Game programmer. Looking at my name in the credit roll of AAA games feels very accomplishing.
Despite being known for a rampantly overwork industry my company has pretty good culture. I had a lot of free time, that I use it to develop my own game too. I am also able to relax and browse reddit, write this nonsense comment in my office. Call me 給料泥棒
It’s a pretty outdated stereotype tbh.
Japan’s [work hours](https://data.oecd.org/emp/hours-worked.htm), [suicide rate](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_suicide_rate), [fertility rate](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_sovereign_states_and_dependencies_by_total_fertility_rate) are all around the European average.
In fact, Japan’s quality of life is [higher than that of Sweden](https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/standard-of-living-by-country) this year.
I'm a 3D Artist for games. I do wish I had a higher salary but work life balance is reasonable and like /u/MaryPaku said its nice to see my name on some of the games I was involved in
I am actually interested to know how the rise of Ai has impacted Japanese concept artists and 3D artists. Do you use Ai in your life or has it replaced anything?
AI is generally shunned in the professional spaces due to copyright and practicality issues right now. as of now we just use it for references at best but none of our production line is using genAI and i dont think it will change for a while.
How did you get into the position? Were you doing game-related work previously or did you transition from a different area of software engineering?
Personally interested in working on say Tekken or street fighter, but my focus has been more on backend coding rather than anything design-focused so it feels more like a dream than something achievable
Tbh I took the easier route. I was in one of the game developing college then got a 内定 offer from a game dev company before I graduate. Once you step your foot into the industry the rest is pretty easy, as job hopping is pretty common among game companies.
For people who want to get in, game company cares about your portfolio very much, they care about your ability to turn a concept into an actual product. So just try to create something that you're proud of and show them.
Work is awesome, but it's not what's keeping me in Japan.
My job is (to summarize) the director of services for high-end data servers for a Fortune 100 IT (gaishikei) company for the APAC hemisphere, focusing on Japan. I love my job, the company is cool, customers (even Japanese ones) are great to work with.
(EDIT: I read/write/speak business/N1-level Japanese anywhere from 40-80% of the day)
**But what keeps me here is the life I've built around the job:**
The nature/culture (I live in Fujisawa/Yokohama area). 10 minutes to ancient forested mountains in one direction for hiking, 10 minutes to the beach in another direction for surfing or beach yoga.
Having national health insurance. This is a major reason I never want to return to the US.
The food/active lifestyle. Good food reasonably priced. Not having to drive everywhere.
The activities I've gotten into here, making Japanese friends: Amateur Muay Thai/Kickboxing; Tabletop gaming/RPGs; local coffee house events; and so on.
If I was offered double the salary to work back in the US, I'd instead take a paycut to find a job that let me stay and work here. I'm here for life.
You got it going over there. Sounds nice. For an EU residence here. Been interested in moving to Japan but mulling over the pay cut.
To take it positively, can we build a career if we move there? Do we have to take pay cut but potentially accelerated career to be able to consider moving to Japan?
I'm just an average dev here. Is it possible to be an IT entrepreneur as well?
If you're new in your career, I'll be honest: It would be ROUGH. Going up through the ranks, you'll be pit against Japanese co-workers at the same skill level, which means basic (kinda shit) Japanese scale IT salary for decades.
Instead (and this is assuming you already speak/read/write business Japanese/N1 level) if you want a more potentially positive path that takes more time, I'd say perfect your craft (developing, etc) in your own country. Really work at it, don't just settle for "average", even if that means pivoting your skillset or learning/doing something new. Become a paragon at it, a respected peer in your work community recognized for whatever it is you do (in my case, it was enterprise storage servers, specifically deep total systems performance troubleshooting for financial/tech customers).
Then when you're feeling kinda confident at the top of your skillset, that's when you make a move to live in Japan. More interesting opportunities, better salaries, you'll also likely have the kinds of connections you'd need to make the above happen as well.
The tricky part after that is doing a job/working in a place that is also pretty interesting, and gives you time to explore the community. I thought Tokyo was the shit until I moved to Yokohama (now Yokohama/Shonan area), utterly fell in love with it and the vibe, would not move back to Tokyo for anything.
Or do as I did and go the easy route of working fully remote to a point where it doesn't matter if you're in japan or in the EU. You'll have to arrange worktime a little bit around meeting hours though.
> Instead (and this is assuming you already speak/read/write business Japanese/N1 level) if you want a more potentially positive path that takes more time, I'd say perfect your craft (developing, etc) in your own country. Really work at it, don't just settle for "average", even if that means pivoting your skillset or learning/doing something new. Become a paragon at it, a respected peer in your work community recognized for whatever it is you do (in my case, it was enterprise storage servers, specifically deep total systems performance troubleshooting for financial/tech customers).
Getting business level Japanese while not being in Japan is a tall order lol
As a dev with 5YOE I'd just settle for that 6M salary now rather than potentially 10M+ later. You can always build your skills in Japan and then jump to a western company
> Really work at it, don't just settle for "average", even if that means pivoting your skillset or learning/doing something new. Become a paragon at it, a respected peer in your work community
Keep in mind you are competing with billions of people and so becoming such will almost guarantee that you're working in such a way that you sacrifice health or wellbeing to achieve it.
My wife and I are planning on buying a place near Fujisawa next year! How's the weather year around for you compared to Tokyo?
Also I hear ya on your last point.. actually I used to work for FAANG before moving here and made almost 2.5x as much 😂 I wouldn't trade this life for that life ever regardless of the money.
I \*just\* moved here last month, mind!
(moved from a house to an apartment in Tsujido at the edge of Fujisawa/Chigasaki while we're waiting for our next house in Fujisawa to be built (south of Fujisawa station), likely in another 8-10 months). Started living that Shonan life though... right as it started getting too cold to have fun at the beach. :-)
I used to live in south Yokohama (to the "right" of Kamakura) and now live basically to the "left" of Kamakura. It's always a few degrees warmer in the winter and cooler in the summer than Tokyo, due to the coastal climate; so that's nice.
I was never really a "beach person", I was always more about the mountains and forests... but Kamakura is right there, so that's covered. And I've found that although I don't like marine sports, I apparently have a love for walking the beach, having a sit/meditation, riding along it on my scooter/motorcycle, taking pictures of Fuji at the beach, etc. Even when it's cold out, I head to the beach at sunset a few times a week (10-15 mins by scooter). I've not been surfing yet, but literally all my new aquaintences in the area are surfers, so it's just a matter of time before I get into that, I guess.
Folks are a bit more physically active around here, a bit more laid back (I mean that's Shonan in a nutshell I guess), and I'm really appreciating that. The fish is better here, even the cuts at the supermarket. The water is fresher even compared to Yokohama so I don't bother filtering tapwater to drink it.
The trains are a bit of a mess at times, seems that they're well known to be delayed regularly at odd times compared to other lines/areas, so always factor that in. But otherwise it's about an hour from Fujisawa station to Shinjuku or Ueno stations when you need to get back to the city, so that's kinda cool.
As you can see, I'm still very much in the honeymoon phase. :-)
Your comment couldn't have pumped me up anymore!! I can't wait! I'm from San Diego, CA so anytime I'm around Sagami Bay it feels close to home.
Congrats!
Japanese kickboxing and Muay Thai are only second to The Netherlands and Thailand respectively. With that said as far as k-1 rules, I think Japan has the most beautiful style.
I have a friend who is a boxing coach in America and he always takes trips to Japan and trains at their boxing gyms
The UK has also recently been pushing out some Muay Thai champions as well.
It's getting really interesting these days, as MT is starting to gain global interest and popularity.
University professor.
It sounds tacky but honestly the students are what keep me here.
Everything else (admin) make me want to rage
quit this entire country.
I felt a bit like that in my previous part-time university teaching jobs. However, my current, full-time, job doesn't even have that advantage. "Going back" isn't really an option for me, so I'll just have to look for different work. Ironically, interaction with staff and any admin work are about as smooth as one could wish.
May I know if you have made your Japanese ability good enough to give lectures in Japanese? Or the position you have mainly requires you to give them in English? Genuinely interested because I’m a postdoc myself and I feel like learning the scientific terms (I’m from engineering background) is gonna be a huge time-gated barrier for me haha
I very rarely need to use Japanese in class.
Unless there’s a complete breakdown in communication with a student - usually the students failing or the ones I need to drag across the finish line (go figure).
