Working in Japan

Hi, I'm a university student in the USA, and I'll be graduating in May of 2009 with a Bachelors in Philosophy. For the past 2.5 years I've been working as the Marketing Manager for a company where I live, and have done really well there. But I will be leaving this job this May so that I can focus on my studies until I graduate.

I was wondering what job prospects are like in Japan, particularly Tokyo. My Japanese language skills are very basic, and I'm putting off attempting to learn a lot of Japanese until I graduate, because I just won't have the time while I'm still in school. I will say that I am good at picking up new languages; not just speaking, but also reading and writing. I studied (Mandarin) Chinese at my university for a few years, but unfortunately they did not and still do not offer Japanese.

I've looked at sites like workinjapan.com but most of the jobs I saw that only require basic Japanese are higher-up managerial positions for American companies and such. Add to this the fact that I'm still trying to figure out which path I would like to take, and I'm in somewhat of a predicament. I'll be 23 soon after I graduate (June 2009).

I would greatly appreciate anyone's help with the above.

Thank you!

I'm not sure if this answers your question, but a lot of people seem to come to Japan, work as a language teacher of their mother-tongue while brushing up their Japanese skills and learning the culture, and then they start looking into other job opportunities. Otherwise, they brush up their Japanese and learn the culture by coming as a student.