Speaking from what I’ve seen, as I never worked part time here, it’s usually foreigners with little to no Japanese skills working in: bars/izakaya, English tutor online or in-person, construction/labor, Uber eats, convenience store, hotel staff.
I think you can guess the pros and cons if you’ve ever worked in retail/customer service/ restaurants.
A lot of foreigners probably don’t have much experience with part time jobs, as they usually need a full time job to get a visa. Most common part time job is probably convenience stores. There was an interesting YouTube video I saw about Vietnamese who worked at convenience stores—how they’d work and the boss would only count half their hours. How Japanese staff would flick cigarettes at them during breaks. Some of them had mental breakdowns due to abuse and bullying. Didn’t sound very positive.
TLDR; Worked 3 different part times, mostly good experiences very minimal bad ones, and kept good friends. 10/10 would recommend.
I did three part time jobs here in Tokyo.
1.) Worked at the MBL Cafe at Tokyo Dome when it opened. Everyone was nice and welcoming, even when I didn’t know a lick of Japanese back then (just arrived and started at the Japanese academy). The girls were super nice and kind, even kept in contact with some after I quit. I was a runner, so a link between the kitchen and the waiting staff. I was on good terms with the main chef, and he was happy when I got him some Spanish ham. They gave me a heartfelt note and a cake when I quit.
Kitchen duty (aka cleaning dishes) was not something I enjoyed, but it was okay. The pay was also quite low, the main reason why I quit.
2.) After I moved to work at Uokin Shinbashi (which doesn’t exist anymore, at least the store I worked at). I stayed there the longest. Most of the kitchen staff was foreign so we all got along well together, even the 店長 was ハーフ. Still in contact with some coworkers from then.
It was a bit tiring, and the space was super small for 4 waitresses working at the same time, but fun nontheless. Pay was great (around) 1400¥/hour, which let me pay for most of my bills. Sadly, some months before I left, it got cut to the usual 1100¥/hour.
I quit because I found part-time job number 3, and it aligned better with my career.
3.) I worked as a designer (my actual job for what I studied at college) for a company with prospects of becoming full-time once my student visa expired (around 3 to 4 months from when they hired me). It was a Japanese company but a foreign division, so everyone on the staff was either foreigner or a Japanese person who spoke flawless English. Since I believe some might be on Reddit, I won’t give many details.
But in broad terms, everyone was really nice and the work was fun. My lead designer was really good at teaching but was hands-off while I did my work. I was still inexperienced working in an office setting, but everyone was welcoming and kind.
Bad things… I guess what made me want to quit was the person who managed my visa (?). I was anxious because I saw nothing being done toward getting the work visa, so I felt I was in an unstable situation. A Japanese IT company reached out to me offering an interview, and I went. In the end, the match was a good one, and got hired (full-time) so I decided to quit the part-time.
You would get more answers if the title was more descriptive. “Question.” is a marginally better title than “Post.”
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Speaking from what I’ve seen, as I never worked part time here, it’s usually foreigners with little to no Japanese skills working in:
bars/izakaya, English tutor online or in-person, construction/labor, Uber eats, convenience store, hotel staff.
I think you can guess the pros and cons if you’ve ever worked in retail/customer service/ restaurants.
A lot of foreigners probably don’t have much experience with part time jobs, as they usually need a full time job to get a visa. Most common part time job is probably convenience stores. There was an interesting YouTube video I saw about Vietnamese who worked at convenience stores—how they’d work and the boss would only count half their hours. How Japanese staff would flick cigarettes at them during breaks. Some of them had mental breakdowns due to abuse and bullying. Didn’t sound very positive.
TLDR; Worked 3 different part times, mostly good experiences very minimal bad ones, and kept good friends. 10/10 would recommend.
I did three part time jobs here in Tokyo.
1.) Worked at the MBL Cafe at Tokyo Dome when it opened. Everyone was nice and welcoming, even when I didn’t know a lick of Japanese back then (just arrived and started at the Japanese academy). The girls were super nice and kind, even kept in contact with some after I quit. I was a runner, so a link between the kitchen and the waiting staff. I was on good terms with the main chef, and he was happy when I got him some Spanish ham. They gave me a heartfelt note and a cake when I quit.
Kitchen duty (aka cleaning dishes) was not something I enjoyed, but it was okay. The pay was also quite low, the main reason why I quit.
2.) After I moved to work at Uokin Shinbashi (which doesn’t exist anymore, at least the store I worked at). I stayed there the longest. Most of the kitchen staff was foreign so we all got along well together, even the 店長 was ハーフ. Still in contact with some coworkers from then.
It was a bit tiring, and the space was super small for 4 waitresses working at the same time, but fun nontheless. Pay was great (around) 1400¥/hour, which let me pay for most of my bills. Sadly, some months before I left, it got cut to the usual 1100¥/hour.
I quit because I found part-time job number 3, and it aligned better with my career.
3.) I worked as a designer (my actual job for what I studied at college) for a company with prospects of becoming full-time once my student visa expired (around 3 to 4 months from when they hired me). It was a Japanese company but a foreign division, so everyone on the staff was either foreigner or a Japanese person who spoke flawless English. Since I believe some might be on Reddit, I won’t give many details.
But in broad terms, everyone was really nice and the work was fun. My lead designer was really good at teaching but was hands-off while I did my work. I was still inexperienced working in an office setting, but everyone was welcoming and kind.
Bad things… I guess what made me want to quit was the person who managed my visa (?). I was anxious because I saw nothing being done toward getting the work visa, so I felt I was in an unstable situation. A Japanese IT company reached out to me offering an interview, and I went. In the end, the match was a good one, and got hired (full-time) so I decided to quit the part-time.
You would get more answers if the title was more descriptive. “Question.” is a marginally better title than “Post.”
Cleaner in an IT Company in Tokyo. hehe…