Hey whats up! So we tried to cover as much as we could in the limited time we had, but if you guys have any other questions, drop them here and i will try to make a video myself later addressing them! Peaces!

Pretty interesting to hear from someone who went straight from uni into a games company via the traditional 就活 process. I've only met one person like that at Square, and they were half Japanese. I didn't have an SPI test for my games job, but I did get one when I was interviewing for Keio. I think the interviewer told me I could basically just ignore the maths section haha.

RIP Monty Oum :( Its pretty amazing to know that people inspired by his work are now developing AAA games!

Jason made a long-form podcast about working at a Japanese gaming company (Koei Tecmo)-if you'd like to learn more click the link below, and give Jason a follow at @t if you're into streaming! Link: www.podbean.com/media/share/pb-yne7g-dd37e6

And Monty's influence continues moving forward.

16:59 might be Remember the name by Fort Minor. "This is 10% luck 20% skill 15% concentrated power of will 5% pleasure 50% pain And a 100% reason to remember the name."

There are some good tips in here that will work for American job hunting and interviews too. Thanks for putting this together, guys!

I met Jason's mom at a video game store in Newnan, GA a couple years ago. She was so excited that her son was working on video games in Japan! I didn't know who he was before then.

Hi guys, really enjoyed that conversation. I'm a British guy also working at a Japanese video game developer, and I can totally relate to the themes of this chat. I think the advice I give to anybody chasing a dream, but that is a particularly valuable skill when job hunting in Japan, is to make yourself invaluable to the company you want to work at. It's more than just being a good fit. You should be the only person they associate with having the skill-set and vision. This is particularly valid in Japan, as a large portion of the workforce is hired with no previous experience and trained (as Jason mentioned) from the ground up. If you can market yourself to them in such a way, companies may see you as an opportunity to learn something new, to have a skilled, knowledgeable worker join the team and improve how things are done. I'm not saying that this is always the case, some companies tend to be very traditionally structured, and potentially scared of someone shaking up the system, but hey.. that's not really the kind of place you would find rewarding to work at anyway. Sometimes it takes creating the opportunity for yourself, not waiting for something to be offered.

You haven't age a bit! Both look so good hahah. Man, I dropped the follow on both social networks. I'm a character animator and I really love videogames, been learning japanese for a bit more than a year and I started applying at japanese companies. I'll for sure come back for more content. Thank you, this was amazing Dogen and Jason!

I did shuukatsu in Japan too and I’m now working as a developer! Interesting to hear a very similar experience! Although I guess “studying” is probably more accurate... As for the SPI tests, my I just gave up on companies who use them. I wanted to enter a global company (could be both Japanese or foreign as long as they are focused on globalization) If they cannot understand that non-native speakers will never be able to pass these tests, they are not as globally orientated as they say they are. To be honest, the whole process just seems to be a waste of time even for Japanese companies focused on national business.. Like why would you need to know ergonomics if you work as a hotel receptionist?...

jason is a very well spoken person

Thank you for this video, I actually do want to work at a video game company in Japan.

Honestly this inteview is the kind of motivation I needed in my life right now. Thank you guys!

This is just an awesome video, nothing else to say. Thank you for it!

Man, the ちょ待てよ video! That takes me back. Glad to see he got what seems to be his dream job.

this was next level excellent! thank you so much for putting this together

Awesome to see you are both finally able to follow your passion! I hope I can follow that train soon!

Thank you for this video, it's really given me hope for the future.

This is a really cool video and pretty unique content. Thanks Dogen!!!

Really appreciate the video!

Great interview.

Thanks for this interview as someone who considers an IT job in japan in the future :)

When you guys said martial arts tricking in the beginning that made me so happy lol

So interesting to see someone else experience on getting in the Game industry! In my case I started working in a game company 3 months ago, and I just had two interviews and I didn’t have to make any SPI test in any of my previous interviews. I always interviewed alone with 2 to 3 Japanese people asking me questions. What Jason said about saying likes/dislikes and giving a good reasoning on them is super importan during the interviews, I feel. It’s really nice advice!

Thank you for the inspiration!

I’m a huge fan of DoA and a former martial artist so hearing this story is awesome. Thank you so much for sharing! :)

This is very helpful, arigatou Dogen-san!

I think this is the FIRST time for me to hear Dogen-san speaking English

This was very useful and inspiring, thank you so much! You are both super cool!

This video was great! Loved it!　ナイスー！

Tons of good info, guys. Also, a big fan of the DOA games. We won't talk about the DOA6 costume unlock issues. Good vid!

Sweet!

It so nice to see Jason again 🌸🥺🌸

This was cool 😀👏👏

This is such valuable insight. I realize it might not be applicable for many but I really love the bit on networking. It’s so important. I really needed this video because I’ve hit a wall with my goals but I’ll keep pushing! Thank you both!

