Checking out other Japanese blogs
September 6, 2006 at 3:37 am | In Career | 2 CommentsIt would have never dawned on me to check other blogs of expatriates living in Japan until now…duh. I found so many of these blogs most of them dedicated to the intricate details of their life in Tokyo or teaching English and drinking/partying during their off times. While this is all great information for its entertainment value, it doesn’t serve the purpose I am after. I couldn’t find any blogs that were dedicated to finding work or describing the job search or work life of a foreigner in Japan……at least not in significant detail.
I am finding more and more people saying that the best and most popular route to Japan is by teaching English. Had I just graduated from college, that may sound appealing, but I have been out in the work field for the past 8 years. Sadly enough the jobs that I had then and now have not brought passion to my life. The jobs are a mode of one thing that is endearing to me….a source of which to live. But to it I am a slave even though I may deny this verbally. Every piece of my life is dependent on this job. For such an independent person as I am, this rips at the fiber of my being.
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Hello,
I saw your post and thought I would comment. I have been here for 4 years and think I can maybe help in this area.
During my time here I have religiously stayed away from the teaching area, though I had a couple of close calls, I must admit. Before coming to Japan I had a steady career and because of leaving said career could not foresee accepting a job as an English teacher, especially as it would not make me happy. I’m not saying being an English teacher is bad or that you can’t have fun doing it. But there are some people who shouldn’t be whether it be for lack of qualification in that field or if they accepted the job under less than favorable circumstances.
Looking at the job market here for foreigners who don’t have Japanese language ability, it can be difficult not to become a teacher as there are so many of this type of job available. Jobs utilizing only English and of a professional nature are definitely hard to come across. I struggled with this myself.
I’m not sure the type of person you are or what type of job would suit you but research before coming is key. Non-teaching jobs that are not large companies mostly do not do the interviews from afar. So I saved up to be sufficient for 3 to 4 months while I did my job search in Japan. This allowed me to be a bit pickier. At the time I came I could speak intermediate Japanese (so I thought) but refused to. It was the culture shock. My search was incredibly unfruitful at times as I had the strong requirement of really liking the company I was to work for. And I knew I could not be the 9am-11pm dedicated Japanese worker. I, too, am independant and couldn’t stand the thought of being a slave to the job. Life is for living after all, right? After my 3 month search I found a company offering to hire me freelance. Unfortunately, it required me to translate from Japanese to English, which was ok as long as they weren’t watching me. I learnt very quickly that the English speaking jobs are quite restricted. The reasoning for this seems to be for immigration purposes. A visa will not be granted if immigration deems you to be doing a job a Japanese person could do.
So my conclusion is this:
Foreigners who are not Japanese speakers in Japan can usually be found in the area of teaching, sales, headhunting and IT (this might require Japanese language ablility). It’s possible if you have qualifications as a writer to be hired as such for an English newspaper, magazine or other such online English publication. In regards to where to look, I had more success offline than on. Be prepared and confident in your abilities. Best of luck.
If you have any questions, I would be happy to answer. And when you do make the jump to Japan, please have a look at my company’s web site. http://fudocom.com This is a site for searching for apartment, house and guest house rental listings in Japan
Comment by Celina Shaw — September 14, 2006 #
Hiya,
I just happened upon your website whilst looking for Japan-related blogs.
I spent almost 7 years in Japan and have just recently returned. I was able to get a visa and move to Japan thanks to landing the easiest of all teaching jobs with Nova. Once I was there I looked for other jobs and at first without any Japanese skills teaching was all I could really hope for, so I got myself a more enjoyable post teaching kids around Kanto. As the previous person said, I don’t know what field you are in, but even if you have a very specialized skill, without Japanese, it will be very hard to get anything other than teaching. Without Japanese but with experience teaching you can get more interesting jobs within the educational field – I ended up writing textbooks and storybooks for one of the main English language schools in Japan.
With a good level of Japanese – Japanese Level Proficency Test 2 or 1 – you can start to search for more interesting work within Japanese companies- proofreading, translating, editing, or writing. In the Japan Times online you can get a sense of some of the positions available with Japanese. Employees usually require good Japanese combined with a specific area of knowledge or expertise.
Dunno if this helps at all!
Ganbatte ne~and hope u have a nice time when you do finally make it!
Comment by PA — September 19, 2006 #