Hello,
I rarely post on reddit, but feel I could really use the community feedback on my sisuation which is moving to Japan as an engineer or logistics field.
Let's start of with the why: My fiancée who now lives in Japan (we've met in America and been together for 3 and a half years). She is doing her japanese medical residency in Japan for the last year now. It's crucial I work in Japan for our relationship sake, but we have had the real discussion if I can't make it out to Japan by the end of this year. We want to be smart about it. Both her and I don't want myself to just take any job in Japan especially a english teaching position and we dont want to make things final(until I find a suitable position in Japan).
Now what I have to offer: Again I hold a bachelor's in Mechanical Engineering and I currently work for the DOD(DON) 3 years of experience. You would think being in the defense would be easier, wrong…just as hard but slightly eaiser to find a job in Japan. Really what would be ideal if I could find a job on a military base however*, I am limited to around the Yokohama area and I'd say a 50mile radius of that. Not only that but USA jobs doesn't show a whole lot of positions nor does clearancejobs and especially not a whole lot focus on Engineering. Mostly family and children support. My japanese is very basic when it comes to conversational but my reading and writing is subpar N4.
I've tried very hard looking for agencies that higher foreign talents that have a professional degree, but they are very confusing in what support they actually can do or offer. Most require you to already be in Japan and have some type of Visa status, really only for foreigners in Japan.
I have tried doing to contract route and applying to contracting roles, but seems they already know who they are going to hire or you need to know someone. Companies I've tried are Orbis, CACI, Alutiiq, and many more.
Something I've already started doing is transitioning over to the IT world. I know places like Japandev and Gtalent hire IT and develoers. Getting my professional certification in Data Analytics and Data Science. But to be done and 5 months and find a job in Japan by then seems unrealistic. The one last thing im thinking of doing is attending a Japanese language school to make my japanese solid and also give my time to study data science and lot more, but the financial and logistics behind will be a pain.
Right now I am at a total lost. Just looking for any stories or may someone knows of something that I don't. Any knowledge is better then no knowledge.
by Diligent_Basil_1564