CDM Japan: Sign up for Companies

Reply to my email with your preferences on the following five companies  (Arc System Works, Production I.G., Assemblent, Grasshopper Manufacture, Telecom Animation).  This web page only provides the information on them.

The five companies are grouped into two groups.  The first group (A) consists of three companies which accept a limited number of people  (because their meeting rooms are small), while the two companies in the second group (B) have agreed to accept all of us.  You can sign up for all five maximally, or just one minimally (and anywhere between).  Follow the instructions below.

In deciding on your preferences, you may also want to consider the itinerary.  As I said in the email, it looks like the trip is going to be rather busy, packed with visits to companies/places and various activities.  You may "opt out" from some of them, if you wish to have time to rest or be more on your own to explore Japan.

Note that, for the companies not listed here (Toei Animation, Microsoft Xbox, Namco Bandai Games) and all activities except for "Optional tours", ALL of us will go -- the participation is mandatory.

Group A:  For the following three companies, your preference must be either "Strongly interested", "Moderately interested" or "Not interested". 

For each company, if there are more students expressed a positive interest than the limit, we will consider the ones with a 'Strong' interest first, then resolve the rest somehow (TBD).

1. Arc System Works (http://www.arcsystemworks.jp/ , in Japanese) -- 6 students.
   • Arc System Works is a mid-sized gaming company with 95 employees.  Most of them are developers.
   • The company located in Yokohama (about 40 minutes from Tokyo), so we have to make a short trip.
   • The visit is scheduled on 12/1 (Mon), 3:00 - 5:00 pm.  On that day, the whole group start the day together and do some sight-seeing.  Then in early afternoon, I will take the (up to) 5 students and go to Yokohama.  The rest of the group will go back to the hotel (for which, I will have somebody escort you back).
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   • The most well-known title by Arc System Works would be the Guilty Gear series.
   • Our visit will consist of a tour of the production studios, followed by Q&A with the managers and developers.
   • They occasionally accept interns from overseas.  In fact, when we go there, we will meet an American college student who have been working there as an intern (for 4-6 month), along with the developers.
   • The president, Mr. Kidooka, seems to me a very open-minded person :)

    

2. Production I.G. (http://www.productionig.com/) -- 10 students.
   • Production I.G. is a progressive anime company, with several well-known anime series and feature films such as Ghost in the Shell, and the anime part of Kill Bill vol. 1.
   • The visit is scheduled on 12/3 (Wed), 5:00 - 6:00 pm, after Telecom Animation.  So you want to sign up for Production I.G., you should sign up for Telecom as well.
   • The visit will be short, probably less than 1 hour.  They will first show us a video of their overall production process, and a short clip of one of their current TV series "Library War (Toshokan Senso)" along with storyboards.  Then they will give us a quick tour of one of their studio (2-D).  Note that, during the tour, you cannot ask questions to the animators (because the company said it would distract the animators).
   • Although you might not be able to see much, I recommend you sign up nonetheless if you are an anime fan -- Production I.G. is indeed one of the most well-known and successful anime companies in Japan today.  And they rarely accept visitors.

      

3. Assemblent (http://www.assemblent.co.jp/ , in Japanese) -- 6 students.
   • Assemblent is a small gaming company, located in a suburb of Kyoto (about 20 minutes from Kyoto), so we have to make a short trip.
   • The visit is scheduled on 12/10 (Wed), which is a Free Day.
   • I recommend this company ONLY IF you are knowledgeable about game development techniques AND up for an adventure!  Ask me if you are interested in this company.
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   • The owner, Mr. Koichi Abe, used to work for Nintendo (actually, one of Nintendo's subsidiary companies Intelligent Systems).  His brief bio is as follows:
     After graduating from high school, Mr. Abe was selected as one of 20 out of 400 applicants to the Nintendo's Game Seminar school, and studied games development for 2 years.  Upon graduation in 1992, he joined Intelligent Systems, where worked as a programmer.  At Intelligent Systems, Mr. Abe developed games mainly for Super Famicon, for example titles such as "Super Metroid" and "Fire Emblem: Seisen no Keifu" (where he was the lead programmer).  In 1997, he left Intelligent Systems and started to work as an independent game programmer.  He was involved in various projects, including some for Sega and "Sky Odyssey" for PS2.  In 2000, he started his own company Assemblent.  Currently, Mr. Abe also teaches at Ritsumeikan University, College of Image Arts and Sciences in Kyoto.

Group B:  For the following two companies, your preference must be either "Interested" or "Not interested". 
You may select both interested, or either one interested, or none interested, although I recommend you come to both.

4. Grasshopper Manufacture (http://www.grasshopper.co.jp/) -- No limit.
   • To game enthusiasts, Grasshopper Manufacture needs no introduction -- the company by Suda 51 (Mr. Goichi Suda).  Creator of "No More Heroes" and other cool games.

      

5. Telecom Animation Film (http://www.telecom-anime.com/telecom-e/index.html, http://www.telecom-anime.com/) -- No limit.
   • Telecom has been making anime for a long time, since 1975.  It started as the development division of Tokyo Movies (TMS Entertainment).
   • Hayao Miyazaki worked for Telecom before, and this is where he made his first feature anime "Lupin the III, the Castle of Cagliostro."
   • Telecom has done a lot of collaboration work with US movie/animation makers.  Telecom made some episodes of "Tiny Toon", "Animaniacs", and "Pinky & Brain".
   • Telecom's recent well-known works include "Inuyasha" and "Detective Conan".  They have also done lots of opening animation for games, such as the one for Kingdom Hearts and Brinx.
   • The company owner, Mr. Takeuchi, is a character!