Secretary jobs in Tokyo?

Hi,

well I am a 17 year old, female, Australian, and I am just about to enter in to my first year of a three year Bachelor of the visual arts and design with a specialization in photography, and I was wondering what types of jobs would be available to me when I finish this course and move to Japan.

My ideal job would of course be one in the arts or photography, but when I first get there i would like something like being a secretary, would I be able to do this with only the arts degree and about two years of Japanese under my belt? And if so, what types of places would hire me?

I hope someone will be able top help!

Thanks,
Bonnie-Rose

For that kind of job in Japan you would need at least level 2 in the Japanese language proficiency test. Most secretarial jobs here, even those working for a foreign CEO for example, require a business level of Japanese.

I do a secretarial job part time at a Japanese company because the president communicates with people in Europe and America a lot and he needs someone to proofread/translate
his emails. I already had several years experience working in a Japanese company before I got that job though.

The usual job open to people without experience in IT or finance is teaching English- any reason you're discounting that?

Thanks for the info...

The main reason that I discounted teaching English is because I am not doing a teaching degree and I thought that you needed a teaching degree to be able to teach in Japan...

also I would rather work in an office or something like that when I first get there and start working, but if it is possible to get an alright teaching position in Tokyo then that would be a good option for me... if anyone has any information on this I would be thankful...

Thanks,
Bonnie-Rose

No, any kind of degree is sufficient for you to qualify for most entry-level English teaching positions in Japan (the degree is required by Japan Immigration for the visa rather than by the employer). There is loads of info about this topic on this site and also elsewhere on the internet- have a look at http://www.eslcafe.com/job/viewforum.php?f=11

which is the Japan page of a site dedicated to teaching English in various countries, and do some Googling- even the Lonely Planet site has info about this topic.

Office jobs without fluent Japanese and relevant skills are pretty hard to come by in Japan, whereas there are plenty of English teaching jobs which don't require any qualifications or experience whatsoever.

Arigato gozaimasu, I have been looking for information on jobs in Japan and all I could find was teaching positions and I automatically skipped them because I thought that I cold not do them because I am not going to have a teaching degree

But you have given me hope! thanks again... I am going to look at the teaching option more closely, but maybe after a couple of years I will have the language skills to get a secretary job!

Thanks,
Bonnie-Rose