Work Ethic of Comic artists in Japan

Hi guys, welcome back to my blog.. And this post shows that my assignment has finished hihi. Now I will explain about work ethic of comic artists in Japan, for those who has an ambition as a comic artist here is an information for you. Let’s read..

 Japanese comics called “manga” have become one of Japanese culture, in Japan Manga is read by various people from children to adults, many of them like Manga as a daily reading and some make it a hobby. Many very popular Manga titles are printed there and translated into various languages, and are widely distributed throughout the world. Many questioned about who worked behind the making of Manga? Of course not separated from a Mangaka or we often called them as comic artists, they worked from morning to night to finish a few pages or a number of chapters, they sometimes forget to take a shower, eat instant food or clean up the room to finish their comics. Japan is also famous for its manga characters. Some of them even spread in Indonesia and became a favorite of young people and children. Call it the Dragon Ball, Doraemon, and One Piece series that until now have never lost their fans.

The existence of these cool characters cannot be separated from the thoughts and hard work of a mangaka. Mangaka is a person who works to make manga characters in Japan, or if in Indonesia it is called a comic artists. Many people think that being a mangaka is good, getting a big salary from the pleasure of drawing. Then, this blog will explain the work ethic of comic artists in Japan that you need to know :

1.       Mangaka Works according to Editor's Direction

Mangaka's work which is 'just' pouring ideas in the form of images may not be entirely wrong. But you know, mangaka must go back and forth to feel rejected by the editor before their picture appeared in the magazine. Yup, in Japan nowadays there are several magazines that publish serial manga, both weekly and monthly. This refusal of multiple pages is usually because the ideas that appear in the image do not match to the editor's request. The role of the editor in the work of a mangaka is not limited to giving input. The editor will also give an idea when Mangaka is deadlocked. And when the serial demands are higher, the editor will prepare all the needs of the mangaka. Understandably more famous and favored by the manga character, the more crowded the schedule of a mangaka. They won't even have time to take care of themselves.

2.       Mangaka also needs an assistant

The struggle to become a famous mangaka doesn't stop at the editor's desk. They also have to sit for hours to draw manga by hand. Yups, just to make a one-page image, a mangaka can spend 10 hours. This time can increase if their manga gets a high rating and has many fans. With more than 10 hours per day, it's not enough to complete 20 pages a week. Therefore a mangaka will look for an assistant to help him complete his manga deadline. Sometimes the number of assistant for a mangaka can be more than one. These assistants have the task of thickening images or removing some parts and other supporting activities. Therefore, when the mangaka feels right with his assistant, this mangaka will form a team and share the results with his assistants.

3.       Other side of Mangaka's High Salary

Picture of Mashashi Kishimoto(one of famous Mangaka in Japan)

The salary of a mangaka is not only from royalties. Before being famous, a mangaka gets a salary from a work that was successfully published and calculated per page. But don't think that more than 100 pages are published, because usually a mangaka only gets 10-20 pages once published. The price for every page is between 7000 to 20000 yen. Well, if you calculate it per month, a mangaka can have a salary of almost 560 thousand yen, equivalent to Rp.44 million. So fantastic, isn’t it? But a salary of that size is not used for all of Mangaka's life needs. A mangaka usually uses the salary to pay for an assistant, buy drawing equipment, pay studio rent, pay taxes, and then the rest is used for mangaka's life needs.

4.       Mangaka's work schedule is very busy

In addition to making manga which takes more than 10 hours as mentioned above, they also only have to sleep between 3 and 6 hours per day. Worse yet, their free time in a week is only 3 hours in a week. Yups, the work as a mangaka is indeed very busy. They are required to develop their story ideas in each of the manga series according to the deadline given. Therefore there is no time for a mangaka to take care of themselves. They sometimes don't take a shower, forget to eat, and rarely socialize with their surroundings. The mangaka generally only made friends with the editor and his assistants.

5.       Keep working even though feel depressed

Dense schedules, deadline demands, and lack of socialization, are sure to cause boredom. The deadlock of getting an idea must also have been felt by a mangaka. But Japanese mangaka is well-known as very strong comic artists, even though they are bored and difficult to get ideas, they still struggle hard to finish the manga series well and on time.

