TL;DR: Any advice for someone with Japanese citizenship (but only conversational Japanese language ability) on work options + general living?
I’m 24, feeling stuck and unsatisfied with my marketing job and feeling like I lost out on the post-grad traveling/last hoorahs due to being a 2020 grad. I am thinking of quitting my job and traveling before moving to Tokyo. My moms side of the family is in Tokyo and I am thinking of moving there as I’d have a place to stay and am already a citizen. However, my Japanese is pretty bad and is only day-to-day conversational. I’m open to an English teaching job to start out but I know it’s hard to be placed in Tokyo (but it would be necessary for me). I will be studying and improving my Japanese while there and if I could land a business oriented job (admin, anything) with minimal Japanese abilities that would be ideal but seems difficult.
Any advice for someone wanting to move and work in Tokyo that is already a citizen?
14 comments
Forgot to mention that I have a business marketing degree (BS) and that I’ve been to Japan (specifically Tokyo) over 25 times in my life
By all means go to Japan for a year or two, especially if you’re feeling disillusioned about your life and work (and you don’t have spousal/parental commitments to consider). 24-and-disillusioned is as normal as it gets for an ALT/Eikaiwa teacher. Getting placed in Tokyo as a JET/Dispatch ALT is definitely tricky, but there are plenty of companies that recruit directly.
However, you need to think about what you want to do in the future, as a career. Without excellent Japanese abilities, you don’t have much chance of getting the kind of admin/business work you’ve mentioned. Teaching English isn’t something you can do long term without either getting tons of experience and qualifications and moving into university/specialist education; or accepting stagnant wage growth and extremely limited career growth. I’d personally rather teach English than do entry level admin work for some Japanese business though – that definitely sounds like a recipe for unlimited unpaid overtime.
Whatever you decide you want to do in future, it’s almost guaranteed that you’ll find better success pursuing it back in your home country. If you keep improving your Japanese and gain some years of experience in whatever field you choose, you can always return to Japan with much improved career prospects.
Also, you should examine why you aren’t happy with work right now. Is it the company? Your boss/colleagues? Or is it indeed that you don’t want to work in marketing at all?
TLDR: Take a break, go to Japan, think about what you want to do with your life.
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>I’m open to an English teaching job to start out
How Japanese do you look? For the most part Eikaiwa and ALT positions are wanting people who look like foreigners. Ideally attractive foreigners. If you look Japanese you’ll have a difficult time getting work in the industry regardless of how strong your English is.
Your best bet would be to work on getting your Japanese up to business level. Take classes where you are while you’re also getting more valuable work experience with your current job.
Check out things like the Boston Career Forum to help get in touch with Japanese employers looking for bilingual talent.
If you really want to hit that reset button, then by all means come to Japan and use TownWork or Hello Work to find you a gig. As a citizen you could easily get unskilled labour work.
I might be misunderstanding something, but if you have Japanese citizenship, couldn’t you just go to Tokyo and find a job on the ground there? That way you wouldn’t have to worry about getting placed in Tokyo or not.
I also personally wouldn’t recommend Tokyo to live in, but that’s just my opinion and you have family there, so that should make it more bearable. I’m also assuming you actually mean Tokyo, not Saitama, Chiba, etc.
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If I were you I’d work a regular Japanese business related job even if it was combini
I’m not a citizen, but when I arrived in Japan, I also only had conversational Japanese and I also have family in Tokyo (Kitasenju).
The awesome thing is that as a citizen, you can get any job with no restrictions. If you want to brush up on your business Japanese (without paying for lessons), work at a kombini. You’ll be using business-like language and you’re getting paid and is generally more relaxed and not as restrictive as, say an ALT/eikaiwa job – not to mention you’re using Japanese on a regular basis. What you will definitely need to practice is things like interviews. For that, you can do some lessons on the side (maybe focusing on the 専門用語 and writing, interviews, etc. as well) if you’re thinking about working in a business-oriented position in the future.
There are plenty of schools in Tokyo that provide part-time lessons and will very likely cater to what you need.
Just a warning – the entry into social life here might be more difficult that you think it might be.
I have several acquaintances that are half-Japanese, working in English teaching or English language primarily jobs. As you, they say their Japanese language skills are daily conversation, not more, and their reading is alos more junior high, not adult). They said that they receive rather rude or cold treatment from Japanese people. People in japan will assume as you look Japanese, you are Japanese, and as such, should act and speak like a Japanese. If you can’t “read air” or do not fall in line with standard protocol, they will be dismissive and actually a bit rude with “Why don’t you understand how it is?” On the other hand if you look more non-Japanese with a bit of Japanese, it’s commentary about being hafu and “not really Japanese.”
Not saying it happens 100% of the time or that you won’t find a soft landing – but just be aware that Japan is not always or really the most welcoming of non-tourist overseas people.
Do it. Your Japanese will improve quickly with constant use. And if you’re willing to do the English teaching bit, then you’ll have work.
Go for it! I know plenty of people that don’t speak Japanese and have great jobs in Tokyo. You might not find it immediately and it might take some time, but I’m sure you’ll enjoy the ride.
Good luck!
Since you have Japanese citizenship then I would suggest you come to Japan and look for work. It’s hard to find something when you’re not living in Japan.
Have you considered looking for work in marketing in Japan? While most positions want someone fluent in Japanese, if you have experience and a visa then you might be able to find a position in that field. Alternatively if you’re interested in programming there are a lot of programming jobs that don’t require Japanese.
There are a ton of English teaching jobs in Japan, but not all are great. Once you come to Japan there are a lot more options. You could probably reach out to English schools in the area you want to work. Also keep in mind that the trains in Tokyo are easy to get around on.
I was in a similar situation to you a couple years (except without the Japanese citizenship thing)
My opinion: If you really deep in your heart want to go to Japan then do it. Just realize that getting a good job in Japan with no real skills and limited Japanese is very, very difficult. Not impossible, but difficult.
Keep this in mind for your future otherwise you could end up like lots of other people where they move to Japan cause they’re desperate for a change and then 2-3 years down the line realize they’re stuck in a foreign country with no way to get out of their dead end job.
I gave up my job in my home country and moved to Japan on a whim when I was 23. I really underestimated the difficulty of getting a job here afterwards, but I eventually did find a decent one. I am getting somewhat disillusioned with Japan now, but I still don’t regret coming here because I knew without a doubt that it was the #1 thing I wanted to do in life when I moved here.
Hi,
A little late but I have moved abroad to Korea around your age and didn’t really know any Korean. Not the same country but like others have said, now is a really good age to do things you always wanted to try as long as you don’t have any other responsibilities ( married, kids, debt, some other career aspiration, etc)
It was a great experience and I felt like I learned a lot more about myself and what I wanted. Before that, I kept considering it and I know if I didn’t do it, I would always be wondering about it. Im also in marketing and found those experiences were pretty useful back in the US sometimes. Employers always assumed I was a crazy hard worker since I worked in Korea before. Sadly it’s not true but it helped me get through the door.
The nice thing is that you already have a Japanese base, family, and a citizenship. Minus the most annoying visa part, I think these are the questions that I hard time with and after answering them, it gave me more confidence in my decisions.
1. Are you willing to struggle with thing that came naturally for you? (Learn the language, culture, and etc)
2. If you are from a 1st world English speaking country, you most likely will be making less, is that okay? (Future savings, career)
3. You will have to make a whole new social life for yourself. Are you willing to put in the effort?
My personal opinion is you should go for it and the worst thing could happen is in 2-3 years you go back but happy you got an experience you always wanted out of the way. The best thing that could happen is…well I’m not sure I can say for that. Good luck!