Best collab Dōgen. Oh and I could see why they wanted Jason for a commentator and announcer role for the tournament.

Long Time DOA fan here, and I've been thinking about going to Japan for a few years now last summer I went with my friend to Japan to visit his grandparents for a month. It was great! Now that I spent time there, I've been thinking a lot about my dreams and goals. The job I currently work at is perfectly fine and I wouldn't wanna leave it. But my ambitions say otherwise I agree with your advice and I should develop a skill set that would make me invaluable, like it would make a company either hire me, or keep me around. But I don't have any particular skills at the moment, that's something I need to work. As for Japanese, I'm still at like a JPLT N5-N4 level, mainly the issue is grammar, I need to works on that Jason and Dogan this video was extremely helpful and I feel a lot more confident about wanting to reach my goals

so interesting!

I'm still 4 min into the video but it suddenly dawned on me that I might be the only person among the viewers to point out Dogen could've come up with this title on a whim to make a super obscure reference to a tiny little game called がんばれゴエモン きらきら道中〜僕がダンサーになった理由 which if my memory serves me right never saw an overseas release and belongs to a long dead-ish franchise even in Japan. It's mostly likely just a coincidence but I feel like making up a conspiracy theory out of this if that's not the case at all.

Jeezz, guys you are awesome! Hope i will be able to meet you one day :D

Super interesting! Jason seems like an all around cool dude too

This was really cool and inspiring to watch! ^^

king shit as always, thank you dogen

Hi Dogen (and Jason)! I want to thank you for your channel, and this video in particular. I graduated in Japanese studies back in 2017. I already wasn't a particularily brilliant student (got an N3 cert. by luck almost) back then and since that year i got a job unrelated with Japanese, my language skills took a terrible dip. I was more and more uninterested into getting back into shape with Japanese, but your channel has been slowly re-igniting that passion. Incidentially, i also am in the process of job hunting in the gaming industry, especially Japanese companies, so hearing Jason talk about it actually motivates me even more (and boy do i have questions!), even if i definitely got down a notch or two in language skills. Thank you so much to both of you!

i want to sincerely thank you both for making this video because you gave valuable advice that i really needed to hear. you motivated me to think more about what i "want" to do with my career, other than what i "have" to do and i'm going to hold on to your words of advice and start looking for what i'm passionate about. again, thank you both so much and i'm wishing you all the best!

Nice man...I Loved playing DOA series ever since DOA3

Very good interview. Would love to hear about the entry market for engineering in Japan..

incredible

That smooth "where the heck is he looking at?" intro xD

great vid, thanks doŋen

i would have never imagined you doing some flips like that was even possible lol...thats awesome!

Thank you for Sharing this, this is super interesting for me because i want to work on japan game company and currently learning japanese on japan.

Real inspiring!

Great stuff! Thnx for sharing it with us. I gotta say, for a minute I didn't realize Jason is actually Supersonic himself, who was commenting alongside Emery in the tournament.

Love the growth you've had Dogen. Keep it up!

Thank you Mr.Jason

Aw snap! You working on DOA for real? Much respect 😁👍

I find the prospect of job hunting in Japan, honestly, a bit terrifying. I somehow got into a Japanese company without going through that. I was living in Germany and looking for jobs in Japan and then a friend of mine who was already working there asked me "Need a job?", and I said "As it happens..." And then I had three remote interviews at seven in the morning, first with a group of people I would be working with, then with the two vice presidents, then with the president - only the last one was in English because the president was the only person of the bunch who actually spoke it. In the first interview my friend was present but didn't say a word (they were likely worried about my Japanese, but it turned out to be good enough), and from then on out he was told to keep out of the application process as it would introduce bias. And he did, and I was on my own. But it worked out and I moved to Japan. Still. The prospect of actual Japanese job hunting terrifies me somehow.

Thanks for sharing valuable info on this topic! Im curious as to the possibility in stayinig in japan as well. Im a VFX/Film artist who studied games in college, Unfortunately I never got a degree, just a diploma so JET is out of the question. been working in Film/TV for a few years now. Just hoping to get some information.

Awesome video. I took an SPI test last week. The maths was OK but the Japanese part was impossible. Not enough time!

Oh, I think have seen Jason's face in some of our documents in Motion team here... Yeah I'm working for Koei Tecmo Vietnam.

the group interview you said were called LGD (Leaderless Group Discussion) and/or FGD (Forum Group Discussion). Both are group discussion have a very different way of rating applicant.

12:17 Dogen's expression when Jason coughed into his hand LOL

OMG Jason was in APU!? how didn't I know that!! I've watched the other video years ago like back in high shool and stopped watching KZfaq and now that I realise my favourite comedian was working at APU and Jason was one of us!?

