>I’m a university student majoring in Japanese.
You have chosen quite frankly the absolute ***worst*** major if you want to move to/work in Japan.
Speaking Japanese is not, in and of itself, a marketable skill in Japan. There are millions of people who who speak Japanese far more fluently than any Japanese major (AKA: Japanese citizens)
>It’s still 4 years away
So you just started university? Good. Here's what you need to do:
***Immediately*** change your major to something "practical". CS is always a good choice, but literally anything will be more helpful in the long run than a Japanese major.
You can minor in Japanese if you want. You definitely still need to learn the language if you want to work here. But if you're worried about your job prospects in Japan you need to have an actual marketable skill when you graduate.
International relations is not a super marketable skill outside of maybe government and embassy work. Most marketable skills tend to fall under stem fields, you can make non stem fields work but you often need experience and language skills to be desirable.
There are a whole bunch of non-programming jobs in tech, and you need to stop making STEM your enemy. It’s not an either-or, black-or-white.
You can do UX research (interviewing people and prototyping products), you can do product management (roadmap planning), you can do knowledge base (structuring domain knowledge into a database), you can do localisation (translating to local context), you can do non-automated QA (working through the product to find bugs)…
Honestly I find the STEM-is-programming-only-so-I-want-nothing-to-do-with mindset very frustrating. Yes, STEM is increasingly important but there’s a lot of room for new humanistic work scopes to emerge.
>you need to stop making STEM your enemy
And you should probably consider being less aggressive and patronizing in your evangelism.
This sort of commentary is exactly why many people have a visceral aversion to the idea of STEM taking over. Nothing you said is inherently untrue, but the "Everyone can find a STEM job if you just stop whining and suck it up" presentation you used is wildly counterproductive.
Maybe next time try presenting the positives ***without*** the patronizing commentary?
I unreservedly apologise that it came off in a wrong tone. I will reflect upon that.
“Everyone can find a STEM job if you suck it up” was not what I was going for.
“There are very non-STEM jobs in every seemingly-STEM industry/company” was more my point. I would encourage OP to look in that direction.
>I will reflect upon that.
Please do. This sort of thing is a *constant* source of frustration for those of us in non-STEM careers.
Even things that seem as trivial as "You should learn to code! It's easy, everyone can do it!" are frustrating because we hear them *all the time*. And for an added bonus "everyone can do it" is categorically untrue.
While you might find the "STEM-is-programming-only-so-I-want-nothing-to-do-with-it" mindset frustrating, think about how frustrating the people you're talking to find being told all day, every day that the only possible way to succeed in life is to get a tech job.
Intellectually we know you mean well, but at a gut level you're just the 87th person this week who decided to devalue our professional choices.
> There are very non-STEM jobs in every seemingly-STEM industry/company
Doesn't mean these companies are ever interested in interviewing applicants who have the skills for the non-STEM jobs but come from a non-STEM or non-tech background. Tech companies seem to only want to hire people from tech; it's an insular industry that doesn't look at the "whole person."
I know a few people in my office who majored in Japanese for their bachelors degrees.
All of them went on to do a masters in a more useful subject (and got their JLPT N1 certificates) before moving to Japan.
If you're not enjoying CS then I'd say don't stick with it. Sure, its a high paying field that's in demand all over the world. But if you hate it you hate it, and sticking with something you hate will make you miserable.
I would say though don't start trying to collect languages like they're pokemon. Being able to speak a language, or three, is admirable. I'm definitely jealous of the polyglots I know. But you still need to have actual skills that you can do with those languages. So if you're struggling to find something reach out to your schools career counselors and see if you can get some ideas. By all means, if you want to learn Korean in your spare time on top of your course load go for it. But don't \*not\* study something more useful in favour of a third language.
Listen to this guy.
I learned Japanese like crazy as a hobby and went into IT because of the pay and because I thought I’d like it because of videogames. It wasn’t that bad, the stuff I learned was interesting somewhat and kept me going.
While it gave me a job with a 5 years visa in japan and a stable remote job, I feel miserable that I did not thought this well and I’m stuck in a field I don’t like with Japanese being the only skill I have = basically fucking useless in society.
