Move to Japan

I want to move to Japan, but unsure of the best way nor what all of my options might be. I am aware that teaching English is the go-to, especially for native English speakers, but I would prefer something more suited for my technical background.

The background: I completed a Bachelor's of Science with 3 majors (applied mathematics, neuroscience, and molecular biology) in the United States, have done NASA student internships, and have laboratory research experience in biosciences, computer science / information visualization, and in aerospace engineering.

During my undergrad, I studied abroad in Sendai, Japan at Tohoku University for one semester, and have since traveled to Japan multiple times for vacation. I'm aware of many of the positives and negatives for foreigners living in Japan, but I know from my own experiences that I am a much happier human being there.

Right now I'm finishing my first year of a Computer Science PhD program. In all honesty, I'm miserable in the program, and I am just very unhappy living in the United States in general. I'm unsure that I can hold out and finish the master's, as I just want to leave right now.

Does anyone have any insight into viable options for someone like me moving to Japan and working in the IT field? Or is teaching English a necessary first step for obtaining a work visa?

I should also add that I am not fluent in Japanese.

Thanks for reading!

It's not that you have to be an English teacher to get a work visa, it's that without some proficiency in Japanese, English teaching is probably going to be your best option. The easiest thing would be to work as an English teacher for a year or two, use that time to increase your Japanese level, and also scope out the field that you actually want to be working in. Another is to see if your school has exchange programs with any Japanese university, or if you could continue your studies at one of the Japanese universities with graduate studies in English. I don't know anything about those, though. A third would be to job search in the US American companies that have offices in Japan and would be able to transfer you to one. But if you're wanting to come right away, that might not be a viable option.

Whatever you decide to do, you can start a few things right away, such as learning Japanese however you can. Try to get into your uni's classes if you it has some, even just auditing them. The more you learn before coming, the better. Talk to your school's job counselors, too. Every school has resources placing students in different jobs. You could talk about how to go about finding companies that may have connections in Japan, or how to network and make connections to find a job here. Browse job sites like gaijinpot to look for openings, and what the jobs generally require. Also start looking at gathering what you need to move, such as what you'd bring/discard, have shipped, or put in storage. Even making a list of things you'd need to do before moving could keep you motivated and feel productive instead of stuck in a rut. It may be that as you're preparing for these things, you're able to concentrate and finish out your current degree. Join your school's Japan club if they have one, and try to make friends with any Japanese exchange students as well. Anything you can do working toward your goal is helpful.

I wish you luck!

Japanese academia is facing a huge contraction at the moment, with no end in sight (for decades). 7 or 8 universities go bankrupt every year, and even hugely qualified Japanese cannot get stable employment, other than short term contracts. Maybe you could look at something like a JSPS post-doc after your PhD, and perhaps you may be lucky at the end to be picked up by a private university teaching on an English medium program. However, I wouldn't stake your whole future on it - flexibility is absolutely essential in academia.

Thank you both for the excellent responses!

scarreddragon, your suggestion of working for an English teacher for a year or two is highly appealing the more I think about it, despite it not being exactly what I'd want to do. It would allow me to build my Japanese skills, get a feel for what / where I want to work, start networking, and build stronger technical skills. It would also just be a much-needed rest from 70+ hour weeks that I've grown accustomed to with the PhD program.

Regarding teaching English...I have a job as an online mathematics and programming grader for a fairly prestigious company - I've had this position for nearly 2 years. At the end of this year I will also have 2 years of teaching / TAing experience in university. My first year of TAing was more of an assistant role for senior level aerospace engineering courses (grading, writing laboratory exercises, assisting students during lab, etc); this second year has been an instructor role for computer science recitations, about 50% of which has been lecturing.

Will this teaching experience give me a "leg up" on getting a job teaching English, or will it not matter that much because it's not teaching English? Should I focus on getting a TEFL / CSEL (whichever the appropriate certification is)?

I will also look into my university's resources - I don't know why, but this never even crossed my mind and I'm really excited to check out the Japan club, etc. Thanks for this obvious recommendation that I entirely overlooked!

Dainichi Heater, I agree that flexibility is a necessity in academia - if only the system would return the favor of being more flexible itself. :P

That is interesting (and a bit sad) to hear about the state of affairs in Japan with regard to academia. However, I'm not sure that I wish to remain involved with academia - there are innumerable reasons that govern this growing disinterest; I've actually come to the point of detesting it, but I think I just need a break.

My hope was to work in industry, but it seems that without some decent level of Japanese proficiency, this
isn't possible. Teaching English seems like a good breather, as scarreddragon has mentioned. I do worry about the difficulty of reentry into academia if I leave then decide to return later, as I know it can be quite difficult.

Thanks again, both of you!

Will this teaching experience give me a "leg up" on getting a job teaching English, or will it not matter that much because it's not teaching English? Should I focus on getting a TEFL / CSEL (whichever the appropriate certification is)?

It certainly wont hurt, but I don't think you should bother getting TEFL or the like unless you've been looking for a long time with no luck. In that case, again, it certainly wont hurt. But many, many teach without it no problem. It's also important to think about what kind of teaching you want to do, or if you have a preference. Many teach in public and private schools, such as elementary, junior high, or high schools. These are usually as an "ALT", or assistant language teacher. You'd usually work with a Japanese teacher of English (JTE), although sometimes in elementary school you're running your own classes. These kinds of teachers are also becoming more popular in kindergartens. Or, universities often look for native speakers to teach as well, though you'll probably then want more qualifications as they tend to be sought-after positions.

Another option is to work for a private company, such as an eikaiwa or a juku. In eikaiwa you'll probably take one-on-one or small group lessons through a textbook using a prescribed curriculum and style taught to you by the company. For juku, it really depends. You might even be able to find a job grading English papers for a juku, although it usually takes a connection to find that sort of work as its, again, highly sought-after.

The nice thing about being an ALT is that it is usually a yearly contract with the option for renewal each year. This gives you a lot of options to try out living in a certain place and to see if you like it. Obviously, life in a big city versus small rural town is going to be different, as is living in Hokkaido versus Okinawa. And also realize that a lot of it can just be luck too.

But overall, I think you're in a really good place. You've already got the basic qualifications to come over for a job, and are seriously thinking about the many aspects, not just "I wanna live in Japan!" which is as far as a lot of people get. So much of my experience here has been being in the right place at the right time, or knowing the right people and being flexible enough to take an opportunity presented to me. Keep an open mind and explore all options, and I think you'll be fine!