Danica Davidson
May 16, 2024 
Risk Monster, a credit management company located in Tokyo, does a yearly survey titled Organizations Where I Want my Children/Grandchildren to Work. A total of 800 people were surveyed, evenly split with 200 having a daughter, 200 having a son, 200 having a granddaughter, and 200 having a grandson. All the daughters, sons, granddaughters and grandsons need to be under the age of 18 for their relatives to take part in the questionnaire.
So, where do Japanese parents and grandparents fantasize about their children working one day? 16 percent said they’d love it if their kids worked for the national government. A slightly lower number, 13.3 percent, went for a government job that’s a little closer to home, hoping for regional government work.
At 10.8 percent, the car company Toyota nabbed third place. Then, in fourth place, out of all the potential companies in Japan, is one of interest to otaku: Nintendo. 6.9 percent opted for this choice.
SoraNews24, in reporting on the survey, noted some reasons Nintendo might seem so attractive. For one thing, there’s a good chance the kids are already fans of Nintendo games. For another, Nintendo has built itself up to be company with international pull and customers, which makes it a thing of pride as well as potential stability. When the parents and grandparents were questioned “How much money do you want your child/grandchild to earn?” almost 30 percent replied, “I’m not concerned about it.”
From there, parents and grandparents voted for these companies as future job prospects: Panasonic at 5.4 percent, Apple at 5.3 percent, Mitsubishi Shoji at 4.8 percent, Itochu Shoji at 4.4 percent, Sony at 4.1 percent, and last of all in the top ten, Japan Airlines at 3.9 percent. Sony also makes video games, but Nintendo scored above it, and is the only full-on game company to make the list. And even though Sony comes out with all sorts of things, those surveyed still showed a clear bias in favor of Nintendo.
Source: SoraNews24
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Danica Davidson is the author of the bestselling Manga Art for Beginners with artist Melanie Westin, plus its sequel, Manga Art for Everyone, and the first-of-its-kind manga chalk book Chalk Art Manga, both illustrated by professional Japanese mangaka Rena Saiya. Check out her other comics and books at www.danicadavidson.com.
