The game's afoot.

My highest priority at the moment of course is to find a job. Here's a quick run-down of what's been happening so far:

Before coming to Japan, I had already started one application at a company that looks very attractive and where I thought my chances of me getting a job were pretty good. This company had asked me to do an art test as part of the application. It was impossible for me to do this back in London while a million things needed doing for the big move, so it had to wait until I had arrived in Japan. Thus after getting our PC in Japan, the first thing I did was the art test. It wasn't particularly difficult, as it wasn't that much different from work I had done before. I sent the two pieces off and awaited my judgment.

Next, I updated and polished my CV and digital portfolio further. At the Tokyo Games Show I met an English games recruiter who works here. I met up with him the following week, gave him a copy of my portfolio and he's now doing "his thing". To my knowledge, he has introduced me to two companies here thus far, but I've not heard anything back about those yet.

Meanwhile, my wife had started translating my CV. The CV and portfolio needed to be bilingual, because let's not try to kid ourselves that every Japanese HR person or lead artist can or wants to read a CV and portfolio in English. Translating the CV took a few days, which involved me having to explain to my wife what "Initiated improvements to the special effects technology and pipeline" exactly means, among other game-technology terms. The Japanese CV text was then copied into the portfolio (so the English portfolio's text is actually different).

From a friend and game artist who lives and works here already, I'd received a massive list of nearly every game development studio in Tokyo, including addresses. He had done the bold thing of applying to a 100+ companies from abroad in writing (in English!) a few years ago - with success! Now, I haven't sent out a hundred applications just yet - and I really don't want to. I checked the list to see which companies were still around, which (kind of) games they'd made, and how foreigner-friendly they might be. The big names and those with recruitment pages in English on their websites would be the best to start with.

With the CV and portfolio all bilingual and finally a broadband connection at home, I could upload my website for the world ( = potential Japanese employers) to see. I had a slight problem with the website's host (it's in Holland) not willing to send HTML pages encoded with Japanese characters. I found a workaround, but it makes it nearly impossible to edit my HTML, as each Japanese character is written as a five-digit number now.

Most of the big Japanese games publishers let you apply for a job directly online. You fill in an online form with pretty much the same information that's on your CV (copy-paste), answer why you want to work for them, and in my case promote my online portfolio. So far, I've been very impressed with the response times I've gotten to most of these applications. One company apologised for not replying any sooner, while I'd applied only one week before. The reply was negative, but at least I didn't have to wait long for it. Another invited me for an interview, about which you can read later.

Most companies however, from what I've seen, require hard copies (printouts) of artwork. So, for a second batch of applications I quickly put together a little booklet. We also put together a Japanese-style CV, which has a particular layout and includes a straight-faced passport photo. A plastic folder containing the Japanese-style CV, colour printouts and the CD-ROM was sent to a small number of companies. Two replies so far: one saying the selection process will take 6-8 weeks, the other an invitation for an interview! Bring it on!