Same with the end of "Black Rain".

Japan is a damn expensive place to bring an American sized production crew to for several months at a time.

"Lost in Translation" was filmed totally in Japan, but with a very small crew.

Completing my degree in the next year...
 

I'm glad I stumbled upon this thread this morning. I've flipped through the meat of it and what MMM says rings true.

My Question is this. While finding a job teaching English to support a new life in Japan would likely be the easiest way to go about it... What about finding a job relative to my degree earned? Next to Business I think that my degree in IT and Computer Programming Could still be a skill used. I mean, I may not be fluent in Japanese but no matter that language barrier, programming languages are the same worldwide.

While I'd be willing to work as an English teacher to support myself, how realistic is it to find a job pertaining to my degree while I'm in Japan?

Thanks in advance to any replies :)

Hello:) I am in the IT field myself, I had no luck, but others on the forum suggested that IT work are everywhere, so I will go by what other suggested and say that yes you do have a shot at it

One thing though, I think, you do need to know Japanese, or fluent enough to communicate, lets not look at the job requirement (most posting will say how much Japanese is needed, and so far, everything IT I've seen need you to be fluent), but to look at the job itself, as a programmer or software engineer, you need to be able to communicate with others to learn of the requirement, defects, expectation and such, so I would strongly recommend beefing up your Japanese, especially in that technical world as you probably know that we have a complete different culture in the technical language in English, and its likely that they also have the same in Japanese

Another thought.
 

While I've taken four years of Japanese... that was back in highschool and I can barely read more than hiragana and katakana and a handful of useful kanji.

Do any of these English Teaching companies make it easy to find courses in Japanese that I could take? While getting to Japan is my goal for now, Once I get there I want to become as fluent as I can. And that will require courses in the language as well as culture and history.

I think you should be good enough to meet what they need then, my comment was only towards beginner who has no Japanese background at all, but what you've got should be good enough, so I would just start looking for an IT job if I were you, and practice on the job and learn from there

Some might, but for the larger companies it isn't really in their best interest for you to become fluent in Japanese, as then you might be able to look for a better job. Opportunities are there, though.

I can see what you're saying. But finding myself with a larger company should give me room to grow inside that company. I would think a smaller company would be more concerned with ways to keep me from leaving.

There is no room to grow inside the company. At the larger companies the glass ceiling is pretty darn low. Foreigners are teachers only and the sheer volume of applicants means they can keep you on a pretty short leash.

I probably wouldn't take a job teaching at a company when I could do the same going with JET or some other organization. The idea of me finding a job for a real company would be for me to work on software development and improve my marketable skills, aside from Japanese fluency.

One of the drawbacks in planning my trip to Japan means I have to put my professional future on hold while I'm away. However, this is a measure of how much I want to go and learn Japanese. Who wouldn't want to do both? :)

Is 4 years College batchlor degree?
So far all my schools have been privat school, and University of Teesside is next stop. Will this count even if it is private?

Public or private, as long as your school or university is nationally accredited it will be okay.

Some online colleges are not recognized as accredited by Japan, even if they are accredited in other countries. At the moment, University of Phoenix is the most well known school which is not acceptable to Japan. It's kind of a shame, because I was considering a masters degree program with them, I'm glad I didn't waste my money (even online universities are not cheap).

Where can I find information on which colleges are "acceptable" and which aren't. I'd hate to apply for a job, where I finished getting my degree through a university online, since I am an adult and have to actually work, and then it turns out it doesn't even count by their standards.

What if the school is a regular university, as in traditional, but, had an online degree program, and was enrolled in that? I guess what I'm asking, is that what if the school isn't known for its online program...it just happens to have one.

I have no idea about online universities. They confuse me greatly.

Do you mean taking online courses at say Virginia State? I don't see why that would matter because your degree with say "blahblahblah @ Virginia State University". I doubt it'll mention how you took the classes, whether online or on campus.

Yep, that's pretty much what I mean. I'm attending, in the non-traditional sense, Ashford University. It's a liberal arts university, but, it's in Iowa, and as you can see, I live in Virginia. It'd be way too expensive and such to attend it in the traditional sense, so I'm finishing up my Bachelor's through one of their online programs.

Thanks for answering my post.
Anyway, is there some list of what school that is a "school of shame & school of fame" as SSJup81 ask: "Where can I find information on which colleges are "acceptable" and which aren't."

I will get bachelor at "University of Teesside" and it would be really boring if this school is on the "shame wall". Hehe.

