Getting a job in Japan

MagicToaster

I'm trying to get a job in Japan, specifically Okinawa.

I've been applying to online ads and calling companies, but so far I'm always told the same story; I don't have a Work Visa. However, noone will give me a Work Visa without first having a job.

Does anyone have any suggestions as to how I can get this done? I'd rather it be a graphic design job, but I don't care if I get there selling snow cones at the beach.

Edit: I speak Japanese and am a U.S. citizen.

Spherick

Maybe try the JET program?

link

MagicToaster

I did.

Pygmalion

Go here, find a job.

www.gaijinpot.com

If you're looking for English Teacher jobs, that's especially useful. But, they have real jobs there too. I don't know if you're going to be able to get a job in Okinawa...there's not much going on there. You could join the Marines.

Kyougu

MagicToaster wrote: »

I'm trying to get a job in Japan, specifically Okinawa.

I've been applying to online ads and calling companies, but so far I'm always told the same story; I don't have a Work Visa. However, noone will give me a Work Visa without first having a job.

Does anyone have any suggestions as to how I can get this done? I'd rather it be a graphic design job, but I don't care if I get there selling snow cones at the beach.

Edit: I speak Japanese and am a U.S. citizen.

The bolded part worries me a bit. Why do you want to work in Japan so badly?

Secondly, what are your qualifications? I imagine it'll be easier to give advice if people know what kind of jobs you could do.

Gabriel_Pitt

If you want to go to Japan and don't care about the quality of the workplace, then private English teaching companies are always in need of foreign monkeys to fill out their roster. You'll have to pay for your own ticket out, and it's completely dependent on the company whether they'll lend a hand in making housing arrangements, but at least they'll get you a work visa.

vonPoonBurGer

Why Okinawa? I don't think you're doing yourself any favours by restricting your search to a small island that, last I heard, had some of the highest unemployment rates in Japan.

Gabriel_Pitt

In terms of weather, it is a pretty tropical place, but it's also going to have one of the highest concentrations of foreigners already there too, which is going to make it a lot harder to convince anyone that they should hire someone from abroad, rather than find someone already there.

onceling

EDIT: Removing material that apparently offended the OP.

Thanatos

Gabriel_Pitt wrote: »

If you want to go to Japan and don't care about the quality of the workplace, then private English teaching companies are always in need of foreign monkeys to fill out their roster. You'll have to pay for your own ticket out, and it's completely dependent on the company whether they'll lend a hand in making housing arrangements, but at least they'll get you a work visa.

This is just plain not true anymore.

NOVA, the largest private English teaching company in the country, recently went out of business, which means the country is flooded with out-of-work English teachers.

Darkewolfe

Okinawa? Join the Marines, son. Be a man. There's a lovely Marine base there.

MagicToaster

Oh yeah, I've seen them, I'd rather not have to enlist to do this.

Edit: also, Onceling, I think you're out of place. This is not a thread as to why I want to go, but rather how I can go.

Gabriel_Pitt

Thanatos wrote: »

Gabriel_Pitt wrote: »

If you want to go to Japan and don't care about the quality of the workplace, then private English teaching companies are always in need of foreign monkeys to fill out their roster. You'll have to pay for your own ticket out, and it's completely dependent on the company whether they'll lend a hand in making housing arrangements, but at least they'll get you a work visa.

This is just plain not true anymore.

Actually it's quite true. Nova's collapse was nearly two years ago, and whoever that left looking for a job either has one, or is gone. There are lots of private English companies out there with positions to fill. Having been keeping tabs on job opportunities over there, and having a couple friends currently over there doing that, I have some idea of what the situation is.

Of course, the reason why there are always private companies looking to hire is because the turnover rate is really high. A lot of them consider their foreign staff to be essentially interchangeable window-dressing (hence my use of 'white monkeys' you're there to entertain and amuse the students) partly because a lot of the foreign staff they get are their to enjoy Japan first, teach second (sometimes even third). Even the good ones tend to have a rather low opinion of the foreign staff in general, and so this occasionally leads foreign teachers to feel under-appreciated and disenfranchised.

spookymuffin

I live in Japan, I'm in the Air Force, and I've met a few people who are out here teaching. The pay isn't that great, the opinion of the staff is kind of low. The Japanese are a very hardworking people, and they take every part of their job seriously, even flipping burgers at McDonald's. If they're going to mop a floor, you better believe that it'll be the cleanest floor you've ever seen.

