Hi everyone,
This is my first post and I hope it’s ok. I’ve searched and reviewed many threads and picked up a lot of useful information, however I am looking for some more advice as while there are similar questions posted the majority seem to be from the younger crowd looking for work with visa sponsorship.
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**Background**
For various reasons my fiancé and I are strongly considering moving to Japan at the end of the year. She is Japanese, I am Australian, and we currently both live together in Australia. We’ll be married before we move so will be going down the Spouse Visa path, so if all goes well I will obtain this visa and have no work restrictions, nor will I need employer based sponsorship.
I am \~40 years old, and have roughly 20 years experience in the Contact Centre industry, particularly in IT Service Operations/Delivery – I have experience in Data Analysis, Platform Ownership, Incident/Problem Management, DevOps, Systems Analyst, and Business Analysts positions amongst others, and am more of a generalist than a specialist. I do have some (dated) Technical ability in things like SQL, VB, C#. I have some basic certifications (ITIL), but no University Degree. I have been studying Japanese casually as a hobby for about 4 years, but honestly am many years away from fluency and even more for Business level Japanese. I have no JLPT grading, and if I had to I would rate myself as early intermediate.
Based on rough numbers we’ve ran, we’ll be bringing with us enough savings to live a comfortable life for 2 years without income (planning for worst case scenario), however I would prefer not to have to use this and be able to start working as soon as possible.
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**Advice needed/discussion points**
* I am considering doing a short term (\~3 month) full time language course as soon as arrive and get set up before looking for work. I feel this will help me a lot both personally and professional – are these short courses worth it for someone my age and as someone who has worked through the beginner stages already? There seems to be many language schools (ARC, Meko, Akamonkai, OLJ, SNG, Tokyo Central) , does anyone have any recommendations for older learners? We’ll be based in Tokyo, likely Nakano-ku.
* I have read through the housing Wiki and am anticipating difficulties finding an apartment to rent, even though my wife is Japanese, there will be me, a foreigner, also on the lease and both of us will be unemployed when we’re apartment hunting. Is offering to pay 6 months or a full years rent in advance something that happens in Japan? Do you think this would be enough to alleviate concerns of a potential landlord?
* I am hoping for some opinions from those working in my industry or IT in general. Am I being naïve in thinking I’ll be able to land an IT job within a few months of arriving, with little qualifications/certifications and only experience to show, as someone with little Japanese ability?
* Any other good job searching tools out there? I see many for developers (e.g. tokyodev), and lots for English teaching (GajinPot), but aside from LinkedIn I’m not sure where else I should be looking and which sites are trusted and recommended.
* Does anyone have experience in trying a recruitment agency to assist with the job search? If so any recommendations?
* I see jobs advertised online (LinkedIn) that I think I would be suited for, however am not moving for many months and don’t yet have a hard date in place for the move. Is it a waste of time reaching out to these companies months in advance, passing on my details and asking to be kept in mind for opportunities later in the year? I’m not sure how Japanese recruiters/organisations would treat being contacted like that compared to Australia.
* In this industry in Australia, your network is king and it’s all about who you know. I have a few work contacts in Japan and some friends from previous visits, but looking for some advice on how I can start building professional relationships . E.G. There’s the “Business in Japan” LinkedIn group, are there other resources out there that are used by both locals and foreigners in Japan, particularly for IT/Contact Centre industries?
* Any other Aussies who have done this move on a spouse visa? Keen to understand your experiences with AU tax vs Japanese tax, dealing with AU rental income, your approach to finding work (what did before/after the move), getting a place to live, insurances etc…?
Thanks in advance for your time