Hey all, question you peeps: how will my visible tattoos affect job prospects in Tokyo?
Getting mixed feedback upon google search.
Background:
Network engineer (automation/security, CCNP and CISSP), Not a lick of Japanese. Idk if I’ll be able to get back into the defense industry, but it’s cool, I’m open to new industries.
Got 2 sleeves with some some visible ink on my left hand.
Wife is Japanese and we’ve “agreed” to head to Tokyo to be with her family. Heading there in May I guess. Idk what kind of Visa I’ll have but my wife said she’ll handle all that with the embassy?
I guess I’m asking how screwed am I? Is my only hope gonna be remote work? Am I looking at days or years as far as job hunting when I get there? I’ve already accepted the fact that I’m gonna go from making nice money to basically peanuts. And reading the posts on this sub makes me wanna jump off a cliff.
Anything I can do now to help my salary prospects? I still got a few (8 or 9) months before I throw my career away.
If you made it this far, thanks for reading broski. Cheers 🍻 *starts furiously chugging*
6 comments
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Just cover them as much as possible and use sports tape or something to cover the one on your hand. You can also look for foreign companies that may be more lax about tattoos.
I have tattoos on my fingers and as long as they were covered, no one noticed. However, now I work in a company where tattoos are fine.
In the tech sector you’ll probably fine although you’ll have more luck with the foreign companies than the domestic ones. In your private life you’ll have issues with onsens, gyms, public pools, and maybe some beaches.
>Wife is Japanese […] Idk what kind of Visa I’ll have
If she’s Japanese you’ll get a Spouse visa. Which means if you want you can work remotely for a US based company rather than try to get a local job. Talk to your current employer and see if you can work something out. The guys over at r/japanfinance have a ton of resources for how you’d manage your tax situation.
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>Anything I can do now to help my salary prospects?
Do your best to keep your current job and make it remote. If you work domestically you’ll take a fairly significant salary hit.
Anywhere that will be cool with hiring you with zero Japanese ability will also likely be cool with you having tattoos.
The hand tattoo will be hard. The others you’d cover with long sleeves and leave it at that.
Your biggest issues will be language ability and taking a pay cut. Foreign companies will be more lenient on tattoos, but as someone else said, don’t expect to be able to use public pools or gyms without covering up.
You should start contacting recruiters and open up your LinkedIn to “searching.” Also, start looking for jobs now if the move is serious. Nothing preventing you from seeing if the Western companies here might have something (ie Google, Amazon).
Depending on whereabouts in Tokyo you may have a chance at one of the US military bases as a local hire or through one of their contractors. Check r/usajobs.