Best pathway to move to Japan

8 comments

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

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   **Best pathway to move to Japan**

   I am a 31 year old Consultant at one of the Big 4 with 7 years of project financial experience. In 2020, I received my TEFL certification. While I have volunteered to teach English via Zoom classes, I do not really have any experience teaching in a formal setting. I’d love to get everyone’s opinion on what they think the best path forward would be for me to move to Japan. Or, additionally, are if there are any alternative methods that I might not have thought of or researched.

   A couple things I do know so far:

   -I understand that most financial roles won’t transition well if you do not know Japanese. I do not know Japanese at an appropriate level to apply for these positions.

   -There is a JET program (teaching English as an ALT) that opens applications in September/October. I will be applying for this. There are also alternatives (Interac, AEON, etc..)

   -There is a pathway to go to Japan on a student visa (learn japanese or other cultural aspects). Obviously, saving money would be necessary for this.

   I can make time to take additional steps if necessary but ideally I would like to move there by April of next year

   Please, if we can keep this post solution oriented with regards to a pathway to Japan I would really appreciate everyone’s feedback!

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3. A couple different pathways:

   Teaching English:
   Moving from big4 consulting to teaching English is one of the wildest exit options I’ve ever heard of haha.

   I know nothing about teaching English in Japan so I can’t offer any advice on that. If that’s something you love however, I wish you well.

   Grad School:
   One possible option would be to try and do some grad school in Japan. If you’re serious about learning Japanese you could get quite good in 2 yrs. Look for MBAs, MS in Finance, or MA in International business degrees that are offered in English or at least in part (I know Waseda大　has them). You could probably get accepted to those easily. This would be the best way to learn Japanese (you’d have to self study and take extra language classes), culture, and make decent contacts for corporate positions that are more in-line with your consulting experience.

   Direct Lateral Career Change:
   There’s a decent amount of corporate roles for foreign companies that have branches in Japan. That seems like a good move to me. Big banks like Morgan Stanley, Goldman, etc all have offices in Tokyo. Other big companies like Amazon, Apple, Microsoft couple be options as well. Big 4 looks nice on the resume so you def have a shot.

   However everyone I know that has done this usually knows pretty good Japanese. So you would be limited in your search here. This is why doing grad school might be good. You might be a great candidate for these jobs after.

   Indirect Lateral Career change:
   This is a more far-fetched and round about path but maybe try getting into a Japanese company in America for a couple years then petition to get transferred to Japan? That’s how a few of the professional foreigners that I know in C-suite positions got into Japan.

4. To add a bit to my other comment.

   Your easiest pathway like for most people is definitely through teaching English. Might be a nice break from the big 4 grind.

   The pathway that is probably best for a future career (that actually pays well) and life in Japan is probably the grad school then finance job path.

   Even if you can’t find a job after grad school you still got to live there for a bit, learn the language, and now have a graduate degree that would still probably help you land more international oriented roles in the states.

   Btw you probably won’t get there in April you might need a bit more planning and waiting for application stuff. Theres also some pretty good scholarship grants like the MEXT that you could look into to lighten the financial burden. Grad school is cheaper in Japan than the US luckily!

5. Have you not asked your employer if relocating to Japan is possible? That will ultimately be your best solution.

   Coming from one of the big 4 in finance, I assume you have been making a healthy sum of money and have adapted to a certain life style. If you were to move to japan on the jet program, nearly everything you will have access to regarding finance and living arrangements will be based on your income and as an alt it will be an absolute pittance in comparison to what you’re on now. Which means that regardless of how much money you have saved which you believe you can put towards your cost of living, you will still end up living somewhere extremely cheap which a lot of times is not enjoyable (paper thin walls, annoying neighbours etc).

   I won’t question your desire to move to japan, however I will question what you’re willing to sacrifice in order to live here and whether it’s really worth it in the end.

6. Well if you can speak English you can teach English in Japan. No need for TEFL or experience.

   JET is obviously your best bet due to better working conditions, but you might get placed in some middle of nowhere small town, maybe you already figured that out.

   Other ALT dispatch or Eikaiwa companies are known to suck and it’s a hit or miss, love it or hate it kind of thing for most people.

   I guess you can do English teaching as a break from your current life but don’t count on it as a career in Japan or anything.

7. For reference I have been reached out by quite a number of recruiters in the consulting space. They do seem to need a lot of people in this industry.

   I am not sure what consulting you do but if you work for a big consulting firm before, you should be able to find another consulting job in Japan, provided you have SUFFICIENT JAPANESE. The big question is how much Japanese do you know?

   Japan labor market for consulting has been looking for and still looking for qualified candidates, they even aggressively consider people from outside consulting.

   I know consulting is a high paying job and I am not sure if you are ready with the pay cut you are going to have with a career switch to English teaching.
   I didn’t do English teaching but even then the pay cut I had in my first year coming to Japan was a painful experience for myself. Things like eating out etc which I didn’t have to think before, now I have to consider and budget properly, etc.

   I am in the same age group as you and in your 30s is an important point to determine where your career will go.
   I am not being condescending to English teaching profession, but personally I will not throw my career in consulting if I were you (unless you really hated it and just want to do sth else).

8. It’s not really my area but I run into tons of foreign residents in Japan working in the financial sector whose Japanese level is poor to non-existent. Couldn’t you look for positions in a related field to what you are doing now in a different organization?

   Unless you really have a jones to teach English, you’ll get a far better salary working in something more professional