Anyone know of the r/acting equivalent for actors in Japan? How would I get lessons, an agent, and search for auditions and such? Can anybody help me? Thanks for reading.
Hit up the [Tokyo International Players](https://www.tokyoplayers.org/). They’re an amateur theater group that performs in English, but they’re the premier foreign theater group in Japan so they occasionally get visiting professionals on their cast. Members would be able to answer some of your questions.
For friends, I have dug up lists of Japanese talent agencies who handle foreign *talent***o** before–It ain’t easy. Sadly that list went out of date very quickly and you will have to just contact whichever Japanese agencies you can find with English websites.
Both for modeling and acting talent, it much better to have your own agent in your country to refer you to a Japanese agency who they deal with and have a coop agreement.
I’ve done some gigs as an extra for movies and TV shows and the pay is shockingly poor compared to other countries. This was a few years back but the pay at the time was about ¥8,000 ~ ¥10,000 for a whole days shoot (which could be up to 12 hours). Transportation wasn’t paid for and no food provided. I heard that if you do an advertisement with a speaking part then the pay would be around ¥120,000. Unfortunately many Japanese people are willing to do extra work for free so agencies take advantage of that and pay peanuts.
Not sure what credited acting brings but I’ve heard that the majority of money comes from marketing deals and not the actual TV shows/movies (unless you’re a popular idol). If you want to get into acting definitely think of it and treat it as a side gig and make sure you have another source of income to get by with.
Isn’t every foreign acting job in Japan taken by Dave Spector or some ex-pro wrestler?
4 comments
Hit up the [Tokyo International Players](https://www.tokyoplayers.org/). They’re an amateur theater group that performs in English, but they’re the premier foreign theater group in Japan so they occasionally get visiting professionals on their cast. Members would be able to answer some of your questions.
For friends, I have dug up lists of Japanese talent agencies who handle foreign *talent***o** before–It ain’t easy. Sadly that list went out of date very quickly and you will have to just contact whichever Japanese agencies you can find with English websites.
* https://japanatron.com/directory/10413-talent-agencies-for-foreigners-in-tokyo
* [**Japanese talent agencies** ^{Wikipedia}](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Japanese_talent_agencies)
* [**Acting agencies in Japan?** ^{japan-guide.com}](https://www.japan-guide.com/forum/quereadisplay.html?0+59260)
Both for modeling and acting talent, it much better to have your own agent in your country to refer you to a Japanese agency who they deal with and have a coop agreement.
I’ve done some gigs as an extra for movies and TV shows and the pay is shockingly poor compared to other countries. This was a few years back but the pay at the time was about ¥8,000 ~ ¥10,000 for a whole days shoot (which could be up to 12 hours). Transportation wasn’t paid for and no food provided. I heard that if you do an advertisement with a speaking part then the pay would be around ¥120,000. Unfortunately many Japanese people are willing to do extra work for free so agencies take advantage of that and pay peanuts.
Not sure what credited acting brings but I’ve heard that the majority of money comes from marketing deals and not the actual TV shows/movies (unless you’re a popular idol). If you want to get into acting definitely think of it and treat it as a side gig and make sure you have another source of income to get by with.
Isn’t every foreign acting job in Japan taken by Dave Spector or some ex-pro wrestler?