Engineering work for foreigner in Japan

3 comments

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

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   **Engineering work for foreigner in Japan**

   Hi, I have visited Tokyo twice now and I really love it here (Im here currently vacationing). I would like to ask, is there a market for a foreigner to work in the engineering field, mainly construction and façade engineering, in Tokyo? Will it be hard, aside from learning the language, to join a company here?

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2. The engineers I know are generally electrical, process, mechanical or civil engineers. I assume it’s basically that they are the most common and also most lacking Japanese bodies to fill the roles.

3. As always it depends. The unfortunate thing: Construction is one of the engineering disciplines that is less open to foreigners. Software and electrical stuff being the more open ones.

   As an experienced hire you would need to bring some specialized knowledge to the table that is required in Japan.

   Depending on where you come from, you are likely going to earn much less.

   Also construction industry is one of the more traditional industries and considered more “black”, which means more labor law violations. So can be pretty tough, but it’s not like there are no good places around.

   Japanese can be hard to learn from zero while working full time. Also depends on your motivation and previous language learning experience. It’s not impossible, but getting to working proficiency is a serious multi year commitment. Even with immersion.

   Usually the best recommendation is finding a foreign company in Japan that is willing to hire you and needs you for your home country expertise. They will likely have better support system for foreigners.