Hey r/movingtojapan redditors.
A bit of my backgroundI’m a 28 y/o typical southeast asian guy and a Graphic & UI/UX Designer with 6 years (5 as G.D & 1 as freelance UI/UX) of exp. and to be honest i’ve grown tired with all the design job and been wanting to change my career but i still don’t know what i’m interested in now. left my office job a year ago(for reasons) and currently i still running my freelance design.
So i have for so long been wanting to try japan, AT LEAST for 1 or 2 years living there. while i’m there i’ve been planning to enroll in japanese language school to study japanese. after i have enough language skill i wanted to start new career and it could be anything as long as its a decent job, preferably an office job but i don’t mind if it isn’t as long as its legal.
What are the chances i land a decent job other than design?
should i keep aiming for design job in japan as well? if yes, again what are the chances for landing a design job when you only study the language for 2 years?
3 comments
I recommend reading the wiki of this sub first. You basically need a 4-year university degree to work in Japan.
>i wanted to start new career
We’ve said this a thousand times before, and we’ll probably end up saying it a thousand more times in the future:
Change your career ***before*** trying to move to Japan.
Finding a job as a foreigner can be complicated and difficult. Finding a job as a foreigner with zero experience or education is a complete non-starter.
Why would a company hire you, a foreigner who A) Doesn’t speak the language fluently B) Has no experience in the field C) Has no education in the field, and D) Needs a visa? There are countless Japanese people who have no experience and can be trained more easily because they speak the language.
So, again: If you want to change your career, do it in your home country first.
>if yes, again what are the chances for landing a design job when you only study the language for 2 years?
Chances are pretty bad. Client facing graphic design positions require high levels of Japanese fluency.
Think about all the conversations you’ve had with clients. You discuss technical details (Colors, fonts, layouts, etc) as well as deep emotional details (“I want this to feel happy”). And you have those conversations on a deadline, with very little margin for miscommunication or misunderstanding.
Now imagine trying to have those conversations while limited to the vocabulary and grammar of a middle school student, which is about as good as you would get with 2 years of language school.
Getting a job other than teaching English here requires near perfect Japanese and proper certification that proves it. You’ll need N1 or N2 on the JLPT (language proficiency exam).Passing N1 will essentially give you high school graduate level Japanese.