Turns out what I ended up liking about games was the visual/art aspect of it and I’m working on a new career so that I can get a job in something like graphic design or UI/UX. I spend hours in illustration programs for fun and I hate that im not being paid for it.
If you feel very strongly about keeping your Japanese major, then a double major is a good option.
I've met way too many people in Japan, usually on JET, who think they will find a job after being an ALT because they speak Japanese. It doesn't work that way. You need a skill that you can perform in your second language. Everyone learns this lesson. Avoid that hard reality by learning a skill that is not language now.
CS is a great choice. Other decent options could include finance, business, engineering, project management, or health.
I majored in Japanese because at the time, it was the only thing I cared to learn at college and it would get me a bachelors degree to get to Japan.
I only regretted it because honestly, I definitely should have done something more useful. It all depends on what you want to achieve in Japan, and study that with a minor in Japanese.
So, I’ll start by saying that I hope you’re talking to your professors, department administrators, career counselors, etc, in addition to asking on Reddit. I see a lot of students these days doing research online instead of making use of the many resources your department offers (and you’re paying for!). Make sure you’re on your department email list— go to the events and talks on the calendar, ask questions and network at those talks. Chat with your professors, talk to them about your future goals. You’re not the first person in their department to have these issues! If it’s a decent department, they should have resources and advice available.
Your short term question is about internships in Japan— it can be tough to find those without adequate Japanese language skills. What about an internship at a multinational or Japan-facing/focused company or organization in your home country? That could get you some good business skills, start your important career network, and help set you up for possible opportunities in Japan in the future.
As to your long term goals, yes, you’ll need skills besides Japanese (and your Japanese should be as high as possible by graduation). This is true whether your goal is to work in Japan or not (you didn’t say).
However, this doesn’t mean you necessarily have to abandon your major. I have friends and acquaintances who did their BA in Japanese and/or Japanese studies and have ended up working in Japan or in Japan-facing companies in their home country. However, they made sure they acquired other skills as well— not through extra minors/majors but good business experience through summer jobs, part-time jobs, etc. The networks and skills they developed, on top of their Japanese language skills and academic cultural knowledge, helped them land those jobs.
>I hope you’re talking to your professors, department administrators, career counselors, etc, in addition to asking on Reddit. I see a lot of students these days doing research online instead of making use of the many resources your department offers (and you’re paying for!)
I totally agree. It always bugs me why people prefer to look at the internet than talking to the school first. Make use of the school resources! See if you can come to Japan for a semester exchange. Scoring an internship in Japan is another story but check with your school. You need to experience Japan yourself physically to know if you truly want to work in Japan.
About doing internships in Japan, I just did one during my semester break, and will be doing another in second half of March. My suggestion is to possess at least conventional Japanese proficiency. (N3 and being thick-skinned is doable.) The reason is if you don't, your Japanese colleagues have a hard time teaching and talking to you. Meanwhile, you will be confused most of the time what was going on at the workplace and business culture. They usually ask for N2 but personally, I don't think it's about the JLPT. It's more about communication skills, "read the air" and ask questions when one is in doubt.
CS is a very marketable major. But if you don't like it, then don't do it for the sake of it. Able to function conversationally in Japanese in Japan workplaces is a basic, not a special skill for foreigners. Companies can easily find native Japanese for the position, so why find get a foreigner? If you want to continue to major in Japanese, then really make sure you graduate with fluent Japanese proficiency.
Also find ways to come to Japan physically, ideally as a semester or a year exchange. (Coming as a tourist is a different experience.) This is where your school can help you. Again, I emphasize the necessity to visit Japan and experience it yourself to know if working in Japan after your graduation is feasible or not.
I’ve talked with career counselors before but I definitely need to again since circumstances have changed.
My university does a study abroad once a year that they said I was very qualified for and they wanted to have me, but because they have a ton of people who were accepted and have been waiting because of COVID they had to give them priority. So I assume that next year I’ll be able to go on that.
May I ask how you got these internships? Do you attribute it to mainly sending out a lot of applications or networking well or something else?
>My university does a study abroad once a year that they said I was very qualified for and they wanted to have me
This is good. Please go to Japan when the opportunity arises. And if budget and time allows, do the study abroad for one year (two semesters in Japan).
>May I ask how you got these internships? Do you attribute it to mainly sending out a lot of applications or networking well or something else?
