14 DAY TRIAL // The goals of any respectable, young Japanese high-school graduate is to enter a famous and renowned university, like the Tokyto University, and then to go on and be recruited by a respectable and powerful company. It may not sound like all that different from the rest of the world, but Japan has a bit of a cult of the “salary man.” The mild, mannered, uptight man-in-suit is portrayed as the role model of its society. With proverbs like, “The nail that stands out gets hammered back into place,” the rebel spirit isn't something very tolerated by Japanese companies. Even the less conventional ones, which rely to some degree on creativity and individuality, seek the “salary man” stereotype.
This has spread to that much of a degree, that even game developers and publishers, considered pretty much one of the sanctuaries of otakus, the deviants of Japanese society, alongside the anime industry, are starting to be very selective of their staff. It's no longer considered unappropriate for a respectable, young individual to come and work in such a place, on the contrary. More and more “upstanding citizens” with impressive educational backgrounds are forming lines outside Nintendo's recruitment office.
“Nintendo has become one of those companies that graduates from colleges and good universities really want to work for,” Shigeru Miyamoto said, while talking to Edge. “Because of that, the competition's really become so fierce for positions. And that means that a lot of the recent recruits for Nintendo have tended to have the higher degree from the prestigious colleges and universities and whatnot.”
You would have thought that the bold and innovative industry of computers had learned a thing or two from the Harvard University drop-out, Bill Gates. A little closer to its own home, Nintendo has some personal experience with people without a prestigious college background that turned out to be essential employees. A perfect example would be Miyamoto himself, something that he even brought up with the higher-ups of Nintendo. “I often say to Mr Iwata: 'If I was applying for a job here today, I, with my actual college degree, would probably not have been employed by Nintendo!'” Miyamoto said. With games becoming a casual practice, it seems like the players of today will soon need to find some other secluded activity to retreat from society.