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[jmas]

How difficult would it be to land a job, involving game development, in Japan?

I've put a lot of thought into it, and I want to move there one day. Assuming you've already learned Japanese, how hard or realistic is it to get a job there without a bachelor's degree?

[AlexRamallo]

Not sure about the games industry in particular, but Japanese businesses (and a lot of Asian culture in general) tend to prefer home-country employees to foreign ones. I've heard the term "bamboo ceiling" used to describe the barriers that foreigners face when trying to advance in an Asian company. It's less about racism/discrimination, and more about trust. Business culture in Asia generally revolves around trust (as opposed to the West where businesses expect explicit written contracts for everything), and trusting someone from your hometown is easier than trusting a foreigner. That's just human nature.


Of course, this doesn't apply to every company in every Asian country and every position. It is something to keep in mind though, even if you manage to secure a visa that lets you live and work in the country you want.


But at the end of the day, business is business, and if you can offer a company something that they need (be it skills, insights, whatever), they'll have to hire you. The difficulty is finding a company to apply for, and do research on.

Naturally, you'd probably look towards international firms that you are familiar with as a foreigner, like Sony or Nintendo. However, those mega corporations don't usually hire random people for headquarter positions, and any job openings you find will likely be outside of Japan.


What I suggest is that you save up some money, and take a trip to Japan to get a feel for it (assuming you haven't already done so). You could look for game development companies to potentially work for (or a related business, like a digital design or software development firm). I don't know anything specific about Japan, but I suspect that a small business might be hesitant to hire a foreigner if there are a lot of legal/immigration hoops to jump though, unless you are really that valuable an asset. So definitely do your research on immigration laws and what it takes to get a work visa.

[RedRoy]

It's going to be extremely difficult without a bachelor's degree.

To get a working visa in Japan you're required to either have a bachelor's degree, or several years of work experience in a related field to the job you'll be working in Japan. Then you'd have to go about proving to the Japanese government you have that work experience. Which is about as fun as it sounds.

AlexRamallo did a good job of covering the difficulties of actually getting a job, but I'd like to add that the trust thing he mentions doesn't just apply to getting the job. It also applies to having the job. Regardless of how good your language skills are, or how long you stay there, you will always always be "The Foreigner"

I've worked in Japan for a year now, and I'm friends with people who have been here muuuuch longer than that. It's a fascinating place, and I hope you get the chance to see it sometime. But make sure before you move your life across the ocean you read up on some people's experiences here, and absolutely make sure you read at least some of the stuff by people who did not like it. Everyone responds to the culture differently, and the people writing stuff online who like living in Japan have a tendency to just sweep the bad stuff under the rug and not talk about it. I really enjoy it here, there's so much about Japan to love, and am glad I came, but don't be fooled by the internet's tendency to treat Japan like it's an infallible holy land.