This is mainly for foreigners who are living in or have lived in Japan, but maybe others can provide some helpful info as well.

Anyway, I decided to find a job in Japan so I was wondering what do you guys think is the best way for a foreigner to find a job in Japan? My Japanese speaking skills are at about the conversational level (not quite business level), and I know about ~700 kanji. I registered at several Japan job sites, and I'm planning on attending the big Japan job fair in Boston this fall. So what do you guys think, is this a good start, or is there somewhere else I should be looking?

Also, for the foreigners in Japan, how did you find your job?

 

Are you sure you want a job in Japan? Have you ever been there?

D-san

 

Japan is great - I would love to relocate there for a few years (but my wife would divorce me - she didn't like it as she felt the place was sexist). I did a lot of consulting work there a few years back (when I lived in Singapore) for the various international banks (JP Morgan, Deutsche Bank, Merrill Lunch, ABN, UBS, Toronto Dominion etc - everyone in these companies had to speak English so I survived).

I had several friends from England who worked there for many years - the ones just out of school/college without work experience got jobs teaching English as a foreign language (TEFL I believe), not great pay by any means but they got to experience the country. Another friend with a few years programming experience got on a plane to Tokyo and spent a month looking for a job via some local agencies - got hired by Merrill (before the recession) and spent 4 years there before going back to the UK (where he started working for Enron - poor chap).

 

Damn bro, what do you want to do?

Can you speak JP?

 

I'm thinking about going back to be a salaryman for a couple years. How's IT doing now?

Maybe I can sell all my worldly possessions and fullfill one of my dreams by going to a racing school in Japan and one day drive in the JGTC :D How do drivers in Japan get discovered?

 

Software programming.

Quote:

Can you speak JP?

Yeah, I can speak at least daily conversation level. I took 3 years of Japanese in college and had a japanese gf.

 

Im sure there is a market for it..hehe

As long as you can get by daily, you have no worries.

JT

 

m477, visit MIT when you are in Boston.


MIT-Japan Program
http://web.mit.edu/mit-japan/