Could I study art in Japan?

8 comments

1. This is a copy of your post for archive/search purposes.

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   **Could I study art in Japan?**

   I’m 21 and an aspiring animator. This has been a dream of mine since I was young but I’ve been too nervous to really start doing research into how to make it real until recently. I’m curious if there was any advice that could help me in forming a plan to follow through with.

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2. You’ll need to give us some background info…

   Bachelor’s? What major?
   Work experience? How many years?
   Language ability? Certifications?

3. [deleted]

4. Get good at Japanese (at least N2) and go to an animation school in Japan (2 or 4 years) (or art university if you’re really talented).
   If you have the money you could also attend a language school (maximum 2 years).
   If you go down this route, you’ll be able to go through 新卒採用 and depending on how much work you put in, will be able to get into a good animation studio upon graduating.
   (Btw don’t listen to the people who say things like “you’ll never get hired over Japanese people no matter how hard you try”. Thats bullshit, if you get good at Japanese, get accustomed to the culture (by living here, going to school etc) you’ll have just as good a chance as the Japanese applicants, and potentially an advantage over them since you’ll also be able to speak English).
   I went down this route but for game development, so feel free to message me if you have any questions. Good luck

5. There are paths to it, and so can give you some info on what I was looking at as an example. I was looking at Kyoto Seika for a Manga Art program. Would have been a four year school. To go there I would be required (and it makes good sense) to have N2 level Japanese. So my first stop would have been a two-year language school that had some connection with the university. I would have learned Japanese for two years then sat for my entrance exams and hopefully would have gotten into the program and school I wanted.

   The biggest barrier for me was money. They require you to show an amount of money in savings, around 26k USD to prove that you will be able to support yourself if something goes wrong.

   If you can get that hurdle you would be looking at a student visa where you can work, with school approval up to 24 hours a week (but school must take priority). You’ll be living a college level financial life for the duration of your education but that’s kind of to be expected.

   It is doable but talk to the schools about their requirements.

6. bro gave ZERO explanation so i’m going to say no. you prob dont possess the common sense to go to Japan at all tbh by asking this kind of question

7. Can I ask what country you’re currently in? If you’re in America, there are plenty of good schools that offer animation degrees, Calarts being one of them. Might be a better use of your time and money to study in America, assuming you’re there already?

8. You could if you have the money.

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   The real question is what are you going to do with it? It won’t get you a job that you can survive on.