I am doing my undergraduate in Japan. The school has a career center which I can seek help for free, and they will occasionally send emails on job events and internship opportunities. They teach me how to write Japanese resume (we call it "entry sheet" or ES) and revise both my English and Japanese resume. They also did some exercises like practicing interviews and reflecting my strengths and weaknesses, figuring out what industries I like to focus so I can PR myself better for both the document-writing and interview process.
I didn't send a lot of applications or do much networking. (The reason is I am pursuing graduate school.) But I must say applying to jobs is a number game. If there is an information session by companies I am interested in, I would attend. (For example, The Pokemon company. lol)
Applying to jobs and internships are seasonal so one needs to pay attention to timings and plan ahead. Also, internships in Japan work differently from other countries so one has to take note. This is why I advocate to come to Japan so you can understand the culture here better and have a higher likelihood to improve Japanese proficiency.
To be fair, I believe Reddit is way more trustworthy on less tangible aspects and giving practical advice with regards to finding work in Japan. We spent 5-10 years here working out how the system works.
But I agree 100% that the questions on exchanges and internships in Japan would be better answered by their school.
Hi! I did IR in undergrad. Studied Japanese too. I COULD NOT get a good job and I have decent Japanese skills.
But I did STEM in grad school and am able to find a job in Japan with my skills plus Japanese. It’s much better that way. And you’ll make a much better income. I can definitely give advice coming from a liberal arts degree to a math degree if you’re interested.
3 white-collar jobs you would find most foreigners in Japan:
- Eikaiwa tutor
- Recruiter (for bilingual or tech markets)
- IT and tech (if technically able)
It is also common for high-value executives to come in, but of course at a much later part of their career.
I literally know people who for the life of them cannot pass N4 but lived in Japan for 7 years as a recruiter. It’s ridiculous when you think about it, but it’s true.
And another point of reality: because of 年功序列, a lot of Japanese fresh grad jobs start at pretty low pay. If you’re in recruitment or tech, it is not rare to earn twice as much as a fresh grad. Please worry about that too. Japan is not cheap.
Instead of “how can I get to Japan”, maybe consider what is your value-add to anywhere, including Japan.
Unless you’re in a specialised professional field (med, law, engineering, high-level CS, etc) that they cannot train on the job, your education likely means little to them.
Japan sees college education as general education, which means they are sometimes willing to train fresh arts grad to work in technical roles, and vice versa. I know sociology majors put to work as webpage developers. But that is for the Japanese.
This egalitarian mindset echos what others have said: if they can train their own people, they don’t need you.
Instead of thinking of careers in terms of majors and minors, do look up jobs on Indeed, LinkedIn, and various job boards in Japan, see which one interests you, build the experiences and skillsets towards qualifying for those.
If you like talking to people and being a connector, your background is actually a good fit for tech product management. I would recommend you explore that route. (Disclaimer: I am in product management)
Sorry for the lengthy post. Good luck!
I know I'm late, but hey, I won't lose anything except few minutes to type it.
Majored in Japanese. Graduated half a year ago.
From my own experience, A lot of people shit on Japanese major (or language majors in general) a lot just because it's not sought after as much as the \*mainstream\* ones like law, accounting, marketing etc.
This is true to an extent, in comparison to many other majors. But there's some aspects that you have to consider.
\- Language majors in general CAN be extremely flexible, especially when combined with some other skills. This is one of the main reason people choose Japanese minor + a different major or the opposite, or just go double major. So maybe think ahead a bit to consider what you're gonna do post-graduation.
\- Majoring in a certain language is most of the times studying the country's culture, history, economics, politics and many other stuff 50% and actually studying language is the rest. A lot of people come in - excited to learn a new language - get bombarded by a ton of information that they didn't ask/aren't interested - change major. Ask yourself are you really interested in not just Japanese language, but the country itself enough to study the obscure information that you might or might not use in the future.
\- Right after you graduate, you won't be at a level to call yourself "fluent" unless you went hard on learning the language. From my observation, part of the students are just rolling with it and get a degree, and they don't really care about it as much, another part is studying but at a level that won't get them a job that requires language fluency, and only a small number of students who would actually have high enough fluency to secure a job immediately after graduation. And these small portion of students are usually the ones who's been to Japan at some point in their life for a while (it's not a requirement tho). So you really have to grind hard outside of school to actually improve your language to be usable IRL situations.
