Does anyone here have a job that barely uses Japanese, that also isn’t teaching english or tech?

30 comments

1. Finance does not require one if you are handling international markets

2. You could do factory work or construction, I know a lot of people mostly SEA that do that, probably get paid peanuts tho

3. No but there’s plenty. Construction. Foreign companies. Work at ikea or something you know.

4. I’ve been doing recruitment for over 10 years and only use my Japanese unless I absolutely have to.

   If you work with international companies, they don’t speak Japanese.

   But my being able to speak Japanese but hide it has helped me have an upper hand in many many business situations.

   But Japanese isn’t required. But it is a plus.

5. I work for big auto, day to day, I don’t actually talk a whole lot. There’s some pretty basic japanese required, but most problems can be shown by pointing and demonstrating. Some of the brazilian/filipino/chinese guys don’t speak any Japanese, but there is at least 1 guy who does(for each language). Most of the “foreign faction” leaders speak at least a bit of english as well. If you want to advance in the company, or receive extra training(and raises), you’ll need to improve your language skills.

   If you(or others) are considering factory work, big auto/electric are often signifcantly better than the other factory options. Union factories are better than non-union. Non-union factories are best used as a stepping stone. They won’t blatantly violate labour laws, but sometimes they think about it.

6. Not necessarily the job itself but since I’m in management I can afford not to use my Japanese at all. Japanese customers are expected to be able to communicate in English. Upper management knows zero Japanese. Im in a gaishi automotive industry/manufacturing btw.

7. Yes, in tourism. All staff at my company (over 150) speak English. 99% speak zero Japanese. All of our guests are international tourists.

8. My brewery job I don’t need much. I listen to audiobooks most of the day.

9. I know of international bars/restaurants where all the staff and most of the customers are foreigners so English is the main language used but jobs like that likely cant provide visas

10. I wfh pretty much 100% unless I need to go office. I speak japanese but not like n1 level but I sound native when I speak just cuz I grew up here when I was a kid so I don’t have an accent.

    Any ways, I only use japanese when I speak to japanese users (I do IT).. Which is like once or twice a month. And rest is English.

    ¥7.2M yen a year and all I do is work 1 -2 hrs a day and sleep or play games all day. I work for US company and have an office here where I provide support to but I support globally. It still isn’t a lot of work so I’m chillen.

    I think they’re hiring another IT person

11. I am an assistant professor here for a specific project and contractual period (which means I don’t have to teach) so yea I am not required to speak the language.

12. I deal with people regionally or globally 80% of the time and my Japanese client contacts are almost always bilingual. So I can definitely use Japanese regularly but I can also go a couple weeks without using it to any great extent. My professional Japanese has probably deteriorated in the last couple of years. We sell tech-enabled services globally. My colleagues here are either gaijin or completely bilingual.

13. I run my own online businesses so English is my main use

14. International sales.
    It’s almost all English. I do some translations and all communication within the company is all Japanese but my job is using English with overseas clients so I never use Japanese there.

15. Oddly most job adverts in fFinance / IT these days appear to require Japanese , sometimes even “Native Japanese” …

16. Used to work for Toyota corporate and used zero Japanese but my job was mostly international and speaking with upper management. Now I do other things.

17. Lawyer.

18. At a certain level of seniority your experience and skills become more important than language. At that point, no Japanese needed – everyone will provide translators if they want to do business with you.

    My dad is head of a global investment office in Tokyo, with clients in big tech that all either speak English or have translators. He hasn’t needed it in five years.

    That said, as a regular I absolutely recommend learning the language at least to conversational level otherwise your day to day quality of life will be miserable.

19. I pick up trash! lol

20. I started out working in JP section of international company, Most of the work besides communications with global in Japanese.

    Through years of work and experience got moved up to the global side of things, making Japanese non-existent in my daily work life.

    Edit: Not sure why downvoted, OP did not ask for jobs for people that did not know Japanese, just jobs that do not use Japanese.

