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WORKING AND STUDYING IN JAPAN |
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Since the Japanese economy took a nosedive, the days of gaijin
flying into Japan and immediately being hired on a lucrative salary for
a few hours' work (typically teaching English) are well and truly over.
With the exception of the government-sponsored JET programme ,
employment opportunities for foreigners have shrunk, while the number of
well-qualified, Japanese-speaking gaijin in Japan has increased. That
said, finding employment is far from impossible, especially if you have
the right qualifications (a degree is essential) and appropriate visa.
Australian, British, Canadian, French, New Zealand and South Korean
citizens aged between 18 and 30 can apply for a working holiday visa .
All other foreigners working in Japan, must apply for a work visa
outside the country, for which the proper sponsorship papers from your
prospective employer will be necessary. A few employers may be willing
to hire you in Japan before the proper papers are sorted, but you
shouldn't rely on this, and if you arrive in the country without a job
make sure you have plenty of funds to live on until you find one.
Working visas do not need to be obtained in your home country, so if you
do get offered a job in Japan, it's possible to sort out the paperwork
in South Korea, for example.
Apart from some specific Web sites , the main places to look for job
adverts are Monday's edition of the Japan Times , the free weekly
magazines Tokyo Classified and Tokyo Notice Board and, in the Kansai
area, Kansai Time Out . You'll quickly see that the most common job
available to foreigners is teaching English . The big employers are the
national school chains, such as Berlitz, Shane, GEOS, ECC and NOVA. Some
have recruiting drives abroad (look in your local media under "teaching
opportunities" or "overseas work"), so you can try and arrange a job
before arriving. However, some of the conversation schools are far from
professional operations (and even the biggies get lots of complaints),
so before signing any contract it's a good idea to attend a class and
find out what will be expected of you. If you have a professional
teaching qualification, plus experience, your chances of getting one of
the better jobs will be higher, as will they if you also speak another
language such as French or Italian. Susan Griffith's book Vacation
Work's Teaching English Abroad is recommended as a good source of
general information.
A much more limited job option for gaijin is rewriting or editing
translations of Japanese for technical documents, manuals, magazines and
so on, so that they make grammatical sense and read well in English. For
such jobs, it will be a great help if you have at least a little
Japanese. Other options include modelling, for which it will be an asset
to have a professional portfolio of photographs, and bar work and
hostessing, although the dangers of this type of work have been exposed
by the Lucie Blackman case. Whatever work you're looking for - or if
you're doing any sort of business in Japan - a smart set of clothes will
give you an advantage, as will following other general rules of social
etiquette .
The Web site www.skijapanguide.com contains information for those
looking for a job on the ski slopes. For those with business in mind,
the Kaisha Society, c/o OneWorld, 3-3-2 Higashi Azabu, Minato-ku, Tokyo
106, a support and discussion organization for foreigners working in
Japan, is worth contacting. It has a monthly newsletter, publishes an
annual employment survey report and hosts regular meetings and events in
Tokyo and other major cities.
Certificate of alien registration
Whether you're on holiday, working or studying, if your stay in Japan is
over three months, you must apply for a certificate of alien
registration from the local government office closest to the area in
which you live. This small identification card includes your photograph
and must be carried at all times; if you're stopped by the police on the
street (even for innocuous activities such as riding a bike late at
night through the city), you'll have to produce this card, or your
passport. If you have neither, expect a trip to the local police station
to do some explaining.
The JET programme
One of the best ways to work in Japan is to get a place on the Japan
Exchange and Teaching (JET) programme , started by the government in
1987 in an attempt to improve foreign-language teaching in schools and
promote international understanding. The benefits, which include a
generous salary and help with accommodation, return air travel to Japan
and paid holidays, have led to the programme being a huge success, and
there are now more than 5800 graduates taking part each year from some
37 different countries. The scheme is only open to those aged between 18
and 35, though in certain circumstances people over the age limit will
be considered.
Around ninety percent of applicants are employed as Assistant Language
Teachers (ALTs) in secondary schools, their duties being primarily to
team-teach with Japanese instructors of English and other foreign
languages, and also to act as ambassadors for their country. Other
applicants opt for one of the local government posts as Coordinator for
International Relations (CIRs), though a functional command of Japanese
is essential. CIR duties include assisting in a range of international
exchange projects and tasks, such as interpreting, editing and producing
bilingual pamphlets and receiving guests from abroad.
Applying for the JET programme is a lengthy process for which you need
to be well prepared. Application forms for the following year's quota
are available from late September, with the deadline for submission
being early December. Interviews are held in January and February with
decisions made in March. After health checks and orientation meetings,
ALTs and CIRs head off to their posts in Japan in late July on year-long
contracts. These contracts can be renewed for up to two more years by
mutual consent.
For further details of the scheme and application forms , UK citizens
should contact the JET Programme Desk, Council on International
Educational Exchange, 52 Poland St, London W1V 4QJ (tel 0171/478 2010),
whilst residents of the US and Canada should ring 1-800/INFO-JET,
consult www.infojapan.org online or, along with residents of Australia
and New Zealand, contact their nearest Japanese consulate or embassy .
Online employment resources
The following Web sites should help you if you want to find out more
information about working or studying in Japan.
Working Holiday Visas: www.mmjp.or.jp/jawhm
Job ads for Japan: www.HiJobs.co.jp/ and www.jobsinjapan.com
Tokyo Classified for jobs, accommodation and general information:
www.tokyoclassified.com
Teaching English in Japan: www.wco.com/~ohayo
Studying in Japan: www.aiej.or.jp/index.html
The Kaisha Society: www.kaisha.gol.com
The Jet Programme : www.clair.nippon-net.ne.jp/HTML_E/JET
Studying Japanese language and culture
If you're thinking about studying Japanese in Japan, consider picking a
school away from the main urban centres. Regional cities such as Sapporo
and Kanazawa are cheaper places to live and you're much more likely to
find yourself having to use Japanese on an everyday basis than you would
be in Tokyo or Osaka. That said, the range of courses and institutions
on offer in the big cities is much wider.
As well as the language, there are opportunities to study other aspects
of Japanese culture, from pottery to playing the shakuhachi (a
traditional flute). In order to get a cultural visa , you'll need
documents from the institutions where you plan to study, including one
stating that all tuition fees have been paid, and a letter of guarantee
from a private sponsor, preferably Japanese. Full-time courses are
expensive, but once you have your visa you may be allowed to undertake
paid work to support yourself.
Japan's Ministry of Education, Science, Sports and Culture (Monbusho)
offer three types of annual scholarships to foreign students. These are
available to those who wish to further their knowledge of Japanese or
Japanese studies, undertake an undergraduate degree, or wish to become a
research student at a Japanese university. The scholarships include
return airfare, tuition fees and a generous monthly allowance. For more
details, contact the nearest Japanese embassy or consulate.
The monthly bilingual language magazines Nihongo Journal and Hiragana
Times , and the listings magazines Tokyo Classified, Tokyo Journal and
Kansai Time Out all carry adverts for Japanese language schools. Also
check out the Association of International Education Japan, 4-5-29
Komaba, Meguro-ku, Tokyo 153 (tel 03/5454-5216, fax 5454-5236,
www.aiej.or.jp ), whose Web site lists details of accredited
institutions and has other useful information for those considering
studying in Japan.
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