Maybe it’s that time of year, or perhaps the worsening financial situation overseas, but recently I have been getting a lot of emails from foreign spouses (typically men) whose Japanese partner wants to move back to Japan. The reasons for moving are many, but several frequent ones are for the kids to get to know their Japanese grandparents, and to look after the spouse’s aging parents.

As I have mentioned in previous columns, it is hard to resist a Japanese spouse who is totally focused on going back to Japan. But the downside is that the foreign partner must quit a perfectly good and often high-paying job, then land in Japan with few language skills and the realization that finding an equivalent job here may be tough to do. Most people are quite surprised to find that although their technology, business management, or financial skills were highly rated at home, their lack of Japanese and awareness of the market means that they can’t integrate into most companies’ operations in Japan and thus their skills are severely devalued.

How devalued? Well, anywhere in the world, appropriate knowledge and effective communication are the two main factors that will cause you to receive a salary four-to-five times higher than newbies. So not knowing the market and how culturally things are packaged and delegated, as well as not being able to communicate your vision and needs to others, effectively reduces your value by 4 to 5 times (my personal opinion). In other words, take your $200,000 a year job, and strip out effective communication and local market awareness – you might be worth $40,000 a year in Japan. It’s a very sobering thought.

So it is only natural that local firms are reluctant to take on even experienced foreign managers and technical people. The exception to this is where your knowledge is so specialized, or your organizational skills so strong, that a Japanese or local foreign firm is willing to take a leap in faith and hire you for their vision of what you will become – versus your current worth.

Selling this kind of vision can only be done at the CEO or board level, because a hire of this sort will result in the company incurring much higher costs once they provide you with the additional staff needed just to get the job done. This sort of preferential treatment is usually reserved for CEOs turning around broken companies, and intra-company transfers within multinationals, rather than the rest of us.

Therefore, if you’re used to a well paid, intellectually challenging job, and you want to find something similar here, there are some very specific behaviors that you need to engage in.

1. Make sure that you have at least 12 months’ living expenses saved up before you come. In my experience, it takes around this long to find an opportunity and convince the people “gating” that job to take you and your significant financial costs on board. Make this a non-negotiable point with your Japanese spouse, so that they can stay focused on making the transition smooth and less stressful as you get turned down in your initial job applications.

2. Realize that recruiters will probably not be able to help you, because they are trying to find round pegs for round holes – whereas your background and ambitions are outside most HR managers’ expectations.

3. Instead, identify specific foreign and/or Japanese companies who should be able to employ someone like you, and go after them in the same way you would when trying to close a sale or tie-up back home. I have a friend who was a management consultant overseas and after arriving in Japan, he narrowed his search down to just three potential employers. He went at those companies with dedication, getting to know the managers in the teams of interest, and finding out what kind of clients they had. He also got to know some of the clients well enough that he could talk to them about their challenges and problems. By spending some months doing this, he came to be trusted by both parties and was able to create an opportunity for himself and get hired. This wasn’t cheap, financing his own efforts – but it can work.

4. During your search period, cram down on your Japanese skills. I’ve mentioned this plenty elsewhere, just don’t be lazy – hit those books and start speaking broken Japanese with those around you as soon as you can.

5. Be prepared to cut bait and return home if things don’t work out after a year. I see international families that land in Japan outside the expat safety bubble, cutting all ties back in the home country. Instead, try to reach agreement with both your Japanese spouse AND your current overseas employer that you’ll give it one year, and if things don’t work out, then you can come back and pick up where you left off. Not doing this may lead to a career breakdown that could be bad for both your mental health and your marriage.

Latest 15 of 42 Total Comments Show All

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  USARonin at 12:52 PM JST - 24th July

  Gyudon, I particularly agree with you when it comes to Japan.

  The question I'd like these Natterin' Nabobs of Negativism answer is what was so awful about their own nations that they had to become 'disgruntled expats' in someone else's.

  They are not 'people of the world'. They are unhappy people because of where they came from.