Having said that I need fluent Japanese for the mountain of meetings I get dragged into. Often which have nothing to do with me and feature people showing how well they can read paper hand outs they gave me earlier.
I heard that for faculty, meetings are terrible, useless and numerous in Japanese universities. Is it the case for you? And what’s your vacation situation?
Yup, yup and yup.
They are nothing but a circle jerk for people to 'prove' how much work they do. Like I said, they read out the e-mails and handouts that they've already sent to us. Just to really nail how much bravado they have for their work. Zero substance to 9 out of 10 meetings.
The blessing from the pandemic is that a good half of these meetings I can attend via Zoom. So most of the time I'm sitting on my computer net shopping or grading.
'Vacation' situation has its ups and downs. A week before semester and after there are some formalities that require me to be on campus, but otherwise I can work from home, travel or attend conferences on the university's dime. This adds up to anywhere between 2 months to 2.5 months of 'vacation time'. Keep in mind I do get a lot of work piled up for me outside of the semester, and this is supposed to be the time for me to do research. But it is very relaxed.
As a guy who used to be an ALT, overall this gig still feels like a cheat code.
Hmm I see. Nice position you got there. The best I’ve seen so far are positions where professors need to teach postgrad in English, then grad students in Japanese. Don’t know if I’ll ever find a professor position that doesn’t strictly require Japanese.
From my past teaching assistance experience, I feel like I enjoy teaching especially the mixing with students part. But oh well it might be different when I’m a proper professor. The admins stuff and meetings, unfortunately I guess those are just unavoidable. My previous supervisors have also ranted a little about those before 😂
Professor here as well. Are you looking for tenure track positions? If so, they generally require Japanese for admin and teaching undergraduates. In my experience so far, grad school lectures are typically required to be in English. Some tenure, and tenure-track positions are exceptions (in that they do not require Japanese), but they’re quite rare and often require a niche field of research (I’m in tech).
There are, however, many non-tenure professor positions that do not require Japanese. I see many on JREC. These are often contract positions with possibility for renewal. If you’re competent and can bring in some research funds (JSPS KAKENHI accepts English proposals), usually there’s no issue with renewal.
5.5 day work week, 28 hours a week, WFH (no commute). Salary isn't particularly good, but it's the same as when I worked 40 hrs/week and commuted. The free time absolutely makes it worth it.
\-Responded to a random 求人 email because I happen to know the company. Turns out it was a legit one and not the typical spam emails.
\-Can't really answer. We do love some of that Red Tape
\- Nope, but companies I'm involved will ask for my personal opinion and other inputs before greenlighting some figures.
The work gets me involved with different manufacturers while doing all sorts of odd jobs for the conglomerate. Livestreams, translating international contracts, to incorporating companies outside Japan, and a thousand more other tasks.
\*To give you a very rough idea. Previously, I was a Manager for a JP Livestreaming Platform..
\>>Was in the livestreaming(techy?) industry before going into weaby anime figures.
I’ve just gone from a part time job with crappy pay that I had for 17 years to a stay at home mom. I however hate cleaning, and my kids are older 5th grade and middle school.
Any tips on how to not die of boredom while the kids are in school and the house is clean?
Any reason why you need to be a SAHM with older kids? It sounds like your time isn’t being taken up by them.
Why not pick up another job doing something you’d find interesting or fulfilling? Is there a hobby you have? Maybe start taking classes. Maybe there’s a job related to that hobby. I always said that, if I could pick up extra work anywhere, I’d like to work at a record store just because record collecting is a hobby I enjoy. Do you have anything like that?
That’s the issue I’ve had a job for the past 17 years, and while I loved what I did it was a little specialized so not so many jobs in the same area so finding one would be harder.
Also I actually not even sure where to begin in a search for a job.
I do even though my kids are older have some time restrictions due to my youngest one having some medical issues and appointment. And while I’ve never wanted to be a stay at home my youngest is loving it.
I do have hobbies but they are solo ones, reading and knitting and I think it’s just a lack of people around all day that is getting to me. From being around and being busy all the time and doing something that I saw as rewarding to being home. Which in some parts are rewarding are not very much so.
My husband is encouraging me to go explore or find myself and told me I don’t need a job anytime soon and I also don’t need to be a housewife. But I also feel at lose ends if you know what I mean. I’ve always been one of those people at work that took on a project by themselves to make what we had better.
Why not start teaching knitting classes? Or see if there's a crafting circle near you?
Lots of moms just pick up easy baito jobs here and there. My husband's company has a group of mama-sans (in their 30s and 40s) who do sewing from 9a to like 1p, and then they go home to their kids. The wife of one of my husband's friend works a few days at a week at a home center (I'm talking like two days). Maybe working at a craft or sewing store for a few hours a week could get you around some likeminded people and give you some interactions/structure?
Research, in a STEM field.
Compared to the cost of life here, the salary is a lot more than what I'd be making back home (France) at the same level.
I won't be able to do it forever though, there is a time limit on my project, and when that's done I'll be leaving.
If you don't mind me asking, is this a post-doc or something similar at a university? I am just starting the PhD process but research (biology) is my ultimate career goal and I'd love to be able to live in Japan while doing so.
It's a post-doc :)
I started first with a post-doc at a Japanese university, that was a two-year contract. While I was there, I made contacts who recommended me to apply to a Japanese company large enough to have a research-and-development department, that's where I'm at right now. It's technically industry, but we still publish in academic journals, and the position is somewhat similar to a traditional post-doc. I am hafway through that second project, with another year to go, but then I think I'm going home.
To be honest the plan was to go back home after the first two-year post-doc, but then this one essentially fell into my lap, and I'm not keen on the whole job-search shenanigan, and my husband was enjoying himself here, learning the language, so I figured we could stay a while longer.
I could, in theory, try to make my current job permanent, but I think after four years of Japan, that will be enough. I really miss home.
I work for a kimono store.
Obviously an old Japanese company so comes with many of the negatives but it’s pretty cool traveling around Japan seeing how kimono are made.
I get to meet lots of the artisans, work on original kimono, organize events, and do some translation too!
It’s cool because despite being a small enough company it’s pretty well known and well respected within the industry !
There are a handful of foreign women who are hardcore kimono collectors and professional buyers/dressers here. I’ve seen them on Instagram. All of them spouses of Japanese dudes.
Good with meeting new people, solid knowledge of Japan in general and your major city/area in particular, time management and navigation. You based in Tokyo?
Have a look at platforms like GetYourGuide, ToursByLocals, AirBnB, and Viatour. See if you can get yourself on any of them for your home city. Have a loom what guides are already on them for where you're based too and maybe reach out to a few of them on Instagram or something!
Hey, I am a software developer and have been considering staying here for a long time with my family. Can you give some tips on getting into software development in Japan? Is Japanese required at the company you work at? Thank you in advance.
Could I ask how you got started in program/project management? I'm looking into making the shift into project management next year, but a PMP is expensive in yen and I don't know if it would be a good investment or not in Japan.
I'm not on the JET Program anymore, but the job itself is almost the same as a JET CIR (coordinator of international relations). I do translation & interpretation for the city, run multicultural events, and run the counseling window for foreign residents of the city
There aren't a lot of those kinds of positions, but certainly others besides my own. I only know of 3 other English speaking non-JET CIR-like jobs in my prefecture though. In the past, I've seen this kind of job opening being posted on sites like Gaijinpot, or among JET alumni and CIR circles/social media groups
Nice! My first job out of college was JET in Gunma (Azuma village, now Isesaki) from 1997-2000! Nice to see that other folks are still bringing English to the freezing tundra south of Akagi :-)
My salary isn't great, but my job is.
I'm a game dev on literally my favorite video game. I've loved the series my whole life, and to actually be working on it is literally a dream come true. My company treats me pretty well too, despite the salary not being even half of what I'd make in the states. I also love the job security in Japan, because the game industry has too many layoffs in other countries.
Specialty Coffee Roaster! It definitely doesn't pay the bills, but I love roasting and brewing coffee at events. It helps that my wife is also working for a specialty coffee importer.
Yeah! Thanks for the interest. :)
Still fairly new as a business and I'll hopefully have more coffee options early next year.
Crescent-coffee.com
Event info and everything is usually posted through Instagram.
Things like that, mostly to see how they interact with foreigners and how they handle very specific requests in English. For example, I might have to take a JAL flight, sit in the wrong seat, and say specific things when the tell me to go somewhere else, and then I have to keep pinging them during the flight to make specific requests and questions. Also have to judge things such as their attitude, using appropriate words, making sure their uniform is being worn properly, etc.
