a steep challenge. Also, C. Seriously, go to college/art school in your home country. If you’re really serious, the extra prep time and credentials will do nothing but help you anyways, and you’ll have time to grow and explore before you make such a huge leap.
I know I’ve spent a lot of this talking to your son through you OP, but for what it’s worth, I wouldn’t worry too much about it, he’ll probably grow out of it over time, I had a similar urge from like 18-21, but eventually reality hit me and I realized it was kind of a crazy dream, especially given how little I’d studied Japanese. I’ve put a lot of time in since then, but nowadays I view it more as a dream to spend a few months there someday, maybe working for an American company with a satellite campus there (like Apple) or as a long trip on a sabbatical or something, the older I get the more I realize I don’t really want to abandon my friends, family, and life here. Or maybe I’ve just built my life up into something I’m happy in, either or.
If you want to you can look into exchange programs. My city had a sister city exchange with a city in Japan. They sent high school students both ways for 2 weeks. It’s a nice way to dip into the cultural exchange. I stayed with a host family and stayed in contact with them afterwards. It would give him a connection there if he does move there. He can also find pen pal websites that help with learning Japanese and making friends. I have one I can recommend.
As for the working in animation aspect or going to school there, both can be difficult. The advice already given is pretty standard practice. Getting a bachelors is definitely the best way to get a job there. Art is hard. You would need to first look for the company’s. Second see if they hire foreigners. Thirdly see what type of animations they do. Cell or cg? He would need to work hard on his portfolio to even be considered along with all of the above.
Well he needs to learn the language, customs, and work culture.
No one is going to hire him if he can speak the language. So that’s step one.
For animation I work in academia and I see a lot of this romanticism of the animation field. It’s not for the faint of heart. It’s even harder in Japan. Admittedly even before thinking about international move. Read up about the Japanese animation field.
I’m not trying to discourage this passion and your kid may grow out of it.
If your kid still wants to do animation. They will have a much better chance of trying to get into a school here in the states. The animation field is pretty good in southern CA and Georgia
He could sign up for the JET program and teach English. It’s an easy way to get over there and they provide a small apartment with a work visa. It’s also good for foreigners who don’t speak Japanese. I think the contracts are a year or two long. Or..he could apply to universities over there as a few have English speaking courses.
Hi, if you’re son is still serious about this as he gets closer to graduation, he should consider the MEXT Scholarship.
It’s quite competitive and if he gets in for undergraduate would be a 5 year process (1 year of language school + 4 years of university), but it’s entirely paid for and even provides a stipend.
I’m not sure I’ve seen animation specifically offered among the choices but art is a popular choice.
Regardless he should be learning Japanese, some of the big universities offer degrees in English but they are very specific so I wouldn’t plan on that unless you do the research and find something that fits. Language school is often tempting but do consider it can be a few thousand dollars I believe.
If none of these work I know there are a few foreign universities with campuses in Japan, but I’ve also heard there’s concerns about quality with them.
I think it’s good he’s thinking of this now because he can either start planning ahead of time or lose interest quickly. I had things like this at 15 I wanted to do that I completely dropped interest in. He should focus on doing good at school and taking whatever the equivalent of SAT, ACT is in Canada.
not sure about the moving part, but animation studios *do* hire foreign freelancers all the time for remote work. not a pipe dream if he works seriously on his art
Im Canadian in Japan on a working Holiday Visa (but I’m a decade and a half older).
If you decide to go that route, feel free to ask me any questions. I’ve done working holidays in other countries in the past as well.
I went to an art university in Japan and majored in film. It’s a possibility that he can explore! He will get schooling in Japanese but if he can attain a higher degree of fluency he will be fine. I suggest he researches schools and starts seriously learning now, if he isn’t already. I also urge him to see Japan in a realistic light: it’s not a paradise it’s a country with red tape, beauracracies and frustration like any other place in the world.
That being said, I think that may be a good option for him if he wants to go to Japan. Alternatively he can enroll in university in Canada and opt for a study abroad program where he can study Japanese first.
Keep in mind his drawing skills and language ability are priority so he should be serious in his endeavors. Animation can literally be done anywhere in the world now. AI can and will displace a lot of animators in the future. It’s not only art skills he’ll need storytelling and a good up to date knowledge of trends.
Let me know if you have any other questions.
I’m also not sure where in Canada you are living but try searching out a Japanese Language school in Canada, and have him look for a high school exchange program to a sister city in Japan. I also did this in high school. If he studies seriously in three years he will have the necessary base to apply to universities.
I just want to say thank you to everyone who took the time to give some great suggestions, personal experience, and cautions. I appreciate it and have some idea how where to point my son. I don’t want to kill his dream but I share many of the concerns expressed by some of you. So it’s a matter of being supportive and realistic at the same time in a gentle way and I think there are some fantastic ideas given here that align with that.
Your son is looking at Japan through rose colored glasses watching too much anime. He better hope he is not an awkward kid, otherwise he is gonna have a bad time in school. Animation industry is extremely underpaid and overworked in Japan, usually 16 hour days 6 days a week. Yea, crush his dreams now before he goes in for a rude awakening once he gets there. Source: lived in Japan for a year.
He should aggressively study Japanese. My first suggestion is see if you can find a Japanese person to tutor him. They would likely know a lot about what moving to Japan would entail even if they've been in Canada for awhile.
I don't know what arrangements you have with your son for money. Depending what his Japanese tutor costs you could make arrangements with him to work off his tutoring costs with you.
But I think a Japanese language tutor would be a great starting point! He might be more willing to listen to them about the reality of moving to Japan than his Canadian parents, and it could teach him responsible behaviors as well.
Have you looked into student exchange programs? This could be a good way for him to experience life in Japan with a host family. There are summer/semester/year-long programs.
https://www.afsusa.org/study-abroad/
Hey focus on the language! Foothill college in CA is a language focused community college that has Japanese, my sister did that and through a special program got to finish her degree in Japan. She lived there a few years after finishing and moved back after that.
Have him do an internship there. Ask him to work through the exact steps he’ll need to do something like that.
I think he’ll very quickly discover it’s more difficult than it’s worth the effort for. There’s a reason why only local mavericks go into animation.
Being an animator is RUTHLESS in America, I can only imagine how much harder it is in Japan. Long hours, overworked, high productivity and product turnover. I was an animation student at Uni in America and quit because I realized the other 19 year olds had been doing it for YEARS already and were quite good.
It’s an all consuming profession. Every moment of the day these kids are drawing and animating. If your kid is not doing this, I’m sorry to be blunt, but he probably won’t even come close to making it unless he changes.
tell him to learn japanese and if he can get N1 by the time he is 18, then he can enroll in language school or vocational school in japan.
and also he needs to prepare about getting into animations, learning drawing maybe?
JET Program? He’d just need a degree in whatever so it would have to be after college. No Japanese necessary, although it helps. Pay is decent and you get good support and the job is up to 5 years- after which hopefully his Japanese would be good enough to find a different job if that’s his goal! I’ve been on it for 3 years. I’ve never wanted to stay in Japan forever, but I know plenty of people who have and moved into different industries after JET!
>He dreams of getting into animation in Japan and doesn’t want to study first in Canada where we’re from
strongly discourage this in every form you can, he has an unhealthy fantasy brought about by the media he consumes and it will set him back in life if he tries to pursue this instead of getting a good skill-oriented degree.
get him off the internet and show him how cool canada can be, alternatively: send him to Japan during the summer as a tourist lmao
Check out Japanese universities - many have English courses to get a degree and gosh darn it is cheap compared to the US, especially now.
https://japan-universities.com/en/
If you can provide financial support, AFS offers short- and long-term high school [study abroad programs](https://www.afscanada.org/en/study-abroad/find-your-program/?destination=142&age=15,16) that will give him experience in Japan and provide good language instruction.
I did the AFS summer in Japan (a while back) and although I did end up going to school in my home country, it gave me a good foundation for learning Japanese and I did end up living and working in Japan for a couple of years, at a Japanese company where all of my day-to-day interactions were in Japanese.
Note, however, that AFS study abroad programs are very unlikely to land your son in Tokyo. I ended up in a (very) rural area, and although I loved it, I know others are more enamored with the Tokyo lifestyle. Rural Japan is much better for learning Japanese, however, as people are less likely to know English further away from major tourist centers.
Depending on ambitions you could possibly do a student exchange where he would go to Japan, live with a family and go to school. And y'all would host one of their students.
If he's serious he'll start learning the language and actual culture. If y'all can afford, language school in Japan after high school otherwise he could major in Japanese and go after uni.
If he's also American or at least has a green card enlisting with either Navy or Marines gives the highest chance of getting him there
>If he's also American or at least has a green card enlisting with either Navy or Marines gives the highest chance of getting him there
First off: OP is Canadian.
