How realistic is it for a strategic consultant to get a job in Japan without speaking Japanese?

6 comments

1. This is a copy of your post for archive/search purposes.

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   **How realistic is it for a strategic consultant to get a job in Japan without speaking Japanese?**

   Hi guys, just exploring our options here. My boyfriend is a strategic consultant (transaction service) at a financial consulting firm in Germany. He’s got a Master in Statistics and Machine Learning. Is it possible for him to get a job in Japan without speaking Japanese? Can you share your experience if relatable? Thank you in advance!

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2. Hard to speculate. His best bet is to either 1) look for open roles to see if he meets qualifications (e.g. do they require Japanese) or 2) connect with a hiring agency in Japan.

3. Does he speak English? No Japanese + no English = 0

4. Assuming he no speak nihongo, it depends on three factors:
   his past work experience,
   which university gave him the master,
   whether strategy means writing memos about AI, or he can actually code/implement/work with technical stakeholders

   Then he can find a Japanese company to sponsor him and probably get in on HSP-1 visa

5. very limited unless internal transfer but try a recruiter regardless

6. I know several people who work in Japan in these kinds of roles and don’t have very strong Japanese, in basically all cases they already had significant experience in the field and were transferred there by a home office, or they started their own firm in Japan.