Hello! I am a junior in college pursuing a career outside of Japanese or Business or anything that may have to do with actually having something to do with Japan. Though, my college offers a Japanese Certificate, rather than having it as a minor. Under the description of the certificate it says that it will “Prepare the student for working in Japan or for Japanese companies, working as a foreign officer in the U.S. Department of State, or applying for the JET program, etc. In the future.”
I know that for most work opportunities you need N2/N1(most likely) fluency unless you plan to be a Japanese teacher.
If I pursued this certificate would it get me anywhere at all? Could I even work at a FamilyMart? Thanks!
Also, another quick question has anyone heard of Kansai Gaidai or Akita International University and could give me insight on those universities?
3 comments
Ask your school for a list of students who have earned this certificate and then landed a job in Japan. That would be more accurate than asking this sub.
Most of the time these things don’t mean anything to employers, but that doesn’t mean you don’t learn anything useful in the process of earning them. JLPT is a great example. Most employers don’t know or care about it, they’ll just talk to you and figure out pretty quickly if you’re able to communicate or not.
>Could I even work at a FamilyMart?
FamilyMart doesn’t issue work visas unless you’re at corporate doing a White collar job. You could work there as a student though while you attend language school (if you so desired).
If you’re starting from zero knowledge, it is extremely unlikely that this program will sufficiently prepare you to obtain N1 or N2 by time you graduate.
With that in mind, is the language ability helpful in opening the door to more employment opportunities? Absolutely. If you already are here on a student visa or plan to eventually come here, it would definitely help you work a part time job such as at a conbini. Just also be aware that there is no visa sponsorship for such jobs so you would already have to be here with a residency status that allows you to obtain that sort of employment.