5 Don’ts of Getting a Job in Japan

Last time I told you five things you should know before trying to get a job in Japan. Now I’m going to let you know about five things you should avoid doing – at all costs!

1) Show up in Japan and expect to find a job

Nothing is sadder than seeing a young person in Japan trying to find a job. Especially in a big city like Tokyo.

You can’t survive in Japan without job, and if you’re here without a job you’re going to get desperate and you’re probably going to take the first job you find. This is never a good idea.

And the worst part is, even if you find a job and get them to sponsor your visa you’ll probably have to wait 2-3 months before your visa comes through and you can even start working.

Josh recommends: “Find a job beforehand. Have a visa beforehand. Know what you’re getting yourself into beforehand.”

2) Expect to stay for less than a year

Due to the massive costs of moving to Japan and getting settled in don’t take any job thats less than six months. You’ll need at least a full year to break even anyways.

Josh recommends: Don’t think that you can take a six month job and then find something new. Remember, its expensive to set yourself up once, think about doing it twice.

Plus depending on what type of visa you have you might be restricted on what jobs you can even get. Even worse, many private companies have become very competitive and put non-compete clauses in your contract!

3) Get temporary housing

There are a bunch of companies in big Japanese cities who will rent apartments to foreigners month to month.

These companies are horrible and should be avoided at all costs. They will charge you twice what the apartment is worth and you never know what kind of apartment you’ll be getting yourself into.

Josh recommends: If you have a real job, get a real apartment. If you’re going as a single person get a super small and super cheap Japanese apartment.

If your company is at all decent they’ll help you find something ahead of time. At worst you’ll spend a week in a hotel and you’ll have a place of your own.

4) Try and live in big cities

The lure of Tokyo, Osaka, and Kyoto are great. Don’t expect to find jobs there when everyone else is trying to find them as well. Try and find jobs in smaller areas near big cities. You’ll probably enjoy life there better, things will be cheaper, and you won’t be forced to cram yourself into a train every day like a sardine.

Josh recommends: Looking around and applying to a bunch of different jobs. The people in the countryside are nicer anyways, especially the kids.

5) Expect to make your life here

Japan is a great place to spend some time, work, travel, and live. Just don’t expect to make your life here. Foreigners make up less than 1% of the population, and most of those are ethnic Chinese and Koreans.

There is a big reason for that. Japan doesn’t want you to stay. The people as a whole probably do, but the country as a whole puts up so much red tape and road blocks that you’ll want to leave.

The biggest problem is finding a real job. Yes, being an ALT is ‘real’ work in the same way WNBA is ‘real’ basketball. Trying to find a job that’s a career or that you can support your family with is near impossible. Japanese companies would rather hire a Japanese person to translate for them than a foreigner with native speaking skills. That’s just the way it is.

The only real way to ‘make it’ in Japan is to marry a Japanese person. You’ll need the network and support of their family to succeed here.

You’ll also have to realize that you’ll never ‘be’ Japanese, never have citizenship, and will always be an outsider to the culture. Even if you’re ‘ethnically’ Japanese you’ll be seen as a complete outsider to the ‘native’ Japanese.

To give you an idea how severe it is, understand this. Japanese students who study abroad or live abroad often take ‘reeducation’ classes when returning to Japan, in order to fit in again.

Josh recommends: Find yourself a job in your home country that allows you to live or visit Japan frequently. Then you’ll be employed and working for a company that will employ you and give you advancement options, and still be able to spend time in Japan.