This is pretty good

Crazy awesome

What?! Didn't know you worked in APU =) I was a student there from 2008 to 2013. Jason was also a student? =) So happy to see APU people doing well in Japan =)

今日は動画長いっすね いつも勉強になってます

Ah, so how do I get Jason to add more Puroresu moves to Bass and Tina's Movesets? 😄

i hadn't taken spi test before i graduated college though as a japanese college student.

Great video! I'm planning to move to Japan this year to work in the games industry over there (I currently do in the UK), so this was pretty useful. Do you know if you could possible get a 3d artist ex-pat on to do an interview with? I'm looked high and low and I only ever seem to find programmers or animators. I would really appreciate any sort of advice that they may be able to bring. Thanks :)

This gives me hope! I am working on my master in computer science in the states. I am looking into getting tech company in the US to get experience and then move to japan in the process. I hope it works well for me :).

when you are saying APU in the beginning i always had to think about "accelerated processing unit". It threw me off ngl

I'm a 帰国子女, so my nationality, name, family is Japanese, but my education was mostly in other countries, and I HATED those stupid SPI tests (though I don't think I was ever rejected because of them specifically). Why the hell would I need algebra if I'm applying for an overseas marketing position?? If you look and sound Japanese they expect you to be on the same level of other Japanese applicants. But I'm glad Japanese companies are opening up to 中途採用, because after going through a couple of jobs I'm finally working for a major game company as well (not Koei though). For me, this was a less stressful way to get hired than 新卒 because I didn't have to be in close contact with other applicants and have to compare myself with them 😅

I came here out of curiosity for Japanese gaming industry work culture and I ended up watching 4-5 hours of Pencak Silat plus doumentation etc.

The funneling system that you've described sounds rather helpful and convenient. Any word on how the job security aspect is once you're funneled in?

When I was doing job hunt tests I got the kind of X is to Y as Q is to Z questions, but with japanese words obviously. Most were pretty doable, but sometimes it would expect you to know some folk tale or common saying in order to figure out the relation. I ended up posing some of them to Japanese friends afterwards otherwise I wouldn't even have figured out what dimension of relation I was supposed to be looking for. Those tests were some scary shit. I still passed though so like you're saying, they probably do cut foreigners some slack. Makes me wonder why they don't just use english tests though.

MOUNTY OUM INSPIRATION HECK YEAH

You should try do a collaboration with That Japanese Man Yuta!

Thanks for this video, it's very helpful. I think Jason forgot to describe how the work environment is and stuff. Also, any advice about graduating in Game Development in another country, then going to japan to study japanese and after that look for a job in game industry? Is there any difference if I graduate in another country and create games by myself(instead of work experience)? Thanks in advance.

I know this is completely off-topic, but man this guy's voice is like BUTTER. Sounds like I'm listening to Donald Glover talk about DOA.

We miss you Jason! Anime Conventions aren't the same without you

ジェイソンイケボ

いい声してるな

okay this is epic

I just played DOA with friends yesterday in Akihabara’s arcade. The characters have...unique costume...i like it

:D Woo fellow game dev! (I'm an animator~) If I ever see you at GDC or somewhere similar, Jason, I hope you don't mind that I come say hi! :)

It’s so weird to see Dogen speaking in English😂

The problem is I'm 27 and still not passionate about anything. What matters more to me is to have a work environment with nice co-workers *sigh*

普通に日本人だけど見てます！SPIは本当に厄介ですよね。ただSPIは一部の場合でそこまで問題視されないと思います。 特に外国人の方、日本人だけど海外の大学に通っている場合は。

APUは立命館アジア太平洋大学だよね。留学生多いし。秋田にも公立でAIU国際教養大学がやはり留学生、多いよね〜😉

A question to Jason maybe. Since when Game Companies come to APU? Or did you had to go for the seminar outside of Campus? Back in 2013 there were no Ga-muSofuto Kaisha coming in :/

I'd like to work as a QA tester in Japan and I learned a lot from this interview, thank you

01:07 was that a fly?! or the "move to japan" special attack

How difficult do you think it is for people to come work in Japan within a gaming company without having gone through the JET program, a university program, or going to school in Japan? For example, I'm finishing a bachelor's degree in Game Art while studying Japanese on my own. I have a long term goal of completing the N2 exam since that's a requirement I've seen at some of the companies I want to work for. Any advice or insight would be greatly appreciated!

Yeah we can hear more Jason voice

The part at the end reminded me of how people seem to confuse talent (innate ability) and passion. Pretty much everyone I know and have met that people would broadly refer to as “talented” are in reality just super passionate and have spent hours doing that said activity, and pushing to be better at it

damn don't let him know how DOA6 did...

How much money did it take to move to Japan as exchange student? I have no idea how to even start to budget to at least visit Japan... 😭