I have humanities visa and currently working in Sapporo. I’m thinking of changing jobs because current job is making me anxious. I feel like every job here needs a high level japanese speaking unless you’re really good in IT or working in a foreign owned company.
I’m good at reading japanese and listening also writing documents but my speaking is below N3 I believe and that is why I always get nervous working. I don’t really know what I’m asking but can you share your work experience here in Japan? How did you get better in speaking business Japanese? I feel like I’m just stupid because I can never get to a level where I’m good at it. Daily conversation is not a problem it’s just the work-level japanese speaking is where I’m bad.
by catloverr03
37 comments
Translator
Day job fuck no kill me
Freelance yes
I’m a programmer, I love it, I’ve always been into computer stuff since web dev class in high school. I get on quite well with all of my colleagues that I work closely with(don’t really know if I do with other people in the company only because I don’t work with them closely enough), the projects I work on are interesting and meaningful to me at least. Pay while lower than what I’d make in my home country, is excellent and it affords me the ability to save money and do stuff with my partner.
The work isn’t always easy. Delivering under pressure, dealing with difficult client demands, and shit just not going the way you expected happens but a mix between being able to play to my strengths, my ability to trust in sharing my weaknesses with my team mates and company culture is specifically what makes it fulfilling. I’ve been in this occupation for a decade and a half and more positions than not were unfulfilling, soul crushing and sometimes heartbreaking. Even though it was all programming work, being in any position where you can’t shine, you can’t be genuinely you and be able to share that, and be able to trust your colleagues would be horrible.
That being said, when I say genuinely being you I don’t mean my colleagues let me become a disillusioned coding Gordon Ramsey, I trust that when they do need to give me constructive feedback it’s coming from a good place and not to rip me down out of malice or step on top of me to excel.
Software engineer. I fix bugs and create “plug-ins” customized for customers.
It pays the bills but I feel like we rob our customers.
Chemist. I love what I do and think the science is really important.
But to be fair I’m here on a 3 year expat assignment from the US and there is an understanding that my Japanese isn’t fluent. Just passed JLPT N4 on the first go and feel like my actual level is around N3 right now.
A big plus to science jobs is that the math and chemistry don’t really care what language you speak. I suffer with email and meetings sometimes but once I get into the lab it’s not much different from being back home.
I’m a farmer. It’s immensely satisfying. Every day is different and there’s no overtime, when it gets dark it’s time to quit you also have an endless supply of fresh organic vegetables. Right now day to day activities vary between farming and forestry work like cutting trees down for next winter’s firewood, Mrs Farmer loves felling trees so and she generally brings them down in the right direction which is a real bonus.
Summer work is great, nice early start and then siesta from 11:30 till 3 or 4 and back out for a leisurely afternoon.
Would totally recommend
This sub will grill you for saying: “how dare the Japanese expect workers to read, write and speak Japanese!” 😀
My career went in three steps:
1) Humanities graduate school, had N1 (I guess you do not speaking for that), took IT course after graduation and not finding anything for 6 months. Ended up in a low level coding job. 200k a month no benefits no bonus. After 1 year I started looking, but took me 6 months to find something.
2) Allround job at a startup. Pay was 250k-300k a month (including bonus) will small amount of benefits. Got management certification after 3 years.
3) Current job 680k a month (includes bonus) with medium benefits and some special conditions.
I can easily find a better paying job around 1M a month, but I would have to give up some conditions.
My only advice is, lose the mindset of “what can I do now” and change it to “let’s make a 5 year plan”. Maybe your first step is toastmasters or something like that to help you with speaking?
I teach English in an institute of technology. Lots of toys to play with, great private office and students are awesome. Salary is probably low compared to what you guys make but the rest largely make up for it.
Climbed the corporate ladder, now a senior manager. My direct reports are all Japanese.
I put in crazy hours in my 20s working in the trenches. Now I’m one of the very few bilingual experts in the whole country for my field and I’m basically paid for my decision making, so I can work from home with typically very easy days. I love my job and seeing the payoff from working so hard in my younger days is extremely satisfying.
The best way to get better at business Japanese is to get an office job. Any office job. Trial by fire.
I’m a lecturer. I love teaching, I love education, and I also love research. My field is English and American literature. Most of the time I feel really fulfilled, but… This last week has been full of frustration and stress. Nearly 90% of my students used some sort of AI translation or grammar check or whatever to write their essays. This creates an integrity issue and can also snowball into unfair treatment of students. I’ve been trying to be as fair as possible, gave extra assignments to students who most likely used AI. Dealing with them is tough.. some of them become aggressive and claim they didn’t use ai, but then when asked to tell the contents of the essay they can’t connect a to b…
Anyway, being an educator in this day and age isn’t as much fun anymore..