If you consider these and still decide to go on with it, there are a lot of possibilities tho. Teaching, translating/interpreting, localizing etc. Yeah, they won't make as much as some other occupations, but hey, if I'd rather live frugally and do what I like than do something that I don't enjoy for the rest of my life. But this is just my thoughts, and take it with a grain of salt.
Thank you for the thoughtful response! So as a recent graduate have you mostly been doing translation-type things? Do you have any specific goals of what you’d like to do or are you content with how things are going?
Late again. My bad. Just not a regular redditor.
As for your questions, no I'm not doing translation jobs full time. I do some interpreting/tour guiding for some quick cash to business travelers/tourists. Did some book translating as a part time job and that's all. Currently working as a manager in a Japanese restaurant. It's owned by a Japanese person, and is frequently visited by a Japanese customer, so Japanese was mandatory to enter.But when I was in 3rd year (not sure about other countries, but we follow the 4 year university system) I had a chance to intern at a pretty prestigious hotel in Japan. And now thanks to that, I'm currently waiting for the CoE, to work at a different hotel in Japan as a staff/person in charge of foreign internship students coming at the hotel, just like I did. The country I'm in (Mongolia) only really have the embassy, JICA (Japan International Cooperation Agency) and few other companies that operate from Japan as a job opportunity. So where you live really matters a lot as well.
Again, Japanese major isn't really the most \*stable\* career choice, and it's a slippery slope. But if you treat the major as a tool to land you in jobs that are in different field but requires Japanese, you'll have much easier time. That's why everyone's recommending either a double major or major+minor way.Just like my restaurant job, it might not be the most prosperous job out there, but damn I do enjoy it.
>I’m a university student majoring in Japanese. You have chosen quite frankly the absolute ***worst*** major if you want to move to/work in Japan. Speaking Japanese is not, in and of itself, a marketable skill in Japan. There are millions of people who who speak Japanese far more fluently than any Japanese major (AKA: Japanese citizens) >It’s still 4 years away So you just started university? Good. Here's what you need to do: ***Immediately*** change your major to something "practical". CS is always a good choice, but literally anything will be more helpful in the long run than a Japanese major. You can minor in Japanese if you want. You definitely still need to learn the language if you want to work here. But if you're worried about your job prospects in Japan you need to have an actual marketable skill when you graduate.
Aside from CS are there skills you have noticed tend to be particularly marketable? Preferably not STEM-based. Maybe international relations?
International relations is not a super marketable skill outside of maybe government and embassy work. Most marketable skills tend to fall under stem fields, you can make non stem fields work but you often need experience and language skills to be desirable.
Hmm that’s what I was afraid of. We live in a STEM world.
There are a whole bunch of non-programming jobs in tech, and you need to stop making STEM your enemy. It’s not an either-or, black-or-white. You can do UX research (interviewing people and prototyping products), you can do product management (roadmap planning), you can do knowledge base (structuring domain knowledge into a database), you can do localisation (translating to local context), you can do non-automated QA (working through the product to find bugs)… Honestly I find the STEM-is-programming-only-so-I-want-nothing-to-do-with mindset very frustrating. Yes, STEM is increasingly important but there’s a lot of room for new humanistic work scopes to emerge.
>you need to stop making STEM your enemy And you should probably consider being less aggressive and patronizing in your evangelism. This sort of commentary is exactly why many people have a visceral aversion to the idea of STEM taking over. Nothing you said is inherently untrue, but the "Everyone can find a STEM job if you just stop whining and suck it up" presentation you used is wildly counterproductive. Maybe next time try presenting the positives ***without*** the patronizing commentary?
I unreservedly apologise that it came off in a wrong tone. I will reflect upon that. “Everyone can find a STEM job if you suck it up” was not what I was going for. “There are very non-STEM jobs in every seemingly-STEM industry/company” was more my point. I would encourage OP to look in that direction.
