Living and Working in Tokyo

Hi,

I am very interested in living and working in Japan and have a few questions I hope the experts can help me with or point me into the right direction.

Firstly, about myself. I am an Australian national working in IT (ecommerce specifically) for a UK company based in their Bangkok, Thailand office. I have been in IT for almost 10 years, mostly in internet website and application development. For the last 2.5 years I have been working in project management. I speak little Japanese but am generally good with languages (and have grasped Thai pretty well).

My questions are:

1. What would be my expected salary range? Would accommodation be included for somebody at my level of experience?

2. What are the expected working hours for gaijin? Do they differ from Japenese? I've heard that sometimes gaijin are not expected to do Japanese style working hours (but this was from a recruitment agent who may be trying the hard sell).

3. What are the best recruitment agencies for I.T. in Japan?

4. Expense wise, what are the startup costs like for moving to Japan? Do apartments come furnished?

Thanks,

grantonstar

1. Accommodation is usually included for intra-company transferees, i.e. people who were sent to work in Japan by their company, but not usually for local hires at any level that I know of.

2. From what I hear, at most gaishikei (foreign companies in Japan) Japanese and foreign staff work similar hours. My husband is Japanese and works in IT at a gaishikei and he doesn't do particularly long hours- that's one of the reasons he chose to work in gaishikei to start with.

3. Robert Walters, Robert Half, Panache, among others.

4. There are furnished and non-furnished apartments. Search for real estate agencies like Tokyo Apartment and Oak House to get an idea of what might be available.

Thanks for the answers..

What are the chances of getting hired from outside of Japan? (As I'm presently based in Bangkok).

Also, as I will be coming from overseas, does this increase the chances of a relocation package (such as apartment)?

grantonstar.

Common sense should tell you that few Japanese companies will hire a foreigner if they have to provide accomodations for him! better for them to hire a person already in Japan who has a home. It would only happen if you are top in your field and in great demand.

Speaking of IT, What are the chances of someone like getting just part time work as an IT desktop support in Tokyo? I will be going to Tokyo and attend a language school and would love to do a part time work. Would there be a problem converting a student visa to a working visa ? I'm currently doing IT work in LA and have over 10 years experience and a college degree.

Sorry for some missed information. Would there be a problem with converting from student visa to working visa should a potential employer offer a full time opportunity working as an IT person ?
I'm interested in part time for now but full time is not a bad idea as well.
Do foreign companies hire part time IT person at all? Thanks

Part-time IT work is rare-to-non-existent. As you have a degree and experience you shouldn't have too much trouble finding a full-time job once you finish studying and converting to a full working visa.

I agree with Sensei 2. Unless you are in a fairly high executive position in a company, you are not going to get those kinds of benefits. The only people in IT I have come across who had housing provided/ relocation packages were transferred to the Tokyo branch of their company from the US or Europe.

Getting hired from overseas is not very likely. Generally companies want to do several face to face interviews and few send recruiters abroad.