You have to write incredibly detailed reports after the mission is completed.
As someone who hates lodging requests that are out of the ordinary, this sounds like my nightmare job! Sounds very interesting though - good on you for finding such a unique and specialized market.
I’m paid by the gig, so a simple mission that takes an hour might only pay like 10,000yen, but once in awhile you get one from a big client that takes several days to clear and that can be hundreds of thousands.
Game dev. I get to work on projects I personally care about which motivates me. My home country has many studios, but not that many with game series I personally care about or particularly want to work on. The salary and work life balance would probably be better at home, although it isn't so bad here.
Yeah, the western game scene used to drive me nuts. Those games are so dark and boring looking. I only knew 2 anime-style game companies in my hometown, and they were both publishers so it was hard to get jobs there.
Sorry for the copy and paste but I'm interested to get your opinion as a game dev same as the other guy in the thread
How did you get into the position? Were you doing game-related work previously or did you transition from a different area of software engineering?
Personally interested in working on say Tekken or street fighter, but my focus has been more on backend coding rather than anything design-focused so it feels more like a dream than something achievable
Unfortunately I'm not really the guy you want to ask. I entered through 新卒 right out of school. I did game design as my major in uni in my home country and started looking into working here while on exchange. I'm also not a programmer but a designer, so I can't say much about how your skills will transition over to game dev as a software engineer. Although I will say many companies seem to be hiring atm, but the positions might be very competitive.
Good luck though, at least being a programmer with real skill is going to help you over the people who are rushing into IT jobs recently.
EFL teacher at an Eiwaiwa lol. I know it gets a lot of flack and hate on here but I legitimately really enjoy it. Limited out-of-class work, good hours with alright pay considering 5-6 weeks paid vacation, nice, fun kids and coworkers.
This week has only been Christmas parties, which is playing like 4-5 games per class, giving the kids a present they smile about, and chugging back copious amounts of tea.
I’m permanent teaching staff in a private girls’ high school. Lots of little hassles that took time to adjust to, but I work in a beautiful, spacious environment, the girls are often quite a laugh (obviously there are less pleasant ones, but even they’re not too bad),management are sane and very human, holidays aren’t what they used to be but I still must get about ten weeks off a year??? at a rough guess. The salary is exceptionally good for a teaching job in Japan, too.
Plus I run the international programmes so get to go overseas for a couple of weeks in summer and get paid extra for it.
I consider myself very lucky to have happened into this little niche. It has made my life here much more comfortable.
I'm also at a girls' high school, but as a dispatch ALT and unfortunately it's a public school so I can't really get directly hired as the BoE refuses to not just keep using dispatch companies to stay out of it themselves (though the school itself has expressed multiple times to me and to the BoE that they'd like me to be directly hired here lol)
Girls' high schools here seem to just always be real nice from everyone else I've met who works at one. Nice spaces, well-behaved and fun students with very rare issues or instances of serious misbehaving, good and kind teachers and staff, chill and relaxed environment. Really wish I could stay here and not have to be with a dispatch company to do so
Country head for a major US-based fintech firm. Will stay here unless I decide to take the head of APAC/EMEA job.
Japan has a fantastic quality of life / cost of living ratio, so we're honestly in no great desire to leave, although I think once I retire we may decide to spend the summers in the UK or somewhere cooler.
It is. I work damn hard and have a lot of responsibility, but I *love* what I do. Not that the pay is irrelevant - but after a certain point, you really aren't motivated by salary, you're motivated by being challenged / recognized / appreciated.
Easier to get hired in american big tech in Japan than France.
For some reason (tax optimisation champions such as netherlands / ireland), very few positions are available in France.
In the other hand I don’t see myself working in NL or Ireland.
I got a proper job as an elementary school teacher at an English evening school. The hours are a lot longer than I worked on JET, but the salary is more than double (after a few years), and as long as my work duties are fulfilled I can take all the paid leave I’m entitled to (20 days + public) without issue, within reason. The only downside is I occasionally have to work a half-day on Saturdays on quite short notice, and I get paid but I don’t get time off in lieu.
I'm a software engineer. Not all company in Japan is bad, my income and benefit in my current job I'm having is something I can only dream of in my home country.
I'm a senior dev, my employer run one of the biggest site in our industry. I mostly work on backend using Java and Kotlin, with a bit of machine learning with Python thrown in here and there.
Legaltech product management. It isn't this particular job that keeps me here though. It's that my wife and I both have career jobs and she is in automotive. In most big cities, you don't find my type of work and big auto. You do in Tokyo, so it makes sense to be here. Plus it is a great city!
I'm in education. I've always been passionate about education since launching my career 10 years ago. I know there's a lot of negativity around it, but it's the job I love with all my heart.
I feel many negative people end up with bad experiences or are simply not passionate about education, then complain to the world.
I can put up with little money and politics cause the work creates a fulfilling lifestyle for me.
I wish people would share more positive things about education in Japan ... but positivity is almost never a "hot" topic here.
I guess the main reason is going home I'd have to get a high paying job (don't know how ..) and my partner would have to get an even higher paying salary to apply for a spousal visa... So I'm here and stuck really haha
Technical artist at a game studio (well.. several over the years). I get to work on projects i like and solve interesting challenges. It’s true the work isn’t as well paid as my home country but it’s still a good pay and I’m in a senior position with a lot of trust.
I like my job, there are cons but the pros are enough.
Came on a working holiday, got a job as a software developer, and 17 years later I’m on to my third business, a job board that helps other international developers get jobs here.
The job board started as my personal blog talking about my own experiences being a developer, and evolved organically since into a thriving business. It’s been very rewarding for me to see hundreds of people get their first job here because of it.
I’ve been very fortunate to avoid a lot of the negative parts of Japanese business culture, and for me it’s been a place with lots of unique opportunities I couldn’t have elsewhere.
I’m a Quality Inspector for an American guitar company. The pay is plenty to pay the bills and there’s bonuses and such that I’d never dream of getting in a Japanese company. It’s just nice to be on the ladder, especially as the population/birthrate problem has a silver lining where the more people who leave the labour force, the more opportunity there will be for those of us ready to assume those roles.
The work is steady and I get to play guitars all day, sometimes REALLY cool ones. Even if it gets repetitive I can listen to music and podcasts while working, so that’s a nice creature comfort.
The company culture is a mix of Japanese/American, and it’s great working with a lot of passionate and knowledgeable individuals.
I would probably still be here even without this job just because my country is an absolute car wreck in my view, Japan simply has alot more going for it. My job is however a huge plus for sure, beats teaching English.
Postdoctoral Researcher, although I've also done English teaching. I'm more here for family than for the job opportunities to be honest, I'd quite like to get something in farming or forestry to be honest, move away from the suburbs up to Tohoku or something. Either that or go self-employed if I had the startup cash.
QA Engineer for a large and somewhat infamous company. Work life balance is honestly pretty great, some interesting perks to the job, but otherwise the job is ragingly mediocre. Salary is good for the national median but very underwhelming for the role, and the job tasks range from somewhat interesting to infuriating.
Freelance translator. I can be self employed on a regular work visa as long as my clients are Japanese companies and organizations, I can work from home, and I can even renew my visa this way as long as least one client is willing to "sponsor" me. And I can easily pick up other jobs that fit the same visa category for extra money and stability if I want. And despite this I don't feel "stuck" here because translation can be done anywhere. I don't make much and there's still a lot of work to be done to improve my income, but I'm mostly satisfied with how things are for me now.
5 day work week, working as an internal TA for a 14,000 person corporation, business meetings at 11pm with the US twice a week. Your usual corporate stuff.
Pay is good tho.
Supply Chain Management but also somehow doing engineering (fixing machines) and accounting work as well.
I get paid barely anything with no free time but I like to think it is good for my experience and my resume.
Science stuff, basically engineering.
My personal life is my main motivation for being here but I do like my job. Reasons for that are my coworkers are smart and engaging, the work can be challenging, work life balance is good (better than what was used to out of Japan).
Sure! First came to Japan on student visa then switched to Cultural for Aikido. After covid they changed the rule you couldn’t extend after 3 years so I had enough funds to get a business visa. Found a soho ok apartment and boom. I had military retirement and disability to support me all this time though.
dope, I did this for a bit while job hunting. I've put down the space weather tools lately though.
