Journalist in Japan

4 comments

1. >Also, which ones do we have in the US, that are also located in Japan?

   All of the big US names have a presence in Japan. It’s the world’s third largest economy after all. If you want to be a journalist in Japan, you’ll need to aim for N1 since all the press releases you’ll read will be in Japanese and all your contacts will be Japanese as well.

   Have a look here: http://www.fccj.or.jp/

   >What if I would get a job, could my husband come with me to Japan?

   Yes, you could sponsor your husband for a dependent visa. I’m assuming he is an opposite gender to yourself. Japan doesn’t recognize same-sex marriages (yet).

   >And could he work too?

   On a dependent visa he can request permission to work up to 28 hours per week from immigration. If he wants to work full time he’d have to qualify for his own working visa and find an employer to sponsor him.

2. Check out the Overseas Press Club Foundation for a fellowship that funds student journalism projects abroad: https://www.overseaspressclubfoundation.org/apply.html. I’d also recommend looking into pursuing business journalism. The people I’ve known who have done reporting in Japan have been within that area.

3. >Also, which ones do we have in the US, that are also located in Japan?

   NYT, Washington Post, Bloomberg etc have bureaus here as do all of the major wire services. If they have an opening, 95% of the time they will either transfer from within the company or headhunt from one of the local English-language outlets/bureaus.

   WaPo was looking for a Japan/Korea bureau chief recently; their [job ad](https://www.linkedin.com/jobs/view/japan-korea-bureau-chief-at-the-washington-post-2225236101/?originalSubdomain=jp) will give you an idea of what they were looking for (or you can read [Anna Fifeld’s Wiki entry](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anna_Fifield)).

   >But I would just like to do some research in what skills they would like to see besides Japanese.

   The same skills that are in demand for any other well-paying journalism job elsewhere in the world: Can you write articles, shoot/edit your own photos/video, record your own podcasts, *and* create killer social media content? etc.

   Make no mistake, you will need N1 Japanese – not N2-equivalent, not even Very Good N2, but N1.

4. > I was wondering what big media companies are there in Japan?

   You’re a journalist, but can’t do basic research?

   > Also, which ones do we have in the US, that are also located in Japan?

   Yikes, dude.

   N5 will NOT get you hired in journalism in Japan. You need N2 **minimum** if you’re working with JP language content — but even then, most places will want you at N1 level regardless of what they say, and even more will give **extreme** preference to native speakers and/or fluent speakers even if the job does not entail writing/editing in Japanese. This is because, depending on your position or publication, you’re going to have to go to a LOT of government pressers — which means listening to a bunch of old Japanese dudes blathering on about highly specialized areas such as national defense or economics, the vocabularies of which you will never learn in basic Japanese classes. (I had to self-study all the specialized terms I need for my job.)

   Then, there’s the issues of the jobs themselves. Many are designed to purposefully exclude foreign applicants, regardless of language ability, so publications can skirt tax laws. NY Times and Washington Post both have hired news assistants in the past as contract positions providing no health care — meaning you basically need legal residency here to be hired at all. [See this recent job from WashPo](https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/washington-post-seeks-news-assistant-tokyo-simon-denyer-1c) for an idea of what I’m talking about.

   Are there journalists who don’t speak Japanese in Japan? Yes. How are they here? They work for the Washington Post, NY Times, AP etc. and were TRANSFERED here after working at said publications for years and/or after developing an impressive resume.

   If you’re not near N2 or N1 level, don’t even bother attempting to look for non-Japanese speaking positions until you’ve been working for 5+ years in the field.

   > But I would just like to do some research in what skills they would like to see besides Japanese.

   Again, I need to stress: You are attempting to enter a field where being able to thoroughly research things is the MOST IMPORTANT skill, probably more important than being able to write coherently.

   > Another question, getting way ahead of myself. What if I would get a job, could my husband come with me to Japan? And could he work too?

   Hey, remember that “research” thing I mentioned?

   I speak from experience here.