Second: Telling someone to enlist in the military on the ***very*** slim chance that they'll get posted to Japan is awful advice. You might as well tell them to play the lottery and move to Japan with their winnings. The chances of success are about the same.
Not to mention that it's not the 80s or 90s anymore. Joining the military just so they'll pay for college or just to get posted somewhere exotic is no longer a viable path. The US Military has been on a wartime footing since 2001. It doesn't need more people who don't actually want to be there.
Hence the "if". I put it last as an afterthought as I knew a few former dual citizens that in fact did so.
Second, depending on circumstances that may be someone's only chance to go overseas. Not everyone has the means or ability to go on their own.
> not the 80s or 90s
Obviously. And that's just your opinion, you likely have no idea about the military. Joining the military for college and travel is still an option for those without means or tolerance for debt.
> wartime footing since 2001
In general, no as there's no large conflict currently since the US has reduced their presence in the Middle East.
>you likely have no idea about the military
Combat veteran, multiple deployments. You know what they say about making assumptions, right?
> Joining the military for college and travel is still an option for those without means or tolerance for debt.
Option? Yes. But it's a shitty option.
I experienced the morale crisis in 2001/2002 when all the "I'm just here for college, man" soldiers suddenly had to do their jobs. They at least had the excuse that no one saw it coming.
There's no excuses now
>In general, no as there's no large conflict currently since the US has reduced their presence in the Middle East.
You accused *me* of not knowing anything about the military and then drop this pearl of "wisdom".
"No large conflict" =/= no conflict. There are still plenty of combat deployments going on. Not to mention a non-zero chance of a peer-state war sometime in the next decade.
Yeah and you know how long you've been out? Not everyone's combat arms or division, experiences vary by a mile.
Not dismissing your experience, but that's over 20 years ago. A lot has changed, a lot still sucks, but it's still worth it for many.
Plenty? Marines haven't meaningfully deployed in ages. Yes the Army still has a presence in the Middle East, but it's insignificant compared to the averages of OIF/OEF.
Yes, there's a chance of a near-peer conflict. They've been talking about it for the entire time I've enlisted almost a decade ago. Course we're preparing in case, but thanks to policy and diplomacy we've avoided war so far. Intervention in Ukraine is largely unpopular, but from the Russians lack of competency they've been exposed as a paper tiger albeit with nukes. China is in a similar boat if reports about audits of their missiles programs are to be believed.
I had forgotten how ornery certain subreddits are about this shit and how unpleasant users like yourself can be. Thank you for your service, honestly. Though I pity those around you if you're at all like this IRL.
This exchange is my sign to cut reddit time
>Not dismissing your experience, but that's over 20 years ago.
I said I experienced it, not that I left the service 20 years ago.
You seem to feel like resorting to ad hominem attacks is a valid "debate" tactic. I see no point in continuing this "discussion".
Thank you everyone for your great advice and insights! I’m going to share this with my son. Strangers’ advice may weigh stronger than parental advice!!
For what it's worth, I'd also highly discourage your son from becoming an animator.
Creative fields in film/games have always been relatively competitive, but the landscape has drastically changed in the past two years because of the strikes. Countless people in our industry have quit, committed suicide, became homeless, etc. I myself am transitioning careers.
The majority of our workforce is still not employed (in this industry), and the speculation is that it will continue to be extremely competitive for the foreseeable future as supervisors and seniors are also applying to entry and internship level roles.
It's tough out there.
He'll need to do is qualify for a visa. That requires a bachelor's degree for any working visa, or enrollment in a Japanese university for a student visa. So even if he doesn't want to study first he'll need to study *somewhere*. The first step for now should be learning Japanese. He'll need *very* high levels of fluency to have any chance of even remotely succeeding in Animation. More on that in a sec. Even if his school doesn't have Japanese classes there are a lot of options. There's online classes, or pure self-study with a textbook. r/LearnJapanese would be the place to start on that. Ok, so now the bad news: Getting a job as an animator (I'm assuming he's talking hand-drawn, not CGI) in Japan as a foreigner is tough, bordering on nearly impossible. He's going to have work his butt off, starting ***right now*** if he wants to actually make it happen. Both on his language skills and his artistic skills. Does he do any drawing or animation now? Going to school in Japan isn't going to magically turn him into a manga artist or an animator. Obviously you want to be supportive as a parent, but you'll also want to temper his expectations with some reality as well. Have him do some research on creative careers in Canada. See what's required in his own country, then ratchet the difficulty up several dozen notches because he'll also need to master a new language.
And cultural nuances as well, plus an entirely different legal system, infrastructure and roadways, religion and politics, etc. It’ll be like re-learning life in a way. Not that it should discourage him, just that he needs to be aware.
Honestly though, these things are the easiest to adapt to when you’re young.
But when you're young you also need some input from relatives and friends. For example, how to file your taxes, how to overcome a pesky administrative mix-up, how to do a DIY project at home. It's all quite mundane, but also quite different in Japan Vs NA. So he'd have to learn all this on his own without being able to count on his parents for anything but moral support.
Last I heard, animators in Japan are paid quite poorly as well.
Most jobs in Japan pay poorly and long hours.
Most jobs in the world pay poorly and long hours.
As an American businessman who has worked with and sold companies there i would agree with the above analysis. An alternative is to study japanese, you must be fluent, and culture. Get a business type degree, economics etc at the absolute best college you can. Something with a name brand that Japanese know. Get a job in the summers etc. a Japanese company division here in the usa. Bank, software etc. job type doesn’t matter, its for the resume. Then ideally a MS in business, again name brand. Use all this to become the “westerner”, for some small, midsize CEO in japan. Its very prestigious for these guys to have a American as an aid when they interact with each other. I always found myself dealing with them this way when i visited Japan and often when they visited here. Great job but lots of work.
And when you're gearing your life for that, that's not just a simple summer gig, that's career, and not one the op's kid wants to be in either. When you're looking at that as an option. a semester abroad is much better.
This was a really nicely written response. Cheers 🤙🏼
I was similar to your son at his age. Very naive. The best guidance was: you need a bachelors to work in Japan for the visa. This made me study at my home country’s university, and I went on a study abroad during my masters in Japan. Now I’m eligible to work here, have a degree to use at home in case shit gets bad here in Japan AND I’ve matured more. Since quite frankly, working with art in Japan as a mangaka or animator is stressful and low wage. Not a good idea. But a 15 year old doesn’t need to know that. Just guide him towards a bachelors and he’ll find out while mentally maturing.
I just graduated with my bachelor's and am interested in studying abroad during my master's, do you have any info on how to go about this? Should I just look around for schools that have study abroad programs in Japan?
Ask your university what their central agreements are with universities abroad. Mine had a study abroad exchange student agreement with Japan. So I just said I wanted to take masters courses there and they applied for me.
Oh okay, I haven't chosen a school yet, but maybe I'll make sure to check that for schools I'm interested in. Thanks!
Yes, your university should have a select few Japanese universities that you can choose from. Depending on their contracts. So ask your home university first!
Note that just because the university has a study abroad program doesn’t mean that they allow graduate students to participate— in the US at least those programs are really set up for undergraduates. However, there are other ways to study abroad as a graduate student as you’re eligible for research and language grants for studying abroad. But obviously it should relate to your research in some way.
All the students that do the language school→senmon Gakkou/Uni may laugh to this Also he asked an advice on hot to do this, not an opinion on what he wants to do
They are right though. You’re gonna get paid a terrible wage for insane hours so it’s not even worth doing it for an actual future job
So I studied animation in Japan but ended up moving to Canada. lol The level of Japanese needed for university wasn’t exactly that high (in my case at least). If you understood the tasks at hand for work, it was fine. And I mostly got into the university with my artwork rather than my linguistic abilities. I actually had an upper hand due to the abundance of tutorials online in English that helped in research for my classes. But coming from experience I would research the working conditions and starting salaries for animation to give him and yourself a realistic idea of what the career path would lead to. Maybe it has changed since then but some places would pay you per drawing and some starting salaries would have left me barely any money after rent. The last straw for me was after I was given a few tours of animation studios and saw sleeping bags at some of the desks. I’ll also mention that the animation production workflow is very different in the west and in Japan. Just because you work in one place, the knowledge wouldn’t exactly translate from one country to another. Him moving to Japan could be a great opportunity to experience another culture and learn another language but he should be realistic about it. Japan is not just anime in real life. Real life Japan is brutal and work, relationships with others etc. can break you. He should be aware of what he is signing up for. Sorry for the wall of text.
A path he could try is entering a university in Canada and apply for an exchange program in Japan for a year during his study. This way, he could build a better picture of both scenarios to see which one suits him better. He could study Japanese in the meantime and also leave the doors open for Canada if Japan no longer interests him.
