IT jobs in Japan What are the salaries?

I'm going for a four year degree in Information Technology, and plan on moving to Japan after completing my schooling. What is the average salary or someone with a job in that field? Also, what is the typical cost of living near Tokyo/Harajuku area(s)?

the avarage is about 250,000 Y but it depends by your experience!

I hear that it is hard to find a place to sponsor your working visa if you only have Bachelor's degree. Also IT is a highly competitive area, but well you may give it a try. Living cost inside central Tokyo is high and around Harajuku it will be really high but depends on where you stay, in a guesthouse or your own apartment(if you find a landlord renting the house to foreigners). Eveb in a guesthouse I think the rent would be not less than 900 dollars

living near the centre of tokyo (wich means around the yamanote line),wich includes harajuku,is expensive,but if you choose a gust house it may be cheaper
...you hardly can find apartament over there cheaper than 90,000 /80,000 a month!

@elyn That is a month correct? I have been looking into gaijin houses. They seem to be pretty reasonable.

@Horrup Isn't there American companies over in Japan that would sponsor me? Also.. besides being fluent in English and I am taking Japanese at my University,I also know Spanish. Aren't those good qualities they tend to look for?

Well, the thing is that; there are just too many qualified IT professionals in Japan who are native in English and at business level in Japanese and have master's degree or phd. And I hear that companies may employ you if you have a bachelor degree *but* that is if you already have a valid working visa, they are not willing to sponsor your visa. That doesn't mean noone will employ you and sponsor your visa but I am saying this so that you get the idea about employment in Japan.

@Horrup Sound very competitive more so than here in America but it's still something I want to peruse. I have been thinking, do think there is a way to maybe finish my degree here and then study over in Japan to get a Master's? What else can I do to be "qualified" to work in Japan?

Sorry to say, but I don't think there's much else you can do. I say this as a Computer Engineering student who spent over a year actively looking for college graduate-oriented jobs with sites like rikunabi.com and mynavi, and with family in the Japanese IT business.

Japanese IT companies are different from American IT companies in a lot of ways. Unlike the US, there aren't many global tech companies with HQs in Japan. Thus, the majority of Japanese companies focus mainly on the domestic market and many of them have no need (or possibly even desire) to be hiring foreigners with multi-lingual capacity if they don't already speak Japanese fluently. In addition, there are certain programming techniques (namely Unicode programming) a Japanese programmer needs to know in order to be successful in the market. As you know, what good does a piece of software do if the users can't understand the interface?

Also, Master's degrees and PhDs don't hold the same value in Japan as they do in the US. A lot of Japanese companies do intense training for fresh recruits, so it normally doesn't matter if the applicant has a Bachelor's, Master's, or PhD. In fact, some companies avoid hiring those with grad school degrees because they don't want to pay the increase in salary that the degree demands. A lot of my Japanese grad school friends have left Japan knowing that they probably won't get a job back in Japan.

Finally, salary is low compared to the US and the benefits aren't as great. If you really, really had to work in Japan, I suppose that's not a big concern, but as for me, I'd like to get paid what my degree demands.

Your best bet is to apply for a job at a foreign (non-Japanese) company and try to get sent over to a branch office in Japan.