Common circumstances include: JET, non-JET ALT / eikaiwa, language school/university, spousal or dependent visa, IT/tech.
What other paths have you taken to move to Japan?
I think company transfer and business manager visa are somewhat commonly discussed but less commonly sought / less accessible, and I’m interested in hearing about these more challenging pathways, as well as other not-so-common routes people have taken.
Digital nomad is only 6 months and I think not particularly worth it but curious if anyone is taking advantage.
by stayonthecloud
15 comments
I moved with no degree to a blue collar job as a Ferrari technician. Immigration denied the visa at first saying any Japanese national can do that. My now GM came back and said I will be managing the racing department and doing translations for the Italians that come to support.
I worked in a retail store and as I was helping a customer she was telling me about her life and that she lived in Japan. She suggested we stay in touch and she gave me her contact information. I didn’t contact her until about a year or two after that and we became friends. Eventually she told her boss about me at the school she worked for in Fukuoka and he wanted to interview me online. I ended up getting the job and moved to Japan like a month after that.
The boss had a house I can stay at until I saved enough money to get my own place so it was a pretty good deal.
Plenty of people are in Japan on work visas that don’t have jobs in your “common circumstances.” But these jobs can have requirements that the “average person doesn’t have. Are you looking for paths you can actually follow, or just looking to hear stories?
Child of Japanese national. No restrictions.
Formerly japanese citizen until I was stupid to convert to US citizen but now hold dual to Philippines.
I’m applying for eijuuken this july after 2 years. So cross figersy
My husband got his PhD in analytical chemistry, applied for some jobs in Europe and then decided to try for Japan since he had taken Japanese in college and kept up with private lessons.
He got hired at an English speaking grad school in Japan. He also wasn’t looking to teach or anything like that just something adjacent to his field in a foreign country we were willing to move to.
Digital nomad; 3 months
I moved for language school, enrolled in senmon gakkou, left and then came back for 6 months language school. I had those 6 months to find a job or I had to go back home to my home country. Ended up getting a job as a translator for a company that managed various types of restaurants. Since then I’ve done eikaiwa, shady tv related stuff, and freelancing manga translator and now I work remotely for a big American company.
moved here on an entertainer visa, switched to a humanities visa, and now on an artist visa!
I’ve taken the company the transfer route.
Graduated college in 2022 and joined the north American branch of a Japanese company.
After working there for a year and a half, I asked about any possibilities of working in Japan long term. Eventually got it set up to where I work in Japan for a year and learn ways to improve the North American business back home. So that’s what I’m currently doing.
At times the work is stressful, but my salary is still in USD and all my bills are paid for by the company.
It’s a good first experience in Japan I think and I do plan to make it back here at some point.
I mean, technically my path was not listed in your common circumstances, but it probably is one 😅
I am a certified teacher in Canada so I got a job as a certified teacher at an international school in Japan. Not an ALT or eikaiwa.
I visited japan for the first time in the late 90s and decided that I wanted to live there someday, so I got a job at a global company with offices in Japan, figuring that was my best chance to transfer. It took 7 years to make my goal known and to make the necessary contacts in Japan and the US; after a couple of false starts and some negotiation I was finally asked to apply for a position there.
I was there for 2 years, and then the Great Recession hit. The company was reorganized, and long story short, I moved back to the US. Regret that ever happened, but my Japanese was (is) very rudimentary (N3 at best now) so working there was pretty hard anyway.
Now trying to find a way back in retirement – plan B is the long term heritage visa. I also have a plan C, which is to move my side hustle (small trading company) to Japan.
I randomly decided to for once trust the kattchi guy (bar touts). I met a guy who worked at a rich GCC countrie’s embassy, and after talks/drinks he mentioned how he would love to date a Japanese girl but found the language barrier intimidating.
I called a friend who was in the area, and with her help set him up to meet a mutual friend who spoke English fluently.
They hit it off and he invited me to use his Thai villa that summer. That led to a job offer in his country at the embassy that led to maybe the most fun 24 months after I graduated uni (when the economic meltdown of 08 happened), which eventually led me back to Japan!
Joined the military to get out of the US, and in 2000 I came to Japan, stayed 4 years, then went to Hawaii and California, then back to Japan until I retired. In the meantime the military stipend for housing pretty much paid off my morgatage, by the time I retired I was only was paying for utilities. My plan worked. 🙂
Partner is on the working holiday visa, I came along on the new digital nomad visa. It’s a pretty sweet gig, I don’t have to deal with the same BS she does with the Zairyu card etc… I just work where I want, travel when I can and enjoy an amazing country.
I came to Japan from NYC for breakdancing. I came here to want to train and practice together with Japanese bboys. Wanted to stay and practice more and join their bboy jams and community, looked for jobs and ended up here now 10 years.