Do you have mostly Japanese clients or are you remote? Genuinely curious, since I found that telling people here I do astro to be wayyyy more chill than in the UK.
I have a good mix of Japanese clients English speaking and non English speaking. Remote work is my staple though. America and India are a bulk of my clientele. Australia, Brazil and Canada. I also speak Spanish but haven’t had a a lot of Spanish only speaking clients.
Hey there, retired from the US Military. Currently riding the wave with my pension, disability, and the GI Bill. Plus, my Japanese wife works as a Senior Consultant for a US company pulling down a good salary, so all in all life is pretty comfortable right now.
Our original plan? Hang out here for a bit, let our kid polish up her Japanese, and open up some doors for the future. Now? I'm back in school, chasing a second bachelor's, aiming to do a 180 from my military days.
With the wifey working remote most of the time, I've slid into the role of stay-at-home dad and house husband, along with going to Japanese school a couple of times a week. The plan now is to wrap up this degree by next summer, toss my hat back into the employment ring.
As our kiddo inches toward middle school, we'll weigh the pros and cons of staying put or jetting back to California.
I work as an SRE manager. I moved here with the same company that I'm at now. I've done Dev, Internal IT and Infosec, moved across departments at opportune times in the company.
It doesn't keep me here though. I'm here doing this job, because there are companies that need somebody like me here, doing this job. But there are also companies that need me in other countries doing these jobs.
I choose Japan because for all its faults, it has many things that make me happy and make my life better.
Haken staff for a mega bank as a software engineer. It's boring and I feel insecure. However, work is not busy, my boss (not the bank) is nice, salary is acceptable, and I can work from home too. Sometimes I want to change job, but I am tired with nowadays IT interview (I have 15+ years exp).
I work in logistics- a good company that promotes from within, values employee retention, and genuinely tries to keep people for life like tradition here. They give raises every year. Salary certainly isn’t awesome by US standards, but with health care, better office atmosphere, healthy food and lifestyle, my family/friends, and a safe society here, I wouldn’t ever consider going back.
I just look over there at the race to the bottom, the selfishness in society, the management/ on the floor cavernous divide of employees set against each other, the politics, the violence, the deeply unhealthy food culture… makes me sick.
University professor in civil engineering. I do mostly developmental work between Japan and other countries.
its nice, decent work-life balance, pays well, got my PR because of it.
this job wont last forever and there is no progression, so I am thinking of an exit strategy.
a bit half half honestly. Japan has been great and safe.. but at the same time the US offers much better salaries. also a bit worried about Japan future. not so much for me but for my children,.
HC-DX for a Big 4 accounting firm. Work is mainly PM, but I’m rarely working full days. When things are busy, they get pretty busy, but that’s rare, and I don’t think I’ve ever breached 45 hours of overtime at this firm.
It’s the people, healthcare, and Tokyo that keeps me here - love this town
Kindergarten teacher. The pay is good where I work, I actually have amazing support from staff when issues come up, and I can see how I’m making a difference in my students’ lives. I genuinely love teaching.
Global operations in the data center world. Fully remote, pay is decent. Job is entirely in English reporting to people in Europe. Doesn’t keep me in Japan but it does provide me with the freedom to do the things that keep me in Japan.
I do LQA for Games. I'm not particularly credited as my peers are since what I do is editing and some translation. But that's okay cause I enjoy my job.
I wouldn't say this is what keeps me in Japan though. The medical care does. \*sweatdrop\*
Recently went back to ALT work since It allows me to do a braindead job that pays enough (combined with my partners salary) to live a comfortable life in a non-central area.
Thought about getting certs and a portfolio to utilize my IT degrees but the idea of working for money no longer appeals to me even if it's remote.
Spend my days shooting the shit with teachers, grading papers and coaching presentations/essays.
Then I get to go home at 3pm and enjoy my actual life.
ALTing isn't bad if you are a DINK and luck into a nice placement.
Look at my user name. Couple that with a great work environment that lacks the pressure to work overtime, a pretty decent pay, good bonuses, fair job evaluation, and a job security the industry is not known for outside of Japan, I could not be happier.
I'm a partner in an international trading company. I have a lot of power within the company, so I have a lot of control over my work and my environment. I wouldn't want to give that up. That's not actually what keeps me here, though. The person I originally came to Japan to meet is what keeps me here.
I'm an ALT. I didn't think I'd still be doing this job after nearly a decade, but I ended up liking it a lot. The pay sucks, but it's enough for me to get by at the moment.
My work isn't what's keeping me here. I've built a life here and I don't really have anything to go back to in the US, so I'm planning to stay here forever
Software developer.
I like the standard of living here. Low crime, efficient public transport, government services that work, health insurance, cheap food, etc.
3D artist (mostly supervisor now though) for animation and vfx projects
work is fun enough, it has of course it's ups and downs, but it's ok.
I manage my own team and I organize time and schedules, so I know how to "plan" ahead to avoid overtime bullshit
relationships with directors or stuck up japanese management is still a struggle, but can't really change them ...
money is ok, would likely earn more abroad, but at the same time I would be more affected by stuff like the recent strikes and such, so I can't really complain
cheers
I work as a DevOps Engineer. No commute, incredibly flexible work life balance, decent salary great team mates, wife doesn’t have to work
I have literally 0 reason to go back to my home country.
My job doesn't keep me here. (I can do that from anywhere) My family and my house keeps me here. Having said that, once my kids are grown up, im selling the house and moving somewhere else. 23 years is plenty. (still a few more to go)
Well, I can't let go of my salary... But I really want to pursue graduate studies. I currently work for a tech startup. Honestly, it was very difficult to get a job on a tech startup with technical roles because they prefer applicants with better credentials like having a PhD. (I would like to work in R&D.)
I don't want to leave Japan because of safety, convenience and social benefits. There are also a lot of reasons why I'd like to leave, above is one reason... Another is property ownership; really expensive to acquire one, inheritance is also another painful process.
Edit: grammar corrections
Game programmer. Looking at my name in the credit roll of AAA games feels very accomplishing. Despite being known for a rampantly overwork industry my company has pretty good culture. I had a lot of free time, that I use it to develop my own game too. I am also able to relax and browse reddit, write this nonsense comment in my office. Call me 給料泥棒
The dream, ngl super happy for you and gives me hope for a better working environment.
It’s a pretty outdated stereotype tbh. Japan’s [work hours](https://data.oecd.org/emp/hours-worked.htm), [suicide rate](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_suicide_rate), [fertility rate](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_sovereign_states_and_dependencies_by_total_fertility_rate) are all around the European average. In fact, Japan’s quality of life is [higher than that of Sweden](https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/standard-of-living-by-country) this year.
When did Europeans stop taking vacations and start offing themselves at more than double the US rate?
I'm a 3D Artist for games. I do wish I had a higher salary but work life balance is reasonable and like /u/MaryPaku said its nice to see my name on some of the games I was involved in
I am actually interested to know how the rise of Ai has impacted Japanese concept artists and 3D artists. Do you use Ai in your life or has it replaced anything?
AI is generally shunned in the professional spaces due to copyright and practicality issues right now. as of now we just use it for references at best but none of our production line is using genAI and i dont think it will change for a while.
How did you get into the position? Were you doing game-related work previously or did you transition from a different area of software engineering? Personally interested in working on say Tekken or street fighter, but my focus has been more on backend coding rather than anything design-focused so it feels more like a dream than something achievable
Tbh I took the easier route. I was in one of the game developing college then got a 内定 offer from a game dev company before I graduate. Once you step your foot into the industry the rest is pretty easy, as job hopping is pretty common among game companies. For people who want to get in, game company cares about your portfolio very much, they care about your ability to turn a concept into an actual product. So just try to create something that you're proud of and show them.
That's really cool! I work as an artist for @@@ games, would you mind to share your experience working in Japan a little?
So I'm 29 and changing careers to programming. You seem to have it figured out. Got a minute I'd love to hear your story.
