I recently moved to Tokyo as a full-time student. I’m really enjoying my time here and though it’s shocking how cheap food and daily necessities are, I know that working is very much in my future. I’ve already got my work permit on my student visa and the requirements are 28hrs max a week from the start of the semester to around a month after the last day of the year. I’m studying Japanese right now but haven’t taken the JLPT (I’m going to assume I’d place N3 after some studying for it), and though I feel quite comfortable making small-talk and getting around Tokyo, I’m fully cognizant that I don’t know a lot of technical terms nor am I able to understand/utilize the nuances of the language. Ideally, I’d be working around 15hrs a week max so I have time for class, socialization, and exploration; also, I’d be working somewhere that doesn’t require high Japanese proficiency. I know there’s a lot of English-teaching part-time work within Tokyo but for some reason I feel a little less inclined to apply. I’d like to know if I’m being too picky wanting a job that doesn’t require me to have a substantial amount of fluency while also still wanting to speak it so as to improve. Obviously if it’s too difficult to find the kind of work I want I will go towards English-teaching but I wanted to ask Reddit first if anyone has any advice!
For reference, I’ve used Jobs in Japan and GaijinPot! A lot of the jobs listed seem a little inapplicable to me even when narrowing the search down to part-time. I’ve also worked in the service industry before as a barista but I’m concerned about customer service in Japanese. My school also gave me a list of websites that are helpful for finding work but they’re all for teaching English so I haven’t really used them yet… Again, if people think I’m being way too picky and should just get the English instructor job I’ll go for it but a part of me is saying that I’m in Japan—why spend my time speaking English?!
7 comments
Konbini and fast food restaurant is almost always hiring especially in crowded areas. I suppose konbini more manageable with almost N3 level of Japanese, since you’ll mostly be saying stock phrases, vs restaurant where you’ll need to understand the menu and a bunch of requests. If you want to save on transport costs just see around your area because it’s likely a bunch of place are hiring.
If you can get a remote job from your home country that can be an option too, some people do that.
Honestly any hospitality job will take you on (not bars, that’s not allowed under the visa rules), and probably retail like supermarkets too. Just visit some local places and ask if they’re hiring.
The Lawson employees near me barely speak any Japanese. So you got that going for you. Try for N1; it means you are passible.
English teachers? Do you have a pulse?
Rather than worrying about your Japanese level beforehand, why don’t you try applying one of those that peak your interest first and let your potential boss decide if your Japanese is enough for the job or not on the interview? If not, you can evaluate where you might be lacking and use it as a reference to look for another.
I applied to a few restaurants in gaijin pot that required no Japanese, and they were ready to hire me until I told them I only had four months left. With my basic Japanese they thought I’d be fine serving japanese customers. I ended up getting an English conversation job off of craigslist, which was much easier for the same wage.
Get a job with an Eikaiwa
I’d recommend using websites like baitoru or townwork and filtering results for “外国人・留学生”
Normally those have less language requirements or are understanding of the learning curve