  USAR

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  Youdontknow at 12:58 PM JST - 24th July

  Nine years in Japan, with a wife and kid, Japanese, and I am so sick to death of the ESL field! I can't get a decent job just because I am a gaijin AND I live in the sticks to boot. I am applying for jobs in the USA, Canada and UK, but so far, nothing. Why? Now over 40 and wasted nine years of my working life (NOT my life in Japan, just my career), teaching English to people who are lazy, put too much thought into what you're saying, and simply do not and never will - get it! I have perhaps, if I'm fortunate, one last chance at changing my career here or anywhere, otherwise I'm doomed to the ESL field forever. With that thought in mind, I see how easily it would be to just give up on life.

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  Richard_III at 12:58 PM JST - 24th July

  I'm of the opinion that Japan is probably one of the worst developed countries you can move to if you're seeking skilled employment. There's just too many barriers and I sometimes get the impression that Japanese employers aren't really that bothered about your skills or potential, rather which university you went to and, as someone mentioned above, whether you can suck up to the boss sufficiently.

  Having worked in a Japanese company I would never like to go back there - there was just so much unnecessary stuff and nonsense to deal with, a highly claustrophic and limiting environment basically because everyone refused to breath unless the boss had told them it was alright.

  Actually, when I first came here it was as a researcher on one of the government sponsored programmes. I was accompanied by 7 or 8 foreigners all of us then working at universities, and each of us had respectable PhD degrees in the natural or mathematical sciences (basically the kind of people that most countries are seeking to attract and retain). Of this number, I'm the only one still here. Many of us wanted to stay, and some even took on lesser non-research related jobs in order to stay. However, at the end of the day, most had no option but to return as they basically became jumped up english teachers, even though many of them had better publication records than their Japanese peers. A total waste of talent and opportunity for Japan really. But the emphasis was on kissing the sensei's arse and not rocking the boat.

  Careerwise, Japan is good for maybe a couple of years experience, if you do want to stay you need to develop your own business or consultancy, otherwise you'll end up living like the natives - in a miserable 2 x 2 craphole above a conbeni, next to a flyover.

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  GW at 01:03 PM JST - 24th July

  gyudon

  He man I said my life was great dont that count :)

  You sight examples & I know some as well but really most foreigners wont be as successful in Jpn as they cud be elsewhere & as you know its tough, though rewarding to create a good life here.

  But I cud only recommend a new person(s) giving it a real shot if there was some really strong overridding reason to try Japan. I doubt I wud try again if I snapped my fingers turning myself back into a late 20s guy :)

  Heck way way too many Japanese have what is at best ok living circumstances. Until the people start telling Jpn Inc to get stuffed it isnt going to change

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  taiko666 at 01:08 PM JST - 24th July

  nigelboy- a scan of any IT jobs on offer in Japan will reveal that fluent Japanese is normally required, except for some non-Japanese companies. Outside Japan, non-fluent English speakers are often found in English speaking companies (well, in British companies at least.) My experience is in IT, and I've known dozens of overseas employess with barely comprehensible English. Their English was enough to allow them to the job... the companies made allowances for their poor English, and hey presto, their English rapidly improved and the companies gained valuable employees.

  But I've never heard of a non-fluent (or near fluent) Japanese speaker ever getting a job in a Japanese company, except where Japanese is absolutely not required at all (like in my company.) Ok, I admit the chances of this happening are not zero, but they're as near to zero as makes no difference. To get a job in a Japanese company in Japan you need to get fluent, or get very, very lucky.

  Yes, Terrie succeeded, and well done to him, but his story points out, succeeding is exceedingly difficult.

