Japan-go

  I called the career guidance office of my university. I talked with Wendy who gave me some good advice on how to spruce up my resume and target my job search. I told her of my goal of getting to Japan by September of 2007. Several posts on this site have been of great use to me. Most people are saying to not rule out English teaching in Japan. I will continue to exhaust all options, including English teaching for a while. Has anyone had the experience of going to Japan with an American company or other foreign company? If so, I would really like to hear your story!

I am working on a webpage with links to career postings in Japan. It’s slowly coming along, I’ll update everyone on the progress. It will eventually be posted on www.innerglobal.com

It 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.

 Today was like a dream I never woke up from. I arose from the bed groggy and wishing I could stay in this comfortable state of sleep a few more hours. Regardless of my desire, responsibility kicked in and I got ready for work. The clock read 4:35 am…….why do I subject myself to such punishment? After arriving at work I completed some daily routine things that had to be accomplished for me to get paid at the end of the day.

I spent time later on searching out jobs in Japan. My first stop was to peruse the classified section on the Japan Times website (http://classified.japantimes.com/career/en/). Most of the jobs I saw were in fields which I have no experience whatsoever. And many of these jobs require the person to already be in the country, which I am not. So after a disappointing one and a half hours, I felt further from getting a job in Japan than when I began.

I find myself wishing that somehow I could win the lottery or become independently wealthy somehow between now and next year sometime. A ridiculously insane thought but nonetheless it’s prevalent. While the reality is that I will have to work while over there, I internally, potentially in the back of my mind somewhere, am resistant to this change.

What is happening to the optimism I felt when I was on my trip. I was feeling great resolve in my dedication to making this work transition abroad. I will remind myself of the feeling I had while in Japan and the absolute commitment to follow through. Ah, I feel better already.

I have been researching various jobs in Japan through the sites that others on Yahoo questions board have submitted. Most of the jobs that are available to gaijin (foreigners) who don’t know much Japanese is English Teachers. Now teaching english sounds great, but it is going to be fairly difficult to have take a pay cut to around $30,000 per year (now I make around $57,000) and still survive in a high cost of living place like Tokyo.

My instructors at the college I was attending said to try and get a job before you go there. Easier said than done. I am also concerned about how my retirement and stocks will be able to continue if I move to Japan. Can I still contribute to a Roth IRA if I wanted to? All of these issues are at the forefront of my concerns.

I decided to create a starting point and then work from there. First things first…..my resume. The resume I have now is outdated and to be honest, really weak on verbage. If I am going to get a job in Japan, I really need to spruce it up. Some things that will hopefully be of use to an employer is my degree in International Business.