au pairing in japan?

I would like to have some infos about the au pair system in Japan.
I'm thinking about going to Japan for 3 months next summer, and aupairing seems to be the best possibility to live abroad.
I have already worked as aupair and i have a lot of experience in taking care of kids, but i'm italian, so I think that it can be difficul to find a family that accepts me because our behavior with kids may be different, and so families could not trust my way...what do you think about it?
about the language, I'm attending a J-language course, but my Japanese is really poor. Of course if I decide to go to Japan I'll study hard, but by july it will never be fluent!
I hope to have some imput by Japanese mothers.
ludovica

Quite simple:
There is no au pair program in Japan.

From my research au pairing is more of a european thing.

I believe child care in Japan is quite different and you'll probably have a hard time finding a job (if one were offered) not to mention getting the appropriate visa (if one exists for this, or if it were possible for a regular family to get one).

Working on a tourist visa is illegal.

I want to go to Japan this summer, too and am searching for a homestay/au pair oportunity. As far as I know you can just get a working holiday visa to be able to work in Japan. It allows you to stay and work there for up to one year. I even think about taking on a normal job but than I would have to finance a place to stay. Try these :
http://www.newaupair.com
http://www.aupair-options.com
http://www.aupair-world.net
http://classifieds.japantoday.com
http://gojapan.about.com/cs/traveltools/a/homestay.htm
http://www.jobsinjapan.com/

your average Japanese family probably doesnt even know what an au pair is, let alone have one, so your only chance would be with wealthier more international families.

Hi, I'm a Spanish girl and I'm searching an au pair job in Japan.
My name is Nuria Garcia and I am from Asturias. I am a 22 years old and I am studiying Chemistry (I love it) at Oviedo University, therefore the english is very important to me, and I know the best way to do this is going out.

You can actually aupair in Japan on a holiday work visa. I think I saw details of that on the http://www.aupair-agency.com site. In their visa section

Working Holiday visa is not available for everyone - you "must be a citizen/national of Australia, New Zealand, Canada, or Korea, Germany, and the United Kingdom currently residing in his or her country of citizenship".

http://www.mofa.go.jp/j_info/visit/w_holiday/index.html
http://www.mofa.go.jp/j_info/visit/w_holiday/programme.html#2

Hi, I am costa rican and i am aupair too, when i lived to Japan i was looking for an aupair job so i found this web site, www.greataupair.com, i was contacted by some families including families living to korea, so accepted the job in seoul, but also there were some other families from japan, specially american living and working there, so i hope this web site works!

Au pair job might be found in Japan, but you have to be careful under which visa you're staying.
Definitely you cannot get paid under tourist visa, because it is illegal.

The website would be good, though, for students who has work permission from immigration office.

I went through this agency and it was free of charge http://www.aupair-agency.comAu pairs Agency Almondbury. Best of luck.

Hi, I am Aupair in Ireland at this time. I will stay here till June. But After that I would like to go to Japan as an aupair. I now here are many good answers but maybe (because I wasn`t succsesfull till now) there are new informations for me.

I hope somebody of you might know anybody who wants to have an (German) Aupair. Or maybe yourself. I would be thankful about other informations, too.
Please help me.

We are a family with 3 kids and I am hiring an au pair to help me to look after kids after school and pass time.

You won't find much of an au pair job with a typcal japanese family but there are more and more of them getting familiar with the system. Many of them appreciate this as a learning experience ...language that is! Mostly they require english native speaking au apir because that is the language they all like to learn.

Alternatively, many expat families have ads posting on multiple websites and the links provided above ae pretty good.

I nly have a question to ask the general public: WHAT IS AN ACCEPTABLE RANGE OF WEEKLY SALARY GIVEN JAPAN'S COST OF LIVING IS SO HIGH?