Technical Intern Trainees make ¥190k/month while Professional/Technical workers pull ¥313k that's a 65% gap within the same "foreign worker" bucket. And Specified Skilled, which was supposed to fix the intern program's problems, is somehow below the average. Japan clearly has a long way to go on this. I guess positive YoY is a good sign
This sub is for foreigners looking to work in Japan, whether you're job hunting from abroad, already here, or somewhere in between.
Before you post, check if your question is answered below.
| Track | Japanese Required | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| English Teaching (ALT, JET, Eikaiwa) | Not usually | Most accessible entry point |
| Tech / Engineering | Flexible | Many companies hire at N3 or below |
| Professional (finance, marketing, HR) | N2 preferred | International companies more flexible |
| Skilled Trade (chef, welder, pilot) | N3-N2 | Plus certifications |
| Specified Skilled Worker (SSW) | N4 minimum | Test-based, specific industries |
N2 gets talked about like a hard wall. But plenty of professionals find a job without:
Engineer / Specialist in Humanities / International Services The most common professional work visa. Covers IT, marketing, finance, design, translation, and more.
Instructor For teachers at schools and language institutions.
Intra-company Transferee Being sent to Japan by your current overseas employer.
Specified Skilled Worker (SSW-1 / SSW-2) Test-based route for manufacturing, caregiving, hospitality, construction, agriculture, and more. SSW-1 is up to 5 years; SSW-2 has no time cap and allows family.
Business Manager Starting or running a company in Japan. As of October 2025: 30 million yen minimum capital, physical office, 1 full-time employee, 3+ years management experience or a master's degree.
Working Holiday Available to Canada, UK, Australia, NZ and others. Not available to US citizens. Ages 18-30 (some countries up to 35). Short-term only.
Digital Nomad Remote work for overseas employers while staying in Japan. Max 6 months, no extension. Requires 10 million yen+ annual income and private insurance.
You cannot start this process yourself. The employer initiates it.
If you've job hunted in Japan as a foreigner you probably know the pain: the big boards skew toward roles with paid listings, half the postings are vague about Japanese requirements, and visa sponsorship is often a coin flip you only find out about in the first interview.
A lot of the good roles aren't on aggregators at all, they're on individual company career pages in 100 different formats.
I built https://atarashift.com to fix this for myself while job hunting. What it does differently:
- Crawls company career pages directly (not just paid listings)
- Every role is tagged with Japanese level required, English level required, and whether visa sponsorship is available so you can filter to roles that actually fit
- Free, no signup needed to browse
Honest about where it is: company coverage is still limited and growing, and the "let companies scout you" side is in early days while I work on signing more partners. The browse + filter side works today and that's the part that helped me (definitely needs more work though as some categorization for language is not accurate).
Would genuinely appreciate feedback especially if you spot why a tag is wrong, or if there's a company you wish was on there.