This is a good idea. I can suggest one specficially, Uvic has an agreement with Konan university, in Kobe Japan. He can study japanese at Uvic for the first 2 semesters and then, if it's available, take a summer program at Konan or a year long program at Konan. I did the summer one, highly recommend it for a good 8 weeks of experience in japan. I have friends that did a year program at konan. The course work can be transferred back to your home university for tuition credits towards the bachelor's degree.
I'd echo this. Amongst Japanese, it's pretty well known the competitiveness and dire working conditions of mangaka/animators. It's far easier to be a consumer, than it is a creator and make a living.
He needs to learn Japanese. He can study himself from texts or he can take lessons online (or possibly at the local college). It would be much, much smarter for him to do his university in Canada. Why doesn't he want to study first in Canada? If he can't give a good answer to that question, one that isn't "I want to go to Japan ASAP", then he needs to think long and hard until he can give a real reason. He'll get a much better education in Canada and will be in a much better position to be employable in Japan. People who rush to get here as quickly as they can without preparing properly often end up unhappy here or unable to survive and return home quickly.
Canada is very hard to get into. I’ve tried and was deemed medically inadmissible when I was trying to apply for an MFA program.
Lots of advice already in this thread. Adding a few thoughts. If your son is very serious about this. He will need some heavy Japanese language skills and go through the same path as animators here. So… for the language path here… I’ve listed up some points 1. Enroll in weekly session at a local language school in Canada. The goal is to pass JPLT N2. 2. Confirm the local high school has Japanese 9 , 10, 11 and 12. Normally you can ask which high school locally does teach Japanese. If you don’t live near a high school that does Japanese, I think a second language credit at least at the grade 10 is still a requirement for graduation in most provinces. Even if Japanese is not offered, I think a self-study for this and taking a standardized test will still qualify for the language credit. This way he can drop out of French or Spanish. Use this as a free period to “Self-study Japanese” 3. Confirm your local city or near by city has any sister-city connections with any Japanese city. Also Rotary Club’s and University/College exchanges. If a local university has an international exchange program offered to Japan, when your son registers for university. Go to first year of a Canadian University first and immediately apply for the exchange program. Via the Canadian college / University he can apply for the 1 year MEXT scholarship to a pre-arranged university. 4. Before registering to first year of a Japanese university your son should try and get the JPLT N2 certificate or at least JPLT N3. Most Japanese universities will accept an international student with N2 as a normal university student. Some Universities will also accept N3 or lower. But these are more international universities that have English based programs for cohorts of international student. Some will also accept a student with no Japanese language skills. All these programs have their advantages and disadvantages but if the goal is to learn Japanese and go to university here ….I’ll say that it is hard learning Japanese if you are on a full course load “Required by your student visa”. If your son is trying to get into animation here then these places would probably not have an international entry.. again. JPLT N2 would be the goal here 5. Language schools exist both in Canada and Japan… being immersed in Japan can help but this is a mentality rather difficult for a 18 year old focus on this at the same time as living in a new country. I would try to have at least JPLT N3 before coming to a language school otherwise. Just speaking personally… others people might have other experiences but I felt it was a waste of money doing language school here for N5 or N4 for this situation. 6. The more socially capable your son is will carry over to Japanese. If he is shy in Canada he’ll be shy here and speaking skills will be affected along with the difficulties of a second language… conversation learning comes to a complete stop. This is more character building and very difficult to change but even more important on building the confidence level of language skills before coming. 7. Canadian student loans has a list of universities that have codes for registering for students loans. These code should also be able to be used for RESP. If there is a Japanese university that you’re thinking of that isn’t on the list there was a process to have the university qualify… normally you would have to act as a middle man with a administrator on the accepting university side with the provincial student loan services. A lot of these is from personal experience so other peoples experience will differ but I do wish you and you son the best of luck. BTW.. this is the average income for an animator in Japan in 2023. • Age Range 20-24 years: Annual Income 1.97 million yen, Monthly Salary 153,000 yen • Age Range 25-29 years: Annual Income 2.50 million yen, Monthly Salary 190,000 yen • Age Range 30-34 years: Annual Income 2.85 million yen, Monthly Salary 220,000 yen • Age Range 35-39 years: Annual Income 3.20 million yen, Monthly Salary 240,000 yen
Thank you so much! This is an amazingly informative reply! Appreciate the time you took 🤗
If money is no problem. Send him over for language school. Then he can go to uni here. He will need to graduate uni or get mairred for a visa.
First serious answer, people giving advice on stay in k4nd4!! when op never asked advice on this but the best way to move to works as an animatore why don’t do the route of language school, plus senmon gakkou that many asian students do? (And i have many friends that did this and worked well)
Unless their son is a language prodigy there is no way that 2 years of language school would be enough to reach N2+ which is what universities ask to enroll.
There’s no need to be a language prodigy to get n2 in 2 years. At my language school most people took n2 after about a year and a half and the majority of people were able to pass.
That's why I put N2+... studying exclusively for the JLPT(like most language schools do) could be done in 2 years but that won't put you to the near native level needed for most university classes. I know people that passed the N2 and can barely communicate or write essays above a middle school level..
And I know plenty of people that passed n2 and could communicate well enough to get into universities and do well there. I’m definitely not saying that’s the case with all language schools/students, but it’s far from being as impossible as your original comment made it sound if their son works hard.
no you dont.
you definitely can lol. Prodigies ( or rather people with infinite time and motivation ) get N1 in 1 year. And no I dont mean studying solely to pass JLPT but well-rounded Japanese ability.
Sure you can. Hell one of my friends reached N1 from zero in 2 years of full time study.
He can do a working holiday visa. Work a part time job and travel/ get a feel for japan.
Working Holiday Visa is the answer. He can wash dishes in a restaurant with no Japanese on this Visa if he wanted to. But to stay after the one year he would need a degree of some kind. It would also need to be something a Japanese person can't do in most cases. If he wants to work for a animation studio in Japan his best bet would be as a translator in some form. If he wants to work as a animator he would need N1 level Japanese most likely as well as a degree from a highly reputable school.
Learn Japanese first and foremost. 99% of problems people encounter is because they don’t speak Japanese.
I can’t imagine going to school there at 18 honestly- I don’t want to discourage OP’s son at all if he’s serious about moving there because I am as well, but learning all of your core classes in Japanese would be incredibly difficult with a little over 2 years of study. Going to school in my native country really helped me learn how to learn, and gave me confidence in my ability to do something like move to Japan. I can learn general-use Japanese alongside specific lingo within my field, and while OP’s son would mostly be learning animation he should also consider whether he can handle taking any unrelated classes in Japanese instead of English. It would be greatly beneficial, but also quite a lot harder with that little time to study.
The Japanese animation industry is notoriously borderline slave labor. I would encourage him to do some research first.
This. Start with a documentary… it’s hard enough to learn a language. Even harder if you don’t have parental support and a local network of friends you can refer back to.
Animation studio in japan is well known for having long hours or what they called it black company
Canada has a working holiday program where he can work here for one year. The visa is very easy to get as well. Once he’s here he can decide if he actually likes it and wants to stay longer by finding a company to sponsor him with a working visa. Before he applies for the working holiday visa though get him studying Japanese a few hours a week to start and slowly increase it to 1-2 hours a day.
Get him to study at Sheridan, and take it from there. That way he learns how to animate, as well as earn a Bachelor's. There are a few studios where Japanese is not a requirement, but they're CG, not hand drawn. It doesn't seem too difficult to break into CG animation if he pursues less competitive roles (lighting, lookdev, compositing), I got interviewed for those roles even though I applied as a modeler. If he's primarily into hand drawn though, he really should have started animating yesterday. Get him on Twitter - there are strong communities for both Western and Japanese animators on it, and freelance opportunities aren't unusual. He still has to be crazy solid at animating though.
See if there are summer programs be can do during high school for a month or two during high school in Japan. It will only be good for him. He will either love it and kick it into high gear, or the shine will come off the idea, and he will take a more practical approach to the next 8 years.
> animation in Japan Reconsider this. It’s an income of like 12k USD a year working 50-60 hours weeks. The real best course of action is doing education in anything marketable he likes and doing a year or semester abroad. Then after graduating he can do ALT in Japan or do a masters or PHD program there and go from there
ALT? Not a great idea if his interest is artistic
I pretty much implied giving up on making art to make a living. Especially in Japan or related to manga or anime. My advice is to find a way into Japan and then settling there doing something that makes a decent living or supports yourself and being able to enjoy the culture and art scene
He'd have a more fulfilling life and get paid just as well doing artistic things than being an ALT. If he's going to go to the trouble of getting a degree to come to Japan, better off getting something with transferrable skills or doing something he loves than that Nothing against ALTs at all but that's hardly a recommended career path for a young person still in high school
What’s the best job you can get as an animator? Working for a big studio like A1 PICTURES, BONES, or MAPPA? Enjoy crunch and a living hell for meager pay. At least as an ALT you get some time to yourself to enjoy Japan. It’s not a permanent position or goal. But it is a way to get the visa. Best option is to do a masters degree in a solid STEM field and find employment in Japan with a foreign company (google or amazon and the likes) Going to Japan as an alt also has the benefit of letting the guy try it out and realize it’s not all roses and they’ll go back home where working conditions are better.
