Some Techies Are Shunning Silicon Valley for the Japanese Dream
- Japan’s pop culture cachet is a pull for Global IT workers
- Firms that break the salaryman mold are having hiring success
This article is for subscribers only.
Software engineer Carlos Perez Gutierrez was in the enviable position of being able to choose between job offers. Ride-hailing company Lyft Inc. wanted him for its hip San Francisco office. Booking.com offered to cover his moving expenses to Amsterdam, including the cost of getting his dog through quarantine.
Instead, the 30-year-old ended up traveling much further from his native Mexico, to a country where few speak English let alone Spanish, to work for a business whose name most people back home wouldn’t recognize: a Japanese company called Line Corp. And Perez says he accepted less money to do it. The reason: a love affair with Japan’s comic books, anime and video games.