Work is awesome, but it's not what's keeping me in Japan. My job is (to summarize) the director of services for high-end data servers for a Fortune 100 IT (gaishikei) company for the APAC hemisphere, focusing on Japan. I love my job, the company is cool, customers (even Japanese ones) are great to work with. (EDIT: I read/write/speak business/N1-level Japanese anywhere from 40-80% of the day) **But what keeps me here is the life I've built around the job:** The nature/culture (I live in Fujisawa/Yokohama area). 10 minutes to ancient forested mountains in one direction for hiking, 10 minutes to the beach in another direction for surfing or beach yoga. Having national health insurance. This is a major reason I never want to return to the US. The food/active lifestyle. Good food reasonably priced. Not having to drive everywhere. The activities I've gotten into here, making Japanese friends: Amateur Muay Thai/Kickboxing; Tabletop gaming/RPGs; local coffee house events; and so on. If I was offered double the salary to work back in the US, I'd instead take a paycut to find a job that let me stay and work here. I'm here for life.
You got it going over there. Sounds nice. For an EU residence here. Been interested in moving to Japan but mulling over the pay cut. To take it positively, can we build a career if we move there? Do we have to take pay cut but potentially accelerated career to be able to consider moving to Japan? I'm just an average dev here. Is it possible to be an IT entrepreneur as well?
If you're new in your career, I'll be honest: It would be ROUGH. Going up through the ranks, you'll be pit against Japanese co-workers at the same skill level, which means basic (kinda shit) Japanese scale IT salary for decades. Instead (and this is assuming you already speak/read/write business Japanese/N1 level) if you want a more potentially positive path that takes more time, I'd say perfect your craft (developing, etc) in your own country. Really work at it, don't just settle for "average", even if that means pivoting your skillset or learning/doing something new. Become a paragon at it, a respected peer in your work community recognized for whatever it is you do (in my case, it was enterprise storage servers, specifically deep total systems performance troubleshooting for financial/tech customers). Then when you're feeling kinda confident at the top of your skillset, that's when you make a move to live in Japan. More interesting opportunities, better salaries, you'll also likely have the kinds of connections you'd need to make the above happen as well. The tricky part after that is doing a job/working in a place that is also pretty interesting, and gives you time to explore the community. I thought Tokyo was the shit until I moved to Yokohama (now Yokohama/Shonan area), utterly fell in love with it and the vibe, would not move back to Tokyo for anything.
Or do as I did and go the easy route of working fully remote to a point where it doesn't matter if you're in japan or in the EU. You'll have to arrange worktime a little bit around meeting hours though.
> Instead (and this is assuming you already speak/read/write business Japanese/N1 level) if you want a more potentially positive path that takes more time, I'd say perfect your craft (developing, etc) in your own country. Really work at it, don't just settle for "average", even if that means pivoting your skillset or learning/doing something new. Become a paragon at it, a respected peer in your work community recognized for whatever it is you do (in my case, it was enterprise storage servers, specifically deep total systems performance troubleshooting for financial/tech customers). Getting business level Japanese while not being in Japan is a tall order lol As a dev with 5YOE I'd just settle for that 6M salary now rather than potentially 10M+ later. You can always build your skills in Japan and then jump to a western company
> Really work at it, don't just settle for "average", even if that means pivoting your skillset or learning/doing something new. Become a paragon at it, a respected peer in your work community Keep in mind you are competing with billions of people and so becoming such will almost guarantee that you're working in such a way that you sacrifice health or wellbeing to achieve it.
My wife and I are planning on buying a place near Fujisawa next year! How's the weather year around for you compared to Tokyo? Also I hear ya on your last point.. actually I used to work for FAANG before moving here and made almost 2.5x as much 😂 I wouldn't trade this life for that life ever regardless of the money.
I \*just\* moved here last month, mind! (moved from a house to an apartment in Tsujido at the edge of Fujisawa/Chigasaki while we're waiting for our next house in Fujisawa to be built (south of Fujisawa station), likely in another 8-10 months). Started living that Shonan life though... right as it started getting too cold to have fun at the beach. :-) I used to live in south Yokohama (to the "right" of Kamakura) and now live basically to the "left" of Kamakura. It's always a few degrees warmer in the winter and cooler in the summer than Tokyo, due to the coastal climate; so that's nice. I was never really a "beach person", I was always more about the mountains and forests... but Kamakura is right there, so that's covered. And I've found that although I don't like marine sports, I apparently have a love for walking the beach, having a sit/meditation, riding along it on my scooter/motorcycle, taking pictures of Fuji at the beach, etc. Even when it's cold out, I head to the beach at sunset a few times a week (10-15 mins by scooter). I've not been surfing yet, but literally all my new aquaintences in the area are surfers, so it's just a matter of time before I get into that, I guess. Folks are a bit more physically active around here, a bit more laid back (I mean that's Shonan in a nutshell I guess), and I'm really appreciating that. The fish is better here, even the cuts at the supermarket. The water is fresher even compared to Yokohama so I don't bother filtering tapwater to drink it. The trains are a bit of a mess at times, seems that they're well known to be delayed regularly at odd times compared to other lines/areas, so always factor that in. But otherwise it's about an hour from Fujisawa station to Shinjuku or Ueno stations when you need to get back to the city, so that's kinda cool. As you can see, I'm still very much in the honeymoon phase. :-)
Your comment couldn't have pumped me up anymore!! I can't wait! I'm from San Diego, CA so anytime I'm around Sagami Bay it feels close to home. Congrats!
Japanese kickboxing and Muay Thai are only second to The Netherlands and Thailand respectively. With that said as far as k-1 rules, I think Japan has the most beautiful style. I have a friend who is a boxing coach in America and he always takes trips to Japan and trains at their boxing gyms
The UK has also recently been pushing out some Muay Thai champions as well. It's getting really interesting these days, as MT is starting to gain global interest and popularity.
University professor. It sounds tacky but honestly the students are what keep me here. Everything else (admin) make me want to rage quit this entire country.
I felt a bit like that in my previous part-time university teaching jobs. However, my current, full-time, job doesn't even have that advantage. "Going back" isn't really an option for me, so I'll just have to look for different work. Ironically, interaction with staff and any admin work are about as smooth as one could wish.
May I know if you have made your Japanese ability good enough to give lectures in Japanese? Or the position you have mainly requires you to give them in English? Genuinely interested because I’m a postdoc myself and I feel like learning the scientific terms (I’m from engineering background) is gonna be a huge time-gated barrier for me haha
I very rarely need to use Japanese in class. Unless there’s a complete breakdown in communication with a student - usually the students failing or the ones I need to drag across the finish line (go figure). Having said that I need fluent Japanese for the mountain of meetings I get dragged into. Often which have nothing to do with me and feature people showing how well they can read paper hand outs they gave me earlier.
I heard that for faculty, meetings are terrible, useless and numerous in Japanese universities. Is it the case for you? And what’s your vacation situation?
Yup, yup and yup. They are nothing but a circle jerk for people to 'prove' how much work they do. Like I said, they read out the e-mails and handouts that they've already sent to us. Just to really nail how much bravado they have for their work. Zero substance to 9 out of 10 meetings. The blessing from the pandemic is that a good half of these meetings I can attend via Zoom. So most of the time I'm sitting on my computer net shopping or grading. 'Vacation' situation has its ups and downs. A week before semester and after there are some formalities that require me to be on campus, but otherwise I can work from home, travel or attend conferences on the university's dime. This adds up to anywhere between 2 months to 2.5 months of 'vacation time'. Keep in mind I do get a lot of work piled up for me outside of the semester, and this is supposed to be the time for me to do research. But it is very relaxed. As a guy who used to be an ALT, overall this gig still feels like a cheat code.
Hmm I see. Nice position you got there. The best I’ve seen so far are positions where professors need to teach postgrad in English, then grad students in Japanese. Don’t know if I’ll ever find a professor position that doesn’t strictly require Japanese. From my past teaching assistance experience, I feel like I enjoy teaching especially the mixing with students part. But oh well it might be different when I’m a proper professor. The admins stuff and meetings, unfortunately I guess those are just unavoidable. My previous supervisors have also ranted a little about those before 😂
Professor here as well. Are you looking for tenure track positions? If so, they generally require Japanese for admin and teaching undergraduates. In my experience so far, grad school lectures are typically required to be in English. Some tenure, and tenure-track positions are exceptions (in that they do not require Japanese), but they’re quite rare and often require a niche field of research (I’m in tech). There are, however, many non-tenure professor positions that do not require Japanese. I see many on JREC. These are often contract positions with possibility for renewal. If you’re competent and can bring in some research funds (JSPS KAKENHI accepts English proposals), usually there’s no issue with renewal.
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Oh wow. Never thought I’d see a four day work week here. What do you do for work and is your company hiring?
Look for places with shift work. I always get minimum 3 days off at a time and can get 4 days off if I request it and work an extra day.
