Day in the Life in a Japanese Manga Artist Shared House

This is a day in the life of a Japanese manga artist living in a share house [Music] [Music] This is Nobi, 25 years old, living in the outskirts of Tokyo and he's just waking up he's originally from Hiroshima but now living in this unique shared house reserved for only aspiring mangaka aka manga artist he lives with three other mangaka under the special program called tokiwaso project which provides a living space in addition to support to help develop a manga artist's career wow he's mixing natto mozugu seaweed and egg kind of a unique japanese quick but healthy meal do you eat this often you're so healthy [Music] Oh! You drink protein too? despite not really drawing as a kid he started creating manga a style of Japanese comic books six years ago under the name "Nobikitaro" he enrolled in anabuki design college in Hiroshima prefecture and studied manga and illustration for two years eventually moving to Tokyo to pursue his career as a mangaka and recently received the bi-annual award for upcoming mangaka from Chiba Tetsuya the creator of the popular manga ashinojo good morning everyone I am back with another day in the life a lot of you asked me to do another manga artist so here we are but this time i'm going to be following an aspiring manga artist living in a shared house let's go see what Nobi is doing right now so I just made it into the share house and Nobi should be on the second floor [Music] Good morning! Did you sleep well last night? he has a deadline in one week for his first ever publisher paid yomikiri a complete manga story that ends in one episode and he's still working on the story so it makes sense why he's just a bit stressed how far are you from finishing he says that one of the most challenging and time-consuming aspects for him is building the actual story for his manga it usually requires many redrafts and endless adjustments to get it flowing perfectly for example he said it took him two months to create his last manga what are you doing now in the mornings he feels that his mind is most clear so he typically starts his day creating manga but to ensure he works on all aspects of his craft throughout the day he maintains a schedule to keep on track and motivated and this morning it seems like he's starting to work on his story plot for his Yomikiri so let me quickly explain what happens during the manga creation process after finishing the plot he'll work on the nemu a rough drawing layout plan for his yomikiri which he needs to produce for his editor it looks like a bigger version of these tiny tiles with a lot more detail after getting feedback Nobi has to repeat this process several times until the editor approves the content at which point he'll start working on his genko the final manuscript that gets submitted to the editor before publishing he's typing random words what's that for How many manga have you fully comepleted? What's the name of the manga you last made? so it looks like Nobi gonna be doing this for a while so while he's doing that let's do what we do and explore this place okay so let's see what's upstairs oh wow look at this room so apparently this is a free room it has everything you need it has a bed it has a desk and a place to put your clothes okay so let's see if anyone is in this room oh that's one of his housemates can I bother you for a sec what are you doing right now How long have you been living here? Why did you decide to live here? Is it easy working on your manga here? Can I see your work? What's the title? And what's your name? and cool these are their toilets with that typical old-school Japanese home styling fairly clean for a shared house I guess Nobi is done working on his manga for now and it seems like he's going outside [Music] Where are you heading to? as a manga artist there's a constant level of creative output required so Nobi thinks it's important to get out once in a while to take inspiration from new experiences oh he switches backpack to the front a typical show of courtesy in japan when riding trains or when in other crowded areas nice he found a senpai aka mangaka friend who's more experienced today they decided to go to Akihabara because Nobi wanted to specifically take some photos here to use as background images for his manga apparently they don't necessarily need to draw all of their backgrounds but instead use photos and edit it in a manga production software like clip studio Nobi what do you look for when taking photos What kind of photos are you taking? in the past manga was strictly drawn with paper and ink but in this new digital age electronic tablets and pcs are becoming more and more the standard which is helping artists today produce content more quickly and efficiently it's lunchtime it seems that they've decided to pick up some wagyu burgers and find a place to eat outside so how did you guys meet What kind of manga do you create? he says that a publisher was looking for an artist on their social media who could create a manga centered around fencing Nobi spotted it and told him about it when did you decide to become a mangaka one of the main reasons why Nobi asked to meet a senpai today is he wanted to get some advice about the plot direction for his manga so what do you think So what happens if your late for your deadline? yeah, it's understandable that he wants to start his career with credibility now equipped with the senpai sage advice Nobi has regained much of his focus what are you going to do