Moving to Japan to make manga comics

[Chocolate]

Has any artists here achieved this goal yet??

[justincarbunkle]

Do you make more money or connections if you work in Japan? Why not make your manga/art from where you currently live?

[NickRowler]

Felipe Smith did this. However, he was a comic creator and had published work before he published his Japan language series. His manga never really blew up in popularity.

I would recommend focusing on publishing your webseries. If you become fluent in Japanese, you could post your translated series on Japanese webcomic sites. I think that would probably be a lot better for you than trying to deal with the Japanese publishing world as a foreigner.

[Panpan]

Not a manga artist, but I've lived here for 6 years and I know a self-made mangaka who works from home.

It's a difficult business to make a living off of—long hours, overtime, little time off, and low pay, unless you're one of the lucky ones like AOT or something. You also need to be fluent in Japanese, like native level.

I would recommend honing your craft on English platforms. The chances of getting big and getting an adaptation are more likely than becoming a successfull mangaka.

[Aeneas1]

Oh I wish, I wish. However, since I am not a Japanese citizen by birth, that will never happen and I shall spend my life in my worthless has-been country. I do confess I've already had a hard time trying to get commercially published in my own home country, the United Kingdom. I've sent my manuscripts and my portfolio to a few comic publishers and they're not interested. Can't say I blame them - a story about snowmen who can fight and who are just as flawed as human beings isn't likely to be commercially successful - believe me. And all those bastards care about is their profit margins, or if you like their bottom lines.

PS. I have edited this comment in order to avoid upsetting anyone. Yes, I'm a coward.

[thepenmonster]

It's a difficult business to make a living off of—long hours, overtime, little time off, and low pay,

Weebs never think about any of this when they start getting Move to Japan dreams. Even as an EFL teacher you're going full out for little pay. They just can't comprehend that life in Japan is a dull grind for most everyone.

You also need to be fluent in Japanese, like native level.

Aye. I never graduated past talking like a toddler (N5), but I knew a few polyglots who were great at languages who were N1. Most expats I knew barely qualified for N3 at best. Language learning is hard as hell.

If I could find a rich Japanese girl, marry her

Let me lay this down: Japanese women, no matter where in the social order, choose men on the promise that they'll work their fingers to the bone so she can quit her day job. Men are a work horse/ source of income/ retirement plan and if you can't do that from day one, you won't be getting married.

Rich indulgent wife? You might as well be asking for a unicorn.

A series of Japanese partners with a racial fetish? More likely.

[SwordSong]

Seconding this. The manga industry is notoriously cutthroat. Series that fail to gain enough readershipwill get "axed". For every series like Naruto, One Piece, etc. there are about a hundred more that never made it past 20 chapters because it was cut early due to low popularity rankings and/or poor volume sales .

Magazines pay manga artists per page of manuscript (with each chapter being 20 pages long on average), so weekly artists can earn more on a gross basis. But to be able to meet the deadlines they'd usually need to hire assistants, and these generally get paid from the mangaka's own pockets, so this will cut into their net earnings. They'd get royalties from volume sales after it's compiled into tankobon, but I think the rates are only about 8-10%.

So unless you're in the top 100 like One Piece's Eichiro Oda, don't expect to make millions from the manga industry.

[MelancholicOtaku]

I love manga,reading series like Bleach,D-Grayman,Naruto,Fruits Basket,Beck Mongolian Chopsquad etc,when I was younger I always wanted to make a manga in Japan. Then I got older and realized how stressed out I would be . The tight schedules, the anxiety of worrying if my manga is safe on a weekly or monthly basis. I would make comics or novels in your home country. Who knows you could be the next big hit.
I wanna have fun creating stuff not stressful.

[kyupol]

I recently saw a job posting from the Philippines. Just inker colorist... in some studio in Pasay City... the office looked really nice.

Can easily do that but I make more money welding and sandblasting. If I took every job i can get, no more time to make my comics...

Let someone else have it.

[EncryptedWriting]

I am not going to discredit anyone, but here me when I saw this is something beyond 1 in a million to do. You wouldn't need to be just successful, you would need to be MASSIVELY successful. You would need a company, artist team, confirmed headquarters, employer, visa, etc. If your work(s) are on the scale of massive success, then I guess it would be a go ahead. However, if financially it doesn't make sense (or even logically not knowing if you will get your break), then I say it's unlikely. Not saying to not follow your dream, but there are a LOT of factors at work here.

[simplykit]

I'd like to go to japan someday! but not for manga.

just to experience their beautiful culture and meet the people.

maybe visit some manga and video game companies, meet the geniuses behind my favorite anime and games.

drink sake

eat ramen

have a selfie with pikachu

[thepenmonster]

eat ramen

Do it at a train station in a mid sized city.

You can thank me when you get back.

[simplykit]

@thepenmonster huh. curious. in my mind, im eating at those street food carts like in naruto lol

sure if i ever get to japan i'll take your advice, thanks!

[thepenmonster]

In that case: Nakasu in Fukuoka. Only after 6pm.

[ButterflyEmpress]

Was a high school dream of mine. After learning about the 996 work culture, how foreigners are generally treated, and how only few mangaka make a profit, that pretty much killed it. I'd totally move to Japan and be a mangaka if I had a ton of disposable income.

[conventurecomics]

I'd love to do that someday, drawing manga and video game hunting.

[simplykit]

@thepenmonster why only after 6?

any other sites or things you recommend i check?