Job Discussion Forums

Jizzo T. Clown · Posted: Sun Jan 15, 2006 5:21 am Post subject:

Any decent job in any field demands that the aplicant have some experience. I did my undergrad in Business Admin, and upon returning to the states from Japan, I was told point-blank that the only skills I had were "teaching English to the Japanese." Of course, at that point, I decided to continue teaching EFL. Laughing

I agree with aroha--if you see living and working in Japan as a long-term goal, you'll have better luck (and fewer disappointments) than if you expect to do it within a year. A year flies by, and you may find yourself possessing little more than survival-level Japanese unless you really buckle down, which may eat into your social life.

I knew a guy who worked in IT in Osaka, but it took him 7 years to get the job (his Japanese was flawless). What did he do the first seven years? Taught English at NOVA.

Gordon · Joined: 28 Jan 2003 Posts: 5309 Location: Japan

kdynamic · Joined: 05 Nov 2005 Posts: 562 Location: Japan

I don't understand why anyone would put themselves through such hell just to work in Japan in a non-English teaching position unless they had some reason they HAD to be in Japan (such as being married to a Japanese person). I mean, Japan is nice, but it's NOT worth giving up you career dreams or setting them back 7 years or however long it takes just to get to the same place you'd be back home, and there are many downsides to living here as well. Just come here for a year or two, teach English, get the experience of doing it, and then go home and get on with your life. That's what most young English teachers do.

hivans · Joined: 29 Aug 2004 Posts: 51 Location: fukuoka

Before coming to Japan I had worked in IT for about 10 years, and I toyed with the idea of trying to find an IT job here, but I think it would be very difficult. Even if you are studying Japanese you would need to know (and read) a lot of specialised vocabularly - just to navigate the menus in Windows for example let alone go to business meetings and the like. The trouble with working here at an conversation school is that you would be out of IT for a year which would make it even harder to get back into it. Also, I have many friends who work in IT here and they all have to work really punishing hours, 80 hour weeks are not uncommon, so you might be letting yourself in for a tough time. Inn the end I decided not to try to pursue an IT career here. However, I wonder if there may soon be openings in overseas companies doing business with Japan. Soon, the phone companies here will have to move to number portability and I know a number of foreign companies are being sub contracted by the big companies here to develop new mediation and billing system software because they already have experience in this field. If you target such companies bidding for or doing this work, you might be able to come over here in a support role. It is likely to be a growing area in 2006.

abufletcher · Posted: Sun Jan 15, 2006 11:53 pm Post subject:

I'd agree with those who say you need to put your desire to "see the world" in perspective with your plans to "start a career." Sure it's fun to be "20 and footloose in Japan". But that can quite easily turn into "30 and no prospects back home." For people planning a career in EFL it can be a good first step but for people from other fields it's probably just seen as an extended vacation before you've even started working.

I don't know anything about the career ladder of IT people but my impression is that at the lower end of the ladder it can be a pretty tough job -- essentially just the "computer repair guy." Most of the (relatively few) western expats doing non-teaching jobs in Japan are not working in entry-level positions.

abufletcher · Posted: Sun Jan 15, 2006 11:54 pm Post subject:

I'd agree with those who say you need to put your desire to "see the world" in perspective with your plans to "start a career." Sure it's fun to be "20 and footloose in Japan". But that can quite easily turn into "30 and no prospects back home." For people planning a career in EFL it can be a good first step but for people from other fields it's probably just seen as an extended vacation before you've even started working.

I don't know anything about the career ladder of IT people but my impression is that at the lower end of the ladder it can be a pretty tough job -- essentially just the "computer repair guy." Most of the (relatively few) western expats doing non-teaching jobs in Japan are not working in entry-level positions.