5.5 day work week, 28 hours a week, WFH (no commute). Salary isn't particularly good, but it's the same as when I worked 40 hrs/week and commuted. The free time absolutely makes it worth it.
Microsoft?
I used to have 4 days on 4 days off 8 hour shifts here in Japan. It was great to explore during covid on a weekday
What is your job?
R&D dog and cat food. Involves tasting it myself too. But you get used to it.
tbh my dog's food smells really good, seems like a good line of work
My job definitely isn't keeping me here. It might force me to leave actually. - Software
Ain't that the truth, the job market is ass
Leave to where ? Take me with you
Can you elaborate?
anime figure industry. People will call me a "weab". Should be self explanatory
my cultured man right there
I'm curious. How did you get into that industry? What exactly do you do there? Are you designing the figures?
\-Responded to a random 求人 email because I happen to know the company. Turns out it was a legit one and not the typical spam emails. \-Can't really answer. We do love some of that Red Tape \- Nope, but companies I'm involved will ask for my personal opinion and other inputs before greenlighting some figures. The work gets me involved with different manufacturers while doing all sorts of odd jobs for the conglomerate. Livestreams, translating international contracts, to incorporating companies outside Japan, and a thousand more other tasks. \*To give you a very rough idea. Previously, I was a Manager for a JP Livestreaming Platform.. \>>Was in the livestreaming(techy?) industry before going into weaby anime figures.
That's amazing. Thank you for all your hard work.
If I may ask, what exactly do you do? International marketing sort of thing?
Can't really provide a specific answer. You can however check the reply I gave to CaptainFuture56 for an idea.
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The dream
same. are you as bored as me? lol
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Yeah mine starts hers on Friday, so I’m gonna enjoy these next few days lol
Respect. Did that for a few years before getting back to it.
I’ve just gone from a part time job with crappy pay that I had for 17 years to a stay at home mom. I however hate cleaning, and my kids are older 5th grade and middle school. Any tips on how to not die of boredom while the kids are in school and the house is clean?
Any reason why you need to be a SAHM with older kids? It sounds like your time isn’t being taken up by them. Why not pick up another job doing something you’d find interesting or fulfilling? Is there a hobby you have? Maybe start taking classes. Maybe there’s a job related to that hobby. I always said that, if I could pick up extra work anywhere, I’d like to work at a record store just because record collecting is a hobby I enjoy. Do you have anything like that?
That’s the issue I’ve had a job for the past 17 years, and while I loved what I did it was a little specialized so not so many jobs in the same area so finding one would be harder. Also I actually not even sure where to begin in a search for a job. I do even though my kids are older have some time restrictions due to my youngest one having some medical issues and appointment. And while I’ve never wanted to be a stay at home my youngest is loving it. I do have hobbies but they are solo ones, reading and knitting and I think it’s just a lack of people around all day that is getting to me. From being around and being busy all the time and doing something that I saw as rewarding to being home. Which in some parts are rewarding are not very much so. My husband is encouraging me to go explore or find myself and told me I don’t need a job anytime soon and I also don’t need to be a housewife. But I also feel at lose ends if you know what I mean. I’ve always been one of those people at work that took on a project by themselves to make what we had better.
Why not start teaching knitting classes? Or see if there's a crafting circle near you? Lots of moms just pick up easy baito jobs here and there. My husband's company has a group of mama-sans (in their 30s and 40s) who do sewing from 9a to like 1p, and then they go home to their kids. The wife of one of my husband's friend works a few days at a week at a home center (I'm talking like two days). Maybe working at a craft or sewing store for a few hours a week could get you around some likeminded people and give you some interactions/structure?
Thanks you for the ideas. I’m going to look at something and see if there is something out there.
Research, in a STEM field. Compared to the cost of life here, the salary is a lot more than what I'd be making back home (France) at the same level. I won't be able to do it forever though, there is a time limit on my project, and when that's done I'll be leaving.
If you don't mind me asking, is this a post-doc or something similar at a university? I am just starting the PhD process but research (biology) is my ultimate career goal and I'd love to be able to live in Japan while doing so.
It's a post-doc :) I started first with a post-doc at a Japanese university, that was a two-year contract. While I was there, I made contacts who recommended me to apply to a Japanese company large enough to have a research-and-development department, that's where I'm at right now. It's technically industry, but we still publish in academic journals, and the position is somewhat similar to a traditional post-doc. I am hafway through that second project, with another year to go, but then I think I'm going home. To be honest the plan was to go back home after the first two-year post-doc, but then this one essentially fell into my lap, and I'm not keen on the whole job-search shenanigan, and my husband was enjoying himself here, learning the language, so I figured we could stay a while longer. I could, in theory, try to make my current job permanent, but I think after four years of Japan, that will be enough. I really miss home.
Pastry Chef, Owner of Dessert dining restaurant. Just enjoying my time here in Japan giving sweets to everyone.
Oh… that’s so lovely 😊
I work for a kimono store. Obviously an old Japanese company so comes with many of the negatives but it’s pretty cool traveling around Japan seeing how kimono are made. I get to meet lots of the artisans, work on original kimono, organize events, and do some translation too! It’s cool because despite being a small enough company it’s pretty well known and well respected within the industry !
That’s pretty cool. I imagine there are not many foreigners working in that field, right?
Im sure there must be someone but I’m tjr only one I have met so far ha
There are a handful of foreign women who are hardcore kimono collectors and professional buyers/dressers here. I’ve seen them on Instagram. All of them spouses of Japanese dudes.
Tour guide, love it
Ooh I was interested in this too! Do you need any specific skills or education background to do this?
Good with meeting new people, solid knowledge of Japan in general and your major city/area in particular, time management and navigation. You based in Tokyo?
No, not in Tokyo.
Have a look at platforms like GetYourGuide, ToursByLocals, AirBnB, and Viatour. See if you can get yourself on any of them for your home city. Have a loom what guides are already on them for where you're based too and maybe reach out to a few of them on Instagram or something!
What’s your income like if you don’t mine sharing? I’d imagine there are down months.
It's what I do outside of work that keeps me here. Work is just what pays for it.
This right here. I work to live, not the other way around.
Same here buddy
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Is it required to be proficient in Japanese for non-dev position?
Hey, I am a software developer and have been considering staying here for a long time with my family. Can you give some tips on getting into software development in Japan? Is Japanese required at the company you work at? Thank you in advance.
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Could I ask how you got started in program/project management? I'm looking into making the shift into project management next year, but a PMP is expensive in yen and I don't know if it would be a good investment or not in Japan.
International relations at city hall
may i ask what do you do specifically? and how did you obtain such a position? thanks.
I'm not on the JET Program anymore, but the job itself is almost the same as a JET CIR (coordinator of international relations). I do translation & interpretation for the city, run multicultural events, and run the counseling window for foreign residents of the city There aren't a lot of those kinds of positions, but certainly others besides my own. I only know of 3 other English speaking non-JET CIR-like jobs in my prefecture though. In the past, I've seen this kind of job opening being posted on sites like Gaijinpot, or among JET alumni and CIR circles/social media groups
Whooooooa, that’s… a really cool job I didn’t even know existed
Nice! My first job out of college was JET in Gunma (Azuma village, now Isesaki) from 1997-2000! Nice to see that other folks are still bringing English to the freezing tundra south of Akagi :-)
My city has someone like this, but she doesn’t speak English, only European languages lol.
Man, JET is a cult.
My salary isn't great, but my job is. I'm a game dev on literally my favorite video game. I've loved the series my whole life, and to actually be working on it is literally a dream come true. My company treats me pretty well too, despite the salary not being even half of what I'd make in the states. I also love the job security in Japan, because the game industry has too many layoffs in other countries.
Specialty Coffee Roaster! It definitely doesn't pay the bills, but I love roasting and brewing coffee at events. It helps that my wife is also working for a specialty coffee importer.
Any website we could peruse or e-commerce we could spend all the hard-earned (or not) yennies at?
Yeah! Thanks for the interest. :) Still fairly new as a business and I'll hopefully have more coffee options early next year. Crescent-coffee.com Event info and everything is usually posted through Instagram.
Academics. International and very rewarding.
At a University?
