Job Discussion Forums

Workingsmarter · Joined: 31 Jul 2006 Posts: 14 Location: Yankee Doodle Dandy

Hi, Everyone,

After a long (and painful) two-year stint back in the USA�I will finally have a degree that is worth something lol. It was a bitter pill owning up to the fact that my BA in Communications wasn�t going to deliver riches, Shocked

but I digress. This impeding graduation has me longing to return to Japan, and not teach English. I did a few year around the world at first to travel and then as a lifestyle, but I began to loath it, and knew it was time to pull the pin and try something else. I'm sure there are more than a few of you who understand what I'm talking about.

That being said I ended up loving Japan, but hating the work-which leads me to my question:

I was wondering--has anybody has moved into any type of counseling work; work with Universities, or even teaching Social Work/Sociology/counseling classes in Tokyo or other parts of Japan?

Thanks in Advance for any help or advice you could give me
Very Happy

rtm · Joined: 13 Apr 2007 Posts: 1003 Location: US

How is your Japanese? Would you be able to take all of the licensing exams in Japanese for being a counselor/social worker? Would you be able to teach social work courses in Japanese?

I'm not sure why someone would hire an American person to do such a job in Japan (over a Japanese person who understands not only the language but also the psyche of Japanese people). I've met a few foreign people teaching their subject area in English, but those were mostly more 'international' fields - international business and international law. I haven't heard much about 'international social work'.

The only thing close that I have seen is advertisements for clinical social workers on US military bases.

Glenski · Joined: 15 Jan 2003 Posts: 12844 Location: Hokkaido, JAPAN

I have to agree with rtm. Language skills, proper training by Japanese standards, and nationality will all play a role here.

http://www.counselingjapan.com/eng/counselor.php
http://www.fjcbcp.or.jp/
http://sakura.canvas.ne.jp/spr/cp-hp/
http://www.crnjapan.net/The_Japan_Childrens_Rights_Network/res-cou.html
http://www.imhpj.org/
http://hkier.fed.cuhk.edu.hk/journal/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/ajc_v15n2_141-155.pdf

Inflames · Joined: 02 Apr 2006 Posts: 486

The easiest way would probably be to get a job as a contractor with the US military (and they require licensing and experience).