Beards In Japan

9 comments

1. This is a copy of your post for archive/search purposes.

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   **Beards In Japan**

   Question for those either already living here or planning on moving here.

   I’ve been in living/working Japan for over a while now and my husband is in our home country. I’d like to apply for my husbands COE to come stay with me cause I miss him dearly and we want to start our family here together.

   Everything is in check, just that he has a full thick beard and I was wondering if that’s going to be a factor in him coming over.

   I noticed that almost all the men here are clean shaved and even the foreigners have low beards or also clean cuts.

   Am I just panicking? He likes his beard and I don’t want it to be a problem for him to cut it.

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2. What sort of work is your husband planning on doing?

   I’d say as long as he’s keeping it neat it shouldn’t be an issue. Even less of an issue if he works in non-customer facing type work like a software engineer.

3. You are over-reacting. While not as common, I see beards quite often in Japan. If it’s big and unruly he may want to clean it up a bit and it’s going to suck in the summer heat and humidity but should not be a problem.

4. It might have some mild social impact in terms of how people perceive him, beards are less culturally common in Japan for sure, but it wouldn’t impact him coming over at all. You’re definitely worrying too much.

   If he has any interviews or meetings or such just make sure the beard is well groomed and trimmed neatly, a well cared for beard is much better than just looking like you haven’t shaved.

5. Yes, it is not common, but thats because for most japanese it is fairly difficult and bothersome to grow and mantain a thick beard. Not only that, but many people here, men and women, tend to try and look as young as possible.

   Just make sure he ain’t rocking something like a neckbeard. There is a difference between a “Full Thick Beard” and a “Thick Unkempt Beard”.

6. I have a short beard, so does my Japanese father in law. People at my job were slightly surprised when they first saw me without a mask but I’m not the only person at my company (or even on my team) with a beard. Thick beards are quite rare, but I think most companies that you would actually want to work for don’t care deeply about beards anymore (it might even make a good filter). Worst case scenario he might need a trim.

7. I have a big white Santa style beard, and it has been a conversation piece at best, no issue at all.

   The only times I had to fight for it were, when it came to surgery at hospitals, where I, at their holy rule book’s behest, had to come in “clean shaved” (e.g. for a little operation on a finger), haha!

   He’ll be fine!

8. It would probably shock those around me if I had a full thick beard, but then I am female.

9. It’s not disallowed. There is a slight social stigma that comes with it, but those are very common in Japan with many things. Also, Japanese tend to care less about things like beards if they are on foreigners. Regardless, it won’t be a factor in his COE being approved or not.

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   Now, I will say that it is extremely common for work places to not allow beards for their employees (especially if they ever think you’re going to be dealing with customers/clients), so if he plans on working here, he is either going to have a smaller pool of jobs to take, or he’s going to have to shave. That’s not to say there aren’t jobs that allow beards, it’s just less common.