Sunday, September 18, 2011

Things People Don't know About Japanese Business: Lesson 6

Most books on Japanese and Chinese business will tell you that there is a deeply ingrained tradition of family owned and operated businesses. Japan is no exception. Actually, Japan sets the standard for that sort of thing.

There's not only a slim chance the Japanese will hire "foreign creators and writers", ESPECIALLY "amateur and unproven ones with no track record of being mainstream or bestselling". It's not just unlikely, it's impossible, it doesn't happen. The Japanese read some foreign comics, but many don't like them, and that's about as far as they go. American writing of young writers is about as popular with the Japanese anime industry as the Japanese publishing industry is with the high-bro American literary community, which is to say, there's no interest there in any way whatsoever.

Japanese business (yes cinema and television business as well) has a strict and cherished business philosophy of "keep it in the family, and AWAY from American foreigners".

Achieve something good on AMERICAN TV or in AMERICAN publishing (books OR comics). Yes, that is still possible, but it takes an entire lifetime of discipline and work. American business is not family owned and operated the way Chinese and Japanese  businesses are. American media companies hire people they know and/or people whose agents submit quality work to them. You may be talented as a writer or artists, but the Asian industry is full of what I like to call "cultural landmines". Venomous traps that if stepped on accidentally, will more than likely cripple your chances of EVER being "big in Japan". Abandoning your own home country is not the answer to creating quality books, comics, and television or film or animation. Geographical self-hatred and self-loathing is nothing but self-SABOTAGE.