I heard there is no qualification requirement to get a job with the animation company.
What is the minimum drawing/ technical/ software and language to get a job with them?
What type of job is available at entry level?
Is it possible for a foreigners at late 30s to get a job there (I don't mind the low pay)?
May '21
May '21
Idk about living there, or language requirements, but there's plenty of non-japanese people working from home on the japanese animation industry, a few days ago I came across a thai girl that creates backgrounds for anime, she's self taught, and she does matte painting, photobashing, and overpainting, she's hired by anime studios on Fiver all the time...
I recommend watching this document, [Underpaid and Overworked: Being an Animator in Japan].
Following what she said, the job requirement is not that high and you can work from home, but there are serious work overload so she barely eats and has a life. I'm pretty sure most Asian studios have the exact same problem not only Japan. 
^ OP said that... Japanese animators are exploited, but they really love their job, there's a documentary on youtube that one of them says that it's hard work, but they'd rather do that than anything else, even if it paid more, it's a dream job for them.
99.99% of us draw webtoon for free anyway lol ...
And we all used to work long hours and have no life to finish our comic ...........
at lease work in the industry we can improve our skills to match professional standards (i guess)
Unless you're freelancing, and the animation company is outsourcing for things like background painting and filling in the animation between key frames, you're extremely unlikely to find work with a Japanese animation company as a westerner. There are also very high language requirements, as communication between team members is essential when working in animation, to ensure everyone knows that the exactly what look and tone is being sought with every scene.
I hate to be a wet blanket, but this is just reality. To ignore it and fantasise regardless is to set oneself up for disappointment, but if you acknowledge it, you can set in motion plans to overcome it or work around it. You just need to accept that it may take many years.
If you're serious about working in animation, you should start by looking to land a job with small animation studios in your own country. And in order to do that, you'll need to study quite intensively to meet their skill requirements.
That's not how this works. Your skills already have to be of a professional standard in order to be hired, even by small studios. Studios don't just hire a rookie and hope their art improves, they hire people whose art is already brilliant. That's what you should be focusing on. That doesn't have to mean art school - you can be self-taught, and study by yourself online - but you need to treat it like art school and truly focus on the 'boring' things like figure drawing, perspective rules, composition and so-on for a while. There are great online courses which can really help. You want to avoid anything anime-focused, and go for courses which focus on the fundamentals of landscape drawing/painting and the human figure.
Once you have a foot in the door of the animation industry, and you have experience, you stand a much better chance of being hired in Japan. But you should absolutely focus on the animation industry in your own country first.
Again, I don't say any of this to be mean, or to upset you. There are ways into the industry you want to work in. It's possible. But it'll be really, really hard, and it'll take a long time, and you absolutely have to be at a professional level first. If you can master your fundamentals and reach that professional level through proper, self-motivated study, which you can probably do if you study from home full-time for a couple of years, you'll be equipped to start looking for entry level animation jobs.
By recognising and acknowledging the hurdles, and working to overcome them, you're far closer to making your dream a reality. Even if reality is far harder than our fantasies. 
I've heard foreigners have a hard time getting their foot in the door with Japanese animation companies even if they have a good resume and demo reel. These places also require 100% fluency in Japanese.
Also important to note that a lot of larger animation companies in Japan tend to outsource animation and most in house stuff tends to be storyboards and key frames.
It is also important to research studios. If they are a small company who does everything in house and have little to no requirements, you might be dealing with odd small budget passion projects....or porn.
The hell did you hear that?
Not true one bit, you must have a portfolio showing competency in animation. Inside of animation there are different specialties you can look into which are less technical than other ones (but they're all hard in their different way), but it's not that there's some sort of job that anyone can just get, unfortunately. Japanese studios do operate differently from Western Studios, so there's a lot more freelancing (western animators tend to work in house) so it is possible to work for anime from a different country, but it's way more possible to freelance within your own country. Westerners who want to work in anime tend to move to Japan to really get their foot in the door.
Don't know about that, but I just know that the paycheck is very low and the amount of work is almost unbearable. Then again, if you're really motivated in doing it, you should at least be able to speak some japanese.
Japanese animation is truly amazing, but the industry really isn't 
You should to that since many studios are in Tokyo, the city has a really high cost of living. Plus, I'm not sure a lot foreigners are ready to deal with the karoshi work culture.
Not trying to stomp on any dreams, but I want to let you know about the negatives of Japan animation studios. Even if you are very good at art, there are so many talented animators in Asia now, it's getting a lot harder to find jobs, especially if you are a foreigner. It would help your case a lot if you were fluent in Japanese, or was able to at least understand it.
I knew someone who worked at an animation studio and she would say how long you have to work, and your back and arms will hurt and your eyes will be tired from the screen. The pay is not very good either, you would have to work at a big name company to get paid more and I'm still not sure how much more they get paid.
If animating is where you really want to go, then I'll give you a good luck 
A little late to the party, but I've recently found out that it's becoming more and more common for Japanese studios to recruit Freelancers from Twitter, and they aren't limited to Japanese artists/animators. I even had a mutual recently who got to do some work on Boruto after they saw his work on Twitter, so fluency in Japanese isn't a hard limit either it seems (of course, it probably varies from case to case). I've even heard people like The Canipa Effect mentioning that a lot of anime is being carried by overseas freelancers just because of the sheer amount that's being released.
So while it is possible, it's definitely not "easier" persay. The requirements definitely aren't lower just because it's international. You pretty much need to be up to par with what's airing.
.
I've also heard through the grapevine (but haven't investigated it myself) that you can find creative opportunities on Robert Half International.
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