Artist trying to relocate to japan

Hello everyone, after reading a few threads here i have had a question on my mind that i think i would get best answered here, first let me introduce my self

My name is Atey, i am 23 years old and i work as a full time concept artist in U.K and i work as a freelance illustrator for a company in Tokyo,like many people i always wanted to move to japan somehow it felt like an impossible dream but recent events helped me believe its possible. I got contacted by the Japanese company about 3 months ago, and i have been working with them ever since in my off hours doing illustrations for their games, everything has been going really well and they have been very happy with the work i have done for them. I have also been having a blast working with them.

Now to my question, i want to ask them if i could relocate into a in house spot and possibly turn it into a full time job rather then continue working as a freelancer(by going and working in house full time would mean i would be able to produce four times as much work for them as i can do now), i am just not sure how to approach them with this question, should i just be plain honest and say it is and has always been my biggest dream to work as an artist in Japan and that i really have been enjoying working with them and that it is something i would rather do full time then just freelance? or should i ask it in some smart way?

I am fully aware that you need to be able to speak Japanese in order to work in japan ( which is something i am learning as well ) however with this company i am able to speak English with them and we can understand each other very easy.

thank you for reading! and i really look forward to hear people thoughts and suggestions

I think a lot of Japanese companies prefer hiring if you're already in Japan.
You should see if they have any recruitment info on their homepage.
However, it doesn't hurt to ask.
Social gaming companies in Japan are (still) doing well, so who knows, they might really offer you a full-time contract and visa.
All the best!

You don't always have to speak (or read or write) Japanese, certainly not fluently to work here. If your employer is happy with your level now, that may be enough. I suspect that it won't in reality if you have to attend meetings and use company email.

What you need to do is determine if they will sponsor a work visa first and foremost (aside from whether they even need you full-time). If not on the sponsorship, you are out of luck. You could test the waters further by coming here on an internship visa with them, or if you are eligible you could come on a working holiday visa and work for them PT or FT (perhaps even picking up other PT work) and see how life is here before you make a full commitment.

Thanks a lot Kraystone ,Glenski, really appreciate it, i will go ahead and try ask them and see what happens, just want to wrap up one more card illustration, if things go well i will probbaly dropp a post here again

Please pay closer attention to names and spelling. Geez! Is it asking too much?

Hi all, sorry about that Glenski,

I just thought i would keep the thread updated as things progress, maybe it will be a useful reference for someone in the future to hear about someone else story and approach, i asked about turning the freelance job into a fulltime job with them and told them my honest feelings and they were very happy and excited to hear that and invited me straight away to come and visit them and see the office in Tokyo and meet the whole staff.

I will be there for 2 weeks in total,
will spend 6 days in the office drawing and about 6-7 days exploring the city , my employer in Tokyo said its a bit hard to get visa for foreigners, so what i am guessing is this whole trip is to get a feel for what kind of person i am and if its worth the effort getting the visa for me, since like i mentioned before, worked with them for a while and they have been very happy with the quality of the work, i will go on the 26 of January and back on the 10th of Feb.

I will probably do an update on how things went, again i know this is not really relevant for a lot of people but for artist trying to get into japan i think this thread could be quite useful to read, on maybe what to do / consider and what not to do.

Thanks again for reading!

Here is the supporting documents for what an artist work visa needs.
Table.3 Supporting Documents

And the application form and instructions.
Application for Certificate of Eligibility

Look at the long bottom link on that second one to see more details on what various visas require. This might or might not explain why it is supposedly so hard to get for your situation. I'm not certain I agree with that employer.

Glenski said:

Here is the supporting documents for what an artist work visa needs.
Table.3 Supporting Documents

And the application form and instructions.
Application for Certificate of Eligibility

Look at the long bottom link on that second one to see more details on what various visas require. This might or might not explain why it is supposedly so hard to get for your situation. I'm not certain I agree with that employer.

Click to expand...

I believe the employer was looking at a normal working visa instead of an artist visa. That's why he said it was so "hard".

Hello, i just wanted to give final update but keep forgetting ^^,

I got back from my trip two weeks ago and i just wanted to share what happened and my thoughts from someone who never been to japan before, if you were to summarize it was far beyond any expectations i had, i really loved it,it was different from what i am used to but i really liked it and for the first time in a very long time i was able to just relax,

I also spent some time working in the office with my employer, its about 300 staff and from them there is maybe 15 who are foreign people(most of the foreign people were from other asian countrys such as korea and china).

After spending 5 days in the office with them on the 6th day they wanted to do an interview,it was a very casual interview and they just asked basic questions such as what would your family say if you move to japan? why do you want to live in japan? and so on and at the end of the interview they offered me the job straight away which is something i never experienced before. Without going into any specific numbers on salary but i think it can be good to know as well, what they offered me was more then double what my current employer in U.K pays me.

They said it will take 3-6 months for visa to finished and it will last me for 3 years and they are willing to renew it straight away once it expires,but knowing how much my life changed in the past 12 months, 3 years is a long time and a lot of things can happen.
So my next step is to take up Japanese more serious,since i noticed it will make your life a lot easier if you can speak and write to some degree at least

Again this might be useless to some people but for artists wanting to relocate i think this could be very interesting to read, you could also take a look at my blog if you want to know my level of painting, atey_ﾂ新ﾋ弉窶敘ｽ窶ｹq ( its a chinese blog site ) and if your unfamiliar with digital painting, it builds on same principals as traditional painting and drawing only difference is when you draw on a digital tablet and use a software such as Photoshop, you can speed up your process alot.

thanks for reading!

Very happy that things worked out so well for you! Thanks for sharing the update with us.

That's pretty cool. I wish you the best of luck, and even if things fall through, looking at your portfolio, I think other doors will open for you in Tokyo.
Taking up Japanese more seriously is a good idea though, as it will give you a lot more flexibility in society here.
Congratulations!

Congratulations Atey! I wish you the best of luck!

Atey Ghailan said:

they offered me the job straight away which is something i never experienced before. Without going into any specific numbers on salary but i think it can be good to know as well, what they offered me was more then double what my current employer in U.K pays me.

Click to expand...

Good for you.

They said it will take 3-6 months for visa to finished and it will last me for 3 years

Click to expand...

They don't know what they are talking about. It should take 2-8 weeks to get, and they have no control over whether you get one that lasts 1 year, 3, or 5.

and they are willing to renew it straight away once it expires

Click to expand...

Preferably before it expires, or you would be an illegal overstayer.

kraystone said:

I believe the employer was looking at a normal working visa instead of an artist visa.

Click to expand...

The artist working visa IS a normal one for his position. You make it sound as if there was some sort of generic work visa (there isn't).

Great to hear you are able to make your dream come true like this. I wish you all the luck and I hope that you keep us up to date on your experiences in Japan and tell us more about the world of artists in Japan.

Congratulations Atey! Your art looks awesome! No wonder they are keen to hire you over. There's a lot of demand for game artists right now, all the best! And if you want to draw some figure drawing in Tokyo, there's Doctor Sketchy session every month: Dr. Sketchy's Anti-Art School, Tokyo | A Life Drawing event with a little tongue and lots of cheek!