IT Work in Tokyo
Monday, 29 November 2004
Have you ever thought of working in Japan?
If you believe the posts and discouragements coming out of key ‘Gaijin’* websites, there’s not a scrap of work left and it’s getting harder by the day.
* Gaijin - General name in Japanese given to foreigners. Strictly speaking it’s a little rude, being a contraction of the full translated term ‘Outside Country Person’, which could be translated ‘Outsider’ so the polite types say, so you won’t hear the word on television or from little old ladies.
While the boom times of huge salaries for foreign workers finished scaling back perhaps 4-5 years ago, this could be and should be, taken in context.
If you’ve been in Japan for 10 years and you’re still bummed you can’t get your choice of 3-4 jobs paying US$200,000+, then the situation for IT Employment and Contracting in Japan is downright depressing. These types tend to blame everyone from the Japanese government, to George Bush & Osama Bin Laden, and especially the throng of Indian Nationals with Master in IT of all flavours and disciplines, that flooded in about 2002.
If however you have a bit of IT experience, fancy yourself ‘pretty good at languages’, have a degree AND some IT vendor Certification, things are starting to look really promising here in Tokyo at least, and it might be worth reading on, for my take on the situation here, a year or so on from my arrival in the land of the rising sun.
Oh and if you are in Japan and are NOT in IT, by far the most common Job you’ll get will be teaching English. Try telling an English teacher you’re not happy with the income you’re on in IT and you’re likely to get a mouthful of abuse, if not a mouthful of fist!
I’m no expert, either in IT or in the IT market in Japan, but I’m keenly interested and involved in it, I try to stay informed and am in contact with an ever increasing group of IT Engineers and Project Managers, via my position in a global Finance company, and an IT Outsourcing Company, based in Tokyo.
Tokyo is a big, busy place. As of October 1, 2003 the population of Tokyo was estimated to be 12.369 million, or about 10% of Japan's total population. This makes it a central hub of Asia and many of the Worlds largest companies have offices here. These form the core places of work for Foreign IT Professionals, although that’s not to say you can’t find interesting, well paid and skill increasing work in Japanese companies too. It’s just these are more likely to require a good level of spoken Japanese, often pay less and in general, the work ethic requires you to be a certain type of person, or so I’m told.
Where to start
Australians can visit Japan for up to 3 months on an ‘Automatic’ tourist visa (You just fill out a card at the airport), if you’d like to check things out, and with the new (ish) Airline ‘Air Nuigini’ flying return to Narita Airport for less the Au$1000 Rtn (Ex Bris), this isn’t such a bad idea. What’s more, you can now apply for a Work Permit from within the country, which less than two years ago could not be done. (Grabbing a quick return flight to Seoul was popular I’m told!)
Be prepared to get excited and really want to come back, but also keep in mind that unless you speak Japanese, applying in Japan might require you to be a resourceful person who has no problem finding help and information! (And reeeeally long cues at the Shinagawa Passport Office!)
You’ll also need that job offer as part of the process for getting a visa, and it’s a whole lot more than just the letter - the employer has to provide a whole host of financial and business information, especially if they are not a Japanese company.
It might just be easier to organize a Visa from your home country/city. Although the requirements are strict, the approval process seems to be getting easier. Japan’s aging population means the government is facing serious problems with the tax base, and like it or not (the majority in government used to ‘not’!), they’re going to need to increase the taxation coming in, and generally ex-pat’s incomes are at the higher end of the scale.
Visa issues are something you don’t just want to take my (or anyone else’s) word for. Best to look Japan's official information. For VISA INFORMATION, start here:
http://www.mofa.go.jp/j_info/visit/visa/index.html
As for how much it can cost - I can give you my experience. This isn’t a good example, as I reimbursed my company for money they paid a lawyer to organize for them, and boy it was expensive - especially at the time when I knew very little about what it would be like working in Japan or how long I would be working there. (I don’t know how common this method is either, with or without the reimbursing!)
It was approximately Au$700 to apply, with another Au$900 due if (when) the Visa was approved. It ended up being less necessary to use such a lawyer and it is likely not, if you meet all Japan’s requirements for the visa you are applying for.
If you have all the relevant documentation (which, as mentioned, can include detailed financial information of the company sponsoring you), and wait in the queues (and for a lot of snail mail), it should only cost you about 4,000 JPY (about Au$50).
As for my process - we had our reasons, all right!
Whether they’ll give you a 1 or a 3 Year Visa straight up seems to vary. I got a 1 year at first and had no problems extending this to 3 years before the end of the first year. I know two people who were recently only given one year visas their third time around though.
