Working at DLTokyo... Speak Japanese?

[alabama]

I've been looking at the Tokyo Disney hiring site... and I cannot tell if speaking Japanese is a must. I'm mainly interested in character/performer roles. Does anyone know if Japanese fluency is a must? Thanks!

[Goin2Disneyland]

Only Japanese residents can apply for non-performance positions, so that's all you would qualify for anyway (assuming you're American).

American performers at TDR are not expected to speak Japanese. In fact, the characters are advised to speak English - the guests prefer it that way.

[1FoolishMortal]

^ Well that's interesting. I knew that the characters mainly spoke English, but didn't realize that Japanese guests preferred it that way. Just another way in which Japanese culture continues to surprise me (in a good way of course ).

[alabama]

That's good to know. Are the rides in the foreign parks in the respective language of the country, or in English? Has anyone here worked at DLTokyo that could tell me what the housing is like? Thanks!

[meekobiscuit]

I'm joining this discussion a little late, but maybe this might help future readers.

That's good to know. Are the rides in the foreign parks in the respective language of the country, or in English?

Well over 95% of the people in Japan are Japanese, so it's mostly in Japanese...

I'm just going to go off of what I remember...
The Magic Lamp Theater - 3D Aladdin movie attraction is in Japanese.
The Little Mermaid show is a mix of English and Japanese.
20,000 Leagues - narration in Japanese
Storm Rider - narration in Japanese
Sinbad - songs in Japanese with the exception of one line that is repeated over and over and over, "Compass of your heart"
Jungle Cruise - Japanese (btw, it's funny to hear the schpiel in Japanese!)
I'll stop now, but judging by what I've remembered so far, the attractions are mostly in Japanese. That said, however, the rides are enjoyable, no matter what language you speak.

HKDL is a little different though. Because many in HK speak English, they often have different lines for English, Mandarin and Cantonese speakers. They even featured Tagalog at the Stitch attraction, if memory serves me well...

Has anyone here worked at DLTokyo that could tell me what the housing is like? Thanks!

I don't know if OLC provides housing for their international C.M.s, but I can give some info about Japanese housing in general...

Well, Japanese housing is tiny. You have no idea how tiny until you actually live in it. But, you get used to it. To put things in perspective, the U.S. population is about 300 million. Japan is about 125 million (so roughly 40% of the U.S. population lives in the space about the size of California, except most of Japan is mountainous, so only about 15% of the land is livable. Think... 40% of the U.S. population in greater L.A.) That will give you an idea of how cramped Japan can get. Some "apartments" (incidentally, they call apartments, "mansions" in Japan) are barely big enough for 2 people to sleep side by side in. Rents for mansions like the one I described, in a district 30 minutes East from central Tokyo, can cost around $800 a month. If you go into Chiba (prefecture southeast from Tokyo), which is where TDL is anyway, rent can be cheaper and space is much more generous.

I don't know if this answers your questions, but I hope it helps a little!

[JoeInJpn]

Has anyone here worked at DLTokyo that could tell me what the housing is like? Thanks!

OLC provides housing for performers brought in from other countries for the duration of their contract, usually 3-12 months. A housing complex named "E-Village" houses most of them. It is located one train stop away from Tokyo Disney Resort in the Shin-Urayasu area.