now so Nobi found this job through his friend on social media and now he works for the company remotely and sometimes at their office he usually works about three to four hours when he works from home but since he needs to work on his name today he's only gonna work for about an hour the average starting manga artist's annual income in japan is around two to four million yen about 17 to 35 000 us dollars so to supplement living costs that many take on part-time or assistant jobs are you done? [Music] Do you always stand while you draw? he's using a Wacom screen tablet apparently Wacom is used by many manga artists in Japan and is one of the most popular brands for its ease of use and precise drawing tools oh and that's his shortcut keyboard, cool! Where are you going Nobi [Music] now he has his teiki mendan a counseling meeting with an advisor from the tokiwaso program scheduled regularly to discuss how his manga is developing in addition to how he's living in the shared house in fact there are many young artists living in tokiwaso's shared houses throughout Tokyo and often mangaka starting a new career face many roadblocks so advisors visit to share and guide all of them in industry knowledge and know-how so that the artists have as many tools as possible to help continue them on their path and to increase their chances of success [Music] when Nobi hits a creative wall with the stories or simply needs to get some fresh air he takes a walk along the river by his house Nobi so how's your story coming along now by the way are there any new ways to earn income aside from going through publishers he says there are so many types of digital manga and ebooks available these days it's giving way to ebook agents that will help release a mangaka's work to hundreds of platforms for a fee at the same time this new digital era has also given opportunity to mangaka in niche markets like dark manga that would have never been approved by established publishers oh he's back on his tablet what are you doing now? in the past to build any sort of career as a mangaka an artist's only option was to work with a publisher to earn a living which required them to do a walk-in interview or get recognized by winning an award but this practice has slightly changed in Japan as social media has provided mangaka alternative ways to promote and earn a living with their manga aspiring mangaka can now be discovered online and some can even earn a living by publishing their manga on various online platforms but working with a publisher even to this day remains a prudent path to a lucrative career. So what did you upload? so Nobi's been involved with an online group of manga artists for the last two years where every saturday a topic is announced and each member is required to create their own two page manga when he's done with it he posted on twitter and pixiv which is the largest social media platform for manga artists and illustrators in japan he makes a point to update his fanbox which is like a blog space every day by the way do you think going to school to learn about manga gave you an advantage he says that the skills he learned at school in two years can probably be learned in half a year working as a mangaka assistant but the largest advantage was the opportunity to meet other aspiring mangaka his road wasn't easy though as he realized that many of the other students were more talented than him so after graduating he realistically took a job working at an electronic store for three years but later seeing one of his younger classmates get their manga published reignited his passion to re-pursue his mangaka career [Music] oh I guess he's cooking his own dinner now and there's his housemate I guess he goI some udon from matsuya smells so good Nobi's fairly close to his housemates so when there's a chance they eat together and naturally they often discuss manga right now Nobi's showing him one of his latest manga to get his feedback it's one of the benefits of living with other manga artists nobi says that he appreciates living in an environment where others share a common love for manga while also having a different perspective in life. So what do you think about Nobi's manga? now that he's bathed it's time to refocus on the plot he's been struggling with all day be honest do you think he can finish the storyline What about the Nemu? Are you gonna be okay? so it looks like Nobi will be doing this the rest of the night as he has to finish this nemu by the end of the week he'll probably go to sleep later tonight at midnight and then after that who knows he has the rest of the week but that's pretty much a day in the life of a Japanese mangaka living at a share house let me know what you thought in the comments and if you guys want to see more of these videos or anything related to Japan hit that subscribe button and the bell button and I'll catch you guys in the next one.

Channel: Paolo fromTOKYO

Views: 4,835,277

Keywords: Paolo, Japan, tokyo, life in japan, japan life, day in the life japan, day in the life, living in japan, a day in the life, manga creator, life in japan documentary, life in japan paolo, japan life in tokyo, tokyo life, mangaka, manga artist, tokyo shared house, japaense shared house, japan shared house, home tour, japanese home tour, japan home tour, working in japan, manga artist day in the life, japan share house, anime, manga, japanese comic artist, documentary, nobi ketaro

Id: 0wVQxAmaEQ4

Length: 14min 32sec (872 seconds)

Published: Fri Feb 04 2022