The special series to put a spotlight on our international staff, “Eyes, JAPAN employee interview” has started! Our 4th interviewee this year is Felix from Germany. He has been doing an internship in Eyes, JAPAN for around 8 months.

We wanted to get to know about his experience of throughout his internship!

(Interviewer: Angie)

Loves Gaming and Creating Games.

What is your favorite thing about your home country or home town?

Felix: Kempen, my home town in Germany, has a historic city centre with a small cinema that I like to go to with my friends whenever a new film releases that we all want to watch.

Why did you come to Japan and what do you like about Japan?

Felix: I was already a fan of Japanese media, including anime and video games like Monster Hunter and Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, and knowing that there is more to Japan than pop culture, I wanted to experience travelling this country first hand. I like the excitement of Japan’s big cities like Tokyo, but also the traditional architecture of the shrines, temples, and castles. Also, the kindness and respect from people in Japan that I witnessed is something I really appreciate.

What do you think about life in Aizu and what is your favorite way of spending the weekends here?

Felix: I like living here. It’s calmer than in the bigger cities and the people I’ve met from Aizu are all really nice. I also like to travel and visit other places around the area of Aizu on the weekends.

What is your hobby and how do you usually spend your free time?

Felix: My hobbies are gaming, game development, drawing, scuba diving, kite surfing, kendo, Gunpla building, and playing the saxophone. And in my free times, when I manage to keep myself from spending my time playing video games, I like to build Gunpla models or draw in my sketchbook.

What is your academic background and what kind or research have you done before?

Felix: I study media informatics as an undergraduate at the University of Applied Sciences in Düsseldorf, Germany. I did some research in computer graphics on art styles in animation and video games.

Do you have any things or skills that you are proud of?

Felix: I developed and published a short Puzzle game called Wrapper. It’s a passion project of mine and I like how it turned out in the end.

EJ’s Best Custom: The Weekly Study Sessions

How did you know about Eyes, JAPAN, and why did you decide to join?

Felix: My professor is a friend of Yamadera-San and he recommends the company to Students who want to do an internship as part of their studies. As part of my studies, I wanted to do an internship to gain experience in the field of computer science. Because I also wanted to visit Japan, and according to my professor’s recommendation, I decided to join Eyes, JAPAN.

Do you have any job experiences before joining Eyes, JAPAN?

Felix: I worked as a teaching assistant at my university’s lab far database systems.

What did you do throughout the internship?

Felix: Throughout the internship, I worked on mobile app, web app, and robotics projects.

What is the most memorable project that you worked on during the internship?

Felix: The Double3 Project is probably the most memorable for me personally. It was the first time I got to really manage such a project and it showed me, how much I still have to learn.

What customs in Eyes, JAPAN that you like the most?

Felix: The weekly study session is great. It creates an environment for us to practice our presentation skills which in my opinion are very important in a professional setting. Especially because we can choose the subject of our presentation ourselves and therefore speak about things that we are already passionate about.

What do you think about your colleagues and the working environment in Eyes, JAPAN?

Felix: My colleagues are very nice people and I like working and spending time with them. And the work environment being so flexible is a bit advantage in my opinion. I believe that having freedom over how we work, lets us optimise our work in a way that is best for us.

What do you think about working at the company and working at home?

Felix: I like to separate my work environment from my home. I believe that if I were to work from home, I wouldn’t get anything done. Of course, this is different for everyone, but I don’t think home office would work for me personally.

What kind of problems or challenges have you faced while working in Eyes, JAPAN, and how did you solve it?

Felix: I had issues with properly assigning tasks to my team members. I’m much more used to work on my own and figure out which task I had to do as I go. Ultimately, we figured out which tasks had to be done by sitting together as a team and getting everyone on the same page and decide on our next steps from there.

Dream: Want to Lead in an Independent Video Game Studio

Have you experienced any culture shock while working in Japan?

Felix: Everyone seems to take their job very seriously. That’s not something you see often in my home country and I am amazed by that observation.

How do you balance your working and private time?

Felix: I will work when I’m at the office but I believe it’s just as important not to do so when I have free time. Else, I couldn’t clearly define when to rest and wouldn’t be able to work effectively the next day.

What kind of project do you want to work on in the future?

Felix: This project does not have a high priority, but I would like to keep working on the EJ, Game Night website.

Any advice for people who wants to work in Japan?

Felix: Learn at least some phrases of Japanese that you can use in everyday life. Since most Japanese people don’t speak English, it will help you out a lot if you can communicate even on a beginner level.

What motivates you to keep working or studying?

Felix: I would say that I am generally curious and like to learn new things so I choose to work on projects that will lead me to learn something new about a topic that I am interested about.

Lastly, what is your dream?

Felix: I want to lead in an independent video game studio and create unique and memorable games for people to enjoy playing.

Thank you!

If you are interested in Eyes, JAPAN and would like to hear other stories, please do not hesitate to contact us at the following contact form.

Contact form

Everyone welcome.