It would be ironic, eh? I'll be done with my degree early next year. I went to school years ago, just didn't finish it. I had a lot of credits, so I only had like a year left to go through Ashford. I started this past October.

I would hate for the school not counting only because I went through their online program as opposed to going on campus.

An online program should count just as a "regular" degree when it's a right school, shouldn't it? I mean does the degree should "bachelor in blabla" and not "bachelor in blabla (online edition)". But if you're worried, why not just call the school and ask them?

I don't think I could muster the discipline to study several years from home :)

You got it right, I asked of the same question myself before as my master degree is from an online institute, the answer is that as long as the institute is an renowned and recognized school, online or not won't make much of a difference.

Some school offer both, the online was only an option to student who got lazy to travel, so if you are really worry, find one that also have a normal campus

Laziness isn't always the issue. For adults, they have to work or have 9 to 5 jobs. It's just easier to do it online since you can't physically attend the classes, especially if they're during the day, and with night courses, it's usually like once a week where you have to sit like four or five hours or so to make up for the classes you can't attend as a traditional student. For a person like me, that's disastrous. For me, I can't take in that much information at one time and actually retain it.

I know its not, and I totally agree with you, my statement meant more like "for watever reason"...

Oh, and to clarify, when I said "Find one that has an actual campus", it means to find schol that doesn't ONLY do online, but you can still go ahead with the online classes

I gotcha. Glad the school I'm at is both...it's just out of state for me. ^^;

Lower yourself? I'm offended sir! ;)

I've seriously never heard of someone having to "lower themselves" to teach English. Meh.

I agree with ya' MMM. For the longest time, I had dreamed of going to Japan with a thirst for something new and only anime as my guide to the culture. A few year later, I still have that thirst for new places, but I'm learning more and more about the culture, land, people, etc.

It's like falling in love all over again, but more realistically.:cool:

I think he just means that teaching english can be an overly simplistic and monotonous job in some cases so many would see it as a waste of time, even if it is an opportunity to get your foot in the door or at least give you time to look for other jobs.

I'm just jealous that MMM has a fan who is starting to chase him around-

Oh I know. I'm just joking around a bit since I want to teach English as a career.

You want to teach English as a career?

I think teaching English job in Japan is quite different from what you are imagining.

It's just a conversational partner kind of a job not so much like ESL...

We have had several posters here that want to "do anything but teach English to live in Japan".

The vast vast majority of English speakers living in Japan teach English. There are all kinds of situations, from public school teaching to private corporate cram school teaching to small private school teaching to tutoring.

Every situation is different, and it is probably the easiest and most obvious way to start a life in Japan.

I did not mean it is an overly simplistic or monotonous job. I really enjoyed my three years of doing it, as I made my own lessons and was mostly able to teach what I thought the kids might be interested in.

"Lowering youself" is not my term, but the term some people who think they are too good to teach English use.

Sorry for my late reply on this, but I have been on vacation and no internet access. (heaven knows how I found such a place in an industrial country...XD"")

I agree with you in so far that people with a degree can work in Japan then if they don´t speak the language, but, maybe it´s just romantic- thinking me, wouldn´t you like to actually be a part of the possee? And isn´t being part of the community the interesting part about moving to another country? And that you surely can´t manage without being able to speak the language.

If you don´t know the language people won´t be able to get to know you, because you can hardly show your character. I mean, when you´re a funny smart guy nobody would know, because you couldn´t make any jokes or witty comments.

And if you know about the language and culture why couldn´t you work as a waiter (for example)?? Do the Japanese think: "Ew, a foreigner! He can´t do that!" I could just see where it would be kind of hard to get a visa though...

I've got an interesting situation...
This may end up being something that can only be answered by each individual company, but I was wondering...

I will be doing my final year of school in Japan and the school year ends in late May. I would like to teach english for a couple of years before I head back and I was thinking of interviewing for potential jobs starting around December. Will it create issues that I won't have my Bachelor's until after May? The school I am going to said that even though my student visa is valid for a long time (Starting Aug 01 2008 valid for 1 year stay at a time) they said it is probably best to only stay a month after school ends.

Let's say I get hired by a company that knows I will be graduating. I am guessing that they will only start processing my working visa once they have seen my transcript from my school saying I have graduated and my degree, correct? Yet, it could take a couple/few weeks to get this transcript since I will first have to give my school the transcript from the Japanese University before they will acknowledge that I have gained the sufficient requirements and credits. And then the visa process can take a month or two to finish.

