non English teaching jobs in Japan

[madigan82]

I'm 25, have a BS in ISDS (MIS) and am a network engineer. My Japanese sucks (no reason to lie) but wondering about jobs that don't require a high level of skill at speaking/reading Japanese in the IT field. Anybody have some experience with this?

[sashimidimsum7250]

I'm 25, have a BS in ISDS (MIS) and am a network engineer. My Japanese sucks (no reason to lie) but wondering about jobs that don't require a high level of skill at speaking/reading Japanese in the IT field. Anybody have some experience with this?

I was looking into it, and came across this website :

http://www.careercross.com/en/

You can do a search for jobs there by putting your level of both Japanese & English. I've seen jobs listed that require no Japanese at all.

Good luck.

[madigan82]

Awesome find. I saw a few sites around that show what level of Japanese they neede but all said Business, Fluent, or Native which I'm a far cry from. I'm not looking to move for another year so that will give me some time to work work on my Japanese.

[sashimidimsum7250]

They have a mailing list which I keep myself on. Everyday I get a listing of new jobs posted.

Most IT jobs seem to be finance related...at least those available to foreigners.

[Taurus]

Does anybody know if there are many jobs for English-language writers in Japan? Copywriting, for instance, or script-writing/localisation work? Reporting positions for western media outlets? Only that's how I make my living at the moment, and my girlfriend would like to go back to Japan. I don't think many Japanese-language publications will be falling over themselves to secure the services of my rudimentary (about JLPT 4) Japanese comprehension.

[gerald_ford]

I'm 25, have a BS in ISDS (MIS) and am a network engineer. My Japanese sucks (no reason to lie) but wondering about jobs that don't require a high level of skill at speaking/reading Japanese in the IT field. Anybody have some experience with this?

I'd say odds are against it. I am about 30 and have worked in IT for about 8 years, and likewise have only basic Japanese experience. I work in a large company that does have offices in Japan, and it usually boils down to needing conversational Japanese at the very least, but you really have to be sharp with keigo, kenjogo and such since you'll be working in a more hierarchical work environment.

Having done a job interview there (and failed miserably) the important thing to know is that you have to explain what you do in your current role, flently in Japanese. If you can't do that (I couldn't), you won't get past question #1.

[sashimidimsum7250]

Hmm, interesting. But I'm wondering how your got an interview in the first place when one of the requirements was to be able to speak Japanese fluently? Usually such things are asked /known via resume or preliminary questioning, not during the interview. It's like being asked "can you program?" when you are applying for a programming job.

Seems a bit strange to me.

[gerald_ford]

Transfer request from within the company I work for. As to the language issue, there was some debate among groups in Japan and here about what was required. That was not clarified until the interview itself.

But that's not pertinent to the discussion here.

[sashimidimsum7250]

Transfer request from within the company I work for. As to the language issue, there was some debate among groups in Japan and here about what was required. That was not clarified until the interview itself.

But that's not pertinent to the discussion here.

You are correct sir. I was just curious.

[gerald_ford]

No worries. Just didn't want to sidetrack the conversation too much.