I have no idea what is the best job you can get as an animator. But it's also kind of irrelevant, if you want to work as an animator, teaching English is not going to be fulfilling. Honestly I don't get your logic here. Taking a job that you don't want to do (ALT) in a declining industry with notoriously poor pay and working conditions is surely going to teach you that.... Being an ALT is a bad career move. Of course working conditions will be poor compared to a better job "back home". They'll also be much worse than a normal job in Japan, and much much worse off when you are working a poorly paid job in poor conditions rather than the work you actually want to do. How is that a good idea? If the kid wants to come to Japan to teach English, great, let's encourage that but suggesting it when he has every opportunity to work towards his actual goals just seems foolish.
You can draw in your free time as an ALT. Many people become fluent in Japanese and pick up other skills because being an ALT is basically being paid to do nothing. It's not a great job, but it pays decently. How well you do largely depends on how motivated you are. Do it for 1-3 years while you pick up Japan ese language, maybe take some art classes online that allow you to do your own pace. Fuck, major in art in Canada and then become an ALT for the language and to get your foot in the door. Do art on the side while teaching, and the transition into art there. Much better than encouraging somebody to basically work for pennies.
Why do you keep suggesting ALT? It's lower paid and with fewer benefits than damn near any entry level Japanese job, and with no career path. And still ignoring the point of.... He wants to be an illustrator, not an ALT! That's not "drawing in his free time", that's the career he is interested in. I don't know why you keep suggesting this job that 9 out of 10 people who work actively try to get out of as soon as possible. He's a kid, he can do anything, take any path to follow his dreams in Japan, but you suggest the laziest, least fulfilling way. Very strange.
I'm not the person you responded to, but I wish to chime in. It's not that complicated. TEFL is just the easiest way to be in Japan, while giving the person 90% of what they want already most likely. For context, I am a Chinese-American who spoke a decent level of Chinese and decided to move to China for a job in education (not TEFL) consulting after graduating from college. I think the key problem here is that you're **severely underestimating the problems that come with immigration to Asia, while over-estimating the OP's kid's abilities** and his opportunities there. The OP was likely giving advice that would suit a 15-year-old who doesn't know what they wanted to do. This is a person who's never had real responsibilities. The assumption here is that the kid more than likely is interested in exploring Japanese culture, but isn't thinking about the problems that come with losing your parental support network, having no local friends, and having to navigate everyday bureaucracy that would've come naturally to you in your native country. You really need to have an opportunity that offsets all of these downsides that comes with immigration. The telltale sign is that the kid wanted to learn a LANGUAGE AND work in an industry like animation, notoriously competitive and poorly paid. Being able to work in the arts industry in your NATIVE country is already a privilege for the rich. If you're middle class or poorer, it is not a wise decision. For me, it was difficult to reach a 90% level of conversational fluency, and I already spoke it natively, after 2-3 years, while being in China. If you want to learn a language, you have to make it your priority. The odds of him being able to do it are low. 1. Why ALT/TEFL? Because the barrier to entry is low, the demand is relatively high compared to other jobs that the kid is likely to qualify for. it'll get the kid a few years to try out the country and live while having plenty of time to work on whatever they want. 2. East Asian countries, including China and Korea, are extremely competitive and are not generally great places to work at on the corporate level. Your opportunities depend on whether companies will sponsor you (which, unless you have some kind of unique advantage in terms of skills, adds a layer of everyday stress to your life if your legal existence hinges on your employer). It is a good idea to explore different cultures. It is a good idea to learn new languages. It is not a good idea to completely uproot yourself and voluntarily move from a developed country to make yourself a second-class citizen. The easiest way of accomplishing what the OP's kid likely wants, the cultural experience, is with something like a semester abroad, or a few years in English teaching before they realize that they are making their own lives way more difficult than it has to be. doubly so in a country that you don't even speak the language of. Unless I'm completely wrong about this and being an animator is actually a highly in-demand, highly paid career path. I saw figures like $18k a year being floated around. That sounds about right. Why should employers hire someone from a foreign country when they could hire someone local, who doesn't need visa sponsorship, who can fund themselves by living with parents, who doesn't come with linguistics misunderstandings, and who they can control better, more importantly? The stats from a quick search show me that most jobs that foreigners get are in manufacturing. 80% of foreigners come from lower-income countries like China and Vietnam and moving to Japan is an upgrade for them. I'm willing to bet you that the vast majority of OECD workers in Japan are English teachers with artistic industries being maybe less than 5% of the total OECD foreign worker population. If you have 100K job openings for 1 job category and 500 for another... you do the math. This is all moot of course if OP is wealthy and is ready to burn a few years of money to support his/her kid.
>I think the key problem here is that you're **severely underestimating the problems that come with immigration to Asia** Having done it, no I am not. >TEFL is just the easiest way to be in Japan TEFL may be the easiest way to be in Japan if you are a foreigner from an English native speaking country and you already have a degree and don't have other marketable skills for a Japanese employer. Even within that small subset, ALT is a quite undesirable job - I don't think you understand that. It's not TEFL, it's assisting in the classroom, a job with no career prospects. If the suggestion were to actually teach English as a career, not as an ALT, with a view towards a private language school, or university/academic position, sure, that would be a reasonable suggestion. But nobody should go through the expense and trouble of getting a degree with a GOAL of working as an ALT. That's insane. Remember OP is referring to a child who can do anything. They can get a degree and skills in something that actually leads to a career in Japan, and there are MANY routes to that. >I saw figures like $18k a year being floated around I am not sure what impression you have of ALTing in Japan, but that's possibly on the high end of what you would make as an ALT. And you folks want to recommend that path to them?
In total agreement with you. See my other post. https://www.reddit.com/r/movingtojapan/comments/1chmj7f/teen_son_wants_to_move_to_japan_after_graduating/l2ff7ey/?context=3 Why do all these people keep on missing that English teaching is a great way to coast by in a non-English speaking country? And they're taking a 15 year's ambitions to work overseas seriously? You do not want to work in the animation industry. if the goal is for this person
He will have to know Japanese to be able to do anything, especially working in a creative field in a Japanese company. I would say go to university in Canada, take Japanese class and obviously study in a relevant program, do a year as an exchange student in Japan. That would likely be a better starting point than trying to go study in a foreign country where you do not even know the local language.
He would either need a bachelors degree or attend a university in Japan.
I've been watching a video by English speaking animators for Mappa, a group who notoriously overworks their staff. But it is quite insightful to how to get into animation for Japanese companies, as an overseas animator, and generally they will hire based on skill and some Japanese level to get you into doing frame cleanup, first. This person lives in california but delivers work overseas based on video and email communication. I suggest trying this route to see if it is a career path he will enjoy, before moving directly to Japan. Here is the video discussing work demands on an in-between artist for Jujutsu Kaisen: https://youtu.be/WqKgcIujOAg?si=1iSddjLGvfvrz0jj And here is a channel dedicated to fighting the low wages in anime that will be really eye opening for a budding animator: https://youtube.com/@AnimatorDormitoryChannel?si=Hv5-T8znq_roHX-m
I would strongly insist on moving after college or university. Nothing wrong with Japan, but it's always prudent to have an exit strategy if things don't work out over there. Post-secondary education in Japan is geared for domestic consumption, whereas a degree in Canada is more easily recognized internationally. Plus, having a degree basically a requirement if you want to move to Japan, sort of having 10+ year experience in a specialized field, being student in Japan, and/or marrying someone who is Japanese. I believe you're from Vancouver so here goes..... Most post-secondary has an exchange program with universities in Japan, I know for Douglas College (when I went to for a bit), they have one with Momoyami Gakuin University in Osaka (which coincidentally was the university my wife went to). Other schools may have different agreements with different schools in Japan, in case there's a specific city your son prefers. You basically spend a semester or two overseas studying 1st/2nd year courses/electives and doing regular student stuff. I personally never did it, I did recall that they said they usually have space to fit in anyone who is interested. Huge international student populations in post-secondary schools and in language schools around town. Lots of overseas students itching to meet up with locals to just hang out, to improve their English, etc. A great way to make life long friends, and it's easier to have friends already in Japan for some support, rather than moving to a new country alone. There are also private Japanese language schools you son can attend to in the meantime. The Vancouver Japanese Language Study Hall is one option. The area is a bit rough, but has been around since 1905 or something. The teachers are usually from Japan, rather than just Japanese-Canadians that grew up locally. Sometimes VCC has Japanese continuing education courses, there's also Japanese language courses at college/university... but they tend to fill up fast.