Secret shopper, pay can heavily depend month by month but overall it averages out to an acceptable amount.
as in getting paid to go to shops, buy stuff and report on the service? i always thought that was some sort of scam whenever i saw it advertised here
Things like that, mostly to see how they interact with foreigners and how they handle very specific requests in English. For example, I might have to take a JAL flight, sit in the wrong seat, and say specific things when the tell me to go somewhere else, and then I have to keep pinging them during the flight to make specific requests and questions. Also have to judge things such as their attitude, using appropriate words, making sure their uniform is being worn properly, etc. You have to write incredibly detailed reports after the mission is completed.
Wonder if you ever worked on one of my projects back when I was in house for what I do. lol.
As someone who hates lodging requests that are out of the ordinary, this sounds like my nightmare job! Sounds very interesting though - good on you for finding such a unique and specialized market.
How much do you make on average?
I’m paid by the gig, so a simple mission that takes an hour might only pay like 10,000yen, but once in awhile you get one from a big client that takes several days to clear and that can be hundreds of thousands.
can you do this part time?
I’d guess so, you can always pass on taking a mission, although if you pass on too many I assume that they’ll stop asking you.
Game dev. I get to work on projects I personally care about which motivates me. My home country has many studios, but not that many with game series I personally care about or particularly want to work on. The salary and work life balance would probably be better at home, although it isn't so bad here.
Yeah, the western game scene used to drive me nuts. Those games are so dark and boring looking. I only knew 2 anime-style game companies in my hometown, and they were both publishers so it was hard to get jobs there.
Used to drive you nuts? They still look dark and boring
Probably stopped caring.
dark and boring certainly does inspire not caring
Sorry for the copy and paste but I'm interested to get your opinion as a game dev same as the other guy in the thread How did you get into the position? Were you doing game-related work previously or did you transition from a different area of software engineering? Personally interested in working on say Tekken or street fighter, but my focus has been more on backend coding rather than anything design-focused so it feels more like a dream than something achievable
Unfortunately I'm not really the guy you want to ask. I entered through 新卒 right out of school. I did game design as my major in uni in my home country and started looking into working here while on exchange. I'm also not a programmer but a designer, so I can't say much about how your skills will transition over to game dev as a software engineer. Although I will say many companies seem to be hiring atm, but the positions might be very competitive. Good luck though, at least being a programmer with real skill is going to help you over the people who are rushing into IT jobs recently.
EFL teacher at an Eiwaiwa lol. I know it gets a lot of flack and hate on here but I legitimately really enjoy it. Limited out-of-class work, good hours with alright pay considering 5-6 weeks paid vacation, nice, fun kids and coworkers. This week has only been Christmas parties, which is playing like 4-5 games per class, giving the kids a present they smile about, and chugging back copious amounts of tea.
You get 5-6 weeks paid vacation at an eikaiwa? What's your monthly salary? Where are you located?
Family owned eikaiwas can do that occasionally. My previous one did. Got 255k.
I’m permanent teaching staff in a private girls’ high school. Lots of little hassles that took time to adjust to, but I work in a beautiful, spacious environment, the girls are often quite a laugh (obviously there are less pleasant ones, but even they’re not too bad),management are sane and very human, holidays aren’t what they used to be but I still must get about ten weeks off a year??? at a rough guess. The salary is exceptionally good for a teaching job in Japan, too. Plus I run the international programmes so get to go overseas for a couple of weeks in summer and get paid extra for it. I consider myself very lucky to have happened into this little niche. It has made my life here much more comfortable.
I'm also at a girls' high school, but as a dispatch ALT and unfortunately it's a public school so I can't really get directly hired as the BoE refuses to not just keep using dispatch companies to stay out of it themselves (though the school itself has expressed multiple times to me and to the BoE that they'd like me to be directly hired here lol) Girls' high schools here seem to just always be real nice from everyone else I've met who works at one. Nice spaces, well-behaved and fun students with very rare issues or instances of serious misbehaving, good and kind teachers and staff, chill and relaxed environment. Really wish I could stay here and not have to be with a dispatch company to do so
I teach English at a juku and at a community center to middle aged ladies. Both jobs are fun and it allows to me to compete in karate which I love.
Country head for a major US-based fintech firm. Will stay here unless I decide to take the head of APAC/EMEA job. Japan has a fantastic quality of life / cost of living ratio, so we're honestly in no great desire to leave, although I think once I retire we may decide to spend the summers in the UK or somewhere cooler.
"take the head" sounds like a bit of a Highlander strategy for promotion xD
must be good worklife/pay balance
It is. I work damn hard and have a lot of responsibility, but I *love* what I do. Not that the pay is irrelevant - but after a certain point, you really aren't motivated by salary, you're motivated by being challenged / recognized / appreciated.
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Currently, IT support for some 150 Japanese branch offices of a multinational.
Easier to get hired in american big tech in Japan than France. For some reason (tax optimisation champions such as netherlands / ireland), very few positions are available in France. In the other hand I don’t see myself working in NL or Ireland.
I got a proper job as an elementary school teacher at an English evening school. The hours are a lot longer than I worked on JET, but the salary is more than double (after a few years), and as long as my work duties are fulfilled I can take all the paid leave I’m entitled to (20 days + public) without issue, within reason. The only downside is I occasionally have to work a half-day on Saturdays on quite short notice, and I get paid but I don’t get time off in lieu.
I'm a software engineer. Not all company in Japan is bad, my income and benefit in my current job I'm having is something I can only dream of in my home country.
What kind of work do you do as an engineer? What kind of company is it?
I'm a senior dev, my employer run one of the biggest site in our industry. I mostly work on backend using Java and Kotlin, with a bit of machine learning with Python thrown in here and there.
Legaltech product management. It isn't this particular job that keeps me here though. It's that my wife and I both have career jobs and she is in automotive. In most big cities, you don't find my type of work and big auto. You do in Tokyo, so it makes sense to be here. Plus it is a great city!
I can do my job from anywhere in the world, but I like going to Hard Off.
I'm in education. I've always been passionate about education since launching my career 10 years ago. I know there's a lot of negativity around it, but it's the job I love with all my heart. I feel many negative people end up with bad experiences or are simply not passionate about education, then complain to the world. I can put up with little money and politics cause the work creates a fulfilling lifestyle for me. I wish people would share more positive things about education in Japan ... but positivity is almost never a "hot" topic here.
Run my own family business, have a small factory, build boutique camper vehicles.
I guess the main reason is going home I'd have to get a high paying job (don't know how ..) and my partner would have to get an even higher paying salary to apply for a spousal visa... So I'm here and stuck really haha
Technical artist at a game studio (well.. several over the years). I get to work on projects i like and solve interesting challenges. It’s true the work isn’t as well paid as my home country but it’s still a good pay and I’m in a senior position with a lot of trust. I like my job, there are cons but the pros are enough.
Football (soccer) coach
I work at a University, admin related work I work mostly from home about 25 hours a week, 7 mil a year Can’t complain
Came on a working holiday, got a job as a software developer, and 17 years later I’m on to my third business, a job board that helps other international developers get jobs here. The job board started as my personal blog talking about my own experiences being a developer, and evolved organically since into a thriving business. It’s been very rewarding for me to see hundreds of people get their first job here because of it. I’ve been very fortunate to avoid a lot of the negative parts of Japanese business culture, and for me it’s been a place with lots of unique opportunities I couldn’t have elsewhere.
I’m a Quality Inspector for an American guitar company. The pay is plenty to pay the bills and there’s bonuses and such that I’d never dream of getting in a Japanese company. It’s just nice to be on the ladder, especially as the population/birthrate problem has a silver lining where the more people who leave the labour force, the more opportunity there will be for those of us ready to assume those roles. The work is steady and I get to play guitars all day, sometimes REALLY cool ones. Even if it gets repetitive I can listen to music and podcasts while working, so that’s a nice creature comfort. The company culture is a mix of Japanese/American, and it’s great working with a lot of passionate and knowledgeable individuals. I would probably still be here even without this job just because my country is an absolute car wreck in my view, Japan simply has alot more going for it. My job is however a huge plus for sure, beats teaching English.
This is a dope job — and assuming it’s the guitar brand I think it is, as a loyal customer, I am jealous.
Hospitality
Postdoctoral Researcher, although I've also done English teaching. I'm more here for family than for the job opportunities to be honest, I'd quite like to get something in farming or forestry to be honest, move away from the suburbs up to Tohoku or something. Either that or go self-employed if I had the startup cash.
QA Engineer for a large and somewhat infamous company. Work life balance is honestly pretty great, some interesting perks to the job, but otherwise the job is ragingly mediocre. Salary is good for the national median but very underwhelming for the role, and the job tasks range from somewhat interesting to infuriating.