Evidently, being a mangaka is not as easy as we imagine. Hopefully this information is useful for us and have a nice day.. Thank you😊

Oshiya, A Unique Job at Japanese Railway Station

Japan is famous for its residents who like to use public transportation, especially trains. In fact, around 22 percent of Japanese residents use trains and cause trains to become full and crowded. As transportation that is in demand by many people, trains in Japan can come every 5 minutes. In fact, during rush hour, the train can depart every 2 or 3 minutes.

 Conditions which is too crowded turned out to be able to create a new profession in Japan. The profession is oshiya or pusher  which is tasked with pushing passengers into the train. Oshiya is an employee at the train station which is on duty to push passengers into full wagon, especially during peak hours. Oshiya first appeared at Shinjuku Station and was dubbed the "passenger regulator" for several busy train lines. At that time, passenger regulators were carried out by students as part-time jobs. Because of the large number of passengers using the train, Oshiya then became a permanent job carried out by station officials. Even though it looks easy, the work done by Oshiya is quite dangerous, because Oshiya has to be careful and push passengers in when the train is stopped completely.

In addition, Oshiya's work will also determine the departure time of the train, because if Oshiya has not finished carrying out its duties, the train will not depart. Although Oshiya's job is to encourage passengers who want to ride a crowded train, Oshiya can also prevent passengers from entering the train. This is done when the train is completely full and no longer possible for passengers to enter. Oshiya officers also had to make sure that there were no passenger items pinched on the train door.

After Oshiya has finished doing his assigment, they will fly the flag and signal with lights to the train engineer, as the train sign is ready and safe to leave. But, Even though Oshiya's job is to encourage passengers to get on the train, they continue to do their jobs politely. Oshiya will speak in formal and respectful language, and use white and clean gloves when carrying out their duties. Oshiya emerged in the 1970 because the number of trains operating was only a small number and not comparable to the large number of train passengers. Even though there are more trains now, Oshiya is still needed, at rush hour like in the morning and evening.

Well, that is a new information about Oshiya. If you want to know more about Japanese work customs keep reading on my blog. Thanks 😊

Fake Wedding Guests Hired To Attend Japanese Weddings

Hello readers.. welcome again to my blog. As usual, I will give you information about work custom in Japan. If sometimes ago, I told you about “The Important Things About Service In Japan” but in this post I am going to tell you about the strange profession but really happened in Japan. Do you want to know what this profession is? So just keep reading on my blog…

For people who don't know what a fake wedding guest job is, it's basically someone who gets paid to attend some stranger's wedding as either their friend or co-worker. There are some agencies who will even provide 'fake parents' and other distant relatives if needed. Office Agents, a Tokyo-based company, is renting out fake friends, colleagues and family members to help pad out the guest list at events such as weddings. For 20,000 yen ($200), Office Agents provides a staff member to attend the ceremony. For an additional 5,000 yen, that person can perform a song or a dance. Pitch in another 10,000 yen and that person can make a speech that would make you proud. The company also provides the hiring of fake companions at events ranging from corporate functions and funerals to private events. Stand-in lovers, pretend secretaries and distant relatives are among a colourful cast of popular roles played by the company’s army of fakers.

The following is the reasons why Japanese people rents fake wedding guests on their wedding day :

1.   Brides or grooms who are concerned that they do not have enough friends and want to impress their prospective partners and in-laws are among those secretly boosting the guest list with fakers.

2.    People hire these services because they're afraid of what others will think if they don't have many guests attending their wedding and are scared others will think of them as losers. It's a pathetic situation all around, being so mentally stressed about the views of others on top of the financial burden of having to purchase such a service.

3.     Nowadays, people don't have as many friends. Everyone's too busy working or studying, who actually has the time to maintain relationships with dozens of people? By the time you're ready for marriage, you probably have less than 20 people you can contact.

Well guys, what do you think about this profession? For me this service is really strange. Wedding day is a day of happiness, you don’t need to rent this service because your real family and friends are the most important guests on your happy day. Thanks for reading😊