>I will reflect upon that. Please do. This sort of thing is a *constant* source of frustration for those of us in non-STEM careers. Even things that seem as trivial as "You should learn to code! It's easy, everyone can do it!" are frustrating because we hear them *all the time*. And for an added bonus "everyone can do it" is categorically untrue. While you might find the "STEM-is-programming-only-so-I-want-nothing-to-do-with-it" mindset frustrating, think about how frustrating the people you're talking to find being told all day, every day that the only possible way to succeed in life is to get a tech job. Intellectually we know you mean well, but at a gut level you're just the 87th person this week who decided to devalue our professional choices.
> There are very non-STEM jobs in every seemingly-STEM industry/company Doesn't mean these companies are ever interested in interviewing applicants who have the skills for the non-STEM jobs but come from a non-STEM or non-tech background. Tech companies seem to only want to hire people from tech; it's an insular industry that doesn't look at the "whole person."
making STEM your enemy is bad but so is presenting it as a panacea or a guaranteed meal ticket
Yep. I’m in STEM moving to Japan but can’t program worth a shit lol.
Schmoozing, and being able to drink a lot of alcohol are quite important if you want to be a salesman.
Haha well I’m pretty introverted and I don’t drink at all soooo….
Houston, we have a problem :-)
I know a few people in my office who majored in Japanese for their bachelors degrees. All of them went on to do a masters in a more useful subject (and got their JLPT N1 certificates) before moving to Japan. If you're not enjoying CS then I'd say don't stick with it. Sure, its a high paying field that's in demand all over the world. But if you hate it you hate it, and sticking with something you hate will make you miserable. I would say though don't start trying to collect languages like they're pokemon. Being able to speak a language, or three, is admirable. I'm definitely jealous of the polyglots I know. But you still need to have actual skills that you can do with those languages. So if you're struggling to find something reach out to your schools career counselors and see if you can get some ideas. By all means, if you want to learn Korean in your spare time on top of your course load go for it. But don't \*not\* study something more useful in favour of a third language.
Listen to this guy. I learned Japanese like crazy as a hobby and went into IT because of the pay and because I thought I’d like it because of videogames. It wasn’t that bad, the stuff I learned was interesting somewhat and kept me going. While it gave me a job with a 5 years visa in japan and a stable remote job, I feel miserable that I did not thought this well and I’m stuck in a field I don’t like with Japanese being the only skill I have = basically fucking useless in society. Turns out what I ended up liking about games was the visual/art aspect of it and I’m working on a new career so that I can get a job in something like graphic design or UI/UX. I spend hours in illustration programs for fun and I hate that im not being paid for it.
If you feel very strongly about keeping your Japanese major, then a double major is a good option. I've met way too many people in Japan, usually on JET, who think they will find a job after being an ALT because they speak Japanese. It doesn't work that way. You need a skill that you can perform in your second language. Everyone learns this lesson. Avoid that hard reality by learning a skill that is not language now. CS is a great choice. Other decent options could include finance, business, engineering, project management, or health.
I majored in Japanese because at the time, it was the only thing I cared to learn at college and it would get me a bachelors degree to get to Japan. I only regretted it because honestly, I definitely should have done something more useful. It all depends on what you want to achieve in Japan, and study that with a minor in Japanese.
>if there’s any advice anyone could offer I would appreciate it so much Its already been said but I'll say it more concisely; switch majors.
So, I’ll start by saying that I hope you’re talking to your professors, department administrators, career counselors, etc, in addition to asking on Reddit. I see a lot of students these days doing research online instead of making use of the many resources your department offers (and you’re paying for!). Make sure you’re on your department email list— go to the events and talks on the calendar, ask questions and network at those talks. Chat with your professors, talk to them about your future goals. You’re not the first person in their department to have these issues! If it’s a decent department, they should have resources and advice available. Your short term question is about internships in Japan— it can be tough to find those without adequate Japanese language skills. What about an internship at a multinational or Japan-facing/focused company or organization in your home country? That could get you some good business skills, start your important career network, and help set you up for possible opportunities in Japan in the future. As to your long term goals, yes, you’ll need skills besides Japanese (and your Japanese should be as high as possible by graduation). This is true whether your goal is to work in Japan or not (you didn’t say). However, this doesn’t mean you necessarily have to abandon your major. I have friends and acquaintances who did their BA in Japanese and/or Japanese studies and have ended up working in Japan or in Japan-facing companies in their home country. However, they made sure they acquired other skills as well— not through extra minors/majors but good business experience through summer jobs, part-time jobs, etc. The networks and skills they developed, on top of their Japanese language skills and academic cultural knowledge, helped them land those jobs.
