After 10 years of working for some top tech companies in the USA on various communications and aerospace electronics along with an MSEE, I decided to drop everything and move to Tokyo starting in January to continue studying Japanese at a language school, and the visa paperwork is already done. Within the 2 years of alloted visa time, I plan to either start a company or join one. I’ve always wanted to be permanently based in Japan, and with the yen exchange rate and money saved up, along with wanting to move on from my current role anyways, the timing seems perfect.
I am around N3 Japanese and plan to study for 1-2 years to get to N2/N1 level as quickly as possible, while preparing my next steps. Right now I am considering two main options.
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1. Network with RF EE companies (automotive radar, MMIC design, space communications, 5G/6G communications companies). Try to apply into one and get an engineering visa.
2. Start a company beginning with RF/hardware engineering services, helping interface with English-speaking engineering firms or investors, and help create or edit technical presentations as a consultant. I would try to get the entrepreneurship / business management visa down this route.
I tried searching around for up to date information about the RF electronics field in Japan, but I don’t have connections in Japan in the field currently and thought maybe a post here might find people with the right background to provide insight.
I’ve heard various things about how awful the corporate culture can be in Japan, although I don’t particularly mind working long hours as long as the company is doing good work. If anyone has any insight or tips into how they would approach a move like this, I would love to hear it.
For example, should I focus solely on foreign companies operating in Japan, or do people have decent experiences these days working for purely Japanese tech/hardware companies? Are there needs for engineers like this in the financial/investment fields in Japan? Is it a dumb idea to try to set up a company immediately without first working for a larger company out there?
I don’t have any particular pressure on budget, and would love ideas about how others would find opportunities in this situation.
1 comment
This is a copy of your post for archive/search purposes.
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**Electrical Engineer with RF Background Moving to Tokyo – Start a Company or Join One?**
After 10 years of working for some top tech companies in the USA on various communications and aerospace electronics along with an MSEE, I decided to drop everything and move to Tokyo starting in January to continue studying Japanese at a language school, and the visa paperwork is already done. Within the 2 years of alloted visa time, I plan to either start a company or join one. I’ve always wanted to be permanently based in Japan, and with the yen exchange rate and money saved up, along with wanting to move on from my current role anyways, the timing seems perfect.
I am around N3 Japanese and plan to study for 1-2 years to get to N2/N1 level as quickly as possible, while preparing my next steps. Right now I am considering two main options.
​
1. Network with RF EE companies (automotive radar, MMIC design, space communications, 5G/6G communications companies). Try to apply into one and get an engineering visa.
2. Start a company beginning with RF/hardware engineering services, helping interface with English-speaking engineering firms or investors, and help create or edit technical presentations as a consultant. I would try to get the entrepreneurship / business management visa down this route.
I tried searching around for up to date information about the RF electronics field in Japan, but I don’t have connections in Japan in the field currently and thought maybe a post here might find people with the right background to provide insight.
I’ve heard various things about how awful the corporate culture can be in Japan, although I don’t particularly mind working long hours as long as the company is doing good work. If anyone has any insight or tips into how they would approach a move like this, I would love to hear it.
For example, should I focus solely on foreign companies operating in Japan, or do people have decent experiences these days working for purely Japanese tech/hardware companies? Are there needs for engineers like this in the financial/investment fields in Japan? Is it a dumb idea to try to set up a company immediately without first working for a larger company out there?
I don’t have any particular pressure on budget, and would love ideas about how others would find opportunities in this situation.
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