Here are some sites that might gain you some help or people that can help:

http://www.fuckedgaijin.com/ - Community of foreigners in Japan
http://www.metropolis.co.jp/ - A multi-lingual classified ads site
http://www.gaijinsmash.net/ - A JET teacher's blog (hilarious)
http://www.usajobs.com/ - A federal job listing site (sometimes has postings for Japan)

If you have a teaching degree, I highly highly highly recommend the DoD teaching community for getting over here. They'll pay your salary, plus provide housing and a food allowance, and you get SOFA status (attached to the Department of Defense), so you can drive a car without paying a ridiculous amount for a driving school, which I've heard is a few thousand (and that's just to get a license).

I've been in Japan for almost 6 years, and this place is ridiculously amazing. Every time we head out anywhere, it's always a great experience. I live on the main island, about an hour from Tokyo, so we do most of our adventuring in these parts.

Gafoto

MagicToaster wrote: »

Edit: also, Onceling, I think you're out of place. This is not a thread as to why I want to go, but rather how I can go.

He's not asking for your social security number, just why you so desperately want to go.

You might want to look for jobs in more undesirable places in Japan with the idea that you could travel to Okinawa on a regular basis. Hopefully you're making it quite obvious that you can speak Japanese and English.

Improvolone

spookymuffin wrote: »

I live in Japan, I'm in the Air Force, and I've met a few people who are out here teaching. The pay isn't that great, the opinion of the staff is kind of low. The Japanese are a very hardworking people, and they take every part of their job seriously, even flipping burgers at McDonald's. If they're going to mop a floor, you better believe that it'll be the cleanest floor you've ever seen.

Here are some sites that might gain you some help or people that can help:

http://www.fuckedgaijin.com/ - Community of foreigners in Japan
http://www.metropolis.co.jp/ - A multi-lingual classified ads site
http://www.gaijinsmash.net/ - A JET teacher's blog (hilarious)
http://www.usajobs.com/ - A federal job listing site (sometimes has postings for Japan)

If you have a teaching degree, I highly highly highly recommend the DoD teaching community for getting over here. They'll pay your salary, plus provide housing and a food allowance, and you get SOFA status (attached to the Department of Defense), so you can drive a car without paying a ridiculous amount for a driving school, which I've heard is a few thousand (and that's just to get a license).

I've been in Japan for almost 6 years, and this place is ridiculously amazing. Every time we head out anywhere, it's always a great experience. I live on the main island, about an hour from Tokyo, so we do most of our adventuring in these parts.

Sheer curiosity since I'm not in a position to do it even if it could work out; outside Disney Tokyo, do non-Japanese English speaking actor's have any sort of work available to them?

spookymuffin

I would think you'd need to know Japanese to understand direction in acting, wouldn't you? I really don't know much about the acting world here. I've seen foreigners on Japanese TV, but it's usually on shows where they speak both languages, and have accents in neither.

poshniallo

English schools aren't hiring at the moment. Several big companies are going bust or near it, and everyone is downsizing or just not hiring. I'm an area manager for one of these big companies, and we're not hiring.

Of course, there are some jobs, (before someone gets all pedantic), but it's much much harder than before.

I don't think anyone will give you a job when you're not in Japan without a special reason to do so, and many everyday jobs (barstaff, for example) don't allow the employer to sponsor you for a work visa.

Improvolone

spookymuffin wrote: »

I would think you'd need to know Japanese to understand direction in acting, wouldn't you? I really don't know much about the acting world here. I've seen foreigners on Japanese TV, but it's usually on shows where they speak both languages, and have accents in neither.

Valid point to a kind of stupid question. As for a question that makes sense, there is English spoken on TV?

MagicToaster

Thanks for those links, Spookymuffin!

I'll get on them right away!