Creative Jobs in Japan: Understanding the Opportunities

Of course, Morinaga’s insight not only applies to the fashion but to creative work across all industries. Despite the old guard media companies still maintaining a stronghold on vast swaths of creative work in Japan, even established advertising giants like Dentsu are turning their sights towards using the interactive nature of the internet to reach consumers. As market demands shift towards creative ways to engage with clientele that go beyond flashy TV ads, Dentsu understands that advertising has to incorporate everything from sleek visuals to conceptualising a business’ presence on the internet, designing a business, if you will, for a finicky Japanese consumer with high expectations.

User experience is everything 

“User experience is everything,” advises Jared Braiterman, the founder of Tokyo Green Space, and creatives are required in all industries nowadays. City planning, banks, online shopping, all require creatives and people who have an in-depth knowledge of the Japanese consumer in order to imagine how to create an impactful user experience whether it is for online financial transactions or purchasing a pair of shoes. In a market as saturated and constantly transforming as Japan’s the job of the creative is build a lasting impression.

With the dominating presence of foreign companies like Google and Facebook in the Japanese arena, the expectation of the Japanese user in terms of consumer experience is changing. “Busy” designs with excessive information used to be customary, but now the Japanese consumer seeks the same quantity of information but presented in a sleek and contemporary Apple-esque way but naturally, with a Japanese touch.

Take Line, the messaging app turned everything platform; they offer services for shopping, music, job searching, travel, games, manga, and online payments all via one app. The interface of the app is simple and user-friendly but the information is vast. And Line has taken advertising into the 21st century with their Line Stickers (or Stamps as they are called in Japanese) by having users agree to receive advertising from companies in exchange for cute illustrated emojis often featuring the mascot of the company. Line’s advertising model is a brilliant specimen of how the specificity of Japan’s cute obsessed culture can be harnessed for marketing and PR.

Japan’s “Galapagos-syndrome” – a Japanese term connoting the isolated development of a globally available concept or item – forces companies and creatives to experiment in unorthodox ways. Google’s entry into the Japanese market over 10 years ago was the first time Google ran a search campaign on TV. The digital behemoth recognised that in Japan they needed to start with analog. Since then Google Japan created a choir using 300 Android devices with the app Androidify, which makes tiny avatars. The choir was first installed in a shopping mall in Omotesando Hills and then was taken from Japan to the world.

Gaming, anime, and manga 

And finally, it would be remiss not to mention the, gaming, anime, and manga industries that dominate the international view of Japan’s creativity.  Torpedoing with the speed of technology, the gaming industry integrates Japanese storytelling and animation with cutting edge technology. While the Japanese animation industry still romanticises the two-dimensional art form, the gaming industry is all about 3-D animation and immersive experiences. And as gaming expands beyond the confines of entertainment into areas like education and rehabilitation, there is always room for game enthusiasts to find a place in Japan’s gaming industry.