What's your job?
 

We all know GoNative is a former ski resorter :mtongue: , but what do the rest of you do (if you work in Japan)? If you formerly worked in Japan, what did you do? And if you do something that involves Japan/Japanese but aren't in Japan, feel free to chime in.

traveling encoder :mtongue:

software programmer

I recently started a thread that would, if I would say what I do, put me in a very awkward position, so... tech industry in metropolitan Tokyo.

i work in Radisson Blue hotels - i am a clerk of a souvenir shop :cool: i get to practice my japanese with some 5 to 10 japanese tourists a week since they usually travel in small groups. i get to see Chinese and tourists from Taiwan far more often - still, i use a paper to draw japanese kanji that i know are chinese to start a conversation with them :cool:
Had some nice encounters - specially with one really funny lady in her 90's and her granddaughter. and then this one family actually knew my japanese sensei in university and had come to visit her. :cool:

so. here are my 2 cents on how it is to work with Japanese tourists :cool: they usually are cool, sometimes a seem little distant or shy but others are fun and lively.

Freelance translator-interpreter, currently on contract for technical translation-interpretation at an international company.

Back in Australia now and we are currently finalising negotiations to buy a wholesale plant nursery that specialises in native and indigenous plants. As my name on these forums suggests I love native plants and before heading to Japan my wife and I ran a successful landscape design business called Go Native Landscapes. My wife has an honors degree in botany and we both have qualifications in horticulture and along with the design business it's going to be a lot of work but at least it will be work that we both really enjoy.

I spent a summer working in Yokohama back in the 90's busting my ass doing 三Ｋ労働 work. I lived in a 6 Jyo cockroach infested apartment with 3 Iranian coworkers and I ironically came back to Canada learning more Persian than Japanese.

I've spent the last 16 years with Big Blue and although I've had the opportunity to transfer to Japan, I never considered it since IBM Japan is one of the most Japanese American companies out there.

I had a friend within the company who took the bait and he didn't last 6 months.

I suppose i would work as a teacher or a translator. In California i work as a tutor but some people at school say im sorta a teacher LoL

I worked for IBM Canada in the past, a lot of opportunities popped up for Japan which I never got so....

what opportunities??

There were plenty.. I worked for a division that assign us to different projects, and I was able to see projects thats in Japan. There were system architect role, performance architect role, test management, development lead etc.. thats as much as I can disclose over a public post...

I would qualify for any of these roles here locally in Canada and or the US, but was never considered when I asked to be transferred...

When I was working in Japan, I worked at a listening post and reported to the NSA (No Such Agency)....

I'm in Global Services and ironically, I'm currently supporting Japanese engineers as their support structure is crippled by rolling power outages.

I'm a student still, but I intend to attend the school of life soon again for at least a couple of years, speciality in Asian studies :vsign:

Oh you too are with GBS? I am longer with IBM, should have stayed the few more months, maybe hen the diaster would have given me a short term opportunity to stay there

Bobby, in all seriousness, I am actually quite happy that you are so passionate about our culture, as long as it's for the right reason (interest in women will be the wrong reason in my eyes).

But I really hope that you can be more realistic and don't keep your expectations too high. Only then will you appreciate it more because it will exceed the low expectation. Asian are like everyone else, we have good people and bad people.


Enough hijacking this thread. Back to the topic. I tried years looking for a job in my field in Japan and failed. So I gave up already. But in case people wonder, I am in IT

No I am not a tourist guide :p . Im in IT

lol I ask you this now the don't know how often already.. But how many times do you want to preach that incredible misconception??

I doupt people on here will take you serious if you post this stuff time and time again!


The Western Society and the Asian Society are nothing alike! Thats what you need to understand and I am losing my confidence in your ability.



edit: Also, I am not passionate about your Japanese culture.. I am passionate about the culture of Asia and especially East and South-East!

We shouldn't steer the topic off too much despite Bobby's usual antics, so I guess I'll mention myself anyway.
I'm working on a degree in international relations, but I work freelance doing everything from photography to online journalism. My latest freelance job is a project for a large gaming website where I'm going to cover Tokyo Game Show.
I'm also currently negotiating a position leading a team in the public relations department of the Afghan Embassy in Tokyo working on a podcast, reporting, and such.

Right......

Getting back on topic - How many on this forum works in IT in Japan? When i was seriously searching few years back, I find it extremely challenging to land an IT job in Japan.

ME !!

There are several ways, you can either be a "正社員" or a ”契約社員" . I opted for the latter.

i have a home based busniess. its like network marketing sort of. i dont work for anyone but for myself ^^.. and that what kept me going....

Intern
 

I intern at Tokyo Weekender.:)
I edit, design and do research.

I spent my holiday teaching English in a town called Koga in Ibaraki. I worked for an independent eikaiwa school rather than as an ALT. It meant a lot more one-to-one contact with students of all ages, and it was a great way to get to know the people I was teaching. I loved it.

ditto, except still doing it, and instead of "work for" it's "own"

I love the conversations I have with the huge variety of students that come in, and as I get to know them better seeing the contrasts in general ways of thinking

My I ask how old you are, RealJames, out of curiosities sake?

And anyone else who wants to add their age to their job, if they want :)

Was it difficult to start your own business there? What kind of requirements were in place for you to start a business that allow you to stay there?