Moving to Japan Soon as Dual Citizen — How Should I Prepare for Remote Work and Taxes?

Hi everyone,

I’m a dual UK-Japanese citizen planning to move to Japan around September. I just graduated from a good UK university with a first-class degree in Computer Science. I haven’t started applying for jobs yet but reached several final rounds earlier this year, and now my CV and projects are even stronger.

I’ll be living outside Tokyo and want to work fully remote as a software engineer. Since I have Japanese citizenship, I don’t need visa sponsorship and can work legally without employer involvement.

I speak near-native Japanese but my reading and writing aren’t great, so I’m cautious about Japanese-only jobs, especially those requiring strong literacy.

My main considerations:

• Pay for remote jobs from UK or global companies is much better than entry-level Japanese roles, especially given the weak yen.
• I’m thinking about working remotely for a UK/global company and either telling them upfront I’m in Japan and managing taxes with an accountant, or saying I’m in the UK and working from Japan quietly.
• Alternatively, I could look for remote roles at Japanese companies, which might be easier to get without visa sponsorship, but pay is lower and language might be a barrier.
• I might move back to London in a few years, so having a job that can follow me would be ideal.

I’m not applying for jobs until January but want to prepare properly now.

Some questions I’d love advice on:

• How do people living in Japan handle remote work for foreign companies in terms of taxes and telling their employers where they live?
• Is it common or risky to not disclose that you’re actually in Japan when working for a UK company remotely?
• Would it be better to be upfront and hire an accountant to keep everything legal?
• What should I be doing now to prepare for this move and my job hunt?

Thanks in advance for any insights!

EDIT: I think I need to clarify, I don’t intend or want to avoid paying Japanese taxes, I’m just wondering how it works if I was getting paid into a British bank account through a British company but from the responses I’ve received it seems it’s messy in its own way and working at a remote first company or a company which has locations in both countries seems best.