workin in japan as an anime artist

[chachava]

Originally Posted by samurai007

A 14 year old boy killed an 11 year old boy and 10 year old girl, and took the boy's decapitated head to school, mounting it on the school's front gate with a note in the mouth. Police were stumped for quite a while as to who did it, and kept looking for an adult. Finally they realized it was this little kid...

Good to see the standard of policing has improved since then....oh, wait :-/

[MMM]

I am not sure what the point of dragging up these very disturbing police cases is. I think you are being a little unfair to the OP. She is 13-years-old. Let's not make her insane.

[chachava]

Originally Posted by MMM

Let's not make her insane.

oh I don't know, I think it would help her settle in if she moved ;-)

[Nyororin]

I hate it when people drag up old stories of murders, etc, that happened in Japan. Or even the new one, like the dad who went crazy with an ax.

And yet they divert their eyes from similar, often far worse, things that happen on a regular basis in their own country or others...

Japan is one of the safest countries in the world. Is it perfectly safe? Of course not. But it`s considerably better than most of the world. There isn`t some mysterious "dark side" - Japan is filled with humans, and humans have mental illnesses, imbalances, etc. Crime happens.

But because big criminal events are actually a rarity in Japan, they become BIG news - often to an international level. And people like to jump on the bandwagon and point wagging fingers, saying "Look! They`re depraved! Japan is awful!" etc.

But you know, a gang murder in the US where a bunch of kids and their parents are gunned down, ending with a baby being thrown from a window into the street doesn`t even get front page in the LOCAL paper, let alone worldwide coverage. (I probably only know the details of the event because I lived a street away at the time, and happened to see the killers as they fled the scene... Along with a bloody 5 year old hiding in the bushes.)

*sigh*

When things like that are so normal that they don`t even get a mention on the evening news, I think there is a problem.

[samurai007]

Originally Posted by Nyororin

I hate it when people drag up old stories of murders, etc, that happened in Japan. Or even the new one, like the dad who went crazy with an ax.

And yet they divert their eyes from similar, often far worse, things that happen on a regular basis in their own country or others...

Japan is one of the safest countries in the world. Is it perfectly safe? Of course not. But it`s considerably better than most of the world. There isn`t some mysterious "dark side" - Japan is filled with humans, and humans have mental illnesses, imbalances, etc. Crime happens.

But because big criminal events are actually a rarity in Japan, they become BIG news - often to an international level. And people like to jump on the bandwagon and point wagging fingers, saying "Look! They`re depraved! Japan is awful!" etc.

But you know, a gang murder in the US where a bunch of kids and their parents are gunned down, ending with a baby being thrown from a window into the street doesn`t even get front page in the LOCAL paper, let alone worldwide coverage. (I probably only know the details of the event because I lived a street away at the time, and happened to see the killers as they fled the scene... Along with a bloody 5 year old hiding in the bushes.)

*sigh*

When things like that are so normal that they don`t even get a mention on the evening news, I think there is a problem.

Nobody is saying that beheadings are a daily occurrence in Japan. But there have been a number of wide-eyed kids lately talking about going to Japan alone, or how it's a perfectly safe heaven, and so on. They probably have never heard of any crimes like these in Japan, and I think a bit of these examples might help to make them realize that while Japan is relatively safe, it still has it's share of murderers, rapists, and whackos, and 15 year old kids shouldn't wander around freely like it's Disneyland. Japan is safer than many places, but not perfectly safe.

[anrakushi]

no place is perfectly safe but in a country where the norm is for elementary (we call it primary) school students go go to and from school on the trains by themselves in large cities i feel very safe. while that can happen in my home town because i come from a country town, this happening in the city is considered irresponsible.

as nyoronin said, it is a sad state of affairs when similar occurrences in the US or elsewhere aren't considered news worthy. what has society come to when murder is so common that it is just accepted as a cost of living.

the OP as MMM said is naive, she is excited about a world far away and has a dream. think of the dreams you had when you were that age, i know i pictured things very differently for my future. she has a lot to learn but filling her with stories like these are not helping her in any way shape or form.

to the OP, while you might feel you are good at drawing you need to remember that the industry is very competitive and you are going to need to be more than just good to succeed. I remember when i was 12 everyone in school wanted to get me to do drawings for them, i was one of the best 2 or 3 at school but in reality i was a long way off being any good at drawing. So try to be realistic about your ability and remember that no matter how good people say you are, there is always so much more you can improve.

If you are serious about working in Japan get yourself into a good Japanese language program and a good art program to improve your drawing. you will need to do a lot of studying both language and art to have a chance. i wish you good luck.

[timelesssymphony]

the Japanese are also very resistant to foreigners working in their country, Japan's economy is in the toilet with a only 0.6% increase in GDP over the recent years, with Japan not being a welfare state unemployment = very bad so with high unemployment rates they do not want Gaijin taking jobs Japanese can do. If you really really want to work in the manga/anime industry consider looking at being a translator or working with an American company because the truth is the Japanese aren't interested, doesn't matter if your the next miyozaki

[MMM]

I think you are both right. Now the OP didn't call Japan a "safe heaven" she just called it "heaven" and I am not going to get in an argument, or crush the dreams of a 13-year-old girl.

At the same time, there is no way a 15-year-old should be travelling in Japan alone. Bringing up specific, violent murder cases is only scare tactics, and doesn't really benefit the conversation (which is becoming a bunch of adults harping over the innocent musings of someone barely a teenager).

[Nyororin]

Originally Posted by samurai007

Nobody is saying that beheadings are a daily occurrence in Japan. But there have been a number of wide-eyed kids lately talking about going to Japan alone, or how it's a perfectly safe heaven, and so on. They probably have never heard of any crimes like these in Japan, and I think a bit of these examples might help to make them realize that while Japan is relatively safe, it still has it's share of murderers, rapists, and whackos, and 15 year old kids shouldn't wander around freely like it's Disneyland. Japan is safer than many places, but not perfectly safe.

That is true, but you are forgetting a very important thing.
Kids have no way of getting to Japan. How many wide eyed kids, wandering around like they`re in Disneyland without any supervision did you encounter in Japan? Because I have yet to encounter a single one. Kids dream. I know I dreamed about some very far fetched things when I was younger... That doesn`t mean any of them actually reached the action stage. I did make it to Japan, alone, at 17 though. But I suppose that`s a bit different as I had to maturity to actually make that happen.

I agree that we need to present facts. Japan isn`t "heaven". Becoming a manga artist is freaking hard.
Still - suggesting they do more research is one thing, dragging out stories of crime and horror is another. Saying things to the effect of "You think Japan is a nice place? Well look at THIS." isn`t quite the same as telling someone that they should get a bit more information, learn more about the culture, etc.

As an afterthought - I wish her all the luck in the world. Any career choice she makes is in the future. There is plenty of time to work toward those goals, and to grow as a person. 5 years from now, if her feelings toward working in Japan haven`t changed, she may very well have acquired the skills to succeed at her dream (If that`s what it is).

[samokan]

as far as I can see, most crimes in japan are psychologically related.