The AJG research group Spaces of International Economy and Management (SIEM) held a collaborative research meeting at the Annual Conference of the Association of the Japanese Geographers at Tohoku University in Sendai on October 1st. We invited Kenta Yamamoto of Kokugakuin University to deliver his presentation titled “Job-hopping of Animation-related industry workers and the networks of the workers in Tokyo.” Due to the popular topic we had numerous participants who provided a fruitful discussion about Prof. Yamamoto’s presentation and related matters.
The presentation of Prof. Dr. Kenta Yamamoto focused on working environments on a studio and their career moving activities in the animation industry agglomerated on the western suburban of Tokyo. The purpose of the study was to examine a spatial structure of creativity on Tokyo. The results presented showed how a real figure of creativity of the metropolis can be examined under studios as “creative nexus” (Yamamoto 2014). Animation studios are important places for workers not only expressing their creativity, but also establishing human relationships. Workers of the industry under unstable working situation find new jobs through their networks. Studios agglomerated in the western part of Tokyo are connected with each other by these human networks. Complex networks among studios, functioning also as small spaces in the creative nexus, and sustained by each worker are one of the real figures of the creativity of the metropolis.
SIEM is looking forward to collaborating with other research groups within and outside of Japan to popularize the theme of Management Geography.
