Teaching English

Dear all,
I would like to post a question here regarding working in Japan.
After visiting Japan, and staying with a Japanese host family in Japan, I have become quite interested in working in Japan. One Dutch acquintaince of mine is currently also working in Japan.
I was wondering if there is anyone using this forum who would like to share their experience of teaching English in Japan.
I was wondering whether you need to be a native speaker of English to teach in Japan, since I saw a lot of job openings would prefer a native English speaker to fulfill the job opening.
I am from the Netherlands, and I am a native speaker of Dutch, and currently majoring in English. After finishing up my studies I am supposed to have reached near-native level of English.
Besides that, I was wondering what level of Japanese skill is required for a foreigner teaching English in Japan?
I would appreciate if someone could help me answer this question. Thank you in advance
Denise

I can't comment on the near-native english speaking and such, but I can confirm that many people who speak NO JAPANESE get jobs in Japan before they come here. Of course, the more Japanese you speak the easier it is once you get here though...

First you need to know the basic of "English Teaching" in Japan.
Japanese language ability is normally not required, but will help you in employment or daily life.

Initially you are looking at two option, ALT or Eikaiwa.

ALT- Assistant Language Teacher, you get to assist Japanese teacher to "teach" English at public school.
Eikaiwa-English Language/Conversation School, "teach" English as language instructor.

Both require different types of visa.

ALT - Instructor Visa
Eikaiwa Language Instructor - Specialist in Humanities Visa / International Services Visa

Read this
Differences between ALT and Eikaiwa Language Instructor.
http://www.altinsider.com/altvseikaiwa/
https://www.reddit.com/r/teachinginjapan/comments/7lfbr5/do_you_perfer...

Visa requirements
http://www.japanvisa.com/visas/japan-instructor-visa
http://www.japanvisa.com/visas/japan-specialist-in-the-humanities-visa

「I was wondering whether you need to be a native speaker of English to teach in Japan, since I saw a lot of job openings would prefer a native English speaker to fulfill the job opening. 」

Just like the ads say, almost every employer will prefer a native speaker. That doesn't mean it's an absolute requirement, but not being a native definitely puts you at a disadvantage when competing for a position against native applicants. In particular, if you speak with a noticeable non-native accent (i.e. a accent that's not American, British, Australian, or Canadian), that can make finding teaching work difficult, since most positions (especially for foreigners) are focused on teaching spoken English.

「I was wondering what level of Japanese skill is required for a foreigner teaching English in Japan?」

This varies depending on the exact employer/location. Larger organizations, such as national chain eikaiwa schools, like Aeon or ECC. or national ALT organizations/programs like JET, recruit enough foreigners from overseas that they have dedicated staff/divisions whose job it is to support foreign teachers who don't speak Japanese. They do things like pick new arrivals up at the airport, help them find housing, learn how to buy their train passes, etc.

On the other end of the spectrum are smaller independent schools which do most of their recruiting from foreigners who are already in Japan. In some cases, the owners of these schools don't speak much English themselves, and if you don't speak much Japanese, they may be less willing to hire you, since that would mean they have an employee they can't communicate with/manage.