What kind of work is available?
Well, all kinds of IT work of course, ranging from simple Help Desk positions, Desk Side Support, Network Admins, Windows/Unix Server Admins and support Engineers of all types, (Lets call these ‘Support’ Positions) to all the different flavours of Programming Positions, from Windows to Unix, from C++ to Perl, Application to Web based Applications, QA’s to Team Leads (Developers).
Project Management in each of these Support and Developers' roles of course are better paid, and Project or other ‘Management’ roles are the same.
Where to stay
Next, if you’ve gained the Visa approval from back in your home country, try to start finding somewhere to stay when you get to Japan.
If you have friends, anyone you know in Japan, see if they will put you up for a few weeks. If you have made some headway looking for accommodation from outside of Japan you might be able to get away with staying less time than that (or again, if you speak some Japanese).
If you haven’t looked into staying in Japan for longer than a holiday, you won't know, but there’s this wonderful thing called ‘Key Money’, as well as the enormous commission a Real Estate agent will charge to find you a place. It is common for both of these payments to be a month's rent (or more!). Then there’s probably 2 month's deposit (the only thing you’ll get back) and the first month's rent ‘pro-rata’ - so you’re looking at a small fortune ‘lump sum’ to get into your own place.
On top of that, a good percentage will want a ‘Hoshounin’, a Japanese national, of good standing (job, ability to pay) who will literally be financially liable for the place for damage done or rent unpaid etc. - this is usually the nail in the coffin for most people just starting out in Japan, unless they’re being subsidised by their employer.
The alternatives are guest houses, other ‘Gaijin’ houses and dormitory style accommodation.
Many of these advertise ‘No Key money’, which is fine, but the rents (relative to the location) usually include the same payment, just on a monthly basis.
If you do know anyone in Japan, but can’t stay with them, try getting them to send you the latest couple of editions of ‘Tokyo Notice Board’ and ‘Metropolis’ magazines. These both have a lot of accommodation and other information in them.
Metropolis have a website (It’s notoriously slow to access though - from Broadband, let alone dial-up!):
http://metropolis.japantoday.com/default.asp
This place advertises in both of these publications and seems reasonable and short term:
http://www.sakura-house.com/
For immediate, easy to find and affordable short term accommodation, you could join YHA in your home Country, and visit:
http://www.tokyo-yh.jp/eng/e_top.html
Where do I start looking for work?
Well, we’ve all heard it’s not what you know it’s who you know, but don’t read hopelessness into that.
What it simply means is it’s people that hire people, and expanding the base of people you know, letting them know what you’re looking for and mixing with people who have been where you want to be is the key. If you can get yourself in a position, where you know of someone who might be able to help - this is where you do whatever it takes to get in front of that person and tell your story.
In the early stages this means meeting people, who know people, who might know people who might be able to help get you in front of people who can help you get work.(!)
All the way along the line though, do yourself a favour and ‘tell your story’ in terms of the other person’s interests and benefit. What can you do for others? is an ethical and effective way for you to find out who and what others can do for you. Develop a ‘can do’ attitude of assistance.
And don’t be afraid of clearly stating what it is you want, what you’re looking for e.g. “I’m hoping to meet someone who can get me in front of Mr….”
There’s job Websites out there, however like those in Australia they’re largely full of repeated or generic job ads placed by Recruiting Agents, where you’re going to have to be something special for them to look at your skills and in the country, if you’re to get an interview, unless of course you’re a leading authority in a new technology, fluent in Japanese already coupled with real world skills, or an IT Security Expert with more experience that the job description and a proven Open Source guru to boot.
That said, try these websites for a start:
http://www.careercross.com
http://www.jobsinjapan.com
http://www.gaijinpot.com
(Stay out of the forums…they’re largely rubbish and they’ll just make you depressed!)
OK, how much will I get paid then?
Well, how long is a piece of string?
No, it’s not that bad, but it does change, and is (apparently) going down.
First of all, you’re paid monthly here - no big deal for those used to Outsourcing. To keep things in perspective, English teachers earn anywhere from 100,000 yen to 300,000+ for experienced and qualified English (as a second language) teachers. (or at least a Degree in something)
Also, compared to Australia where you have your set salary, possibly based on an hourly rate, and then any extra hours ‘Overtime’ are paid at a higher rate, in Japan, if you get paid for overtime, the hourly rates appear to be much less than your standard rate.
