I work in a Japanese company in recruiting/HR/legal affairs (no I don’t have any jobs open for people on reddit/not in Japan right now) I would be happy to help answer questions about finding, keeping, or improving career prospects in Japan.

16 comments

1. I am a psychology post-bac who has published research and is pursuing a Ph.D. in clinical psychology.

   I started learning Japanese last year and plan to study for the next 5 or so years while I finish school.

   I have considered moving to Japan for research and educational purposes – say for example I wanted to do western-eastern analysis of psychopathologies. Maybe not forever, but I would love to do a few years abroad to really expands my horizons and cultural competency.

   Are there routes and options for individuals with educational backgrounds/interests? I am unsure how higher academia works in Japan. Maybe work for a university? A research lab?

   Thanks!

2. I have a BS in Business Economics and Public Policy with a couple minors. I graduated in 2012 from Indiana University Bloomington as a Kelley Scholar. I never worked a job related to my degree, but I was a peanut butter salesman (as well as a production line manager and certified food safety specialist) for a very small company for four years and now I’m in property management. My Japanese is nearly nonexistent, but I study a little bit everyday (going on about two years now).

   Could I realistically get a low level job in Japan? Or would I be better off trying to be a go go dancer in Shinjuku?

3. I’ve been in sales/marketing out US offices for Japanese companies since finishing my BA in Japanese / minor in international studies 5 years ago.

   What should I be doing to maximize my worth? Are there certain skills, certifications, or anything else I should look into?

   I’m considering going back to school and getting an MBA.

   I wasn’t too passionate about sales when I graduated. It was the only thing offered to me by recruiters I was in contact with at the time.

   I don’t have JLPT certification, but I’m sure I could ace N3. And with a few months of studying N2 shouldn’t be too bad. I haven’t studied diligently since finishing my degree, but using Japanese every day with coworkers and bosses have allowed me to grow in other ways.

4. (may be a biased question because I work in the tech field as a software engineer)
   In the west many companies have open positions on their sites, or through external job posting sites like LinkedIn. In the tech field there many companies competing for finding the most skilled candidates, so they try to show off what they are doing and trying to get people excited to join, and offer perks and benefits. In Japan instead many companies don’t want to deal with recruiting so they just offload the work to an external recruiting agency. Why so they do this? Applicants can’t get particularly excited about anonymous job postings and having to go through a third party (the recruiting agency) which just means lower probability of someone looking at your CV.

   What is your take on this whole situation? Why do Japanese companies insist on relying on recruiting agencies while the rest of the world doesn’t?

5. I’m an engineer working for a Japanese company in the states, I speak/read decently (N2-N1ish) but no formal training. Just curious what kind of salaries/benefits you get from tenshoku’ing to a different company in Japan. Obviously salaries in the states can be a bit ridiculous but I suppose I’m wondering what Japanese companies do to attract someone like me to work for them in Japan.

6. I’ve got 2 masters degrees from American universities including an MBA, 16+ years of progressive work experience up to the director level in communications, and multiple low-level tech certifications I’ve acquired over the years for the purposes of broadening my perspectives. I’m thinking of moving to Japan in 4-5 years, which is the amount of time I’ve given myself to pass N2 or N1 (and won’t be an issue from where I’m at now).

   Is it reasonable to expect to be able to find a decent job in Japan without having to come in at the ground floor? My wife and I want to live in Japan once our kids have moved out but I don’t want to screw my retirement by taking like a $60,000/yr equivalent paycut to do so.

7. What are the odds of a network engineer with no university but plenty of certs in the IT field?

8. What are possible job options for me? I’m a native english speaker, have a degree in marketing, worked 5 years as a copywriter in different advertising agencies and a start up. I also did photography on the side. I’m currently in Japan studying Japanese for 2 years (hopefully I reach N2 at least) but I’m not sure what job to apply for after graduating that will sponsor my work visa. Any advice appreciated!

9. I kind of want to know if I have a chance in there. Been working for the advertising field for 5 years and I’m currently a motion graphics editor. In my recent 2 years, I’m working similarly like a freelancer (work from home but a full time worker).

   I’ve just recently started N5 for 4 months and planning to reach up to N3 if time and budget permits.

   I’ve never been to Japan. But I’m already considering staying there.

10. I just graduated from McGill University (montreal, Canada) with a bachelors in political science, and minors in environment(sustainability) and Japanese (speaking close to fluent, reading and writing JPLT3ish). I plan on getting my reading and speaking to JPLT2 and 1 if I can in the next year or so. What kind of opportunities do you think are available for someone like me if I wish to live/work in Japan for 2-3 years?

    Edit***

    job experience unrelated to office work. Worked as a beach (and indoor) lifeguard over summers, and in high school worked at grocery stores. 😅

11. Hello, i am currently in the first year of a 5 year masters law degree (Czech university programs are strange) and i have also been learning Japanese for 3 years now, I think I’ll pass the n1 exam without too many issues this December, I am also native in Czech and have a C2 level certificate in English.

    Do you have any recommendations on what should I do, certifications to get, experience/internships that would be helpful to get a long term visa in Japan once I graduate? (University here is free so I want to milk it for all its worth). I honestly don’t really care about what the job description would be, I just want it to be reasonably well paid without having to kill myself with 80 hour weeks.

    Thank you in advance for taking the time to answer to my question.

12. Any need for plumbers/hvac/aircon techies over there haha

13. What’s the standing of humanities studies in Japan. For example I’m studying Political science and History. This year I’m going to be in Japan for 2 Semesters.

    I understand that people with a practical application of their degree like IT or Engineering may have it easier finding a job. So how’s a degree in humanities going to hold up in the Japanese work field ?

14. What do you think are the chances of a foreigner taking on a management or very senior role in the HR department (head of HR, payroll etc), if they had N1 and relevant HR experience in Japan? Do you think generally only Japanese people would be considered for these types of leadership roles?

15. I’m a recent graduate of tourism and hospitality management. In the future, I do hope to become more fluent and work in Japan. What are the prospects for a forigner with my degree?

16. Wife is Japanese and plan on retiring in Japan. What can an older American attorney do n Japan? By the time I retire there I’ll be 60 and have over 30 years of tax and bankruptcy experience. I have a JD and Tax LLM. Can I find any contract work? N2 Japanese, studying for N1. Just curious otherwise I’ll give free English lessons to the neighborhood kids. Thanks