Operations at Japanese arm of a major global Investment bank.
I’ve been very surprised in a good way of the support from team members and work life balance. Good pay (10m+).I am fluent in Japanese and English (reading too). Although Japanese fluency was not listed as a requirement, I have not met a single coworker who isn’t incredibly bilingual, and meetings are conducted in both. So I suspect it would be hard to get hired without. Although all official communications are done in English (email and chat).
It was a long road to fluency for me. Studied hard when I was younger and grinded through an average paying Japanese company for several years in all Japanese which was sink or swim to improve fluency in business situations.
Everyone has their route. Persistence and patience are key to success in Japan. Never compare yourself to others, just find your path.
Game graphic designer, i’m worried about the future because i am a 2d main and there is less and less needs in it, i also lost my passion in game… thinking of career change but also feel like kinda too late…
The job itself is quite fulfilling when busy and releasing a game, can be quite dull sometime… depend on the project i guess…
Payment is okay, need more to catch up recent price inflation though… but honestly not much future in my company XD
Sys/NW admin. Job is pretty chill and pays decently well. However, I wouldn’t necessarily call it fulfilling. I’m not tackling any of the world’s great problems, I’m not contributing to my community/Japan in any way shape or form, and certainly no one has seen a concrete improvement in their lives because of what I do. Sometimes I wonder if I should quit/go part time and use my free time to achieve my dream: teaching IT and programming to japanese inmates.
Who is your daddy, and whatt does he do?
I do virtually almost nothing. I chat with ppl at the office, read my e-mails, sometimes I reply.. i wander outside the office to go to the konbini… a true bullshit job in the sense that David Graeber described it.
Corporate english teacher at a Japanese company.
I love it. The pay is okay, better than other teaching jobs. I am the boss with a private office, I decide the schedule and design the curriculum.
I get about 7 weeks work from home per year, if I am sick I can also work from home. Students are fantastic. I teach about 4 hours a day, monday to Friday and finish by 6pm and go home.
The work balance is so damn good that even if a job had much better pay it would be really hard to want to leave my job.
Software engineer, full-stack, the job itself is enjoyable for me because I love development and coding but the pay at my company is worse than slavery
Left a salary man job 2 to 3 years ago at an IT/games company and became a carpenter. Now I have a small crew and love it.
I’m a manager at a consultancy. Help.
I have my own business. I am a sole trader selling classic cameras and lenses. I love my job and I get the hours I want. I am really fortunate as I got to turn my passion into my job.
I worked in a Japanese company for a couple of years, for minimum wage, that earned me the contacts and the Japanese to work independently.
I also have a KK which I do consulting and research/development through. That pays my health insurance and pension.
I started out as a teacher working at Interac. I managed to get a job at a Japanese camera supply company through a friend. They needed a native speaker, but had never employed a foreigner so they didn’t know what to do with me. The pay was 1000 per hour, but it was worth it. It was an apprenticeship and got me further up the ladder and opened the doors to what I have now. My own business and my own time.
Sometimes you have to take a step down to take a step up.
Software engineer at an AI startup. It’s full remote with flex scheduling. So, I’m pretty happy with it. What I do provides something valuable for busy parents and I feel like I’m growing as an engineer every day, even with 10 years of XP under my belt. Much more satisfying work than the teaching gigs I used to have. Japanese isn’t required, but it definitely would make things easier since most of my team is Japanese native. Suppose I should put more effort into studying again… 🤷♂️
Animator at anime studio. Long commutes are the only thing I dislike about the job, aside from that I’m very fulfilled even if I don’t make much money, I’m just grateful I have a stable job with benefits and bonus in my industry, which is quite rare. Will eventually become a freelancer once I get naturalized and also once I’m good enough as a layout artist/am qualified enough to do animation direction. There’s a huge demand for animators right now and some freelance sakkan I know make over 600k+ a month doing nothing but corrections + they work remotely.
Media manager at a global ad agency. Basically a mix of media strategy, tactical planning, and managing direct reports, clients, and senior management.
It’s truly stressful, but I enjoy it because I am forced to grow and use my brain 🧠 , and I enjoy growing my direct reports and being a part of their development.
That said, I’m slowly but surely working to build my own portfolio through side gigs with the intention of going full time freelance. Mainly because I want more money 💰.
Social media marketing/ Design. It’s fun! I get to make content 80% of the time, and do spreadsheets/ uploading the rest of the time so it’s not bad at all~
I live in Sapporo too! The weather has been nothing but fantastic recently and tomorrow is also bringing in the fun!
