Sort of a follow up on my [previous post](https://www.reddit.com/r/movingtojapan/comments/13nnjmo/moving_to_japan_right_after_graduating_university/), basic rundown being that I have Japanese citizenship but lived in the US my whole life, Although I’m a native Japanese speaker my skills are limited. I can have regular conversations but can’t read/write most intermediate – advanced kanji and definitely not business level speaking. I’ll graduate in 8 months with a B.S. in IT with about 8,000 USD debt and I’ve decided that I want to try landing a job in Japan after I graduate. I was trying to look for resources to help me find an entry level IT job in Japan but almost nothing is for fresh grads and a lot of what I’m finding is geared toward foreigners who don’t have citizenship. My university is pretty big and has a lot of Japanese exchange students/ regular students and so they have [organizations](https://www.kikokugo.com/) that help them find jobs in Japan however they seem to cater towards those who are fluent in Japanese (留学生’s) so I’m doubtful that they will be able to help me (I’m basically a 帰国子女). My situation is kinda unique so I wanted to ask, do new grad level IT jobs in Japan exist for those with so-so Japanese skill? (Only practical work experience being a 10-week summer IT intern at a school district). If so were can I find them? And if not any other resources/ advice would be helpful.
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On a side note I can live at my grandparents house in Osaka for a few months rent free however they’re old and I don’t really want to live there any longer than that.
8 comments
This is a copy of your post for archive/search purposes.
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**Looking for Entry Level IT jobs in Japan**
Sort of a follow up on my [previous post](https://www.reddit.com/r/movingtojapan/comments/13nnjmo/moving_to_japan_right_after_graduating_university/), basic rundown being that I have Japanese citizenship but lived in the US my whole life, Although I’m a native Japanese speaker my skills are limited. I can have regular conversations but can’t read/write most intermediate – advanced kanji and definitely not business level speaking. I’ll graduate in 8 months with a B.S. in IT with about 8,000 USD debt and I’ve decided that I want to try landing a job in Japan after I graduate. I was trying to look for resources to help me find an entry level IT job in Japan but almost nothing is for fresh grads and a lot of what I’m finding is geared toward foreigners who don’t have citizenship. My university is pretty big and has a lot of Japanese exchange students/ regular students and so they have organizations that help them find jobs in Japan however they seem to cater towards those who are fluent in Japanese (留学生’s) so I’m doubtful that they will be able to help me (I’m basically a 帰国子女). My situation is kinda unique so I wanted to ask, do new grad level IT jobs in Japan exist for those with so-so Japanese skill? (Only practical work experience being a 10-week summer IT intern at a school district). If so were can I find them? And if not any other resources/ advice would be helpful.
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By IT, if you mean a software engineer, then it’s better to get experience in the US first. It’ll be easier to hop to another company with decent pay after that.
It’s possible, it’s easier with Japanese speaking skills and because you can move here without a visa I’m assuming, you have the advantage that you can apply for jobs as a resident.
My advice would be to talk to some recruitment consultants to get some feelers in your specific profession. As others may note in other similar IT threads, it’s a diverse field. If you see something along the lines of a customer service or client service engineer, be aware that that might not necessarily be an engineering position. Get an idea for what the roles and responsibilities are and if you are ever handed a contract, ensure that they say exactly what your job description entails.
I see you are ignorant about the job market. Work 3 years in US, then return to to Japan.
There are not many opportunities in IT outside of software development (even then it’s a crap shoot) for someone without experience. Hardware and basic networking is mostly done by native Japanese trades school grads in country as it’s far cheaper than hiring some dope from the west. Network Engineering basically doesn’t exist in Japan outside of a few lucky senior engineers as it’s too expensive to pay for and much easier to outsource to India remotely.
There are a couple big companies (Google, AWS and Microsoft that hire foreigners but they only hire from in country and they only hire experienced workers who have stability and won’t jump ship.
Stay where you are and grab 3 years plus and specialize deeply then maybe can grab something that pays crap but will get your foot in the door.
You’re essentially a foreigner who happens to not need a work visa (same as someone who is married to a Japanese national, for example). Any job hunting you do in Japan should really follow that route.
If you’re targeting the foreign companies in Japan, the job market is kinda bad rn for entry level. If you are aiming for more Japanese companies, then you need N2+ (functional japanese, can speak and type in slack etc.), espcially if you’re more of an IT guy, networking or cybersecurity, I’d say Japanese fluency is more important for you compared to your average software dev guy.
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