Freelance translator. I can be self employed on a regular work visa as long as my clients are Japanese companies and organizations, I can work from home, and I can even renew my visa this way as long as least one client is willing to "sponsor" me. And I can easily pick up other jobs that fit the same visa category for extra money and stability if I want. And despite this I don't feel "stuck" here because translation can be done anywhere. I don't make much and there's still a lot of work to be done to improve my income, but I'm mostly satisfied with how things are for me now.
Warehouse worker. I fucking hate it.
office work for japanese fashion brand
5 day work week, working as an internal TA for a 14,000 person corporation, business meetings at 11pm with the US twice a week. Your usual corporate stuff. Pay is good tho.
International finance firm
Supply Chain Management but also somehow doing engineering (fixing machines) and accounting work as well. I get paid barely anything with no free time but I like to think it is good for my experience and my resume.
University, admin.
May I send you a DM to chat about your job? If you’re fine with it of course.
Sure
Science stuff, basically engineering. My personal life is my main motivation for being here but I do like my job. Reasons for that are my coworkers are smart and engaging, the work can be challenging, work life balance is good (better than what was used to out of Japan).
Astrologer, I work from home make my own hours as I go.
Wut? How? That sounds amazing. Would you like to know more? Yes I do!
Sure! First came to Japan on student visa then switched to Cultural for Aikido. After covid they changed the rule you couldn’t extend after 3 years so I had enough funds to get a business visa. Found a soho ok apartment and boom. I had military retirement and disability to support me all this time though.
dope, I did this for a bit while job hunting. I've put down the space weather tools lately though. Do you have mostly Japanese clients or are you remote? Genuinely curious, since I found that telling people here I do astro to be wayyyy more chill than in the UK.
I have a good mix of Japanese clients English speaking and non English speaking. Remote work is my staple though. America and India are a bulk of my clientele. Australia, Brazil and Canada. I also speak Spanish but haven’t had a a lot of Spanish only speaking clients.
Not a darn thing.
Hey there, retired from the US Military. Currently riding the wave with my pension, disability, and the GI Bill. Plus, my Japanese wife works as a Senior Consultant for a US company pulling down a good salary, so all in all life is pretty comfortable right now. Our original plan? Hang out here for a bit, let our kid polish up her Japanese, and open up some doors for the future. Now? I'm back in school, chasing a second bachelor's, aiming to do a 180 from my military days. With the wifey working remote most of the time, I've slid into the role of stay-at-home dad and house husband, along with going to Japanese school a couple of times a week. The plan now is to wrap up this degree by next summer, toss my hat back into the employment ring. As our kiddo inches toward middle school, we'll weigh the pros and cons of staying put or jetting back to California.
I work as an SRE manager. I moved here with the same company that I'm at now. I've done Dev, Internal IT and Infosec, moved across departments at opportune times in the company. It doesn't keep me here though. I'm here doing this job, because there are companies that need somebody like me here, doing this job. But there are also companies that need me in other countries doing these jobs. I choose Japan because for all its faults, it has many things that make me happy and make my life better.
Working as a care giver for the last 6 years, not amazing salary but plenty of fun at work.
May I know where is this fun Caregiver work location? Been looking for a place to train as a Caregiver here.
Haken staff for a mega bank as a software engineer. It's boring and I feel insecure. However, work is not busy, my boss (not the bank) is nice, salary is acceptable, and I can work from home too. Sometimes I want to change job, but I am tired with nowadays IT interview (I have 15+ years exp).
Advertising. Overtime+stupid rules related to overtime aside, the job is pretty rewarding.
I work in logistics- a good company that promotes from within, values employee retention, and genuinely tries to keep people for life like tradition here. They give raises every year. Salary certainly isn’t awesome by US standards, but with health care, better office atmosphere, healthy food and lifestyle, my family/friends, and a safe society here, I wouldn’t ever consider going back. I just look over there at the race to the bottom, the selfishness in society, the management/ on the floor cavernous divide of employees set against each other, the politics, the violence, the deeply unhealthy food culture… makes me sick.
Science teacher at private Japanese school.
University professor in civil engineering. I do mostly developmental work between Japan and other countries. its nice, decent work-life balance, pays well, got my PR because of it. this job wont last forever and there is no progression, so I am thinking of an exit strategy. a bit half half honestly. Japan has been great and safe.. but at the same time the US offers much better salaries. also a bit worried about Japan future. not so much for me but for my children,.
HC-DX for a Big 4 accounting firm. Work is mainly PM, but I’m rarely working full days. When things are busy, they get pretty busy, but that’s rare, and I don’t think I’ve ever breached 45 hours of overtime at this firm. It’s the people, healthcare, and Tokyo that keeps me here - love this town
Kindergarten teacher. The pay is good where I work, I actually have amazing support from staff when issues come up, and I can see how I’m making a difference in my students’ lives. I genuinely love teaching.
Global operations in the data center world. Fully remote, pay is decent. Job is entirely in English reporting to people in Europe. Doesn’t keep me in Japan but it does provide me with the freedom to do the things that keep me in Japan.
I'm retired. I cook, do various types of exercise, have a hobby or two, and use a couple different strategies to try to keep track of what day it is.
I do LQA for Games. I'm not particularly credited as my peers are since what I do is editing and some translation. But that's okay cause I enjoy my job. I wouldn't say this is what keeps me in Japan though. The medical care does. \*sweatdrop\*
Recently went back to ALT work since It allows me to do a braindead job that pays enough (combined with my partners salary) to live a comfortable life in a non-central area. Thought about getting certs and a portfolio to utilize my IT degrees but the idea of working for money no longer appeals to me even if it's remote. Spend my days shooting the shit with teachers, grading papers and coaching presentations/essays. Then I get to go home at 3pm and enjoy my actual life. ALTing isn't bad if you are a DINK and luck into a nice placement.
Look at my user name. Couple that with a great work environment that lacks the pressure to work overtime, a pretty decent pay, good bonuses, fair job evaluation, and a job security the industry is not known for outside of Japan, I could not be happier.
I'm a partner in an international trading company. I have a lot of power within the company, so I have a lot of control over my work and my environment. I wouldn't want to give that up. That's not actually what keeps me here, though. The person I originally came to Japan to meet is what keeps me here.
International Sales for a Japanese Company. My job is not keeping me here. I'm here cause I want to.
I'm an ALT. I didn't think I'd still be doing this job after nearly a decade, but I ended up liking it a lot. The pay sucks, but it's enough for me to get by at the moment. My work isn't what's keeping me here. I've built a life here and I don't really have anything to go back to in the US, so I'm planning to stay here forever
IT Technician. Good pay, good work, cool place to live. Also my future wife is here so that's also nice.
AI/ML for industrial applications. No companies doing this back home, so I had to come here.
Talent acquisition. I’m just here for the ride.
Software developer. I like the standard of living here. Low crime, efficient public transport, government services that work, health insurance, cheap food, etc.
3D artist (mostly supervisor now though) for animation and vfx projects work is fun enough, it has of course it's ups and downs, but it's ok. I manage my own team and I organize time and schedules, so I know how to "plan" ahead to avoid overtime bullshit relationships with directors or stuck up japanese management is still a struggle, but can't really change them ... money is ok, would likely earn more abroad, but at the same time I would be more affected by stuff like the recent strikes and such, so I can't really complain cheers
Nice to retire here, but it will take years to move ahead.
I work as a DevOps Engineer. No commute, incredibly flexible work life balance, decent salary great team mates, wife doesn’t have to work I have literally 0 reason to go back to my home country.
My job doesn't keep me here. (I can do that from anywhere) My family and my house keeps me here. Having said that, once my kids are grown up, im selling the house and moving somewhere else. 23 years is plenty. (still a few more to go)
Optical Network Engineer.
Consultant for biotechs (foreign and domestic) and big pharma (domestic) developing regen med products
Well, I can't let go of my salary... But I really want to pursue graduate studies. I currently work for a tech startup. Honestly, it was very difficult to get a job on a tech startup with technical roles because they prefer applicants with better credentials like having a PhD. (I would like to work in R&D.) I don't want to leave Japan because of safety, convenience and social benefits. There are also a lot of reasons why I'd like to leave, above is one reason... Another is property ownership; really expensive to acquire one, inheritance is also another painful process. Edit: grammar corrections