    The best way to get a good job where you don`t have to use Japanese, which isn`t Tech or English, is to work your way up through an international company.

21. I’m an international school teacher not teaching English. Close enough?

22. Yep I do, I work in an internationally facing company based in Japan. We use Japanese but it’s like 90% English.

23. Professor in mint subject part of an international program. Research and teach in English.

24. Local staff at an embassy. Pay is pretty good and nice work life balance. Most local staff jobs need at least some Japanese but there are a few that don’t.

25. As a way to move/start in Japan it’s ok to look for these kind of jobs. Bare in mind however that a life in Japan without knowing Japanese is gonna be miserable imo.

26. I once met a guy who worked in Japan for a decade as a chef, he told me he jumped between Okinawa and Hokkaido working at resorts depending on the season, knew almost zero Japanese. He said they used English in the kitchen and his Japanese wife handled everything else.

27. I straggle the line between tech and non-tech, working as a supply chain planner for a major international company. Technically 90% of the job could be done in Excel plus pre-written Python/SQL, though I work closely with data scientists from abroad and being able to read and write code streamlines things immensely.

28. I use to work at the Tokyo American club in the library. No Japanese needed. However I don’t recommend working for TAC as pay rate is crap, and you may end up like me years into a job and then contract not renewed due to you not being able to have your availability changed to completely open availability.

    I will however say this about 90% of the employees at TAC are wonderful people and I enjoyed working with them.

29. Yes, there are lots of international or multinational companies and organizations that use barely any Japanese or none at all, at least at a certain level of the company.

    Not gonna dox myself, but I work an office job for an international organization and my job is 90% English or more.

30. I used to, but not anymore, but I have friends working in Japan without using much Japanese. For example:

    1. Airplane captains. My friend barely knows any Japanese other than greetings and self-introductions. He flies between Japan and multiple countries throughout the year.
    2. Air stewardess. They also fly between Japan and many other countries, but they can’t speak any Japanese. It is not a requirement since there are Japanese native speakers in their crew.
    3. Chef. I know 2 chefs who barely speak Japanese, if any.
    4. Fishermen. There are a group of fishermen I know and whenever they are back here, we have drinks. They spend 6 months a year on big ships, but they are officially based in Japan.
    5. Real estate agents. I know Chinese, Korean and Vietnamese real estate agents who have helped me to find cheaper rates and even helped me with moving my stuff around at 1/3 to 2/3 of the market prices. Their main target is those from their own countries.
    6. Moving companies. They are connected to 5, I believe they work for the same group company or boss. Having used one of those companies helping me move in between different wards in Tokyo, I recall they said they were earning between 20000 to 25000 a day doing 2-3 moves a day. Hard labor, but good money if you are desperate, jobless and need a quick income short term.
    7. HR professionals. I know a lot of people working in the HR domain without using Japanese at all. They work in the Learning and Development, Talent Acquisition, HRBP roles.
    8. Similarly to 6, I know a lot of people working in the sales and marketing department.
    9. Fashion models. A friend of mine doesn’t speak any Japanese at all as her agency can provide interpreters.
    10. Sports: a friend of mine is a Brazilian Jiujitsu instructor here in Japan. He barely speaks any Japanese. Similarly, I’ve seen personal trainers and other sports’ athletes (mainly football and rugby) and coaches in Japan who barely speak Japanese.
    11. I recall a friend of mine was working as a lumberjack in Northern Japan. He came to Japan without any Japanese, and learned his job on the spot, just by seeing and imitating the others.

    Aside from above, outside of my circles, I can think of people working in the factories usually hard labor, researchers for some companies and universities, people like ‘’Dr.’’ Douglas Berger (don’t recommend him) in Tokyo, people working for Chinese or Korean (or some other foreign companies) using mainly Chinese, Korean etc languages, markets (such as Chinese ones in Ikebukuro or some in Okubo).