How’s Japan’s economy these days?

I have been applying for teaching jobs like mad for a couple of months now, but to no avail. I figure the economy is creating less demand for English teachers, especially without teaching experience and not currently residing in Japan.

I am curious how the Japan economy is looking now, and if anyone has any forecasts of how it might be in the next 12 months.

Is it a good idea to brave it and move to Japan without a job?

Unemployment is currently the highest it has ever been since WW2. There is talk that the economy has bottomed out, but there are no concrete signs of recovery yet and anyway no-one can say for sure. I know of companies where people are still being laid off. As for forecasting the economy 12 months in advance, no-one can do that- it's only guesswork.

The BBC says that the Japanese economy is doing better. This is an article from yesterday: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/8205072.stm

Here's another that says that most 2/3 of Japanese firms set to recover in 2010:
http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20090817a1.html

However, I think it might be difficult to move to Japan without a job if you don't have a visa...

The economy improved ever so slightly because of massive government spending.
It doesn't affect the jobs unfortunately, there are still large job losses though nothing like what the US went through. Companies are going to be a lot more careful for the short term with their spending so job recovery will be a painful exercise that will last probably a few short years.
I believe the job market will start to do some decent recovery in 2 years time. For the moment the main issue is actually stopping the massive job losses to start with.


Is it a good idea to brave it and move to Japan without a job?

Absoultly not, as you can answer that yourself with your job searching. Note that to give yourself a slightly better chance you would need to be present in Japan with the legal right (visa) to start work immediately. It's a catch 22 because as you no doubt know the market is just over saturated now.
The best secure thing to do would be to put your plans on hold for at least a year, but expect to be waiting 2.

you can find a job if you come here. you can find an english teaching job anywhere in the country but the salary will not be good unless you have previous experience.

banking and high tech companies are not hiring that much and some are scaling down their workforces here but if you're qualified you can find something. academia is always hiring.

recent economic reports have showed that japan's recession has stopped for now, but that it's not a sign of recovery just yet, but it will be coming soon (next few months)

there's never a better time to invest than when everything is down, the only place left to go is up!

if you are a japan based importer the strong yen against the CAD, AUD, GBP make business cheaper for you. if you're a japan based exporter things are a little tougher especially in regard to stuff like used autos.

To Curious,

I agree with winterwolf you can find a job here in Japan (Teaching English) Keep searching.

The Japanese economy is doing better, IS A BIG NOT!!
The economy has never improved since the bubble economy, and don't listen to the BBC or CNN (main say media) it's a bunch of crap.

The unemployment is bad and will get worse the economy is not going to get any better for a long time, the US economy (Dollar) is finished,
All I can say it's not looking good.

BUT

I will say Japan is the place to be, property is cheap, there are alot of investments here, the people and culture is great and the food is the best.

Have a plan and Keep seaching you will find a job.

Good Luck

Japan also look to "Asia".specially China.
Generally Speaking,almost bussinessman and students are studying English .they still believe thet english's nessesary have more impotant than other language.
but the Japan export to china alredy continue to spread more than USA.
english teacher's DEMAND will might decline than chinese teache's DEMAND.

It is true that Japanese economy has been increasingly entangled with its Chinese counterpart, but recently India has emerged as the country that received the largest amount of Japanese investment. "Asia" is getting more than just China in the minds of many Japanese investors and corporate folks, and in that respect English is still in demand. Besides, many Japanese study English not for a business purpose. In fact, I suspect most study it for other reasons, so I do not think Japan's deepened relationship to China would have a direct impact on the Japanese interest in English study in a significant way.