Becoming a Private Investigator/Detective

Backround information:
Once I finish high school, I plan to move to Japan (from Europe), study, work and live there. Ideally, I would like to get a bachelor's in criminology or something of the like in order to become a Private Investigator/Detective. I've seen questions on this website about becoming a police officer in Japan and the answers pretty much said that you'd need citizenship for it (which I plan to get), and know the language (which I plan to learn), but that you'd have difficulty being employed as a police officer simply because you're a foreigner.

Questions:
If I obtain a degree, can I become a Detective straight away, without needing to become a police officer? Would I still have the same difficulty getting a job if that were the case?
Would I be able to become a Private Investigator in Japan as a foreigner? Would citizenship be required, or significantly helpful? Would I face the same difficulties trying to become a PI as I would trying to become a police officer?
How are the salaries for both Detectives and Private Investigators?

1. Government jobs like Police aren't given to outsiders.

2. Being a PI is not something you can just to. Take the equation of Japan out of it. You need contacts. You need to understand the town/region/locals. You need your own information circle. this is not something you can just do the day after arriving to a new town and setting up your apartment. So if you go down this avenue, you better start right away. Cos it might take decades to learn some of this stuff.

Regarding your plan to get citizenship, have you actually done any research into it? It takes years of living there, and you have to renounce your current citizenship (Japan does not allow dual citizenship).

I think this qualifies for a prize as the Least Practical Plan Ever Proposed on Japan-Guide

While the job actually does exist, the Japanese proficiency required alone would preclude most. What visa class would you get for this? Do you have connections in the PI world?

private investigator and detective are not ordinary jobs in Japan.
in other words, ordinary people don't have such jobs.

I think this qualifies for a prize as the Least Practical Plan Ever Proposed on Japan-Guide

Haha me too, although it's a close tie with the person who asked if they have a bigger chance of becoming a celebrity if they stay in the US or move to Japan. Hahaha!

While the job actually does exist, the Japanese proficiency required alone would preclude most. What visa class would you get for this? Do you have connections in the PI world?

Bahahahaha! I wonder what PIs in Japan actually investigate. They're probably hired to find out who put a pet bottle out with the burnables, or who took the wrong umbrella from the umbrella stand outside the conbini.

Bahahahaha! I wonder what PIs in Japan actually investigate. They're probably hired to find out who put a pet bottle out with the burnables, or who took the wrong umbrella from the umbrella stand outside the conbini.

As far as I understand, PIs are often hired by the parents of someone who's engaged to be married, to investigate the background of the prospective spouse, including the racial and caste background of their ancestors.

As far as I understand, PIs are often hired by the parents of someone who's engaged to be married, to investigate the background of the prospective spouse, including the racial and caste background of their ancestors.

Really? Wow that's interesting. I guess a lot of rich people must do that to make sure their child is marrying someone worthwhile. It sounds like an interesting storyline for a reality TV show.

Now, it is very hard to get a copy of Koseki record by a third person, like private investigator. ( it is illegal, now.)

I think their major jobs are infidelity investigations of spouses. it is a dark job.

And one they will never trust to a gaijin. They stick out like sore thumbs.

Now, it is very hard to get a copy of Koseki record by a third person, like private investigator

Thanks for clarifying. I had assumed it still went on anyway, but maybe I'm just too cynical.

At any rate, as you say, it's not such a nice job.

As far as I understand, PIs are often hired by the parents of someone who's engaged to be married, to investigate the background of the prospective spouse, including the racial and caste background of their ancestors.

If that is the case and they have the old school attitudes. Then they wouldn't hire a outsider over a Japanese PI then.

I actually know foreigners who work as PIs in Japan so yeah it's definitely possible. The problem though is that their situation has absolutely nothing in common with yours.

1- They've all been in Japan for decades before getting started (they know their towns in and out)
2- They all have Japanese citizenship that they got through marriage. (there's no such thing as a PI/detective visa)
3- They're all fluent in Japanese
4- They all do it as a side job because it's extremely hard to do this kind of thing regularly
5- They mostly deal with cheating spouses so it has nothing to do with police work/crime.
6- Most of their clients are foreigners since Japanese people have no reason to pick a foreign PI over a Japanese one who would speak the language more fluently, know the place better and blend in easier.