Hi everyone, I just came back from Japan and I hope you can give me some useful input. A bit of a backstory: I am originally from Italy. I lived in Tokyo for a year and attended Gakushuin University as an exchange student. I graduated from my Italian university in 2003, but at the time it felt like visa opportunities weren’t easy to come by in a post 9/11 world.
Right now I live in the US, have American citizenship, and have been working the past fifteen years in law firms as legal assistant/paralegal (no Japanese-related jobs in my state). I finally visited Tokyo again at the beginning of October, and I loved it just as much. My Japanese was slowly coming back, and everyone was even nicer than I remember. My question is this: with an intermediate level of Japanese, a Bachelor’s Degree, an American passport and fifteen years of office experience, what are my options to find work in Japan? If I chose to get an additional accreditation/certificate here in America to enhance my skillset, what are my best options?
Sorry this is so long, I wanted to make sure to give you all the necessary details.
よろしくお願いします!
3 comments
This is a copy of your post for archive/search purposes.
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**Wanting to move to Japan in the future…what are my options?**
Hi everyone, I just came back from Japan and I hope you can give me some useful input. A bit of a backstory: I am originally from Italy. I lived in Tokyo for a year and attended Gakushuin University as an exchange student. I graduated from my Italian university in 2003, but at the time it felt like visa opportunities weren’t easy to come by in a post 9/11 world.
Right now I live in the US, have American citizenship, and have been working the past fifteen years in law firms as legal assistant/paralegal (no Japanese-related jobs in my state). I finally visited Tokyo again at the beginning of October, and I loved it just as much. My Japanese was slowly coming back, and everyone was even nicer than I remember. My question is this: with an intermediate level of Japanese, a Bachelor’s Degree, an American passport and fifteen years of office experience, what are my options to find work in Japan? If I chose to get an additional accreditation/certificate here in America to enhance my skillset, what are my best options?
Sorry this is so long, I wanted to make sure to give you all the necessary details.
よろしくお願いします!
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With Japanese, degree and experience, you should be able to find a job easier than most that post here. But you’ll have to go through the hoops of searching and finding a job that will sponsor.
I have a few lawyer friends that have been posted to Tokyo from the US with partner firms. My understanding is there’s huge gaps in Japanese Corporate firms needing English over Japanese, so I’d search there. It’s niche, and probably tough but it’s a good idea I think.
Check out a LinkedIn group called Business in Japan. I wouldn’t post what you posted above – they expect something a little more concrete. But do go through their posts and get a feel for what industries the members are in and how they function. If you see someone in an industry you’d be interested in, make a connection, explain your background and interest, and see if they can help (just don’t spam everyone – be very concrete in what you’re looking for).
It sounds to me like you’re fluent in English, Italian, and at least pretty good with Japanese (maybe commit to improving that from today). That could set you up for some interesting import/export roles.