Quick Tidbits:
* I am American, and have a Bachelor’s in Computer Science
* I currently work in my industry and make decent money
* I am traveling to Japan very soon for the first time to get a feel for it before making any sort of rash decision
* I know 0 Japanese
My job has offices in Japan, and I’d consider taking a massive pay-cut to move or transfer(if all goes well).
*However*, Before trying to make any sort of moving plans once I do make my tourist visit to Japan, I would want to be able to get a glimpse into what it’s really like living in Japan, and try to move there for at least a year if I do decide to give it a go.
My question is, without an intra-company transfer, or applying to jobs overseas via sites like GaijinPot, are there any other ways to live in Japan and earn some sort of income?
Options Considered:
* Student Visa while going to Language School:
I considered this since you are allowed to work Part-Time while at a language school, but I’ve learned that it’s **very** difficult to juggle school and work, and to just not consider working part-time if you plan to seriously learn the language.
* Intra-Company Transfer: This would be possible for me, but a pain in the ass since I’d only want to do a test-run of living in the country. My company most likely wouldn’t be on-board if I tell them it’s temporary, and I don’t want to risk my relationship with my company if I end up wanting to leave Japan
10 comments
This is a copy of your post for archive/search purposes.
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**Is there any possible way to live in Japan temporarily while gaining income?**
Quick Tidbits:
* I am American, and have a Bachelor’s in Computer Science
* I currently work in my industry and make decent money
* I am traveling to Japan very soon for the first time to get a feel for it before making any sort of rash decision
* I know 0 Japanese
My job has offices in Japan, and I’d consider taking a massive pay-cut to move or transfer(if all goes well).
*However*, Before trying to make any sort of moving plans once I do make my tourist visit to Japan, I would want to be able to get a glimpse into what it’s really like living in Japan, and try to move there for at least a year.
My question is, without an intra-company transfer, or applying to jobs overseas via sites like GaijinPot, are there any other ways to live in Japan and earn some sort of income?
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Why not teach English for a year? That’s what I would do, especially since you are willing to take a pay cut
Other than that can you just work remote in your current job?
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>are there any other ways to live in Japan and earn some sort of income?
Not really, no.
You’ve already discovered that there’s no remote work visa. Pretty much the only options are the two you’ve already discovered: Work (Either a transfer or a getting a new job with a Japanese company) or School (You’re absolutely correct about the downsides of trying to juggle work/school on a student visa.
Why don’t you apply to an inversor visa I guess is the name? from what I understand (I might be wrong) you show like a business plan and 50.000 USD in you bank account and you can, progressively, have an offer of residency basically from the time you will spend in Japan.
This probably only going to work if your business is successful of course haha.
Plenty of opportunities in this country if you look hard enough. But knowing japanese is key to making money here. Unless you do tourist shit and only deal with english speakers.
You’re not going to get any short-term option as a US resident unless your current company doesn’t mind the burden of requesting your visa for you through an inter-company transfer. I moved here without any experience living in Japan after 8 years as an engineer in the US. I worked as an English teacher for a few years, then went back to being a SWE (it’s doable, just keep your skills sharp and clearly explain why you switched careers temporarily).
If you want to get an idea about daily life here, before deciding to move or quitting your job, spend a few weeks at a hotel with a kitchen (such as the Tune-Stay in Kyoto) and do what you feel you would on a typical day (excluding work). Buy groceries, go on a walk, rent a bike, read a book or something at a park or riverside, see a movie… that kind of stuff.
Daily life is mostly very similar to back home, just with more conveniences (good public transit, actual convenience stores, etc) when you live near major cities. The only major negatives are the rare annoyances of dealing with government paperwork or apartment hunting.
Well…
A language school and part time isn’t that difficult. Language school and university loads are pretty light here.
If you got an intra-company transfer, is there a reason you wouldnt just stay with that company while you are here?
Coming as a tourist and living are very different btw, you won’t really get a feel for much.
How long?
You absolutely must verify the following yourself:
A quick googling reckons that business visitors from the US may visit their company’s offices on behalf of company business here for up to 90 days under a visa waiver.
The key detail would be that you continue to be employed by your US-based entity, being paid outside of Japan.
That should give you enough time to scope things out, plus a bit of travel.
Unless the company has a room, you’d need to either live in a hotel, or use something like Sakura House.
If you *do* move, there’s no reason why you would have to take a pay cut under an Intracompany Transferee SOR for the same job. They should do a straight USD to JPY conversion to set your initial pay.
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