I work for a huge multinational (American) company within their marketing department. Like you my business Japanese could always be better but I would imagine the reason they hired you (like me) in the first place wasn’t because of speaking perfect Japanese.
I agree with the some of the other posters here. Make a five year plan, maybe if there’s someone you trust at your work place maybe ask them for some hints or pointers? To improve speaking there are plenty of free schools in and around Sapporo too, or use something like Italki? Going to school is always good and well, but you also need to test yourself in the field, in real life. Make fuck ups because of your Japanese and you will get better. I did and still do! Good luck :).
Corporate tech job. Basically herding cats and facilitating communication. It’s generally interesting because I work with a ton of smart people doing interesting work. I get paid pretty well.
I work for a medium size game company as a planner. In sometimes do translation tasks as well. I enjoy it. I worked for 6 years as an alt then 3 in a very small juku and Gakudo. That job was ready stressful but it got my business Japanese much better because I was in charge of a lot of the business side like billing parents and I interviewing new staff and students. I would not go back though.
I’m a qualified mechanic, moved to Sapporo about three years ago for an opening and have been here since. Took my mechanic qualifications and HGV driving licenses locally whilst working and never looked back.
Language study is a life long endeavour, I have my N1 from a few years back but ultimately keeping your head down and continuing to study daily is really the only way forward I’ve found.
My company moved me to Japan to run strategic projects here. I never thought I’d live here and had no previous fascination for Japan. It’s a very well known international tech. Salary is great work is great but mostly I love my colleagues. Our job is cushy but no one is self entitled or arrogant like in other offices I have worked in (same company). When something is broken, it’s everyone’s problem. Everyone except me is Japanese and I do get roasted a lot as henna Gaijin but I have met nothing but awesome people.
The job itself is an office job but high tech. We build an app and a website and they really help people do good stuff and live their lives better (it’s not some shitty world-ending social network, or some weird braindead game). It’s super successful and I love seeing people on the street use what we built.
If I didn’t have to pay rent tho I would quit my job and start a film lab. That’s just to say, even the ‘perfect job’ might not make you 100% happy. But I enjoy my life here and I love living in Japan.
I’m your traditional eikaiwa teacher. Have a salary a little above average and don’t work for long hours. I really enjoy teaching and I used to find it quite fulfilling.
I speak 6 languages and I am currently studying a seventh language. Recently, the thought of being able to use all those languages in a professional environment has made me enjoy my job less, yet, i don’t know what could I do.
I studied Japanese for 2 years full time and have N2… and basically haven’t used it professionally at all, because I ended up staying at home in Shikoku and writing video games about cats. Is it fulfilling? I’m not curing cancer, just coming up with new ways for people to waste their time, but it’s kinda fun.
Work in the Japanese and US Defense Industry. It can be incredibly frustrating at times and I am getting busier every year but I find the work incredibly satisfying and enjoy it. I get paid in dollars and the salary is far more then I ever dreamed of making.
Pro all bosses are stateside so I am in charge here. Con all bosses are stateside and meetings sometimes happen late at night.
English teacher, but only for 9 more days hahahahahahahahahaha😆. Not fulfilling 🙂
Currently a 派遣社員 at a factory. Not fulfilling at all lol but it’s low responsibility and low stress, used to have a stressful career back at my home country and it’s a nice break for now but I’m already becoming bored. I’m aiming to get back into some sort of career somewhere in the future.
Assistant Manager at an expat bar. Pay is modest, but so is my lifestyle. It’s a nice place because we get patrons from everywhere, including a fair amount of Japanese clientele. Some nights are hard, but I have a great team who lean on each other like a family, and on the nights when we’re not packed, I get to shoot the shit with people from all over the world. As a night owl with friends who mostly operate at night, I dig the bar culture and late starts.
I’m an ALT for elementary and middle school.
Went to college and studied animation, worked in the industry and crunched for the better part of 7 years, got burnt out, got laid off, moved to Japan. I’ve been here for 3 years, and I still sometimes do some animation work. I love kids and wanted to be an elementary school teacher before chosing animation, so it worked out well for me and I love my job. People on this sub love to dump on ALTs, but there are people who actually enjoy and excel at the job. The pay isn’t lifechanging, but I don’t live in a big city so it’s comfortable for me.
I work in a Japanese staffing and engineering company.
I do my job purely to earn a salary.
It is not fulfilling.
I am out the door at 17:31 almost every day.
Private tour guide. Absolute dream job, get to wander around all day talking to cool and interesting people about cool and interesting things.