IT and Nursing jobs for Foreigners?

Hello everyone I just had a few questions. My girlfriend and I are highly interested in moving to Japan after college. We have always loved the culture and when we visited last summer we knew we wanted to live there for at least a few years and really get the experience. We have been studying the language for a few years and we should be fluent by the time we make the move.

That being said we are concerned about employment opportunities for our professions. I am getting my BS in computer science and she is studying to be an RN. I know that many who move to Japan get work visas through ALT jobs and while we wouldn't mind doing that short term say for a year or two we would prefer to pursue a career in our fields of study.

So I am asking if anyone who has immigrated into japan and has had luck with finding jobs in the IT and medical fields.

I think if she wants to practice nursing in Japan she has to pass the/a test /course for that... Her Japanese should be up to that.

I hope others have more info.

From memory - there is starting to be a big shortage of nurses in Japan but you need to be near native Japanese fluency to be fully effective.

One possible other area for employment is to be a nurse at an international school. The tend to prefer someone who is biligual though and of course there is a limited number of these positions...

"be a nurse at an international school"
I don't think it works. "international school" is inside of Japan territory. the school must obey Japanese laws.
she may get a nurse job in US military bases (or US Embassy ?) in Japan, because those are out of Japan territory.

it is easier that he get IT job and she get ALT job . then, you can stay in rich.

For IT jobs, you need to
1) Know business level Japanese (I'm assuming English you already know)
2) Some niche skills (like big data, analytics, ERP etc)
3) Some experience

If you have these it should be relatively easier to find work.

There are many head hunter companies like Robert walters etc who specialize in IT jobs, you may want to start talking to them around your graduation time.

Japanese government accepts foreign nurses from Indonesia, Philippine and Vietnam but they must pass the Japanese nursing exam for national qualification within three years.
Japanese nursing wages are lower than the average wage in JP.

Just to let you know - I used to work at an international school in Japan and the school had employed a non-Japanese speaker as one of their nurses.

She was a fully registered nurse (I think in the US) but the school also had a bilingual Japanese nurse as well. This was needed for Kinder students and new elementary students who were still learning English. Thus the comment on the limited availability of possible positions.

Thanks for the info everyone, I was looking more into nursing for foreigners in Japan and it does seem difficult to achieve so the US embassy ideas seem the most realistic since we are both of American nationality. But from what everyone says and what I have found online IT jobs are big so that makes me feel a bit better.

Would having JLPT certification help as far as resume fluff?

JLPT 2 qualification would be a must for many IT companies to even consider taking you to interview stage