List your strangest-ever Japan job

[FG Lurker]

There are somewhere over 1600 FGs here on this board. I'm sure that between us we've done some mighty odd things for money.

So, what's the weirdest job you've had in Japan?

Reading Marked Trail's post about "Pornaoke" brought back a long-suppressed memory of my weirdest Japan job: A voice over for an Italian porno flick.

Yep... I was a broke j-language student and a fellow student offered me a chance to do this voice-over. It seemed pretty fucked up (no pun intended), but for 20,000 yen what could I say? Weirdest 2 hours of work I've done.

[Taro Toporific]

It seemed pretty fucked up (no pun intended), but for 20,000 yen what could I say? Weirdest 2 hours of work I've done.

That's not "Fucked up" just fucked.
Honda paid me 500,000yen to motorcycle racing voiceovers ...only to learn that I was getting screwed out 800,000yen by my "agent.":x

"Yes, yeeeees and the track looks sloped enough that Dave Thorpe is taking his cycle up a fire escape...."

[FG Lurker]

Honda paid me 500,000yen to motorcycle racing voiceovers ...only to learn that I was getting screwed out 800,000yen by my "agent.":x

I hope you "extracted" some of that 800,000yen Taro!

[Samurai_Jerk]

The JET Program actually paid me, a guy with no qualifications or teaching experience, 3.6 million yen a year for three years to surf the internet, watch movies in the English teachers' office, flirt with high school girls, and regularly come to work late hung over, unshaven, and wearing jeans and a T-shirt.

Not as strange but I also got to work as a bouncer a Yokohama Bay Hall once. I'm only about 5'8" and at the time weighed 172 lbs. To top it off I was only one of two bouncers and we worked different doors on opposite sides of the building with no way to communicate. If anything serious had gone down I would've been fucked. Some yaks did stop by to harrass the promoters for not paying their cut. They parked their car in a no parking area and one of the guys collecting covers told me to make them move. I just looked at him like he was nuts and he shut the fuck up.

[vir-jin]

the travel fair in hibya- dressed in 16th cent. mens clothes and wig when the tent began to sink in a typhoon.

the pet fair, I hate them little dressed up skunks! I was running amok

babysitting my professors 13 year old daughter for ten days in europe




she got an one month valid visa card connected to his bank account. She was ready for shopping and I refused to enter any store until the last two days. She ruined him He killed me for that

[American Oyaji]

A host in a host bar.

[vir-jin]

A host in a host bar.

far better than guest in a host bar

[DJEB]

Strange jobs? Just carpentry. Not very strange. I did more interesting stuff in Canada. I am a budding permaculture designer, though...

[Naniwan Kid]

[oyajikun]

Did the host thing while living in Hachinohe. I was 19 and lovin it!

The strangest has to be a summer job in Misawa, picking daikon along side rows of hunched over Obasan that worked 10x faster than I possibly could.

[puargs]

Not a Japan job, but I did a freelance website design for a porn site.

Gives new meaning to the Fight Club quote "Can I have that icon in cornflower blue?" "Absolutely."

[Kuang_Grade]

Although not based in Japan, but somewhat Japan related....My first post college job was QCing data being entered into the federal database for the US gov's "sorry we screwed ya" payments to WW2 Japanese American Internees. I lasted about four weeks until they relocated the project too far away for the small wage I was getting...$7 an hour or so...and I quit.

[Captain Japan]

[sillygirl]

Hostess 5 years. LOVED it! Getting paid to get pissed, huge tips for singing 'Top Of The World.

Last year, recorded the English announcement for the new shopping mall in town. Saying ridiculous stuff like, 'the bell of happiness has started ringing'. My voice is played every 30 mins. I got a mere 5000 for it (mind you, only 20 mins work) The Japanese version was done by the bird who did the Disneyland announcements, a pro voice actress.Probably got paid squillions!

[Taro Toporific]

...'the bell of happiness has started ringing'....

And you don't use that for your tagline?!

[tatsujin]

The JET Program actually paid me, a guy with no qualifications or teaching experience, 3.6 million yen a year for three years to surf the internet, watch movies in the English teachers' office, flirt with high school girls, and regularly come to work late hung over, unshaven, and wearing jeans and a T-shirt.

Nice work if you can get it eh? Wish there was more of that around these days

[maraboutslim]

I was once a proctor for the test japanese doctors must take (in english) to practice medicine in the usa. We checked ID, and then just sat there or walked around making sure no one was cheating. It paid like 2-man a day for the three or four hours or whatever it was. I think it was a two or three day test.

