Hello, I am 23 y/o woman and I will be graduating with my bachelors degree in biology with a concentration in marine biology next month. I have yet to do work in the field, but as I get older, I honestly feel like I'd be happy doing anything that allows me to have a comfortable life. With that being said, what would my options be if I wanted to move to Japan? Desk jobs sound nicer and nicer each day. I have been a waitress for about three years now, but I want to level up to a more career-oriented job. I do not speak the language but I am very willing to learn, obviously. For those of you who moved without knowing Japanese, what did you do? Did you find a private tutor, mainly stick to online, or just picked it up as you went? I would assume submersion in the language would rapidly speed up learning. Also, I read that foreigners that get hired to teach english end up not being paid that well. How do you even find a job as a foreigner to begin with? Thanks.
by sewsandquails
13 comments
> For those of you who moved without knowing Japanese, what did you do?
Not completely without Japanese, but I was below N3 level when I arrived in Japan, pretty much straight out of college. I worked for a dispatch (haken) company as a code monkey.
As for learning Japanese, it was a swim or sink situation for me as well as my cohort. We learned by getting exposed to Japanese on the job, going to volunteer classes hosted by the place where we lived, and using free online sources. We didn’t have the money to pay for classes, let alone hiring a tutor lol.
> How do you even find a job as a foreigner to begin with?
My first employer had a booth at my college’s job fair. That’s how I learned about them and landed my first job.
The day after graduating college I posted my resume to a job website, 5 minutes later got a call from a Japanese recruiter looking for Japanese speaking employees for a giant Japanese corporation who had just set up a sales office in my hometown. 3 months in my boss decided that I was too American and my Japanese wasn’t good enough (N3) so she sent me for training in Japan with the other shinnyuushain.
Ended up staying 6 years. I’m just a normal office lady (OL). I do marketing, translating and accounts management. My company hired a tutor to do language and cultural lessons twice a week for the handful of foreigners in the company. Eventually due to studies and just consistent practice (because there were so few English speakers in my office) my Japanese got pretty fluent. It was definitely sink or swim since my company is out in the countryside. I’m back in the US now
You’ll probably learn this as you do more research on the sub or online, but if you wish to make use of your degree you will most definitely have to have proficiency in Japanese, probably N2 at a minimum (you can look into how long that takes to get, depends on your commitment).
Most desk jobs in Japan won’t pay nearly as much as the counter part in other countries (substantially less from western or any other G7), so depending on what type of quality of life or desires you have to “live comfortably” I’d evaluate what type of careers you could expect as well as career growth.
It’s quite unlikely that you will be able to apply your bachelors in biology to any type of job you would expect in Japan, without high level of Japanese or coming from an international company. So evaluate if you want to do something in relation to your degree at all, because if so a better option could be building work experience in your home country and trying to move later in your career (at this point in time you would probably be applying for very general desk jobs, that unfortunately means high competition, especially against those at language schools in Japan, or who don’t have to be sponsored).
Would also look into Japanese work culture, and see if it fits your definition of a “comfortable life”. You could very much enjoy living in Japan, but the day-to-day of your job could maybe not align with what you are looking for. Generally expect, long (very long, like worse than NA,HK, pretty much any other G20 country).
I’m 22 and moved to Japan after I graduated. My answer probably won’t be helpful for you as I have a computer engineering background and joined a company as a Software Engineer with 0 Japanese skills.
I think for software engineers it’s not too hard to get a job in Japan as there is a lack of engineers. I don’t have much idea about other fields.
There are countless other threads with the same premise here I highly recommend reading others on the same topic
I moved to Japan when I was 23 with everyday level of Japanese and got an internship (and then full time) job at an international beauty company.
It’s possible, my suggestion is build your network and prepare to interview in Japanese.
I moved to Japan as an ALT after graduating college. No real Japanese knowledge before coming. The pay is near minimum wage, but the hours are reasonable, the content tends to be comparatively easy, and you get a lot of vacation.
I would recommend starting to study Japanese now using apps/textbooks. Applying to and getting an English teaching job (hopefully ALT at a decent company). Then try to immerse and master the language in a few years. Then you can apply to an office job while in Japan. Most office jobs tend to need N2 or N1 JLPT to get or even apply. There are English only companies though nowadays, so if you have good credentials and a good interview, you could land one of those. Good luck!
Did an internship in Japan, went back home to complete my last semester, graduated. Then was invited back to same company. I studied engineering and had 0 Japanese when I moved.
Ended up staying 7 years and slowly became conversational. I didn’t get any JLPT cert, as long as you can pass job nterviews in Japanese, you’re all good.
I’d say that’s when a majority of people come to Japan. Most expats you meet are 20-somethings who just graduated and want to kinda do a working holdiay to explore a part of the world they were interested in before settling down.
I’m 30 now, came when I was 27 but was supposed to come when I was 25 (Covid delayed everything) for the same reason. I wasn’t sure what I really wanted to do after graduating (mostly relating to where I wanted to live) and decided to come to Japan while I figure things out.
I’m 34. Work as a Hotel manager. Just landed a job in hokkaido at a ski resort so I’m going to Japan within the next few months! 🙂
I had the great opportunity to spend a semester at Waseda University which made me want to come back to Japan. Im graduating too (PR major) and 3 of my credits can be completed by doing an internship so I just started randomly emailing Japanese PR companies. I didnt think anyone was going to respond as my Japanese is elementary but I got an internship from a foreign company in Tokyo for the upcoming summer, it’s unpaid due to visa restraints but experience is experience especially when its something I really wanted.
I also waitress which funded my first trip to Japan and hopefully this one too. I looked into teaching English as I’m sure every foreigner does. Ive also seen a lot of people start off teaching then move onto another job in Japan so no shame in that!
Overall, I would say it doesnt hurt just emailing places and putting yourself out there.
As for the Japanese it’s definitely easier to learn when you’re there but knowing around N5 level is enough to live there. The first time I went to japan I was there for 5 months and was just learning as I went, it was great even had to go to the bank one time where they spoke no English and I made it through. Good luck!
Just make sure you pay off your loans if you have them because making money in another country and paying for a loan in a different monetary value can sometimes be impossible depending where!
I have lived here since 1989. Moved here at 24, right after college, with no Japanese ability.
I will back up what @crazypoorasians said earlier in the thread – entry level desk jobs pay not that great and you won’t be able to practice your major field of study here until your Japanese gets pretty dang tight. That will take a few years at a minimum. Japanese isn’t one of those “I’ll study on Babble 15 minutes a day” languages. Fluency in Japanese is a quest, not an Doordash run.
That said, I came here straight from college in the US. I started out teaching English and learned Japanese from a mix of watching TV, picking up local media (newspapers, magazines), talking with locals and just trying to integrate myself as best I could. Remember, this was before the Internet.
Once your language ability gets solid, things begin to open up. Network and circulate in your preferred industry. Japan loves trade shows and industrial expositions. Attend these and you start to meet people and get your name out there.
For instance, let’s do a thought experiment. Let’s fast forward 6 years from now. Where should you be at this point? Your Japanese ability is robust enough to handle the job, and you have circulated around some in events and expositions related to your interest (say, marine biology). You’ve become used to the quirks and blips that Japan throws at you and you can handle the rhythm of work life and daily living here. It’s at this point that you got a shot to get a job in your preferred field.
Hope this helps…