working in Japan: Manga

[MMM]

Originally Posted by MasterBate

So it's pretty much impossible for a foreigner to get a job as a manga-ka situated in Japan. Thats a downer.

Well nothing is impossible, and this is a fantasy many JF users have. But you have to think logically.

Manga-ka are not "employees" of a publishing company, they are contractors. They may have exclusive contracts, but that doesn't make them an employee.

Independent contractors don't get visas.

So in a way there are manga-ka in the US and all over the world...but their work being published in Japan really doesn't require them to move there. When Harry Potter was published in Japan, J.K. Rowlings didn't need to move there. I only know of one OEL manga being published in Japan: Megatokyo.

[jpdrag0n]

Originally Posted by MMM

Well nothing is impossible, and this is a fantasy many JF users have. But you have to think logically.

Manga-ka are not "employees" of a publishing company, they are contractors. They may have exclusive contracts, but that doesn't make them an employee.

Independent contractors don't get visas.

So in a way there are manga-ka in the US and all over the world...but their work being published in Japan really doesn't require them to move there. When Harry Potter was published in Japan, J.K. Rowlings didn't need to move there. I only know of one OEL manga being published in Japan: Megatokyo.

yes this is very true. people don't seem to understand why a japanese company would go through the trouble of hiring a foreign artist when theres just as many artists in japan looking for work. just because you like manga and think you can draw doesn't mean you can work in japan. i suppose a lot of JF users aren't even at the point of looking for a career job yet anyway so i guess we'll let time take its course...

[typing]

Does anyone know if there are any Gaijin, or forgine manga-ka's in japan?

I mean not to be a downer on anyone but, when walking into a studio as a gaijin they're probably going to shift you to the bottom of the pile automatically simply because they'll assume you writing ability in Japanese sucks. May or may not be true, but it's a common assumption (and one that's saved my ass a few times) that if you are not Japanese, you can't speak Japanese.

To such a fortunate or unfortunate degree that no one expects you to speak to them.

(Two prime examples, I was reading package instructions for making a cake, and having trouble with Kanji and a woman came an halped me, not because I looked like I was strugling, but because she assumed I was illiterate. ((This was a good thing because I wasn't about to ask someone to read me the back of a cake mix))
One of my friends had to apply for a job and asked for an aplication in Japanese, they said they the english aplication was elsewhere in Japanese, it took 15 min for him to convince them that he could speak and read japanese enough not to have to stand in another line to get the same application.)

anyway, I ask because I want to go to Comiket maybe next winter and mostly I'm looking for anyone in Japan that has/knows of a circle/ wants to start a circle in the Chiba/Tokyo area.