So, it seems like I may be running into issues here. I will ask the school I will be going to about this, but I'm wondering if anyone can give me a heads up on what I may experience or ideas to make things more likely to work out more efficiently.

It can't hurt to interview, if you're in the country. Just be up front about your situation and ask questions.

Alternatively, you'll get your transcripts in June presumably, so you'll have plenty of time to line up a job for September.

Having a degree is really the way to go. The Japanese government (and society in general, for the most part) are not keen on having people in country that aren't here for specific purposes. That said, there's great support for undertaking studies in Japan as well. I don't think you'd want to live in Japan without a degree anyway. . .what kind of job would you do?

Check out my blog about life in rural Japan, another good alternative--they need English teachers too and the rent is MUCH cheaper.

I loved teaching English and I was better at it than most other things I did. But it was useless teaching English to people who don't really need it. Its great to do for a year or ten (I did it for three). After a while I just wanted something more fulfilling.

It's also sort of dead-end. If your good you can work at a coorporation or a college. But competition for those jobs is steep and you'd better have goo Japanese skills to boot.

its not worth me going to collage i already have more skill in web design as well as web graphic design that spending the money as well as time would just be wasted.

so I'm sorry but i don't agree with the original post.

It's not just about the skill. It's about the paper.

Yeah, as Henbaka said, it's mostly about that paper. You need that paper for a Visa, although, if I'm not mistaken, it is possible to get a job in Japan without a degree if you have a lot of skill, but, to do that, you'd have to convince whatever company you wanted to work for to hire you and then sponsor you for a visa.

It doesn't matter if you agree or not. You'll find that a lot on Japan.

Right... Japan tends to be much more "by the book". They don't just handwave away requirements and laws, or look the other way. You need to learn the rules and follow them in order to maximize your chances of living and working there.

Japan is not always "by the book". There are some laws and regulations which are overlooked by employers as well as the government. For those of you who are ALTs, you may not be aware that Japanese law says that dispatch companies (Interac, etc.) can supply your services to a public school for only one year, and after one year's time that school is required to hire you directly. In real life this practice is almost unheard of, as it would quickly put dispatch companies out of business.

For any foreigner who works in Japan, you'll always anywhere from one to three items on your labor contract which are contrary to Japanese law. But that doesn't stop employers from adding these clauses, and the Japanese government rarely acts in a serious manner to punish employers for this behavior.

I guess my point is that Westerners often feel a sense of priviledge. That thier opinion should always be considered. I learned quickly in Japan that, in fact, on many issues, people had no interest on my opinion whatsoever.

So thinking getting a 4-year-degree to work in Japan is a waste of time because you are already talented is fine. Convincing employers and the goverenment that issues your visa you are right is a whole 'nother matter.

I dont know much about this, and it is a hard subject.
But I know very few years back it was not possible to get a degree in
game design but still Western ppl started working in japan. (without degree)

And it is a school named HAL, Multimedia school in Japan that last 4-years but you do not get a degree, only a diploma, and still ppl get work visa and work in Japan after finnishing HAL.

But I dont know if it is the degree or the years that is important,
like I get my Bachelor after only 3 years at University.
other countries get's it after 4years at University.
But in US you can get it after college, (if Im right)

:s

I haven't been around these forums much, but hope to be around more often from now on :)

I admit, my dreams of going to japan started with mere anime and video games but as my age increased, so did my maturity and desire to accomplish and see things more culturally related. I am currently in school working on a degree in the field of Computer Science to be a software engineer. I do hope to get into games, but my path will present itself at its own time. I do plan on visiting Japan and possibly working there if the opportunity presents itself. I am only 20 right now, but i am fully aware of the obstacles and hardships that stand in my way. However, I am willing to fight through them to obtain what I wish.

And yes...as the very seemingly educated MMM says, a degree is very important. Even for those staying or trying to find work in the states...I took a semester off of school to work out family problems and just worked a pretty dead end job...I knew without a degree or very good fortune, this would be my life. I am now back in school sitting on all "A's". I made a choice and that choice was to get what I desire. I understand dreams and fantasy is one thing, but without dreams and fantasy you just don't have the drive needed to get where you are going. However, one must realize that with dreams and fantasies, there in the dark lies its counterpart, reality. We must tame this beast in order to live out our dreams. So all you kids, adults, or whoever you may be that wish to journey to Japan, Go for it! Just realize what has to be done to get there and heed the advice posted here. Thanks for reading.

~Wolf