I once registered at a modelling agency because they were going to hire me to DJ a party at an embassy and had me fill out all the other stuff too. Then one day a year and half later I got a call for a commercial. I wasn't really interested in it until they mentioned it was for Shiseido and with a leading Japanese actress. At the time, Rie Miyazawa was doing their stuff so naturally I was immediately interested in the gig. I didn't get the gig but wasn't that disappointed: I just wanted to meet Rie-chan and it turned out her contract was up and it was some new chick in the commercial anyway. But it was worth going on the call because the FGs that showed up at the casting call were hilarious! These guys were seriously damaged. When we had to introduce ourselves they'd go into all their shakespearian training and all this bs about how great a "real actor" they were and all that jazz that was surely going to come in terribly handy while being an extra in a bar scene of a commercial! After that I started recognizing these regular FGs on commercials. They were all griping about the pay of only 5-man a day for a two day shoot. Hell, sounded fine to me for being an extra.

[Mulboyne]

A US company wanted to buy some property in Tokyo and one of the buildings in the portfolio was full of mizu shobai tenants. My mission, Jim, which I was happy to accept, was a report on whether the client should charge a flat rent or percentage of takings.

[Taro Toporific]

As I mentioned on the FG before, I have a lucrative business consultanting job for a foreign fragrance company one evening a week.
One hard part of the work is to find Japanese people for their fragrance focus groups and product evaluations. Therefore, I am called in the "sample-n-evaluate" their new products for them. On fragrance surveys I have to emulate the responses of their marketing target, 20-something Japanese female.
Yep, I am a paid Japanese transvestite.

Fragrances go into all sorts of products that I test and evaluate. Besides getting paid for sniffing their Ty-D-Bowl Man having has way with Toilet Duck in test toilets, I often get paid for testing shampoo, hee, hee.

[Marvin Feltcher]

Sorry!

[FG Lurker]

I know a guy who gets paid to read filthy Japanese magazine articles and translate them into English.

A friend of my wife used to have a pretty unusual job... She was one of the folks that put mosaics onto porno photos for magazine publishing.

From what she said most of the "mosaic makers" (for lack of a better title) are women, not men.

[Samurai_Jerk]

From what she said most of the "mosaic makers" (for lack of a better title) are women, not men.

Probably because you need two hands to do it.

[Marvin Feltcher]

Probably because you need two hands to do it.

[FG Lurker]

Probably because you need two hands to do it.

Actually I think it was because if guys do it it has the same affect as looking at too much porn: desensitization and loss of interest... If my memory serves she said that for her and most other women it was "just a job" -- they didn't really even look at the pictures, just put the mosaic on, saved, and went to the next image.

[Samurai_Jerk]

Actually I think it was because if guys do it it has the same affect as looking at too much porn: desensitization and loss of interest... If my memory serves she said that for her and most other women it was "just a job" -- they didn't really even look at the pictures, just put the mosaic on, saved, and went to the next image.

I don't know if that's possible. I knew an OB/GYN that loved pussy just as much, if not more, than the next guy. And if any job would kill your urges, it'd be that one.

[FG Lurker]

I don't know if that's possible. I knew an OB/GYN that loved pussy just as much, if not more, than the next guy. And if any job would kill your urges, it'd be that one.

Looking at real pussy all day on an examining table would be a bit different than examining photos of unusual sex acts for Japanese porno mags...

But some of the stuff an OB/GYN sees would have to be pretty off-putting! I guess your budd was just extra sukebe!

[Samurai_Jerk]

I don't know if that's possible. I knew an OB/GYN that loved pussy just as much, if not more, than the next guy. And if any job would kill your urges, it'd be that one.

Looking at real pussy all day on an examining table would be a bit different than examining photos of unusual sex acts for Japanese porno mags...

But some of the stuff an OB/GYN sees would have to be pretty off-putting! I guess your budd was just extra sukebe!

Well, he is Latino.

[maraboutslim]

I did a little adult website work now and then but this one guy hired me to do some stuff for his new site and it turned out to specialize in photos of fat japanese chicks. a rare delicacy for someone, i'm sure, but totally grossed me out. i couldn't stand to look at the photos! I managed to do a splash page and banner for him without puking but now everytime he calls I just claim to be busy whether its true or not.

[sillygirl]

...'the bell of happiness has started ringing'....

And you don't use that for your tagline?!

bloody good idea, mate!

[FG Lurker]

I did a little adult website work now and then but this one guy hired me to do some stuff for his new site and it turned out to specialize in photos of fat japanese chicks. a rare delicacy for someone, i'm sure, but totally grossed me out. i couldn't stand to look at the photos! I managed to do a splash page and banner for him without puking but now everytime he calls I just claim to be busy whether its true or not.

Heh, more cushion for the pushin'! Or so they say.

I hope Japan doesn't end up with the same obesity problem as the US/Canada have. That'd be a cryin shame.