Quote:
Originally Posted by promontorium
In Roppongi there are lots of foreigner bartenders, waiters, waitresses, and doormen. In Shibuya, and other places, I've seen a lot of foreigners who own their own businesses. That's one surefire in for you, if you have a business degree, and want to bring employment to Japan (rather than you getting employment from them) the Japanese government loves that. I have yet to see any mention of it on this forum (though this is my first time on this site lol). But the Japanese government has gone to some lengths to try to promote "imported" enterprise. Almost any place that's big and has tourists has gaijin business owners.
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Yes, there are foreign owned businesses in Japan. Optimistically speaking, 1/10 of 1% of businesses in Japan may be foreign owned. And, like with most other businesses, only 1/3 which open their doors will manage to remain in business for more than 3 years.
As for the foreigners working as bartenders, waiters, doormen, etc., you do see them, but it's extremely low end and poor paying work. I see the ads all the time, "pays 1000 yen per hour, must have proper visa". People complain about English teaching, but it pays more than double than this amount, and often more.
Then there are the finance jobs, but pretty much all foreign-owned institutions have frozen their hiring here. After Bear Stearns collapsed, there were quite a few traders and others here looking for work, and most of them were picked up by other banks. But when Lehman collapsed, there were simply too many people without jobs, and banks that were already looking at downsizing. I'm wondering how the "lucky" few Lehman employees who were picked up by Nomura will feel after they've been there for awhile. Nomura is a very Japanese company, with the rigid structure and ridiculous hours that go along with it.