I’ve been wanting to move to Japan for a while now and I’m soon to graduate university in the US with a bachelor’s in Exercise Science. What is the work force like for the exercise field in Japan? I have no plans on becoming a physical therapist but with this degree I’ve been more pushed towards clinical exercise research studies and potentially being a research assistant. Being an exercise physiologist or personal trainer are also options for me but I’m just not aware of how open the exercise job field is in Japan for a foreigner. I’ve been learning Japanese for a bit now but I am still at a basic level.
Edit: I feel obliged to mention this, I do have a full tattoo sleeve on my right arm and I understand that while tattoos are becoming much more accepted in Japanese society, many gyms seem to not allow people with tattoos in. Will this be a barrier to me getting a job?
by biggieraptors
2 comments
This is a copy of your post for archive/search purposes.
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**Work Opportunities in the Exercise Field (Potentially Research Based)**
I’ve been wanting to move to Japan for a while now and I’m soon to graduate university in the US with a bachelor’s in Exercise Science. What is the work force like for the exercise field in Japan? I have no plans on becoming a physical therapist but with this degree I’ve been more pushed towards clinical exercise research studies and potentially being a research assistant. Being an exercise physiologist or personal trainer are also options for me but I’m just not aware of how open the exercise job field is in Japan for a foreigner. I’ve been learning Japanese for a bit now but I am still at a basic level.
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> I’ve been more pushed towards clinical exercise research studies and potentially being a research assistant.
This sounds promising to me.
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> Being an exercise physiologist or personal trainer are also options for me
I don’t believe these are jobs that immigration allows visa sponsorship for.
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> I’ve been learning Japanese for a bit now but I am still at a basic level.
This will probably be you biggest hurdle. Something like 97% of people in Japan are native speakers of Japanese. Only around 10% of people in Japan feel comfortable communicating in English at all. If you’re going to be doing work that involves interacting with others you’re going to have to get your Japanese skills up to business level (and with your profession there will be tons of specialized language that you’ll need to learn too).
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>Edit: I feel obliged to mention this, I do have a full tattoo sleeve on my right arm and I understand that while tattoos are becoming much more accepted in Japanese society, many gyms seem to not allow people with tattoos in. Will this be a barrier to me getting a job?
It certainly won’t help. It probably wouldn’t be an issue for your research based options, but for a lot of gyms having a full sleeve would prevent you from being a member, let alone an employee.