How Hard Will It Be For Me?

I want to know how hard it will be for me when when I get to Japan. I am enterening college soon so I can work legally there and I have been studying Japanese for more than a year. I'm a black girl with lip piercings, brightly colored hair,and I'm not skinny. I dress up usually is punk rock/gothic clothing, listen to metal music and like technology, fashion, and music the most. What sort of jobs would be available to me? By the time I'm done with college, I should be pretty fluent in the language. I'm nice with people and very helping, and sometimes a bit wild. How hard is it for a black person in Japan to find an apartment? Will any cool jobs be available to me?

Thanks

Unless you are looking for a teaching job, your main challenge will be finding an employer to sponsor your work visa.

Just a side note, just because you are a college student doesn't mean you can legally work in Japan. Being on a student visa itself doesn't allow you to work. You have to apply for permission to work, and work hours are typically limited.

What I meant was, I'm going to be attending to college in America. I'll be getting my bachelors degree in America because I heard you can't work legally in Japan without a bachelors degree.

You can legally work in Japan without a bachelors degree, normally however it is people who are in Japan on other visa status's other then a Work Visa. However for someone to get a regular Work Visa normally a bachelor's degree is needed.

Another item is that if you find a teaching job, or some other job many companies might require you to comfort to standards of dress/hair etc (depending on job etc) it might be a bit lax or a bit more strict, but normally speaking showing up with different hair colors and goth clothing and lip piercings would not be advisable when going to an interview.

I lived and worked in Tokyo for a while with long dyed hair and piercings (I'm a guy.) I lived pretty normally -- working, dating, etc. But I did notice that some people were intimidated by me, especially on the train and in stores (...I don't think that I'm particularly frightening...)

I wouldn't say it's easy, but there are a lot of job opportunities in Tokyo. You might have to take your piercings out for work or settle on a lower paying job to keep them. I taught English privately and part-time at a language cafe. There's not much money to be made in private teaching though, in my experience.

Also, I know it's irrelevant to the questiong, but I wish someone had told me about this: Pick up a copy of a J-Rock magazine called "Cure" (Kyua in Katakana.) If you're in the US you can find it at Hot Topic, but I don't know about elsewhere in the US and I know there aren't Hot Topic stores outside the US. If you can read Japanese, there are tons of listings in the back for upcoming Rock shows and all sorts of Rock bars. It's mostly in katakana so it's easy once you're used to it. I swear to God, that I never saw a single rock bar when I was there and would have killed to know where one was.

Thanks. I know that even in America, I'm going to have to take out my piercings to find a good job. But I buy Cure ALL the time. I've also seen the ads in the magazine. I wonder would they like a person from America(like me(black)) working for them? I really hope so. haha. I've noticed a few black people at the gothic/fetish/techno parties and they seem to fit in well. All I basically listen to is J-rock, Japanese gothic tecnho and have ALWAYS wanted to work for a J-Rock(maybe visual kei or metal) band, rock or techno club. That would make my life hella great.

=D

Well, that'd be pretty cool. It's possible, I suppose. There are a lot of foreigners working non-teaching jobs at the clubs in Roppongi. It's easier to get a work visa though if you get a teaching job and it'd make a good fail-safe plan while you look. It pays much better than the clubs, too.

As for fitting in, you'll probably notice a fair amount of prejudice against everyone who isn't slim and Japanese, from the public at large. But there's still a lot of admiration (for lack of a better word) for foreigners, especially Americans. I met at least a couple people who were way too eager to be my friend. Kinda creeped me out really, ha. But the point is, being foreign can work in your favor in some situations.
I hope this helps.