Japan's Most Prominent Technical School Holds Graduation Exhibition [1/3]

Otaku culture, such as Japanese anime and games, is well known throughout the world, but did you know that in Japan there are technical schools with majors that deal with otaku culture?

Nippon Engineering College (NEEC) has three campuses: Kamata, Hachioji, and Hokkaido. It is a comprehensive technical school covering seven fields of study, and includes a Creator’s College, Design College, and Music College. Especially in the Creator’s College, teachers actively train the next generation to carry on Japan’s pop culture with courses that cover manga, animation, game creation, and voice acting.

TOM went to this year’s graduation exhibit at NEEC, and we had the chance to interview some of the school’s staff, but we’ll get to that a bit later. First, let’s look at the exhibit.

The graduation exhibit was held for three days from Feb. 15-17. When we attended on Feb. 15, we were overwhelmed by its scale. The exhibit was held in Pacifico Yokohama, which seems rare for this type of exhibit, but since NEEC does this every year, it might the usual case for them. The various works audaciously displayed throughout the exhibition hall were such high quality they didn’t even look like students’ works. From seeing their works, we had the impression that these students could become effective workers right after graduation.

NEEC gives its students a chance on a regular basis to show their works to ordinary people. Students use this as motivation to get immersed in creation, thus creating a good cycle. NEEC provides this chance to not only improve the students’ skills, but also to make sure they will be able to succeed in a real work environment; it is amazing. The students also unconsciously become aware of deadlines, and by the time they enter companies, they are naturally prepared. The school indeed trains work-ready people, and this becomes obvious by observing their high quality works.

Surprisingly enough, there were also a few works on display at the exhibit that were created by overseas students. In recent years, the number of overseas students has been increasing, and it seems their ambition is no less than that of Japanese students, so it is a good stimulus for both sides. If you are interested in otaku culture and are thinking about making it your job, NEEC might be an option.

In the next part of our article, we will share our interview with Mitsuru Sato, the head of the Creator’s College at NEEC.

This is an original article from TokyoOtakuMode.