Humanities/International Services visa - BA

Hi,
I am a non-native speaker looking for a teaching job in Japan. I've applied to several companies and one of them just mailed me - they told me that to be eligible to work in Japan, my major had to be taught in English.

My major is Applied Linguistics. In my country, it's a respected major because it's combining 2 foreign languages (in my case English & French) and they teach both translation and teaching. So it's basically two majors in one. Unfortunately, because of that, my major wasn't taught fully in English (around 45% in English, 35% in French and 20% in my native language - some less important subjects), although all classes connected to English were obviously taught in English.

It's my first time to see such a requirement - usually they only say the major has to be related to teaching. Is it a real visa requirement, or it's just what this company expects from their future teachers? Will my major stop me from getting this job?

There is no requirement that your major be taught in English for you to obtain a Specialist in Humanities/International Services visa in Japan.

However, in order to obtain the visa, you will have to obtain a job first, and in this case the specific employer's requirement is that if you are not a native English speaker, your major must have been taught entirely in English.

As that's a requirement for the specific position/employer you mentioned, it doesn't sound like this employer will be giving you a job, and thus won't be giving you a visa. That doesn't necessarily mean, however, that other companies won't be willing to hire you, and thus sponsor your visa.