> There seem to be a lot of comments centered on “wow, this sounds great – I wish I could charge more” or “how do I find these high paying contracts”?
Actually, I'm wondering how can I get gigs that pay $100/hour in Japan.
Actually, I'm wondering how can I get gigs that pay $100/hour in Japan.
But you seem to specialize in relatively rare skills, so you might have better luck freelancing than the average web developer. Feel free to shoot me an email (I'm out of work at the moment so probably not the best person to give this sort of advice, but on the other hand I've been in this country for a long time).
Yes, there is freelance work in Japan, but a look at any job board will show that tech salaries are not as high as US/UK jobs. In my experience that seems to affect freelance rates.
I do a mix of US and Japanese freelance work. Personal contacts are the big one for me. Without high level Japanese you may be limited to the foreign tech community.
That community is small but it still can take some time to build up a network. Took me about two years here until I started to get a good amount of Japanese freelance work.
You may both be aware of it already, but if not, the Hacker News Tokyo Meetup is as good a place as any to start: http://hntokyo.doorkeeper.jp
For me the biggest advantages of local work are working with people in person (I got tired of remote only work), and the untapped opportunities in web and software from the US/UK being ahead in those areas.