First job interview in Japan

Last week I had my first job interview in Japan. I had applied online to this company and was asked to come a few days later for an interview in the late afternoon.

Never wanting to be late for anything ever, I arrived half an hour early at the station and went looking for the building. I found it soon enough, and to kill some time, walked around the block. The building was clad with a charcoal grey marble, much like the type that's used for gravestones over here. I went inside, spoke to the lady at reception and was asked to take a seat. The waiting area had a few games on display on monitors surrounded by Point of Sale material. The seats and tables were all primary colours which made the waiting area look like a kids' corner.

While waiting in the lobby I silently rehearsed my little introductory biography in Japanese, and looked at the game demos running on the TVs. Another person was called inside, and sometime later left. Another person arrived -- also an artist here for an interview? It looks like he's carrying a portfolio. Eventually my time came and I was shown to the room nearest to the lobby.

The interview itself was probably the most intimidating I'd ever been to, but thankfully also the shortest. Seven people were sat across the table, and I was simply asked to talk through some of my best work. My introduction wasn't called for, and while I talked through most of my work in English, I inserted a Japanese sentence wherever I could. Only two specific questions regarding my work were asked.

As I left, still somewhat confused by the briefness of the interview, I wondered if it had gone well. I couldn't really tell. The lack of questions could have been a good thing or a bad thing. If I heard correctly, I'll be hearing from them in about a week. I checked my watch and concluded that the interview had taken half an hour, if that.

Thinking back, I figured these 7 from across the table probably had been churning through first-interviews all day.
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A few days later, I received the standard thank-you-for-applying-and-good-luck-to-you rejection e-mail. No matter. Read about what happened at my second first interview elsewhere in an upcoming post.