Ask HN: Serious tips for US citizen who wants to work in Japan (or as cofounder) | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: Serious tips for US citizen who wants to work in Japan (or as cofounder)

5 pointsmoomoo1117 comments

Ever since my first visit to Japan I’ve been in love with the country and it’s people. I’m a brown guy, US citizen. My Japanese is not that good but if I can get a tutor I’m sure I can be proficient enough to work.

Beyond that I’m someone who respects and assimilates into my host country. I’m also good at full stack development and I’m looking at either engineering manager or co founder level roles.

How can someone like me find work in Japan? I don’t have any Japanese friends, and I don’t really know any cliche culture things like anime. I’m more into meditation and enjoying nature and what not and my time spent in nature and amongst the mountains there was the best I’ve ever felt.

Thanks!

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I think not being a weeb—i.e. obsessed with anime, Japanese pop culture, etc—works in your favor as far as making a good impression. The Japanese people I know are well aware of the American-Japanophile-nerd types, and generally find them very distasteful. If you're genuinely interested in the aspects of Japan that can't be experienced via BitTorrent, I think that compensates at least a little for any unfamiliarity with the more cliched side of Japanese culture.

Every nationalist is honored when a foreigner takes a keen interest in his or her culture, regardless of the reason. It brings so much dignity to a country when a foreigner loves it. They might cringe when they see the "weeb"... but deep down inside they're absolutely brimming with national pride whenever they see a foreigner Naruto-running.

They tend to be obsessed with Tokyo not Japan. Rarely do I see anyone wanting to work in say, Osaka, or Kobe. Always Tokyo, always because of Akiharara.

I want to do a long vacation there, the length of a tourist visa, or maybe digital nomad through if I had a remote role, but I don't think I'd want to make Japan my forever home.

(Also they often are riding the politeness more reserved for someone on a vacation for months or years... they think they're being treated kindly when it's more a cold niceness. You won't be going over people's houses for meals or out to the bar. You'll go to work then go interact with fellow expats.)

Untrue, most of the weebs I ever met were obsessed with kansai-ben and were all about "Osaka" life.

There are all kinds of weebs, and it's not limited to Tokyo.

deepest apologies senpai, i've moved on to being weirdly obsessed with the cultures of the EU since my early 20s weeaboo days, but even then i was more of the "listens to much Koi No Yokan while pounding espresso" style japan nerd

(currently moved on to being the kind of weirdo who spends the 4th of july researching if there's a polish equivalent of "Gemütlichkeit" as I write out bullet points for an open mic and spend money I really shouldn't on a cortado... because my humor is cutting :-))

patio11 on HN (Patrick McKenzie) [0], who works for Stripe in Japan, has many things to say about working in Japan, not all of them good. Mainly (depending on the company, and whether it's American with a Japanese branch versus Japanese-founded), there is a level of business bureaucracy that isn't present in the US, as well as startup funding being nearly non-existent. On the social side, it is very difficult to assimilate as a Japanese citizen, as most Japanese people will only consider you truly Japanese if you were ethnically Japanese.

[0] https://news.ycombinator.com/user?id=patio11

In case it's not obvious: patio11 is the HN handle of Patrick McKenzie:

https://news.ycombinator.com/user?id=patio11

His blog:

https://www.kalzumeus.com

Thank you Doreen, edited.

I worked in Japan as a dev for a few years. I was already quite fluent in Japanese. I’d recommend finding a job with a foreign org first, where many people already speak English. Most Japanese companies won’t have much experience around visas (you can do it yourself, a bit annoying). No one is hiring you for language skills, they are hiring you for your software skills. Get your foot in on the door, get a visa, then figure it out.

Don’t feel like you need Japanese to get a job. Getting to a point where you can fluently discuss software engineering with our devs will take many years - don’t let this be a blocker, just find a job where you can use English so you can be there, see if you actually like living there, and figure out the rest as you go.

You don't need Japanese skills to find a job here.

Check out these sites for jobs from English-friendly companies:

- https://japan-dev.com

- https://tokyodev.com

And FYI: living in Japan is nothing like visiting Japan. But working as a dev here can be a rewarding experience.

Good luck!

I live in Japan, if I were you I would look for a foreign company that has operations in Japan. You'll be treated and paid better. The links to Japan Dev and Tokyo Dev are a reasonable starting point.

Also I'm open to chatting about a job opportunity at my startup. What's a good way to chat?

I don't know your age and I don't know Japan's policies post-COVID but maybe the working holiday scheme is something to look into:

https://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2350.html

Americans can’t get working holiday anywhere

You can find dev jobs that don't require Japanese https://www.tokyodev.com/

hit me up on twitter at @strongnode_ceo

Carlos Ghosn can tell you everything you need to know about not becoming a co-founder in Japan.

Yeah. Don't be a criminal.

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