Networking in Anime (the Japanese industry)

One effective technique for communicating with people in the anime industry, and gaining insights about how to work in Tokyo, Japan, is to establish a communication with Western artists (French, Canadian, American) (rare as they might be) or "foreigners" who are already employed in Japan and already working in the Tokyo industry. I've found it's easier to strike up a conversation with English-fluent French or American anime studio employees, as they seem to better understand the desire to move to Japan as a Westerner than Japanese workers do. Birds of a Feather applies to pursuing anime in Japan too. If you really want to move to Tokyo and Japan to find work in either anime or manga, I've found that if you aren't of a Japanese ethnicity foreigners already working in Japan who come from a similar cultural experience expats, even if they came to Japan or Tokyo from countries outside of the U.S. will be more than happy to share their experience and knowledge with you. I don't know where this notion comes from that if you want to draw anime or manga "you only gain credibility from speaking to Japanese people, not Caucasian or French foreigners and expats who already speak partial or fluent English, but who are still working in the Tokyo industry nonetheless". This is caused by speculation that say the only people working in Japanese anime are the Japanese. Though they're in the minority, foreigners make up a small percentage of Japanese anime and manga production. You may not know who these people are at first, but if you look around , you just might be lucky enough to find a few people of this sort who are willing to share experiences, life stories, and professional insights with you. 

In other words, as a foreigner who aspires to work in anime, it's a very, VERY bad idea to discriminate against other foreigners who work in anime or want to work in anime, just because they're NOT YOU.

If you ask me, the real thing responsible for killing the prosperity of foreigners working in anime or manga isn't "cultural ignorance", "lack of hard work or talent" or "Japanese discrimination". These things aren't NEARLY as much of a problem as "Aspiring Professional American Foreigners Discriminating Against Aspiring Professional American Foreigners Online" The point isn't to have a FEW foreigners working in the Tokyo market, but as many as can handle the workload. Community, INCLUDING the American-Tokyo Expat Anime & Manga community should be supportive of one another, NOT discouraging. Just because the percentage of American workers in Tokyo in manga and anime is SMALL is no reason to hate on it online. If someone a young artist (yes, even naive ones) wants to and dreams of one day working in Japan once they grow up, get funding, and graduate school, male OR female, it is not my or any other American online persona's place to hate on them and discourage them. Why would I discourage that? Because they're young and naive and not me? Just because someone's NOT YOU but wants to do what you or I do doesn't mean people should be discouraging them. For all we know they WILL achieve their dream. Crazier things have happened. Dreaming and Aspiring to succeed in Tokyo as an American expat anime and/or manga artist should be no less discouraged than wanting to work for companies like Cartoon Network or Disney, for it is people like those very ones who WILL go on to build their own industry, assuming they have the right network of people, skills, resources, and ideas.