How should I make my plan of moving to Japan in long term?

7 comments

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

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   **How should I make my plan of moving to Japan in long term?**

   I’m 20, currently studying at my local uni for diploma and I’ve wanted to move to Japan for a long time before. I’m learning Japanese by myself but with little progress.

   So, I wonder what I should be prepared and what do I need to do when moving abroad. I would like to gain experiences from those who have moved to Japan.

   Also, are there even any jobs that doesn’t require you to speak Japanese besides being an English teacher? Or atleast requires minimum communication since I don’t interact with people too much.

   I’m planning to move to Japan before I turn 30 which is my goal so 9 years is a long time for me.

   I would appreciate so much if any advices I can use if I’m going to move to Japan one day. I wanna move to Japan because I doubt anything at where I’m from will get any better unfortunately and I can’t just live based on what people should decide on me, especially my dad who has high expectations on me to work as high-profiled person which I don’t like.

   Japan seems like a place that suits me. Whatever what will throws at me, as long I can live in Japan, that’s all that matters.

   I also would like to know what I should expect and know if I’m moving to Japan.

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2. To move to Japan you’ll need to qualify for a visa. You can read the wiki page about that. But basically it means unless you qualify for some other sort of visa (WHV, spouse, child of Japanese National, etc), you need to find a company willing to hire you and sponsor a work visa for you.

   So this means like getting a job in any other country, you’ll need to have skills and experience desirable to that company. Except that it will be harder because you don’t speak the language, which reduces the jobs available to you.

   You don’t say what field you’re interested in working in, but in any case it can be helpful to search Indeed or other job boards for the types of jobs you’re aiming for and noting the qualifications required— this may include not only experience, but also high levels of language competency. This will give you an idea of what skills and experiences you need to develop to qualify for those jobs.

3. I would say that rather than focus on Japan at any cost, you should be looking to figure out a career that you’d like to have. Then you can figure out how you’d like to guide that career towards a life in Japan. But the first priority should be your career.

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   Is the program you’re in at University a proper bachelors degree program or more of a simple associates degree type program? A bachelors degree will give you more options later in life than an associates degree will, so that would be my recommendation.

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   >Also, are there even any jobs that doesn’t require you to speak Japanese besides being an English teacher?

   I work for a medium sized American based financial services company. Our internal language of business is English, although anyone in a customer facing or external vendor management role must speak Japanese as well. I’m on an internal support team though so I speak English all day (and all night thanks to the conference calls based on NY business hours). In general in order for you to find a position that doesn’t require Japanese you’d need to bring enough value to the organization that it makes sense to have someone speak Japanese for you. For example, on a software development team the product owner would need to be able to communicate with stakeholders, but individual contributors would only need to communicate with the product owner and their direct team. Which is why you find a lot of IT jobs don’t require Japanese.

4. >Also, are there even any jobs that doesn’t require you to speak Japanese besides being an English teacher?

   Yes, those are mostly in tech. Why not get a few year’s experience first and then apply for a job that will relocate you to Japan?

   > I can’t just live based on what people should decide on me,

   Are you sure Japan is a right place for you? Living along with the expectation of others is a big part of life here.

5. Have you been to Japan? Also if you’re going to live in Japan, you need to speak Japanese. I don’t understand the point of living somewhere long term without speaking the language. Many, many people who live in Japan do not speak English at all.

   Source: live in Japan

6. You need to concentrate on developing your marketable skills. That can be getting a degree in something that will be useful to a Japanese employer, developing skills outside that degree (certifications are great and go a long way in Japan). Remember this is what will get you a job that will allow you to come to Japan (if you can find a sponsor) and what you will do in Japan to support your daily life. It’s the most important step for you.

   I will warn you that it is very easy to get disillusioned with life in Japan if you do not have a fulfilling job and a good social circle. Lots of young people think they want to live here but leave in a few years because they find it hard to make the life they imagined. So work on building that life – a solid career plan, work on your Japanese language skills.

7. If you’re planning to move in 9 years, you have plenty of time to master the language, which opens the door to a lot of better jobs. What is your degree in?