I’ve always wanted to live in Japan. Not just visit. I mean live there. I’m fascinated by Japanese culture and history. In my own work, I’ve appropriated so much from Japanese art that I feel like I owe the country my contribution to the labor pool. I don’t know of any culture so adept at taking pieces of novel things from around the world and turning them in to something original and beautiful. I feel like most creative people are made uncomfortable by influence (Harold Bloom springs to mind) and scorn appropriation. But Japanese artists revel in new artistic discoveries and art forms. They make an art out of absorbing art. Kanji is basically that: Chinese characters that the Japanese adopted for the sake of convenience. But just look at Shodo, or Japanese calligraphy, which is mostly Kanji (sometimes Kana).
Or take a band like Boredoms for example. No, Noise Rock was not invented in Japan. But boy was it ever perfected there.
The main reason I want to live in Japan is the colors. I want to see if the sky is really that Prussian Blue (which the Japanese call Berlin Blue) like it is in Miazaki’s movies. I suppose universal healthcare and the bullet train would be nice too. But those colors, man. I suppose an important datum at this point would be to mention that I’ve never left the country. My family didn’t travel much, so it’s super special to me whenever I get to go somewhere. And Japan tops the list for me.
Anyway, there appears to be no shortage of graphic design jobs in Japan, but there’s a big ass caveat. Applicants will need to be bilingual. And learning Japanese is no romp through the heather, especially if you’re 33 and basically never actually hear spoken Japanese, like in a conversation or whatever. After a cursory google search, I found this posting. It’s for a marketing firm in Tokyo. From what I can tell, they need designers who can speak business-level Japanese and English for cosmetics, auto, and event marketing.
Some roadblocks: Well I don’t speak Japanese. Like at all. I tried to learn some during Covid, but it’s really hard. Also finding housing in Tokyo is difficult for life-long residents of Japan; for foreigners it’s even more intimidating. Some Japanese landlords aren’t super hot on renting to people who don’t speak the language, or so I’m told.
Some upsides: The cost of living in Tokyo is apparently 57.2% cheaper than Seattle. See for yourself! Also, Tokyo is so safe that you can sleep on the street and nobody will mess with you. In 2021, the homicide rate in Japan was .7/100,000 people. That’s for the entire country. Compare that to Chicago’s homicide rate, which in 2021 was 29.6/100,000. For Chicagoans like me, neighborhood safety is a bit of a fetish.
Maybe this is all a bit pie-in-the-sky. Maybe if I was a part of an established design firm with a Japanese division and they wanted to, for some reason, send me to live in Japan for a little while to design stuff over there – that I could probably do. Sometimes Nintendo has job postings for bilingual (Japanese/English) graphic designers, but I’m not seeing any on Indeed right now.
Oh well, a guy can dream.