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  taiko666 at 01:22 PM JST - 24th July

  Gyudon - there's a difference between hating a country and being realistic about its merits. I love living in Japan, and I'm extremely fortunate to be here inspite of my initially poor Japanese ability. This is the whole point of this thread. In Britain, having poor English skills is no barrier to gaining employment. In Japan, things are very very different. I'd hazard a guess that most of the people who are crying 'whiner' have never been in the position of NEEDING to get a job in Japan while having poor Japanese skills, esp people whose Japanese spouses wish to return to Japan. I'd also hazard a guess that, ironically, when many of said Japanese spouses intially moved to country X, they were able to find employment with limited language skills.

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  TJrandom at 01:29 PM JST - 24th July

  Back in the days of dreaming of one day owning a car (before the dream became home ownership), I was hired into an IT firm with only limited Japanese, and proceeded to learn the language quickly as I programmed away. So way back then, Japanese companies were willing to take a chance if the right attitude was present. I believe it is no different today.

  Over the years I have contended that Japanese is not a sufficient qualification for a job here, but a prerequisite. I have hired many who had as little as I originally had – but only if they expressed an overriding interest in progressing, and could demonstrate that they were actively working on the language. Obviously they needed to show the same interest in the core discipline of their job.

  With both, I believe that a person can be as successful here as elsewhere – and maybe more so given that firms will recognize the difficulty in replacing a person with both language and domain knowledge.

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  nigelboy at 01:35 PM JST - 24th July

  taiko666- scan of any IT jobs on offer in U.K. will reveal that fluent English is normally required, except for some non-U.K. companies. Outside U.K., non-fluent Japanese speakers are often found in Japanese speaking companies (well, in Japanese companies at least.) My experience is in IT, and I've known dozens of overseas employess with barely comprehensible Japanese. Their Japanese was enough to allow them to the job... the companies made allowances for their poor Japanese, and hey presto, their Japanese rapidly improved and the companies gained valuable employees.

  But I've never heard of a non-fluent (or near fluent) English speaker ever getting a job in a U.K. company, except where English is absolutely not required at all (like in my company.) Ok, I admit the chances of this happening are not zero, but they're as near to zero as makes no difference. To get a job in a U.K. company in U.K. you need to get fluent, or get very, very lucky.

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  Zen_Builder at 01:49 PM JST - 24th July

  Having worked in 3 countries in IT, I have seen very few companies that didn't require a fair level of the local language.　

  I am with tjrandom some time back you could get by without poorer local language knowledge. Today you are expected to speak the local lingo and I think this is true for all countries.

  20~30yrs ago IT was still a fairly specialized field, today they chuck out programers & engineers like anything.

  No longer work in IT now, self-employed in a new line of business. I had a look at the job-market last year and decided that it is　no longer a field I wanted to be in.

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  sfg2001 at 12:31 AM JST - 25th July

  It also depends what kind of job you want. If you want to repair motorcycles, than you must be able to talk to the customers. So you must have very high language abilities, or otherwise it doesn´t make any sense.

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  motytrah at 03:55 AM JST - 25th July

  I work with Fujitsu IT folks every day. In the US they are all American workers (they bought a US IT consulting company to get the workforce), in Japan, it's all Japanese. They just have no desire diversify the work forces. It's all very segregated.

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  dontpanic at 12:55 AM JST - 29th July

  Taiko666, what you say just isnt true, the skills gaps in the UK are profound, especially in IT. I know many that hire foreign staff with poor English skills. My own company even pays for English lessons.

  That said, it's not impossible in Japan either. I spent 7 years working in Japan, on a spuse visa, and initially had very poor Japanese. I suppose you just have to find a business that really needs the skills you have to offer.

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  ppayne at 05:38 PM JST - 27th August

  Um, I came to Japan and now I have a business that does $6 million or more in sales. I'd say this should be taken with a grain of salt.

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  imgold at 09:38 PM JST - 27th August

  "I have a business that does $6 million or more in sales."

  "Or more" ? You mean you don't know ?

  "I'd say this should be taken with a grain of salt" !

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  franknbeans at 09:43 PM JST - 27th August

  Holy Crap! I just noticed that.

  I think the million part is the typo.

  $6.00 in sales. I find that believable.

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