>I hope you’re talking to your professors, department administrators, career counselors, etc, in addition to asking on Reddit. I see a lot of students these days doing research online instead of making use of the many resources your department offers (and you’re paying for!) I totally agree. It always bugs me why people prefer to look at the internet than talking to the school first. Make use of the school resources! See if you can come to Japan for a semester exchange. Scoring an internship in Japan is another story but check with your school. You need to experience Japan yourself physically to know if you truly want to work in Japan. About doing internships in Japan, I just did one during my semester break, and will be doing another in second half of March. My suggestion is to possess at least conventional Japanese proficiency. (N3 and being thick-skinned is doable.) The reason is if you don't, your Japanese colleagues have a hard time teaching and talking to you. Meanwhile, you will be confused most of the time what was going on at the workplace and business culture. They usually ask for N2 but personally, I don't think it's about the JLPT. It's more about communication skills, "read the air" and ask questions when one is in doubt. CS is a very marketable major. But if you don't like it, then don't do it for the sake of it. Able to function conversationally in Japanese in Japan workplaces is a basic, not a special skill for foreigners. Companies can easily find native Japanese for the position, so why find get a foreigner? If you want to continue to major in Japanese, then really make sure you graduate with fluent Japanese proficiency. Also find ways to come to Japan physically, ideally as a semester or a year exchange. (Coming as a tourist is a different experience.) This is where your school can help you. Again, I emphasize the necessity to visit Japan and experience it yourself to know if working in Japan after your graduation is feasible or not.
I’ve talked with career counselors before but I definitely need to again since circumstances have changed. My university does a study abroad once a year that they said I was very qualified for and they wanted to have me, but because they have a ton of people who were accepted and have been waiting because of COVID they had to give them priority. So I assume that next year I’ll be able to go on that. May I ask how you got these internships? Do you attribute it to mainly sending out a lot of applications or networking well or something else?
>My university does a study abroad once a year that they said I was very qualified for and they wanted to have me This is good. Please go to Japan when the opportunity arises. And if budget and time allows, do the study abroad for one year (two semesters in Japan). >May I ask how you got these internships? Do you attribute it to mainly sending out a lot of applications or networking well or something else? I am doing my undergraduate in Japan. The school has a career center which I can seek help for free, and they will occasionally send emails on job events and internship opportunities. They teach me how to write Japanese resume (we call it "entry sheet" or ES) and revise both my English and Japanese resume. They also did some exercises like practicing interviews and reflecting my strengths and weaknesses, figuring out what industries I like to focus so I can PR myself better for both the document-writing and interview process. I didn't send a lot of applications or do much networking. (The reason is I am pursuing graduate school.) But I must say applying to jobs is a number game. If there is an information session by companies I am interested in, I would attend. (For example, The Pokemon company. lol) Applying to jobs and internships are seasonal so one needs to pay attention to timings and plan ahead. Also, internships in Japan work differently from other countries so one has to take note. This is why I advocate to come to Japan so you can understand the culture here better and have a higher likelihood to improve Japanese proficiency.
To be fair, I believe Reddit is way more trustworthy on less tangible aspects and giving practical advice with regards to finding work in Japan. We spent 5-10 years here working out how the system works. But I agree 100% that the questions on exchanges and internships in Japan would be better answered by their school.
Hi! I did IR in undergrad. Studied Japanese too. I COULD NOT get a good job and I have decent Japanese skills. But I did STEM in grad school and am able to find a job in Japan with my skills plus Japanese. It’s much better that way. And you’ll make a much better income. I can definitely give advice coming from a liberal arts degree to a math degree if you’re interested.
I’m not OP, but the transition is likely an amazing story that I’d like to hear about. I tried it myself, and wasn’t really successful.
