Job availability

[Variand]

Question...

how hard is it for a gaijin to find a job in japan? obviously the prof test helps out and i know its often required for foreigners. I'm just curious to really know about the biastness of companies to non nihonjin.

[Matsumoto_hideto]

haha i talked to my friend that lives in tokyo


she says teh tests dont mean jack over there.... =_=;;

[Variand]

lol well i guess you can tell someones proficiency by just talking to them huh.

ka knee chee wah amigo.

[Datadog]

How would one go about searching for jobs there from here?

[Mukade]

you can start with on-line classifieds like:

http://www.gaijinpot.com
http://www.jobsinjapan.com

As far as getting jobs in japan:
As a white foreigner, you will be pigeonholed as an English teacher. Perhaps if you have a business or computer related degree and some good (near-fluent) Japanese skills, you can get a corporate job. Otherwise, you'll be relegated to teaching English. Fortunately, English teaching jobs are a dime a dozen, and some of them still pay fairly well.

If you are a non-white from somewhere like the U.S. or the U.K., you will find it more challenging, but you will probably find the same sorts of jobs open to you. Realize that to the average Japanese, "English-speaking foreigner" equals "WHITE English-speaking foreigner." If you're not white, then you're not TRUELY an American, Brit, etc. It's not impossible, but expect to meet with scepticism and/or outright prejudice. I don't know how many times I've heard the story of an Asian/Hispanic/African-American introducing themselves to a Japanese as an American and having the Japanese respond with a raised eyebrow saying "But...you don't LOOK American..."

If you are a non-white from a non-English speaking country, then you should expect to be forced into very low-level jobs: construction, meat packing, selling jewelry on the street, etc. The Japanese perception of non-whites from places other than the U.S., U.K., Australia, etc., is unfortunately very low. Expect to be discriminated against. Most of Japan's current social woes and rise in crime rates are being pinned on this group by the government and the media.

Last but not least, there are often translation/interpretation jobs open to anyone with good Japanese skills. Of course, Japanese-English is the most common, but you can find work for just about any other combination of Japanese-Foreign language. Unfortunately, this is a tough field to break into. It's one of those jobs where every opening requires experience, and so you're left asking "so where do I GET this experience if no one will ever hire me?!?" I've known some translators who got into the business translating some odd things: Buddhist websites, coffee table books on pottery, etc. Personally, I managed to get some experience translating "adult" manga. >ahem<

[Datadog]

Hey! I speak english! And I'm white! I'm just not an American...

I do have experience teaching French to kindgarteners, but even that I'm not very good at.

[Variand]

lol, crap, i cant speak english or japanese very well at all.... im screwed

[Mukade]

Variand wrote:
lol, crap, i cant speak english or japanese very well at all.... im screwed

Well then, you could always speak with a funny accent and get a job at the Sweden pavilion at Tokyo Disneyland...

[Variand]

haha, i'll have to keep that in mind lol.

[Akutabai_Gamma]

I wouldn't mind being an english teacher, i don't particuliarly LIKE kids *mind you this is coming from a >16< year old* but i'll get over it, anyway whats the average pay for an english teacher in Japan for both elementary school and highschool teachers?

[Cherie061403]

Mukade wrote:
you can start with on-line classifieds like:

http://www.gaijinpot.com
http://www.jobsinjapan.com

As far as getting jobs in japan:
As a white foreigner, you will be pigeonholed as an English teacher. Perhaps if you have a business or computer related degree and some good (near-fluent) Japanese skills, you can get a corporate job. Otherwise, you'll be relegated to teaching English. Fortunately, English teaching jobs are a dime a dozen, and some of them still pay fairly well.

If you are a non-white from somewhere like the U.S. or the U.K., you will find it more challenging, but you will probably find the same sorts of jobs open to you. Realize that to the average Japanese, "English-speaking foreigner" equals "WHITE English-speaking foreigner." If you're not white, then you're not TRUELY an American, Brit, etc. It's not impossible, but expect to meet with scepticism and/or outright prejudice. I don't know how many times I've heard the story of an Asian/Hispanic/African-American introducing themselves to a Japanese as an American and having the Japanese respond with a raised eyebrow saying "But...you don't LOOK American..."

If you are a non-white from a non-English speaking country, then you should expect to be forced into very low-level jobs: construction, meat packing, selling jewelry on the street, etc. The Japanese perception of non-whites from places other than the U.S., U.K., Australia, etc., is unfortunately very low. Expect to be discriminated against. Most of Japan's current social woes and rise in crime rates are being pinned on this group by the government and the media.

Last but not least, there are often translation/interpretation jobs open to anyone with good Japanese skills. Of course, Japanese-English is the most common, but you can find work for just about any other combination of Japanese-Foreign language. Unfortunately, this is a tough field to break into. It's one of those jobs where every opening requires experience, and so you're left asking "so where do I GET this experience if no one will ever hire me?!?" I've known some translators who got into the business translating some odd things: Buddhist websites, coffee table books on pottery, etc. Personally, I managed to get some experience translating "adult" manga. >ahem<

Awww... well I'm an African American female, so what would I be considered if not American?

And I hear that the Japanese do not look too brightly upon African Americans which is so unfortunate because I'm very interested in the Culture and yeah I'm also an Osaku, so I just have all kinds of strikes against me don't I? Geeeeze!

[Variand]

Don't worry Cherie, we still luv ya

[Cherie061403]

.. Awww stop....

hehe JK!

[natemb]

Akutabai_Gamma,

I don't know what's the average pay, but I'm an ALT (Assistant Language Teacher) in Kyoto, and I make 250,000 yen a month (a little less than $2500). In Japan this is considered a quite good salary for someone just out of college, but if you're comparing it to salaries in your home country, remember that Japan is expensive (especially the cities). I teach in public elementary and junior high schools. To get this job you need a 4 year college degree (doesn't matter what it is) and you need to be a native English speaker. It is possible to get this job with no teaching experience and no Japanese language skills, but of course those help.

The 2 ways I know of to become an ALT if you're not already living in Japan are through the JET program (a Japanese government program) and through private recruiting companies (I got my job through a company called "Interac").

Aside from teaching in public schools as an ALT, there are also many other English teaching jobs in private conversation schools like NOVA, but I don't know how the pay compares.

Here are the JET and Interac websites:
http://www.jetprogramme.org
http://www.interac.co.jp/recruit

[jay_spears]

hey, I read that you have to have some kind of degree to work as a teacher in Japan? is there any other jobs for white, 18 year old americans in Japan? O-yasumi nasai! (I hope thats right? Im trying to teach myself Japanese out of a text book... w/ out a teacher... not easy. at all.)