An engineer might get paid 4000 to 5000 yen an hour if employed in a very technical role casually, however lower level roles casual or overtime are more than likely going to be around 1500 to 2000 yen per hour. This isn’t much and unlike Australia, it would be difficult to live on a casual job here without someone supporting your living expenses that is! (Lets leave the ‘Japanese Girlfriend’ discussion for later shall we - believe me, it happens a lot!)
So as a very rough guide:
Help Desk (Entry Level) - 250,000 JPY/mth
Help Desk (Toward team lead) - 300-400,000 JPY/mth
‘SE’s’ and Network/Server support or skilled Desktop support work:
Entry Level - 300,000+ JPY/mth
Senior Level - 400-600,000+ JPY/mth
High Level Engineers, especially ITSec, Managers, PM’s etc. - around 1mill. JPY/mth
(Please note: Some salaries are monthly much less than above but 1 to 4 times a year there are bonuses which bring the income up to these levels.)
If you speak Japanese; you’re in the higher levels.
If you don’t and don’t know anyone; think lower.
Contacts & resources - basic country information
Other sites all over the net cover this well, and this one gives a little more than usual too:
http://www.fodors.com/miniguides/mgresults.cfm?destination=tokyo@156&cur_section=tra&pg=3
Similar ‘must see’ resource ‘all about’ Japan:
http://gojapan.about.com/
http://www.japan-guide.com
You might also want to check my company's website for employment positions.
Note: Beware of sites, or links from sites asking for money to provide information or for Job posting etc. Often these are not well visited or maintained and are expensive for the (possible?) benefits received. Get a Japan based friend or pen pal - cheaper, more reliable and more valuable.
Jason Ball
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Excellent InfoThank you very much Jason, this is pretty helpful. Could you also provide some hints about food and accommodation, weather etc. Is it difficult to adapt to the life style there? Coolgen, 12/01/2004 04:27:44 AM
response to food, lifestyle question etcCoolgen wrote: > Could you also provide some hints about food and > accommodation, weather etc. Is it difficult to adapt to > the life style there? After having worked for 2 large companies in Japan over a 5 year period, I think what Jason has written is pretty close to the mark. I thought I'd offer some of my experience and comment. About food & accomodation, weather, lifestyle.. I think all those things (except for weather) are linked to your job & salary to some extent. If you are working like a dog - you may not have much of a lifestyle. Kinda sounds like a joke - but it can be very real & I've experienced it. When you are earning a relatively high salary in an engineering job, you will work very hard in Japan - much harder than in Australia, and in that sense, Jason is right - "a certain type of person" will 'work' well, fit in and succeed in Japan. Attitude and understanding is very important in the workplace. Food is excellent in Japan - better quality than most other countries and service level is the best in the world - leaves Australia for dead. Accomodation.. linked to what you can afford - if you're salary is good - you can live in a nice place, close to work otherwise you'll likely be living further out and consequently have a longer commute. Weather is highly variable - June period there is lots of rain - Winter is very cold - you'll need a thick long jacket in Feb, Summer is hot and very humid. A lot of people (including the Japanese) hate the Summer. The Japanese lifestyle is unique to Japan - you have to live there to experience it - Japan is a wonderful and special place, but it can also an isolating place if you don't know anyone and can't speak Japanese well. Alot of people go to work in Japan and forget they are "in Japan", i.e. you really do need to speak Japanese to get somewhere, since most people do not speak English very well, a fact most humourous exhibited on some Japanese variety TV programs. Good luck. Regards Michael. Michael, 12/08/2004 07:13:49 AM
More infoGood on you Michael, more of the same I started with. It's good to read 'normal' advice about Japan, or maybe it's Australian advice(?)... like I said in the article, sites like Gaijinpot can be all sour grapes. (Some jewels in there perhaps, but I could never stick around to find them.) Summer - hot as, and humid beyond belief sometimes. At least in Darwin you have the wet season. Here the 'wet' comes from you! 'Mushi atsui, desu yo' - Hot and humid, I can tell you. I'm a 'mostly' vegetarian, like meat - just don't think it's all that good for you, so I must say eating can be difficult, but only on the run (read - all the time). If I had the time to shop and cook at home (and not be eating at 11pm), I'd be eating well. I don't, so I eat fish out, I try but fail to reduce carb's daily and I'm not to fussy with meat based soups. Don't ask me about coffee and Alcohol - the only way I combat this is to take AFMs and CFM's! (Alcohol & Coffee free months) Food - 2 comments: 1. Lunches - a dream; sen yen (1000 yen or Au$13-14) will buy you a huge variety of dishes from no end of different lunch venues. Live for lunches out, limit dinners out. 2. R-A-M-E-N ! - Noodles, in a soup. Forget the real explanation, try it, and try a dozen different versions. The abortion that is instant noodles, and the money hungry b_stard who invented them, prevent me from getting across the true gastonomical joy, of Ramen... The lifestyle? More later... Jason, 01/13/2005 08:42:09 AM