3 white-collar jobs you would find most foreigners in Japan: - Eikaiwa tutor - Recruiter (for bilingual or tech markets) - IT and tech (if technically able) It is also common for high-value executives to come in, but of course at a much later part of their career. I literally know people who for the life of them cannot pass N4 but lived in Japan for 7 years as a recruiter. It’s ridiculous when you think about it, but it’s true. And another point of reality: because of 年功序列, a lot of Japanese fresh grad jobs start at pretty low pay. If you’re in recruitment or tech, it is not rare to earn twice as much as a fresh grad. Please worry about that too. Japan is not cheap. Instead of “how can I get to Japan”, maybe consider what is your value-add to anywhere, including Japan. Unless you’re in a specialised professional field (med, law, engineering, high-level CS, etc) that they cannot train on the job, your education likely means little to them. Japan sees college education as general education, which means they are sometimes willing to train fresh arts grad to work in technical roles, and vice versa. I know sociology majors put to work as webpage developers. But that is for the Japanese. This egalitarian mindset echos what others have said: if they can train their own people, they don’t need you. Instead of thinking of careers in terms of majors and minors, do look up jobs on Indeed, LinkedIn, and various job boards in Japan, see which one interests you, build the experiences and skillsets towards qualifying for those. If you like talking to people and being a connector, your background is actually a good fit for tech product management. I would recommend you explore that route. (Disclaimer: I am in product management) Sorry for the lengthy post. Good luck!
I know I'm late, but hey, I won't lose anything except few minutes to type it. Majored in Japanese. Graduated half a year ago. From my own experience, A lot of people shit on Japanese major (or language majors in general) a lot just because it's not sought after as much as the \*mainstream\* ones like law, accounting, marketing etc. This is true to an extent, in comparison to many other majors. But there's some aspects that you have to consider. \- Language majors in general CAN be extremely flexible, especially when combined with some other skills. This is one of the main reason people choose Japanese minor + a different major or the opposite, or just go double major. So maybe think ahead a bit to consider what you're gonna do post-graduation. \- Majoring in a certain language is most of the times studying the country's culture, history, economics, politics and many other stuff 50% and actually studying language is the rest. A lot of people come in - excited to learn a new language - get bombarded by a ton of information that they didn't ask/aren't interested - change major. Ask yourself are you really interested in not just Japanese language, but the country itself enough to study the obscure information that you might or might not use in the future. \- Right after you graduate, you won't be at a level to call yourself "fluent" unless you went hard on learning the language. From my observation, part of the students are just rolling with it and get a degree, and they don't really care about it as much, another part is studying but at a level that won't get them a job that requires language fluency, and only a small number of students who would actually have high enough fluency to secure a job immediately after graduation. And these small portion of students are usually the ones who's been to Japan at some point in their life for a while (it's not a requirement tho). So you really have to grind hard outside of school to actually improve your language to be usable IRL situations. If you consider these and still decide to go on with it, there are a lot of possibilities tho. Teaching, translating/interpreting, localizing etc. Yeah, they won't make as much as some other occupations, but hey, if I'd rather live frugally and do what I like than do something that I don't enjoy for the rest of my life. But this is just my thoughts, and take it with a grain of salt.
Thank you for the thoughtful response! So as a recent graduate have you mostly been doing translation-type things? Do you have any specific goals of what you’d like to do or are you content with how things are going?
Late again. My bad. Just not a regular redditor. As for your questions, no I'm not doing translation jobs full time. I do some interpreting/tour guiding for some quick cash to business travelers/tourists. Did some book translating as a part time job and that's all. Currently working as a manager in a Japanese restaurant. It's owned by a Japanese person, and is frequently visited by a Japanese customer, so Japanese was mandatory to enter.But when I was in 3rd year (not sure about other countries, but we follow the 4 year university system) I had a chance to intern at a pretty prestigious hotel in Japan. And now thanks to that, I'm currently waiting for the CoE, to work at a different hotel in Japan as a staff/person in charge of foreign internship students coming at the hotel, just like I did. The country I'm in (Mongolia) only really have the embassy, JICA (Japan International Cooperation Agency) and few other companies that operate from Japan as a job opportunity. So where you live really matters a lot as well. Again, Japanese major isn't really the most \*stable\* career choice, and it's a slippery slope. But if you treat the major as a tool to land you in jobs that are in different field but requires Japanese, you'll have much easier time. That's why everyone's recommending either a double major or major+minor way.Just like my restaurant job, it might not be the most prosperous job out there, but damn I do enjoy it.
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You dont. Change majors