What is the requirements and prospects for non-programming related IT jobs?

**Introduction**

I am a 24 yr old male living in the United States with a Bachelors in IT Infrastructure. I have 2 years in IT Service Desk work (.5 years for a Uni, then 1.5 for a Power Company) and I plan to continue to work for my current company for another year. But at the end of this year, I am interested in potentially moving to Japan.

It has been a goal of mine to move to Japan for a decade. Not necessarily because of Anime/Manga (Although those are cool too), but just because I love learning, languages, and experiencing new cultures. I even created a whole website dedicated to teaching 100 different languages to a survival level for free as a hobby. I always felt I could enjoy this passion best in another country, and Japan has pretty well always been that country I wanted to experience it in. There is a lot of little accumulated reasons for why I became interested in Japan most specifically, but at this point there is no one single reason, and I just have a lot of experience and familiarity with learning about and wanting to go to this country. I studied Japanese for 7 years off and on and at my peak was N4 level, but then took a 4 year hiatus.

My original plan was to study Japanese for like 4 hours a day this year and to try to reach the highest level I can of Japanese before the end of the year. Then I would apply to a program like JET or ALT to teach English in Japan for a year, both to improve my Japanese further and to experience life in the country before committing to a more serious job (Everyone and their dog always says “Japan isn’t what you think it is! You may hate it” I get that. I have heard this for a decade, which is why I want to leave ways out in the case something like that does happen, but I somewhat doubt it will). After that year I would then try to transition to a IT related job using my Japanese (Which should hopefully be at least N2 by that time).

**Title Question**

Despite that initial goal listed in the above paragraph, I have had many people recommend I just go to Japan for IT directly instead of doing English teaching. By the time I consider going at the end of this year I will have 3 years IT experience. I also plan to get an A+ certification at least before the end of the year. But I will admit I hate programming (That is why I went the infrastructure and hardware route) and on Daijob it looks like all the jobs available with lower Japanese requirements are for software engineers, or are high level managerial networking/data basing jobs that require half a decade of experience. I don’t know how much my Service Desk experience is actually going to help either of those. Of course most jobs require at least JLPT N2, which is just about the only thing I am confident I can get. As I have a pretty detailed and clear study plan to get there.

So what are the requirements and prospects for a non-programming related IT job in Japan?

I imagine for Service Desk work, Japanese ability is by far the most important factor, which is why I wanted to just get A+, then spend the next two years studying Japanese, one outside Japan and one inside Japan. But is there any other certifications I could get over the next year that would increase my chances of being able to find a workable non-programming job in Japan that will sponsor a visa, without totally compromising my progress in Japanese study (by the test taking like a year of daily 6 hour study to prepare for?) Is there any job fields I should be looking into most specifically?

**Final Disclaimer**

I will admit, I am not the most passionate in chasing IT, which is part of why I had zero interest in programming or really pushed for higher levels of IT Certification sooner. I mostly got the degree because 1. I knew any degree would suffice to teach English in Japan and my parents said they would pay for it. And 2. I know that English Teaching is not considered a career in Japan with any growth, and that everyone wanting to stay long term is highly suggested to switch fields.

Unlike many others though, I actually enjoy teaching a lot. I love tutoring, and I was constantly told throughout school that I would do well in that field, so I partially didn’t just see teaching as a job to get into Japan, but also something I would genuinely enjoy doing just in its own right. That is why I run a website and make resources to help people learn language related stuff. Just because I enjoy it. I don’t hate IT, and I could definitely find happiness in doing it if it helped me achieve my other goals (like staying in Japan). But especially when I am not in Japan yet, it is hard for me to feel motivated to go above and beyond in improving my knowledge in IT at the expense of Japanese study.

My dad thinks I should instead be getting established in IT for another 5 years, racking up all the certifications, and learning to love IT long before I ever go to Japan. Which probably would be a smart decision in some ways, but it feels totally contrary and draining to my primary goal, which is just to go to Japan sooner rather than in my thirties. I don’t actually care about the field of work as much, I think I would enjoy teaching, but I am just trying to find what opportunities exist that may allow me to take advantage of my existing IT degree and knowledge in Japan.