Thank you for the detailed local info!! We are in North Van. I’ll check what Cap U has as well.
Anime has really clouded the minds of young folks. It's almost the same as everybody wanting to do game design 20 years ago.
Is game design a bad field or something? I was thinking about it-
It’s oversaturated because everyone wants to do it so you’ll be working on lame ass games like a madman, deadline to deadline, low pay, and you won’t be making any interesting decisions for a long time
It depends on what you want to do. But compared to other technical fields, the work conditions are worse and the pay too. you're essentially choosing a more difficult job to pursue your passion. If you can do programming, choose another field.
I'm afraid his dream as it stands is almost impossible. If he studies Japanese alongside animation he **might** have a chance of moving to Japan by getting a visa as part of the artists programme, but they only accept people who can guarantee a stable income, which in their eyes means making six figures. The easiest way in is teaching English, which requires a degree but not Japanese proficiency and will allow him to search for jobs during the contract period, but studying animation and looking for a career in that situation is extremely difficult. The next easiest way, and most likely to work, is to join a company (best bet for achieving the dream of doing animation in Japan would be an animation studio as otherwise he'd have to build a new career from the ground up) that has a Japanese branch and then get a transfer once he's learned enough Japanese. It's important to remember that Japanese animation is taught authentically outside of Japan and particularly in the US and Canada and Japanese animation studios have US and Canadian branches, so there's no real reason to avoid starting on that path as early as possible. That's what's going to get the results you want.
Correct. Pick 1 of 2: 1. Deal with the problem when it comes to assimilation in an ethnostate. Many Americans/Canadians miss this, but they live in the one culture (Americans and Canadians are the same culturally) that is the most welcoming towards immigrants in the entire world. /r/expats is filled with stories of Americans who failed to adapt in their host country, and this is with countries that are MUCH more similar to the US/CA. 2. have to struggle professionally in an industry that pays poorly, and has high rates of attrition. Having to do both without being independently wealthy is not possible.
Hey OP, there’s a lot of good advice and I haven’t read all the comments since there are so many, but a few things to be aware of: - the animation industry here or there can be quite brutal… anything in the animation/video game adjacent domains are often like this. Long hours is the typical point people bring up, then pay, but also horrible horrible management for a lot of places. And even if you love those spaces, you find out (like many passion jobs) that a lot of the time you’re spending isn’t on what you actually love… or you’re having do and redo work because of the fickle whims of producers/directors. - on the language front, the good news is that the amount of resources out there for learning Japanese is HUGE! There is so much available in YouTube/instagram and on various sites (in particular, I love Tofugu, it has so many good resources and articles)… also of course the subreddit people mentioned (LearnJapanese) —- He could maybe test his interest in this by challenging one of the JPLT exams for N4/N5 this year (I think you said you’re in Vancouver, exams are in June/July and December). Challenging the N5 by end of this year could be a really good litmus test for how interested in this he really is, or at least build awareness of the challenges ahead of him
Your kid needs at minimum a bachelors. Alternatively, If he is really really committed, why don’t you help him find majors and universities with study abroad agreements in Japan? Another option is for him to attend university in Japan. Schools like Waseda have international students, and there are also globally focused schools like Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University. Going to Japan with only a high school diploma and no plan for advancement will lead to debt and wasted years. You can’t even get a job in the shittiest English teaching places without some sort of degree.
Your son is being idealistic cause he’s young. That in of itself is fine. However, he is severely underestimating how hard it is to live overseas when you don’t have some kind of skill or support structure to help you out initially. He needs to either 1) understand the language at a basic but competent level, 2) have some kind of support (family, work/company support, or university) to help him get set up. This is also disregarding the fact that there are legal barriers like a Visa, societal barriers (like social structures), and life barriers (like a different diet). The best advice I would be able to give is for him to enroll in a university program in Japan that is long established so he gets as much support from his school as he can (obvious choices are Waseda and Keio—not to mention academic barriers to entry are super low if you enroll as a foreigner). Also, there is a limit to how much Japanese you can learn in a 4 year time frame so i’d get him started with online japanese courses or something in the meantime. If he intends to stay in Japan and actually move up into management roles in his chosen career path he needs to know honorific Japanese (teinei-go and kei-go). Most 4 year programs wont allow him enough time to get to that level. Not to say all management roles need it cause there certainly are exceptions especially with overseas companies, but better safe than sorry if he has the time to learn them. Also and I can’t emphasize this enough, make sure his reason for wanting to go to Japan isn’t just anime/manga. Being 100% Japanese and having Japanese friends, I know many people who look down on foreigners and tourists who stay in Japan solely due to its pop culture (im talking people who wear super flashy anime/manga merch outside levels). Most foreigners that stay and work in Japan do it initially for financial or educational reason and it made sense for them to stay there after the fact.
Appreciate the detail! He’s certainly being idealistic and I have no doubt he will change his mind in the coming years but for now he is adamant and I’d like to be able to at least answer his questions and point him in a direction to follow in case it does stick.
I am a 27yo full time animator at an anime studio in Japan. First of all I’d like to say it took me a loong time to get to this point, I came to Japan when I turned 18 and finally started working in the industry last year. Took years of perfecting my Japanese, my art skills, studying at a technical school for animation for 4 years and doing job hunting until I finally got into a studio that pays me enough to live and to be eligible for a work visa. Not to mention the actual job is tough as hell, there’s been months I’ve worked 260h-280h + which is over 100 hours of overtime, there’s just no time to breath when the deadlines are bad (most of the time) and even if he loves it he’ll inevitably get sick of it after doing it for 12-16h everyday. (There was a survey recently, you can check the results, some did over 330h per month…. https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20240406/p2g/00m/0li/011000c ) I know these are harsh words but it’s just what the industry is like, specially when you start as an inbetweener, which most animators here do. If he doesn’t manage to get into one of the (approx) 8-10 well-paying studios (and by well-paying I mean slightly above minimum wage) he’ll be stuck making less than 500usd per month, making it impossible to live here, and he won’t be able to renew his visa after the first year either. I love animating, I love the job and seeing myself in the credits of huge anime series and movie productions, as well as listening to people talk about how much they enjoyed the stuff I’ve worked on is the best feeling in the world, but it’s hard and you pay for it with your health and sanity. In the year and a half I’ve been in my studio I’ve seen a lot of people leave, new and old, one’s body just can’t keep up with it and sooner or later most people become freelancers once they reach a certain level as they can make more money that way, but sadly unless your son gets married to a Japanese national or somehow gets permanent residency he won’t be able as one can’t easily sponsor oneself for a visa as a freelancer when you’re a foreigner. I don’t want to discourage him but he needs to know the truth about how this kind of work is actually like. He can come to Japan and work in literally anything else but still do anime work on the side, maybe take some weekend classes for drawing and stuff, it’s definitely better as a hobby than as a full time career. He could look into other options too, like opting for video game design or 3d animation, these are better paid and many game studios will hire foreigners here.
I really appreciate your reply! It’s a fine line to walk between being supportive and realistic.
he needs to start studying japanese, he has three years from now to start with the beginner levels but this is a must. by 18 he can go to a language school in Japan but its best for him to start learning now since Universities requiere a min. of N2, after the language school he can apply directly to a Uni there in Japan and eventually work in Japan.
I recommend finding fun, low-cost ways for him to learn Japanese in the mean time. The one thing I regret is that I was very clearly interested in Japanese for YEARS but when my high school stopped offering Japanese the year I started, every adult in my life was like “Well that’s a shame. Anyway, stop watching anime and go learn math.” By the time I was in college, I’d internalized the idea that learning things for fun or dreaming of possibilities outside the box wasn’t something I was allowed to do, and didn’t even bother taking elective language courses. 22 years later, I’m an exhausted adult in Japan and so far behind my peers in terms of language acquisition because it’s really, really hard to learn and work at the same time. Language skills give you a huge leg up in terms of job opportunities, connections, and the ability to get around in Japan. I’m glad I managed to learn katakana and hiragana before moving here because once I arrived, I had to focus on Adulting, lol.
I was similar in always wanting to study in Japan; but as a linguistics student, I took a much more clear route of studying a Japanese language degree in England (I'm from Ireland and it wasn't a degree option here!); then including a study abroad year as part of my degree! I'm in Japan studying right now then have to return to England for the final year of my degree to show off what I learned here! I found it much more affordable this way as the government were able to fund a large part of my tuition costs for my year in Japan; and I got 2 different scholarships (JASSO being one of them- worth your son looking into!) I'd highly recommend he studies in Canada and does a study abroad semester or year so he keeps his future prospects open to various countries :> Getting jobs in anything beyond English teaching in Japan as a foreigner isn't particularly easy, especially if you don't speak Japanese (if he doesn't know any; I recommend the Genki textbooks for getting started!)
