Short story before I get to my main question. Spoiler added to skip story.
>!I visited Japan as a treat for myself for doing well in university. The trip (circa 2015) was expensive but worth every dollar. I completely left Tokyo, backpacked across the country, and explored the country from Kyoto down to Kagoshima, really Kyushu is beautiful. Rode the Shinkansen and overall had a wonderful time, despite being more or less illiterate. What stayed with my though was exactly that I wanted to experience, the day-to-day life. My favorite memories were getting lost in a village with only a papermap, missing the late night train and having to walk back to my hotel late at night in Tokyo, waking up and eating combini food in the mornings with the salarymen, seeing a mountain top temple, visiting an onsen spring resort, and checking into a hostel-dorm.!<
>!I know this was just a small aspect of life, that really I got to experience since I was also not employed while there, but the impression of the country has stayed with me. Generally, I was impressed by the city planning, the sense of safety, and the ease of mobility. I just had a JR rail pass and my two legs, a pocket full of coins, and I was able to get everywhere. Each city had a unique character, but the villages were picturesc in a way I haven’t been able to capture in any other country I’ve seen so far. I’ve seen villages in North America, and W & E Europe, been to around 8 different counties.!<
I’ve been having some thoughts recently, as I approach getting ready financially to buy a house… should I seriously consider Japan?
I currently have a GOOD job, for where I live and for my education (post-graduate). However, how robust is the Biotech industry in Japan these days? We all know about Takeda… but otherwise? It seems to me, from the stock market and local buzz, that Japanese companies do not really innovate and under perform.
So, onto my questions (edited for better detail):
1. Is the Japanese biotech industry healthy or are my outside perspectives telling/correct?
2. What is the standard level of language ability necessary to work in a company that is internationally facing but based in Japan, especially in pharmaceuticals?
3. Is there much space for career growth for a non-Japanese foreign in the country in general or in that industry, or would I always be seen as an outsider gaijin?
4. How commonly do Japanese companies use outside consultants, outside their company, in foreign counties, and/or to make business or R&D decisions?
5. How similar is the culture of Japanese Biotech to that of the traditional work place, the same or like grad-school plus (company specific)?
6. Is it uncommon to meet foreigners working locally or is this becoming more common?
7. What are the local tech hub cities I could/should consider?
8. Is Japan a good place to raise a family, compared to the West?
9. Are all houses in Japan built crappily (fall apart in 30 years) or is this only metro-area constructions? Do traditional homes have this same issue?
Thanks for reading.
3 comments
1. An absolutely fantastic place to raise a family! I wouldn’t want to try it in a big city like Tokyo, but you can’t beat the sticks. Look at it this way. You don’t have to worry about them becoming drug addicts. I try telling friends from the states that there really aren’t any drugs here, and they can’t believe me. To them, they just know that right around the corner must be some crack house because that’s how it is there. I’ve been to a dozen concerts, and not once have I smelled nary a whiff of the devil’s lettuce.
2. dunno
3. dunno, but probably not.
4. The idea that Japanese houses are flimsily built is a myth. Japanese don’t like old houses, so they really don’t have any resale value. That doesn’t mean they’re falling apart. It just means an old house actually lowers the value of the land it sits on.
1. Do you speak a good level of Japanese? If so, go look at job postings.
2. High. There’s gonna be a *lot* of Japanese-based technical terms that you will need to understand well.
3. This idea of “outsider gaijin” is just stupid. Of course you’ll be different, you’re a foreigner. Not very different from being a Frenchman in Germany, or a Serbian in Italy, or a Swede in Portugal. Career growth exists, but is very slow, courtesy of the Japanese career system. You may need to move companies if you wish for proper salary increases.
4. The largest ones do it more commonly, but it’s not as common as it would be in say Europe.
5. Pretty similar. You have your work hours. You may have overtime. As a foreigner, no-one will be expecting you to work very long hours. And you won’t get a cookie for doing it either.
6. Define meeting. As in accidentally stumbling on a foreigner at a random place and meeting them? You’ll likely meet other foreigners in the field, either at the same company or similar companies. There’ll be events and whatnot. On a daily basis, there’s always groups for getting people together.
7. Tokyo. That’s it.
8. I mean the west is pretty damn massive. Is it better than most European countries? Probably. Is the family being raised one where the mother or father is Japanese? Even better.
9. Traditional homes are worse. They may be more durable due to their construction, but they’re terribly insulated. Recent homes are built more “crappily”, and it’s not that they fall apart in 30 years; it’s just that in 30 years after however many earthquakes it may be a good idea to get it reappraised for safety or just plain old rebuilt. Building houses is very cheap in Japan (land, on the other hand, is not).
An addendum to 9, since you would be living in Tokyo and its vicinity, homes will be expensive. And since you won’t have PR or spouse visa, forget about getting a mortgage for a long, long time. You’ll be renting for a good many years. And then, homes can be pretty damn expensive because of the land. Even the “cheap” ones, since land is at a premium in Tokyo. And forget about buying an old house to renovate. It’s not worth the effort in 99.9% of the cases.
In case you were wondering, this post is drawing downvotes because in general we’d rather focus on your questions than have to slog through your overly romantic travel blog. If we wanted that we’d go to /r/japantravel.
>What stayed with my though was exactly that I wanted to experience, the day-to-day life
Living in Japan isn’t about wandering through some random village with a map, it’s about bullshit like not being able to apply for a bank account because your name is too long, or figuring out the one model of washing machine that will fit your apartment’s weirdly specific layout because the faucet is an inch lower than it needs to be.
>What is the standard level of language ability necessary to work in a company that is internationally facing but based in Japan, especially in pharmaceuticals?
Let’s put it another way: are you good enough at what you do that a company would go out of their way to hire you despite you not speaking the local language?
Regardless of the type of industry this is the lens through which all would-be residents should assess their application. You need to think about what would get you hired over the average Japanese candidate, and that could mean “I do X plus I speak native English, business-level Japanese and one or two other things.”
If you’re the best in the world at X, the Japanese might not be as much of a factor. But even then it can’t hurt.
>Is there much space for career growth for a non-Japanese foreign in the country in general or in that industry, or would I always be seen as an outsider gaijin?
If you don’t want to be the outsider gaijin, don’t come to Japan. As for career growth that depends entirely on you, your industry and your goals.
>Is it uncommon to meet foreigners working locally or is this becoming more common?
Depends on where you are, Japan’s a big country. The vast majority of foreigners that you’re thinking of (I’m guessing “westerners you want to hang out with”) will tend to cluster in/around the major cities, while diaspora working in factories/farms/etc are based more out in the boonies.
How often you meet them, and under what circumstances, depends on how you socialize.
>What are the local tech hub cities I could/should consider?
Tokyo because everything runs out of Tokyo, Osaka because it’s not Tokyo, Fukuoka because it’s got a fairly strong startup culture and they’ve actively worked to attract tech companies.
>Is Japan a good place to raise a family, compared to the West?
The West is a big place and given that you are a world traveler who’s walked through many villages with many paper maps, it’s hard to tell what your standard for comparison is.