Prepare for possible stress working in some companiesSo far we've heard some of the interesting & somewhat rosy side of working in Japan. Today I heard of some bad news about a family member, I think I'll spare the details, however it made me want to share an important issue about Japan that is not often talked about. That is - work-related stress and its impact upon society. Make no bones about it - living and working in Japan is quite stressful - "quite" can be rubbery - it might be as trivial as not being understood by your local dry cleaner, or as serious as facing product or client-related pressures at work fanned by a demanding boss, after you've spent about an hour in a "crush train" (overcrowded one-liners like the Odakyu-sen - can be stressful in itself). Though these may not be an issue for some people - it depends on your ability to deal with Japanese life. I just read an article on Yahoo News (Japan) - in 2003, there were more than 32,000 suicides reported in Japan. Most of these are thought to be resulting from depression relating to life & work in Japan. There's your warning sign right there. I suppose if you are planning to go teaching English & be friendly with chicks - then you may never have a serious issue with stress in Japan. However if you are a serious career IT person reaching the higher levels (salary/responsibility) be aware you probably will be worked hard in Japan and accumulate some stress along the way. Learn to recognise it & deal with it. Sorry - don't mean to be a downer here - but thought it might be useful to offer some additional comments based upon my experience. Regards Michael, 01/28/2005 07:23:00 AM
Stress, pressure & lonelinessI want people to hear some good stuff about Japan, there is a lot of Internet based information on offer which focuses on the stuff that's not good. My article is true to my positive experience, and I'm sure any of my friends here from different countries and of different ages, would feel similar. However it is fast paced here, it is stressful when all you want to do is be able to walk to where you want to go without working real hard not to walk into somebody. Or you're OK with the fact it's bloody Monday again but standing up in a train, and laboriously changing trains just to get to the place you'll be spending the next 10-12 hours at, only to be faced with a similar train journey home, quietly bubbles anxiety within you. (except the air you breathe on the train home stinks of alcohol + tobacco). I've also just started a new PM position; the pressure is monumental and the hours long. For the first time I really do now understand, what people mean when they say 'and when I finished work for the day there was more work to do than when I started'. I'm lucky to both have a reasonably large number of friends I've gathered over the last 20 months or so here, and to genuinely like people and getting out and meeting them. Even so I find myself lonely and crying out for a change of pace at least once a month and after an extended break from work, say 3-4 days I find myself really having to work hard to get back into the right frame of mind to perform at work and justify the salary that keeps me here in this exciting, sometimes scary and often overwhelming place. Now is now though, right? This isn't my lot for the rest of my life. Jason, 01/29/2005 06:25:20 AM
ChangesHi All, Just about to finish working, outsourced at the global finance company mentioned above. Amazingly both my main Unix Security, audit driven projects came together at the last minute and were accepted for validation by audit! Everyone was surprised and happy, especially myself. I finish up to become second in charge back at my outsourcing company. I'll also be Business development Manager - so contact me if you want to come to Japan: work@zerosandones.jp Thanks, Jason Jason, 08/07/2005 12:13:04 AM
Salaries improving, definitely boomingHi everyone, Another quick note: "Salaries are going up for lower end positions, Japanese language requirement is becoming more lenient at the higher end and the number of positions have increased significantly in the last 5-6 months" Visit: ZAO Website Or the following for Jobs listings: Job Listing - Direct Hire and Contracted Thanks very much and all the best, Jason work@zerosandones.jp Jason, 03/30/2006 03:44:34 AM
Another job siteAlso take a look at: DotJapan for IT and English teaching jobs in Japan. Mike, 05/11/2006 03:16:34 AM
InformationHi body, I`m Cristian from Mexico; actually I`m studing here in Japan at Kanazawa Institute of techonology; I don`t speak japanese at all but I would like to get a job in Tokyo; and do yo recomend in my case. I`m a computer system engineer and I speak English fluently and Spanish too. Well if you have any advise just let me know and thank you for this information is very interesting!!!!. Cristian, 05/29/2007 02:43:24 AM
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