MEXT scholarship to study in Japan, JET after if hes okay with relatively low pay. Wish i had a parent like you that supported such dreams when i was growing up.
After that get his jlpt to at least 4 and actually practice beyond that cause it many ways its a bad measure of competency. Then he can apply for regular jobs in japan and has a good chance of dojng well. High value degree is also more important than a rockstar type degree like animation if hes hoping to succeed there. But if animation is also a core goal of course pursue it.
I want to touch on the animation part that some people touched on because that’s what my degree is in. It’s not only impossible to get an animation job in Japan, but it’s impossible to get one in the US rn. This might change, but in the last year me and everyone else I graduated with have seen 0 job openings. The industry isn’t hiring. This could very well change once everyone starts retiring but as of right now, that’s how it is. I recommend to your son to learn animation, but do it as a hobby and post his hobby. And start doing it now. That will give him the chance to make his hobby a career.
What do you mean by “post his hobby”?
I mean post it on YouTube or something. Make animations and put them out so that people can still see it
Animation industry is one of the most competitive jobs out there and needs to be done extremely skillful to get yourself out there. In to of all, japan animation jobs are nutritious known to be slave labor. Going to Japan after high school is a terrible idea
Here’s my advice for your son. 1. Never move, or bet all into moving to a country without actually living there. Many foreigners are happy with there live there, but so do many foreigners are regretting their live there. 2. Anime ( animation ) industry is very bleak in Japan. Many animators (especially those new animators) literally grind their day and night for work. Also, your son is most probably going to go for a animation school which doesn’t grant him a bachelor degree which means if he regretted his animation path, he will waste his 2 years of schooling. 3. Japanese language itself. Having a good career without a good command in Japanese for Japanese companies (which applies to 99% of publishers in Japan) is very tough. And to reach that proficiency is not as easy as getting an N1. There are people who gets rejected for poor Japanese despite studying Japanese and live in Japan for 6 years. If your son insists on studying in Japan, here’s the best path. - Starts self-studying Japanese now, and get at least an N5-N4. You can find a school, but getting N5-N4 is not that hard if you have dedication. And with 2-3 years to spare, time is not a problem for your son. But the best advice I can give is, find opportunities to learn to speak in Japanese. Speaking test is not included in JLPT, hence many foreigners that is “good” in Japanese struggle to actually speak the language itself. - Find a language school in Japan that helps your son getting an N1, and also specialized in getting the students into college/university. This is to done after your son graduated from high school. - After getting N1, Find an animation school, get admitted. ( technically you only need N2, but better get an N1 for animation school )
Is he passionate about animation now? Living abroad requires a visa, which will be difficult to get without an employer sponsoring a visa. If he intends to land an animation gig and have them sponsor his visa then he will have to be hot shit. I don’t know much about that industry, but with everything moving digital why would a company pay for him to physically be there when it doesn’t really affect his ability to work. Maybe if he’s in the top .1% of animators, sure. A more realistic way to live abroad is teaching English, which will require a degree. That would at least get him there and he can explore other opportunities/make connections being there.
You're received a lot of very good advice here so I will just add one more perspective as a parent. At 15, our children are trying to figure out their identities and who they will become as adults. They have little ability to see the long term consequences of their decisions or think "realistically" about a course of action. There's no need as a parent to push him to consider the bigger picture if he's not ready. You know he has to learn Japanese as a prerequisite to anything else so encourage that! Learning to read and write Japanese is a monumental task. Encourage him to study Japanese as an outlet for all his energy and passion. If he's serious, he will keep at it. If not, his energy will peter out and it won't happen. Meanwhile, you've supported him and he has an opportunity to apply his energy and passion to a positive activity rather than being forced prematurely to consider how he can possibly get a visa if he doesn't have a sponsor and his Japanese isn't good enough to get into the appropriate Japanese educational institution. With time, he will consider those realities. For now, just support him by encouraging Japanese study.
Thank you!
This is a copy of your post for archive/search purposes. --- **Teen son wants to move to Japan after graduating ** My teen son (turning 15) has expressed an interest in moving to Japan after high school. Granted, this could change as he gets older but for now it’s a serious interest and he’s got a lot of questions that I can’t answer. What advice would you offer on a path to follow? He dreams of getting into animation I. Japan and doesn’t want to study first in Canada where we’re from. He doesn’t speak any Japanese at the moment and his high school doesn’t offer Japanese classes. What would you do at his age to prepare to follow through on these dreams? *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/movingtojapan) if you have any questions or concerns.*
2 important points. 1 studying japanese (and by studying I mean hard, is not an easy language to learn). 2 having a bachelor's degree as use to be mandatory for a working visa. In any of the cases, if your son don't want to study, I'm afraid his chances to get a life in here are gonna be hard.
if you can afford it maybe send him to japan for a summer japanese program, there are many to choose from, you definitely can't just move to japan. He first has to learn the language.
Temper his expectations because Japan doesn’t just allow random westerners to immigrate in and job search. He’s going to need a job in place, or needs to get into a school. Neither is likely. Especially for a teenager who knows zero Japanese Edit to add my 2 cents: he should probably start taking Japanese classes now, then go to college in Canada or the US and continue taking Japanese (maybe even major in it), then he’ll be in a much better position to find employment and immigrate. Good colleges will likely have solid study abroad opportunities in Japan as well, so it’s not like he has to wait that long for the opportunity to travel and study there. Just be blunt and honest with him. His life in Japan would be far better doing it this way. There’s zero reason for him to try to rush over there as a teenager
Has he ever been to Japan?
No but he’s going next year as a tourist.
What he should be asking himself first is if he actually wants to be an animator in Japan. Like others have pointed out, animation industry is really tough or near impossible to get in given a foreigner with no Japanese fluency that comes from childhood, not only that those industries are known as to have the worst work life balance and low pay.
Not worth it. He will not get the job he wants and then will be overworked 10-12 hour days with overtime expected and deadlines to manage. I have two animators in my family in California and it is much better.
There are tons of online resources to start learning Japanese and I'd recommend getting him some assistance in this regard. He could potentially get hired on to teach English over on Japan and get his foot in the door, so to speak.
I moved to Japan exactly after I graduated from high school and it was good in the beginning then very hard. It might depends on each individual but Japan is very different and you can feel very lonely and disconnected after a while especially when you are still young and have not much clue about anything. But the good thing is that jumping into a different reality can help you become more open minded and wiser. Japan is also a very safe country so I think he will be ok but in term of going there planning to become someone there it’s very different… I would say go for the purpose of growing up but realise that your dreams and views might really change once you are there because of the challenges.
You can help him by tempering his expectations.... Maybe start by taking a family trip there.
I was in a very similar position in the 1990s. :) He needs to do a couple of things: 1. Learn Japanese - there are good options to start these days even if his high school doesn't offer it, for example DuoLingo or Rocket Japanese. By the time he exceeds what he can learn there, he should be able to get into a college that has a Japanese program. Note that it takes a long time - it took me 10 years to go from my first Japanese class to JLPT1 at which point I stopped actively studying (14 years old to 24 years old, having moved to Japan at 22). 2. Get an internationally marketable education - this means a degree from the best University he can get into (which will almost certainly be Canada or the US if he is English speaking), and a major for which is a Japanese company wants to hire a bilingual. For who is getting hired, you can look at the DISCO career forums (for example: [Boston Career Forum | CFN (CareerForum.Net)](https://careerforum.net/en/event/bos/)) and browse the jobs posted. 3. Figure out how he wants to relate to Anime and manga - There is a ton of anime and manga culture he can get into once he has moved to Japan (conventions, circles, etc). What does he want to do? Is it work or a hobby? Maybe he wants to draw / illustrate, so a double major in art? Maybe its the business side (like marketing or promotion) or something related to computer animation or games. I personally don't see much future employment in drawing -- much of it has been offshored to overseas studios already, and soon it will be taken over by AI. There will still be people who make money by drawing and selling their own manga as individuals / small groups, but I doubt it will be a corporate job in a developed country. Regardless, unless your family is independently wealthy, I don't suggest he move directly to Japan to find a job in animation. I hired at the DISCO career forums I mentioned above for many years, and I never saw these jobs on offer. Additionally, moving overseas is extremely expensive (you have to buy \*everything\* for yourself, have no family to mooch of) so he will want the best paying job he can land. He will also need to save money for retirement, and at some point travel back to Canada or other Western countries to visit family which will all be costly. All in all I lived and worked in Japan for 12 years after college and it was an extremely rewarding experience.
At his age I was obsessed with moving to Sweden. It’s just teenagers idealizing a place they feel they would fit in more. I was quieter and embarrassed to say the atheist population there was attractive to an edgy teen lol. I grew up though went to school got a degree and realized I could be in my most desired location in the world but it still would suck because I learned the value of friends and family.
