I’m thinking about getting side income since my main job’s salary is a bit low, like it’s liveable, but I want my own money to spend on other goods. I’ve been researching this reddit and going online, and apparently it is possible to get side income doing other types of work as long as you get permission from immigration but I’m worried about inflation and all in Japan.
The question though, is how long should I be working before I apply to get a side job and inform immigration on a humanities/international services visa?
I’m not sure what side jobs I want yet but I will look into what’s available. I think it’s going to be hard to find one related to my job, but it doesn’t matter whether it’s English teaching or modelling or whatever. Just want some extra income since I don’t have anyone to rely on.
If I can’t get one here, would side income from say, making YouTube videos, selling items online to overseas, etc. also count and how would one go about getting permission from immigration to make income from something you do on your own? I find the way to do this is unclear, but somehow there are YouTubers who have their own business and get money from their channel while they are living in japan (I’m thinking of Mikan Mandarin).
It seems other people living in Japan are doing the side income thing based off what I see in this subreddit, and you would need to report your earnings when filing the taxes. If my understanding is incorrect, please teach me about it or link me to a resource that allows me to contact immigration directly about these concerns where I can know my rights within Japan as a resident on a working visa.
I’ve read this one post that said someone basically gets their income online, and puts it in their home country’s bank account but that sounds illegal, and not something I want to risk. My home country has a tax agreement with Japan, so I believe they would find out easily. Other sources on YouTube or articles online are not so clear and vaguely mention how you can make side income but I can’t verify if any of their advice in Japan is legal or not. Especially investing in the stock market has been mentioned on some subreddits but also I’ve read that it’s not allowed as a foreigner so I feel confused. There seems to be a lot of foreigners in Japan doing side income work too, if you are one of them, please tell me how you do your thing.
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First of all, starting a YouTube channel from scratch and getting it to the point of making any real money will likely take years. The market is over saturated. Plus it’s way more work and expense than you would imagine, so pretty much anyone who makes it as a YouTuber is either already famous on another platform or is really passionate about making videos and is willing to dedicate A LOT of unpaid time until their passion starts to make money. Plus, it’s a headache permission wise once you start making money. Many people do it on the down low, but can run into problems when they start getting popular (they get caught due to popularity or they finally go to get permission and the government realizes they haven’t had permission for the work they’ve done so far).
In most cases, you need to get a 資格外活動許可 to work outside of your visa genre. But if you find a gig within your visa status, you don’t. If you are on a general cultural activities visa, graphic design, web design, translation, etc wouldn’t need permission. If you are on a teaching Visa, doing eikaiwa would be an option.
Also, while it’s technically illegal for companies to ban side income, it can be seriously frowned upon in many companies, so be aware of this. If you’re working on a contract, it could lower the chances of the contract being renewed, cause workplace conflict, etc.
If you want to get permission outside of your visa status, you will generally need a contract with some company and will need to provide that contract with your permission application. That contract needs to state the hours, pay etc.
Selling online is a gray area that I’m not really familiar with, but I would imagine it would be quite a headache to get permission for this. I’m also not really aware of how stocks work.
If you want to do this by the books, my suggestion is to first pay a lawyer for a consultation. I work as a semi-freelancer now, and I talked to an immigrations lawyer for advice for about ¥5000 before I began to get the information needed to start my freelance business. I was pretty prepared going in though, so if you aren’t very prepared, you might have to consult a few times before things work out (sorry, I don’t have the name of the lawyer on hand, but look into “Japan immigration lawyer consultation.” Most will be able to speak English.)
Finally, plan to hire tax people to do your taxes unless you are quite fluent in Japanese. The English resources out there are very confusing, but you WILL have to file taxes on any income you make over the threshold of ¥200,000. Not doing so and getting caught can have issues for visa renewal in the future.
Your best bet would be to find some sort of job within your work Visa category, or finding someone to get a contract with outside of your category (ie an eikaiwa etc)
> you would need to report your earnings when filing the taxes
Yes, only if you make more than 200,000 a year. So most people starting YouTube channels don’t have anything to worry about.
AFAIK if you pass that threshold, you would have to file taxes by yourself (instead of through your employer), or you can do a tax adjustment after they file for you. What’s not clear to me is whether your employer will be able to find out about your side income after doing that (someone else please clarify this).
> Especially investing in the stock market has been mentioned on some subreddits but also I’ve read that it’s not allowed as a foreigner so I feel confused.
Foreigners are allowed to invest in the stock market. People holding US citizenship have some restrictions on what they can trade though.
If you’re considering being a Youtuber, go the Vtuber route. You can easily make $10,000 a month if you pass the audition of an agency, who will support you all the way.
I have a small YouTube channel, it’s not about Japan at all though. I get some revenue, roughly equal to what a dedicated Konbini baito would provide (plus stuff that manufacturers send me to review). It took me 2 years to get to that point, and it is very, very easy to get burnt out.
I have PR and my company officially allows side income, so I don’t have an issue on that front. Of course, my income is taxable (and I properly disclose it and pay taxes on it). I’m thinking about making a 合同会社 for tax purposes if I grow more.
Making a YouTube channel about Japan will take at least a couple of years, if you’re good at video editing (or hire someone to do the editing for you). Editing YT videos is time consuming, and I find it really painful. Paolo from Tokyo, who’s an old colleague of mine from my previous company, did manage to get very successful in a really short amount of time, but he has great video editing skills and a very charismatic and sympathetic personality (he was like that in real life too).
Other channels that are growing popular can be more family focused. Life in Japan has really taken off after a couple of years for instance. But they have very high production quality, scripts, storytelling, and Japanese subtitles.
And then there are those with viral videos, who can grow very quickly.
In general though, getting the first 1000 subscribers is really, really hard.
I’ve heard (not confirmed though) that the typical RPM for Japan-focused content is 2 to 3 dollars per 1000 views. So a million views would be around 3,000 USD revenue. Other niches pay more (tech around $5 RPM, photography around $7-8 RPM, and personal finance/wealth management around $8-10 RPM). This is RPM, so after YT’s huge cut.
You can supplement the pure YouTube revenue with affiliate links and Patreon, but that only takes off once your channel gets larger.
Overall, I wouldn’t recommend it.
If you’re on a specialist in humanities/engineering visa, it’s a very broad category. Eikaiwa work is tough to manage. Maybe you could get lucky and find a school that could give you three or four lessons back to back. Before I gave it up, I had one day a week where I would teach three or four private students with short breaks in between. That was an easy 50,000 a month for my slush fund. It would take you some time to find the right students who can consistently meet at the same time/day/etc.
I’ve also done two commercials for my buddies studio. The pay was alright but it was just once off work. It was more of a favor than anything else. There are a few modeling sites and agents that you can submit your portfolio to. I have no experience with that.
Good luck with it.
I have a small, beer-money side hustle selling some simple Japan-only goods online to foreign countries. Can’t/won’t say exactly what they are (though you probably see them everywhere, several times per week) .. nothing scandalous or fancy, I just don’t want competition.
I also have tons of wacky knickknacks from the US that I’m thinking of listing on Mercari Japan for schittzengiggles.