Hi all.
I have made the first step in setting up life in Japan again and need some advice on fleshing out a long term plan.
Background:
I (M30) from the UK previously lived in Japan on a holiday working visa, left to get a degree (business management), I have now returned (almost 9 months ago) with a foreign wife (not jap) and just had my first child 6 months ago. At the moment I am working at an eikawa which is alright, all things considered, but from the start teaching long term was never intended to be the end goal.
I am currently sitting between N5-N4 ability but taking about 6 lessons a week and have a wife that speaks Japanese fluently so I am progressing well although I understand just how much is still to come. My goal is to be N2 (or business level) in the next 2-3 years. Which doesn’t seem too impossible at the moment.
I currently have no marketable skills outside of my degree and a few small scale businesses – which are more like hobbies than a business. I am looking for things to invest the time into now in preparation for a few years down the line when I can move away from teaching and have a better grasp of the language. Ideally I would like to start my own business either doing property (buy, renovate, rent) or if needed starting a social hub of some kind as social events are severely lacking where I live (1.5 hours outside of Tokyo) and this is something that is a potential opportunity. Although ultimately I don’t have much on the way of hobbies or interests which I guess gives me a clean slate to delve into something new.
For now while I formulate a more substantial long term plan I am looking for advice and suggestions on what’s skills to learn for future potential jobs. I have previously dabbled in programming. Although I enjoyed I would be starting essentially from scratch. I am not really interested in starting my own English school or anything of that nature although translating does seem like a sensible transition when my Japanese ability is slightly higher.
1) what skills or type of skills do you suggest I look into?
2) what skills are desirable and sought after in Japan?
3) what type of salary can I expect to get with said skills?
4) what are sensible steps to take to move away from teaching English.
Any help and advice would be greatly appreciated.
3 comments
I mean.. not really? Either you have a marketable idea that you have the money / time / VISA to dedicate your life to (which sounds kind of impossible for someone with a family to care for) or you are exactly where you are when you left off with the WHV.
Most similar stories here started with knocking up a local so isnt it better to do it back home where you can speak the language? Not being mean, just wondering why it has to be Japan.
Being able to speak is just as or more important than the jlpt. I have never taken it and I can bearly read. BUT I can speak really well. That let me network and get out of teaching.
Your be best is save as much as possible. Get your wife the visa where she can work part time and save save save. Get the capital for a business visa and hopfully by then youve networked enough to have some partners or something.
Getting a non teaching job is hard. I got lucky and went from atl -> “sales staff” (but actually a mechanic) for a car shop, then went to building and servicing factory equipment for a contractor that worked for toyota (because they were “expanding to usa” (language skills) and its was techically a sales job. to now working for a startup servicing their product.
The nice thing is that the humanites visa is really loose. Anything sales or “because he can speak english and japanese” opens alot of doors.
I don’t want to sound harsh but coming to Japan with practically no language ability and near to 0 professional experience to then transition out of teaching might be hard.
Definitely not impossible but hard. Also, just learning for JLPT and getting N2 will not get you business level. I know people who got N1 and they communicate worse than university students back home. So while studying definitely also use what you learned, talk and try to read books when you reach N3-N2 level.
As for skills, I think most of your questions can be googled easily.
Always in demand are computer skills, like programming of course but also data related, like data scientists or data analysts etc. but without working experience it will be pretty tough I think.
Going for international sales or recruiting might be an option. Have seen a lot of stories where people transitioned from teaching to recruiting.