Hi all – seeking the wisdom of the Reddit hive mind. My partner and I, both early 30s, are looking to move to Japan from the UK in the next few years, and are considering our options.
I would love your thoughts and experiences on whether Tokyo would be a good fit for us, especially for me as a woman in a senior corporate role.
Some context:
1) Most of the content I read about moving to Japan is from a male perspective. Knowing how gendered career paths can be I am interested only in the experience of women making the jump, thank you!
2) I have a well paid job in corporate comms and international policy at a professional services firm (aka one of the big four) with a very global outlook (think Davos, Brussels, DC, etc). I have 10+ years of experience in the comms world. I would want to keep that international outlook and leverage my experience as much as possible.
3) I’m not really interested in quitting my job, taking a 50% pay cut or doing totally unrelated work (eg teach English). I know this sounds restrictive but I say it because it seems to be assumed that women will do that. I am not one of those women.
4) I learned Japanese for a couple of years when I was younger and really enjoyed it. Both my partner and I are very willing to learn if we decide Japan is our place.
5) I’ve been to Japan a few times (we’re here right now!) and my partner now for the first time, and we genuinely love it. We’re also very international people, having both been brought up internationally, although we’re both in London currently.
6) I also know coding and programming because of a previous role in marketing consulting and a Master so again I could leverage that. I mention it because there seems to be a lot of discussion around IT roles demand atm.
As I say, this is part of an early conversation, so we have time to make preparations over the next few years. If you’re a woman (or have loved ones with similar experiences), what do you wish you/they had known before moving? Huge thanks in advance!
by Debater89