Hello all, I (19M) am in my second year of college, currently pursuing my Bachelors degree in architecture in the states. I have been recently getting strong feelings of moving to Japan and opening up my own firm the moment I get licensed as an architect in the states. With this in mind I have also came to the conclusion to live in Japan as well for me to per sue this dream of mine.
The thing is I don’t know exactly what it’s like to be an architect in Japan and I’m having more mixed feelings especially when I see other posts about it being somewhat of bad idea working in Japan due to their extreme working hours. If any, at all, are pursuing the same career path as me or have achieved it, I could really use some advice as to how the architect work life is in Japan.
3 comments
Your question is very similar to this post from a year ago. https://old.reddit.com/r/movingtojapan/comments/pfjzg2/what_is_working_in_the_architecture_industry_like/
First read the dozens of previous threads about becoming an architect in japan: https://www.reddit.com/r/movingtojapan/search?q=architect&restrict_sr=on&include_over_18=on
Then consider that a US bachelor’s degree does not get you licensed to practice in Japan, **which is fortunate** since architects in Japan work the greatest number of unpaid overtime hours of any profession in Japan.
^{My ^invisible ^father ^is ^an ^architect.}
Unless your second major is Japanese language then I guarantee you are in for a hard time. You’re going to have to learn the language to a degree that you can read and understand Japanese law. Also, just because you get a license or degree in the states does not at all mean that it will be sufficient in Japan as they have different standards for almost everything. If that was the path you’d most likely have to start your education all over again starting at elementary school to learn the language first. If you were actually serious about this decision you’d probably be better off considering applying for college in Japan and going through the whole process here instead of starting all over when you get your American degree. I am an American expat living in Japan and I own my own company and it is not an easy process.