Hello – I’m mid-20’s female currently living and working in the US on a work visa. I’m a citizen of an SEA country and hold 2 engineering degrees from US universities (BS ME & MS ISE) with about ~1.5 years work experience at a large Fortune 500 multinationals company as an engineer.
I’ve been studying Japanese as a hobby (passed N4 last year, studying to be N3 fluent now) and have visited Japan about 5x over the past year. My dream is to eventually move to Japan (mostly due to the lifestyle, low crime, and getting weary of dealing with the US immigration system).
However (before the downvotes come hurling at this post) I’m also realistic. I don’t want to teach a English and with the weak yen, less than N2 level Japanese speaking ability, and lack of work experience, I know I don’t stand much of a chance right now. The only future possibility I see is:
1) continue to gain more work experience and request for my current company to hopefully transfer me to their branch in Japan (this is the most realistic and wouldn’t hurt my current career targets & income) – there has been engineers in my office that did international assignments in Japan.
2) gain more work experience & continue to study Japanese until I hit N2 level, then apply to work with a Japanese company.
3) Get married to Japanese SO (not ideal…. marriage is just not my biggest priority right now)
I don’t think there are any other realistic options for me (and quitting my job to teach English or take a language school is simply not a choice for me – I have a good job & salary here in the US).
I guess my next question is – is this too far-fetched? Has anyone actually achieved this? Are there any other skills I should pick up?
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This is a copy of your post for archive/search purposes.
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**Is moving to Japan something that’s in any way achievable in the future for me?**
Hello – I’m mid-20’s female currently living and working in the US on a work visa. I’m a citizen of an SEA country and hold 2 engineering degrees from US universities (BS ME & MS ISE) with about ~1.5 years work experience at a large Fortune 500 multinationals company as an engineer.
I’ve been studying Japanese as a hobby (passed N4 last year, studying to be N3 fluent now) and have visited Japan about 5x over the past year. My dream is to eventually move to Japan (mostly due to the lifestyle, low crime, and getting weary of dealing with the US immigration system).
However (before the downvotes come hurling at this post) I’m also realistic. I don’t want to teach a English and with the weak yen, less than N2 level Japanese speaking ability, and lack of work experience, I know I don’t stand much of a chance right now. The only future possibility I see is:
1) continue to gain more work experience and request for my current company to hopefully transfer me to their branch in Japan (this is the most realistic and wouldn’t hurt my current career targets & income) – there has been engineers in my office that did international assignments in Japan.
2) gain more work experience & continue to study Japanese until I hit N2 level, then apply to work with a Japanese company.
3) Get married to Japanese SO (not ideal…. marriage is just not my biggest priority right now)
I don’t think there are any other realistic options for me (and quitting my job to teach English or take a language school is simply not a choice for me – I have a good job & salary here in the US).
I guess my next question is – is this too far-fetched? Has anyone actually achieved this? Are there any other skills I should pick up?
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1. A transfer from your company will be by far the best option and would be my plan if I was in your position.
2. Hard to recommend working a Japanese position for a Japanese company. The pay will be relatively low and most likely work life balance will be poor (although this is not always the case)
3. Getting married to a Japanese citizen is also a very good way to live in Japan (although I can’t recommend specifically looking for a spouse for visa purposes, but hey, if you spend enough time in Japan it might come about naturally)
Seems your Japanese is fairly decent and you have the drive to continue to improve it. I would keep studying while also talking with your current company about a transfer in the future
I have to say you are more prepared and thoughtful than 90% of the posts I see in this group. Good luck! You seem to be on a good path.
>I don’t think there are any other realistic options for me (and quitting my job to teach English or take a language school is simply not a choice for me – I have a good job & salary here in the US).
I have seen and read stories how a perfectly capable Asian person from America or SEA country will be passed on teaching English in East Asian countries, even if you are extremely qualified they will give it to a less qualified white person, even whites from non English speaking countries, and other non whites.
Due to your degrees and field of occupation, you will have no problem with finding an English speak position once you have more years of experience under your belt.
I think it is possible just to get that out of the way. You need to consider some things though.
* Did you pay for your master’s? Do you have student loan debt? How will you pay that?
* How much do you care about your career – how important is advancement and salary and opportunity important to you relative to other factors?
* What are your expectations in terms of lifestyle?
My wife is a bilingual (like native E/J) engineer in a mega manufacturing company you would know. For like 10 years she made less than $50K USD using the current lousy exchange rate (5M to 7M JPY). Companies somewhat control how you take your vacation – at least much more than they do in the US. And she was sidelined after maternity leave. She is thankfully back on track now and doing very well, but it has been a long road. And she is a Japanese citizen.
You may do a better at a foreign company but there are tradeoffs too.
Good for you for learning Japanese from outside the country. That’s great. If you can get a corporate transfer, that is the thing to do. What I did was early on let it be known that I would be interested if there was an opportunity. When I visited Japan I also tried to meet people in the Japan office and I volunteered for a project that involved JP and US teams virtually. It took a couple of years. But I eventually got a nice transfer and hence had a good salary and good job in Japan. The drawback is that there aren’t any guarantees you will ever get the opportunity.
Second option might be to do 1 year as an English teacher and just give Japan a try but leave after that 1 year. That assumes you don’t have a lot of school debt to pay. Do NOT stay an ESL teacher.
Good luck!
Don’t ever get married just for a visa.
That’s just weak and also sets up the relationship for failure. Seen it so many times in real life here (live in Japan). And ofc on Reddit. Just search for divorce in the japan part of Reddit. Pretty lol.
Only move to Japan (or anywhere) if it makes financial sense first and foremost.
There are always some English speaking companies that will hire and help you out with the visa prices. I don’t know if they’ll meet your salary requirements though depending on what your standard is.
You have all the hard requirements and employable skills. It should just be an issue of finding an employer. Maybe see about getting on some Japanese scouting sites or looking into what business relations exist between either your home country and Japan that might require engineering, or the US and Japan.
Seeing as you already work for a multinational, just ask your boss about working from Japan. If they are primarily a Japanese country with a branch in the US, this would mean they can not pay payroll tax for you. Only obstacle you have is a job.
Assuming you are on H1B visa in US, I will suggest you continue working in US until your max out the H1B stay duration (6 years or so), work smart, gain experience, rise up the rank, save as much as possible, continue learning Japanese. Once you are closer to H1B expiration, then start looking for transfer to Japan with your company or job with another Japan based company. With your educational background, work experience and Japanese language proficiency (JLPT N2/N1), you might be able to avail high skill professionals visa to quickly get PR in Japan too. With the money saved and work experience in US, you life will be much better once you move to Japan.
You don’t need N2 japanese for an HSP visa, which you would easily qualify for since you are young and have BSc and MSc.
You can calculate your points here, but basically all you would need is for a local contract with a salary exceeding 10m a year and you should already be over the 70 points barrier.
https://www.moj.go.jp/ENGLISH/m_hisho06_00043.html