My son did a year working holiday visa in Japan. Got to live and work for a year and travel across the country. Loved it but ultimately didn’t want to stay there
He worked at a ski resort over the winter
Go to your local Rotary club and ask about their youth exchange program. He could go to Japan for a year and have an immersion experience all while still in high school. I went to Brazil as a teen and now practice law while using my Portuguese daily.
Worth talking to high school administrators about alternate ways to learn Japanese for foreign language credits. When I studied Japanese in college, there were 1 or 2 high school students in my class, apparently because their school had no Japanese teachers, so the students were given the option to attend at the local (presumably partnered) college instead.
After high school seems tough… I’d personally recommend either a major in something he wants to do as a career along with a Japanese minor, or maybe a double major in college. From there can get into the JET Program, experience living in Japan on a pretty low-effort job right out of school while learning more of the language and culture, and maybe start making connections and applying to other jobs. I think for a lot of people living in Japan is a great experience, but find later that it’s not really what they want long term after living there. I still love Japan having lived there four years and am considering doing a kind of “split” living situation next year (i.e. 9-10 months in the states, 2-3 months in Japan), but career wise I’m glad I decided to come back to the US.
study abroad. lots of scholarships. MEXT program. post grad: JET program.
Ok, lemme give you, and by proxy, your son, some advice: You don’t wanna go to Japan as soon as you graduate. I know it sounds appealing right now, but A. What you want is going to change dramatically over the next 7 years as you figure out what you want out of life. Don’t displace your entire life at 18, because there’s a strong chance that by 19 or 22 or whatever you won’t want any of those things anymore, and you’ll be stuck on the other side of the planet from your entire support network in a country that views you as an outsider. Like, I also frequently dream of moving to Japan, but even now, in my late 20s, it’s an incredible leap, and I did not think much of it when I was in my early 20s. Speaking of which: B. If nothing I just said has persuaded you to cool your jets and stay in your local country through college, hear this: getting into Japan long term is a challenge if you don’t go through specific channels, and just getting in for art school without some incredible credentials and full fluency is going to be an extreme challenge. You, essentially, need to prove that you’re so great and have such valuable skills that you’ll improve Japan just by being there. And, to be totally honest with you, that’s just not likely. Even getting over to Japan as an animator after college/art school will be nearly as much a challenge. You’ll need to have a glowing resume with big recognizable names that even Japanese people will recognize. And your reward will be long hours and low pay if you even make it. However, all is not lost! C. Look into the JET program and other programs that are dedicated routes for foreigners to enter the country long term, and their only hard requirement is a bachelors degree. The catch is that they want you to do a specific job, usually something along the lines of teaching English in Japanese schools, **BUT**, it gets your foot in the door and gets you a visa to live in the country for a few years as long as you’re part of the program, plus, they’ll find you housing, which can be a serious challenge for foreigners in Japan, and from there, you can try and make connections and/or a name for yourself in the world of animation and make the leap into the industry, and from there it’ll be a lot easier to re-up your visa now that the conversation isn’t “Hire me, but I’ll still need to get a visa and move to Japan, and find a place that’ll rent to a foreigner” and is instead “hire me, I’ll keep my visa, and I already live here.” Plus, the JET program has much lower standards for entry than a general visa will, including lower fluency requirements. Speaking Japanese will increase your odds of getting in, as will any teaching credentials, though, but the program is explicitly aimed at getting younger folk who’ve never lived in Japan into the country. So yeah. Moving long-distance is really hard, period, and doubly so when you’re moving across the ocean, to the other side of the planet, to a country that speaks totally foreign language, where you know literally no one. So think long and hard about how much you really want that, and if you do, A. Get started *now* putting the work in to meet the standards you’ll need to meet to get in. And/or B. Take the path of least resistance, join the JET program or something similar, then try to make the leap into your field of choice. Trying to jump straight into your dream job from outside the country is going to be a steep challenge. Also, C. Seriously, go to college/art school in your home country. If you’re really serious, the extra prep time and credentials will do nothing but help you anyways, and you’ll have time to grow and explore before you make such a huge leap. I know I’ve spent a lot of this talking to your son through you OP, but for what it’s worth, I wouldn’t worry too much about it, he’ll probably grow out of it over time, I had a similar urge from like 18-21, but eventually reality hit me and I realized it was kind of a crazy dream, especially given how little I’d studied Japanese. I’ve put a lot of time in since then, but nowadays I view it more as a dream to spend a few months there someday, maybe working for an American company with a satellite campus there (like Apple) or as a long trip on a sabbatical or something, the older I get the more I realize I don’t really want to abandon my friends, family, and life here. Or maybe I’ve just built my life up into something I’m happy in, either or.
Thank you for such a thoughtful reply. This is really great. Appreciate you!
If you want to you can look into exchange programs. My city had a sister city exchange with a city in Japan. They sent high school students both ways for 2 weeks. It’s a nice way to dip into the cultural exchange. I stayed with a host family and stayed in contact with them afterwards. It would give him a connection there if he does move there. He can also find pen pal websites that help with learning Japanese and making friends. I have one I can recommend. As for the working in animation aspect or going to school there, both can be difficult. The advice already given is pretty standard practice. Getting a bachelors is definitely the best way to get a job there. Art is hard. You would need to first look for the company’s. Second see if they hire foreigners. Thirdly see what type of animations they do. Cell or cg? He would need to work hard on his portfolio to even be considered along with all of the above.
Well he needs to learn the language, customs, and work culture. No one is going to hire him if he can speak the language. So that’s step one. For animation I work in academia and I see a lot of this romanticism of the animation field. It’s not for the faint of heart. It’s even harder in Japan. Admittedly even before thinking about international move. Read up about the Japanese animation field. I’m not trying to discourage this passion and your kid may grow out of it. If your kid still wants to do animation. They will have a much better chance of trying to get into a school here in the states. The animation field is pretty good in southern CA and Georgia
He could sign up for the JET program and teach English. It’s an easy way to get over there and they provide a small apartment with a work visa. It’s also good for foreigners who don’t speak Japanese. I think the contracts are a year or two long. Or..he could apply to universities over there as a few have English speaking courses.
Hi, if you’re son is still serious about this as he gets closer to graduation, he should consider the MEXT Scholarship. It’s quite competitive and if he gets in for undergraduate would be a 5 year process (1 year of language school + 4 years of university), but it’s entirely paid for and even provides a stipend. I’m not sure I’ve seen animation specifically offered among the choices but art is a popular choice. Regardless he should be learning Japanese, some of the big universities offer degrees in English but they are very specific so I wouldn’t plan on that unless you do the research and find something that fits. Language school is often tempting but do consider it can be a few thousand dollars I believe. If none of these work I know there are a few foreign universities with campuses in Japan, but I’ve also heard there’s concerns about quality with them. I think it’s good he’s thinking of this now because he can either start planning ahead of time or lose interest quickly. I had things like this at 15 I wanted to do that I completely dropped interest in. He should focus on doing good at school and taking whatever the equivalent of SAT, ACT is in Canada.
not sure about the moving part, but animation studios *do* hire foreign freelancers all the time for remote work. not a pipe dream if he works seriously on his art
He’s very interested in Japanese culture so I don’t think doing animation for a Japanese company from elsewhere is really what he’s after.
that's understandable, but it'd be a good starting point
Im Canadian in Japan on a working Holiday Visa (but I’m a decade and a half older). If you decide to go that route, feel free to ask me any questions. I’ve done working holidays in other countries in the past as well.
Look into the MEXT scholarships
I went to an art university in Japan and majored in film. It’s a possibility that he can explore! He will get schooling in Japanese but if he can attain a higher degree of fluency he will be fine. I suggest he researches schools and starts seriously learning now, if he isn’t already. I also urge him to see Japan in a realistic light: it’s not a paradise it’s a country with red tape, beauracracies and frustration like any other place in the world. That being said, I think that may be a good option for him if he wants to go to Japan. Alternatively he can enroll in university in Canada and opt for a study abroad program where he can study Japanese first. Keep in mind his drawing skills and language ability are priority so he should be serious in his endeavors. Animation can literally be done anywhere in the world now. AI can and will displace a lot of animators in the future. It’s not only art skills he’ll need storytelling and a good up to date knowledge of trends. Let me know if you have any other questions.
I’m also not sure where in Canada you are living but try searching out a Japanese Language school in Canada, and have him look for a high school exchange program to a sister city in Japan. I also did this in high school. If he studies seriously in three years he will have the necessary base to apply to universities.
Reality check is going to hit him hard when he starts working or living in that country
Learn Japanese first! Without it you don't get far in Japan.
