What's your area really?
Hi there!
Interesting topic for today.
I have met several people currently working in a field completely unrelated to their studied profession at university. It seems a part of this is due to the job market for foreigners in Japan. Just the other day, I answered another blog on this topic at Checking out other Japanese blogs. Here's the content:
Checking out other Japanese blogs
September 6, 2006 at 3:37 am
It would have never dawned on me to check other blogs of expatriates living in Japan until now…duh. I found so many of these blogs most of them dedicated to the intricate details of their life in Tokyo or teaching English and drinking/partying during their off times. While this is all great information for its entertainment value, it doesn’t serve the purpose I am after. I couldn’t find any blogs that were dedicated to finding work or describing the job search or work life of a foreigner in Japan……at least not in significant detail.
I am finding more and more people saying that the best and most popular route to Japan is by teaching English. Had I just graduated from college, that may sound appealing, but I have been out in the work field for the past 8 years. Sadly enough the jobs that I had then and now have not brought passion to my life. The jobs are a mode of one thing that is endearing to me….a source of which to live. But to it I am a slave even though I may deny this verbally. Every piece of my life is dependent on this job. For such an independent person as I am, this rips at the fiber of my being.
Comment by Celina Shaw
September 14, 2006
Hello,
I saw your post and thought I would comment. I have been here for 4 years and think I can maybe help in this area.
During my time here I have religiously stayed away from the teaching area, though I had a couple of close calls, I must admit. Before coming to Japan I had a steady career and because of leaving said career could not foresee accepting a job as an English teacher, especially as it would not make me happy. I’m not saying being an English teacher is bad or that you can’t have fun doing it. But there are some people who shouldn’t be whether it be for lack of qualification in that field or if they accepted the job under less than favorable circumstances.
Looking at the job market here for foreigners who don’t have Japanese language ability, it can be difficult not to become a teacher as there are so many of this type of job available. Jobs utilizing only English and of a professional nature are definitely hard to come across. I struggled with this myself.
I’m not sure the type of person you are or what type of job would suit you but research before coming is key. Non-teaching jobs that are not large companies mostly do not do the interviews from afar. So I saved up to be sufficient for 3 to 4 months while I did my job search in Japan. This allowed me to be a bit pickier. At the time I came I could speak intermediate Japanese (so I thought) but refused to. It was the culture shock. My search was incredibly unfruitful at times as I had the strong requirement of really liking the company I was to work for. And I knew I could not be the 9am-11pm dedicated Japanese worker. I, too, am independant and couldn’t stand the thought of being a slave to the job. Life is for living after all, right? After my 3 month search I found a company offering to hire me freelance. Unfortunately, it required me to translate from Japanese to English, which was ok as long as they weren’t watching me. I learnt very quickly that the English speaking jobs are quite restricted. The reasoning for this seems to be for immigration purposes. A visa will not be granted if immigration deems you to be doing a job a Japanese person could do.
So my conclusion is this:Foreigners who are not Japanese speakers in Japan can usually be found in the area of teaching, sales, headhunting and IT (this might require Japanese language ablility). It’s possible if you have qualifications as a writer to be hired as such for an English newspaper, magazine or other such online English publication. In regards to where to look, I had more success offline than on. Be prepared and confident in your abilities. Best of luck.
If you have any questions, I would be happy to answer. And when you do make the jump to Japan, please have a look at my company’s web site. http://fudocom.com This is a site for searching for apartment, house and guest house rental listings in Japan
So what do you think? Do you think the job/career market is limited for foreigners in Japan? Especially to those who don't speak Japanese?
I am actually a psychology major. But I'm far from the padded chair, notebook and glasses type of career here in Japan. I would say part of my reasoning is I've changed what I want to do. And the second reason...well there doesn't seem to be a market here for it. I've also met an English professor with a business marketing background. So what area did you study? Is it related to what you are doing now?
posted by Fudocom - Celina @ 6:17 PM
1 Comments:
I think this is true also for Japanese. I studied mainly art in uni but now I am just an OL at a regular company.
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