I am a white American male working in management (data/analytics) at the corporate offices of a large US-based retailer. It’s been a dream of mine to live in Japan for at least 5-10 years. The SVP of my area is Korean and worked in management at a Japanese company in Tokyo without a great understanding of Japanese. This had me wondering how realistic a goal of working in Japan might be for myself. I’ve been learning Japanese for a year and feel confident that within a few years my proficiency will be fairly high. So let’s assume the following:
– Japanese language proficiency is high enough to understand and be understood in 99% of conversation
– Willing to learn and adopt cultural norms, but will obviously make many mistakes (cultural faux pas) particularly in the beginning
– 100% professionally qualified for position I’d seek
Is it at all realistic to think that with the necessary effort it would be possible to gain employment in middle-management or higher at a Japanese company with a salary comparable to what I can make in the US (~ ¥16,000,000)? Would that only be possible at an international company with offices in Japan? I’ll put in what it takes to get there if it’s possible, but if it isn’t I could probably spend the next couple years doing something more productive. Thoughts and experiences from people in similar situations would be much appreciated.
2 comments
>Japanese language proficiency is high enough to understand and be understood in 99% of conversation
This is not something we can just assume, because we’re talking about *years* of ***full time*** study to get to that point. You’ve been studying Japanese for a year, I’m assuming part time. You have a *long* way to go.
The general rule of thumb most language schools in Japan use is that it takes 2 years of full time language study to get to JLPT N2. N2 is considered the standard for “able to work in a Japanese-speaking office”.
If you get there, yes, it would help. But it’s not a fast/easy process, so you can’t just hand-wave language ability away as something that you’ll obviously do.
>Willing to learn and adopt cultural norms, but will obviously make many mistakes (cultural faux pas) particularly in the beginning
That’s expected of pretty much everyone who lives/works in Japan.
>100% professionally qualified for position I’d seek
I mean… I would certainly hope so.
>Is it at all realistic to think that with the necessary effort it would be possible to gain employment in middle-management or higher at a Japanese company
Middle management? Yes. Higher…. Unlikely. While Japanese companies hire plenty of experienced foreigners, you’re unlikely to be hired directly into an upper management position unless you’re one of the best in the world at what you do.
>with a salary comparable to what I can make in the US (~ ¥16,000,000)?
Also unlikely. Salaries in Japan are, in general, lower than comparable salaries in the US. 16 million yen is a lot, even for an experienced manager. 10 million would probably be doable, but 16 is not something you should expect unless, again, you’re the best in the world.
>Would that only be possible at an international company with offices in Japan?
Maybe you could get 16 million at a FAANG, But most international companies still pay based on the local economy, even if they’re a bit better salary-wise than local companies.
>I’ll put in what it takes to get there if it’s possible, but if it isn’t I could probably spend the next couple years doing something more productive.
It’s certainly *possible*. In order to optimize your chances you’re going to need to spend a *lot* of time on the language.
The easiest path I can see is to work for a US company that has offices in Japan and then do an internal transfer. You will bypass a lot of hurdles that way and your existing company is more likely to pay the same. It could be a secondment, a sabbatical or a transfer, whatever. That would also give you the opportunity to learn Japanese better while in Japan.