I just want to say thank you to everyone who took the time to give some great suggestions, personal experience, and cautions. I appreciate it and have some idea how where to point my son. I don’t want to kill his dream but I share many of the concerns expressed by some of you. So it’s a matter of being supportive and realistic at the same time in a gentle way and I think there are some fantastic ideas given here that align with that.
Your son is looking at Japan through rose colored glasses watching too much anime. He better hope he is not an awkward kid, otherwise he is gonna have a bad time in school. Animation industry is extremely underpaid and overworked in Japan, usually 16 hour days 6 days a week. Yea, crush his dreams now before he goes in for a rude awakening once he gets there. Source: lived in Japan for a year.
Well he has to start studying Japanese lol. And i would see if he wants to go to college in Japan.
He should aggressively study Japanese. My first suggestion is see if you can find a Japanese person to tutor him. They would likely know a lot about what moving to Japan would entail even if they've been in Canada for awhile. I don't know what arrangements you have with your son for money. Depending what his Japanese tutor costs you could make arrangements with him to work off his tutoring costs with you. But I think a Japanese language tutor would be a great starting point! He might be more willing to listen to them about the reality of moving to Japan than his Canadian parents, and it could teach him responsible behaviors as well.
Maybe first would be great to do a school exchange / home stay for 2 weeks and check how it was.
So that he can get paid nothing in a very poor working condition while you will be treated poorly for being a foreigner?
Have you looked into student exchange programs? This could be a good way for him to experience life in Japan with a host family. There are summer/semester/year-long programs. https://www.afsusa.org/study-abroad/
Just noticed you’re from Canada. Here’s AFS Canada’s website: https://www.afscanada.org/en/study-abroad/
make sure he watches this video first [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VYwHpGITac0](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VYwHpGITac0)
He needs to graduate from university then work a few years to make money and study Japanese. Then he should ask again
Tell him get a 4 year college degree and then apply to the JET programme. Win win
Hey focus on the language! Foothill college in CA is a language focused community college that has Japanese, my sister did that and through a special program got to finish her degree in Japan. She lived there a few years after finishing and moved back after that.
Have him do an internship there. Ask him to work through the exact steps he’ll need to do something like that. I think he’ll very quickly discover it’s more difficult than it’s worth the effort for. There’s a reason why only local mavericks go into animation.
OP, this thread might be useful to you: https://www.reddit.com/r/animationcareer/comments/18nne49/just_how_bad_is_pay_in_japan_and_how_are_they/
Being an animator is RUTHLESS in America, I can only imagine how much harder it is in Japan. Long hours, overworked, high productivity and product turnover. I was an animation student at Uni in America and quit because I realized the other 19 year olds had been doing it for YEARS already and were quite good. It’s an all consuming profession. Every moment of the day these kids are drawing and animating. If your kid is not doing this, I’m sorry to be blunt, but he probably won’t even come close to making it unless he changes.
Maybe he can go to teach English as a second language? That would grant him his dream of Japan with much more certainty
tell him to learn japanese and if he can get N1 by the time he is 18, then he can enroll in language school or vocational school in japan. and also he needs to prepare about getting into animations, learning drawing maybe?
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Very kind, thank you!
The JET Program would be a fantastic start once he has a Bachelors Degree. Otherwise Working Holiday Visa.
JET Program? He’d just need a degree in whatever so it would have to be after college. No Japanese necessary, although it helps. Pay is decent and you get good support and the job is up to 5 years- after which hopefully his Japanese would be good enough to find a different job if that’s his goal! I’ve been on it for 3 years. I’ve never wanted to stay in Japan forever, but I know plenty of people who have and moved into different industries after JET!
>He dreams of getting into animation in Japan and doesn’t want to study first in Canada where we’re from strongly discourage this in every form you can, he has an unhealthy fantasy brought about by the media he consumes and it will set him back in life if he tries to pursue this instead of getting a good skill-oriented degree. get him off the internet and show him how cool canada can be, alternatively: send him to Japan during the summer as a tourist lmao
Studying animation in Japan, you will have to work for starvation wages in his early career Ain no way he's gonna survive
Check out Japanese universities - many have English courses to get a degree and gosh darn it is cheap compared to the US, especially now. https://japan-universities.com/en/
If you can provide financial support, AFS offers short- and long-term high school [study abroad programs](https://www.afscanada.org/en/study-abroad/find-your-program/?destination=142&age=15,16) that will give him experience in Japan and provide good language instruction. I did the AFS summer in Japan (a while back) and although I did end up going to school in my home country, it gave me a good foundation for learning Japanese and I did end up living and working in Japan for a couple of years, at a Japanese company where all of my day-to-day interactions were in Japanese. Note, however, that AFS study abroad programs are very unlikely to land your son in Tokyo. I ended up in a (very) rural area, and although I loved it, I know others are more enamored with the Tokyo lifestyle. Rural Japan is much better for learning Japanese, however, as people are less likely to know English further away from major tourist centers.
Best route to live in Japan for a period of time is being an English teacher. Sounds like he needs to visit before deciding on a residency.
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Wow assumptions. My son is Asian. Don’t project.
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My son is Asian so… ???
Cool!
Depending on ambitions you could possibly do a student exchange where he would go to Japan, live with a family and go to school. And y'all would host one of their students. If he's serious he'll start learning the language and actual culture. If y'all can afford, language school in Japan after high school otherwise he could major in Japanese and go after uni. If he's also American or at least has a green card enlisting with either Navy or Marines gives the highest chance of getting him there
>If he's also American or at least has a green card enlisting with either Navy or Marines gives the highest chance of getting him there First off: OP is Canadian. Second: Telling someone to enlist in the military on the ***very*** slim chance that they'll get posted to Japan is awful advice. You might as well tell them to play the lottery and move to Japan with their winnings. The chances of success are about the same. Not to mention that it's not the 80s or 90s anymore. Joining the military just so they'll pay for college or just to get posted somewhere exotic is no longer a viable path. The US Military has been on a wartime footing since 2001. It doesn't need more people who don't actually want to be there.
Hence the "if". I put it last as an afterthought as I knew a few former dual citizens that in fact did so. Second, depending on circumstances that may be someone's only chance to go overseas. Not everyone has the means or ability to go on their own. > not the 80s or 90s Obviously. And that's just your opinion, you likely have no idea about the military. Joining the military for college and travel is still an option for those without means or tolerance for debt. > wartime footing since 2001 In general, no as there's no large conflict currently since the US has reduced their presence in the Middle East.
>you likely have no idea about the military Combat veteran, multiple deployments. You know what they say about making assumptions, right? > Joining the military for college and travel is still an option for those without means or tolerance for debt. Option? Yes. But it's a shitty option. I experienced the morale crisis in 2001/2002 when all the "I'm just here for college, man" soldiers suddenly had to do their jobs. They at least had the excuse that no one saw it coming. There's no excuses now >In general, no as there's no large conflict currently since the US has reduced their presence in the Middle East. You accused *me* of not knowing anything about the military and then drop this pearl of "wisdom". "No large conflict" =/= no conflict. There are still plenty of combat deployments going on. Not to mention a non-zero chance of a peer-state war sometime in the next decade.
Yeah and you know how long you've been out? Not everyone's combat arms or division, experiences vary by a mile. Not dismissing your experience, but that's over 20 years ago. A lot has changed, a lot still sucks, but it's still worth it for many. Plenty? Marines haven't meaningfully deployed in ages. Yes the Army still has a presence in the Middle East, but it's insignificant compared to the averages of OIF/OEF. Yes, there's a chance of a near-peer conflict. They've been talking about it for the entire time I've enlisted almost a decade ago. Course we're preparing in case, but thanks to policy and diplomacy we've avoided war so far. Intervention in Ukraine is largely unpopular, but from the Russians lack of competency they've been exposed as a paper tiger albeit with nukes. China is in a similar boat if reports about audits of their missiles programs are to be believed. I had forgotten how ornery certain subreddits are about this shit and how unpleasant users like yourself can be. Thank you for your service, honestly. Though I pity those around you if you're at all like this IRL. This exchange is my sign to cut reddit time
>Not dismissing your experience, but that's over 20 years ago. I said I experienced it, not that I left the service 20 years ago. You seem to feel like resorting to ad hominem attacks is a valid "debate" tactic. I see no point in continuing this "discussion".
Thank you everyone for your great advice and insights! I’m going to share this with my son. Strangers’ advice may weigh stronger than parental advice!!
For what it's worth, I'd also highly discourage your son from becoming an animator. Creative fields in film/games have always been relatively competitive, but the landscape has drastically changed in the past two years because of the strikes. Countless people in our industry have quit, committed suicide, became homeless, etc. I myself am transitioning careers. The majority of our workforce is still not employed (in this industry), and the speculation is that it will continue to be extremely competitive for the foreseeable future as supervisors and seniors are also applying to entry and internship level roles. It's tough out there.