u/shibuyawalker

I've seen this trend getting stronger over the last few months of my job hunt... When you apply to a company using their online form there is often the knockout question "Will you now or in the future require support with your visa?" which already shows the tendency that they prefer people who don't need support. (I find it really weird too that they flock people who don't have a working visa yet and others who do already have a running working visa but will need a little support for the renewal together, as the second case is much easier and less risky for the company)

Recently the knockout questions get even more direct and just ask "Do you have permanent residency in Japan?" which signals that if they have a enough applicants who are permanent residents they will probably not even bother looking at anyone who choose "no" here.

I know some people don't believe that knockout questions are radically deciding the fate of an application but I worked in the past for a company who actually designs these online application web forms and asked my boss about it. He proudly said that they have many clients who totally use these questions to filter out applications, in some cases the reply to the knockout question auto-rejects an application before a human even sees it. For example with new grads the web forms that make you choose your university from a drop down list, you can expect that certain universities (like F rank) are instantly auto-rejected no matter how good you did in the SPI tests etc.

So recently having several companies having a knockout question for PR might be a new gatekeeping trend that makes it impossible for some professionals to get certain jobs. Some companies are so afraid of the "visa sponsorship" (even though it is really not that difficult at all), that they would probably prefer an applicant with PR (or Japanese passport) and only 3 years of relevant experience over someone with "only" a working visa but 6 years of experience. With the rules on PR getting stronger this will create a huge gap between the lucky ones who got PR before the rules changed and the unlucky ones who will not even be considered even though they already worked for years in Japan with a working visa.

I'm a German living in Japan for over a decade and I plan to visit Guam mainly to do a lot of clothes and shoe shopping. It is close to impossible to find things that fit me here in Japan and a friend suggested I should try Guam instead of having to fly to Europe or other US states.

I'm not looking for really expensive brands like Calvin Klein and such, but really just cheap to mid-range every day clothes. Since I need to stock up on my whole wardrobe anything from casual to work formal is welcome. I'm tall (at least to Japanese standards XD) probably about 5'9 and slim. I don't know if that is considered average in the US and if it is easy to find clothes that would fit me well.

Shoes are also a big headache for me as even in Europe my size (probably 10.5-11 in US) is really hard to find. Can I hope to find women shoes in that size? (would especially love to hear from women with a similar size!)

By the way I'm not planning to do much touristy stuff, I think aside from shopping I will just relax, take walks and enjoy the food. ^^

I should have known better because in the past small local post offices were often so clueless about international packages but what happened this time really beats all bad experiences I ever had: It took me over an hour to send a package of sweets/snacks etc. to a friend in Germany. Had to go through humiliation of publicly unpacking the whole package on an open table with other costumers next to me staring and endless bureaucracy with digitally registering the contents of the package to perverse detail.

In the past when I send packages like this it was always OK to combine all snacks as "snacks with total worth of 2000 yen" and that was it. This time they asked me what snacks there are in there and after I named a few they said I have to make a new entry for every kind of snack with certain categories (e.g. chocolate snacks, nuts, senbei, furikake...). They claimed the EU wants it that way. I know that the EU can be a pain in the ass but I'm pretty sure the person in the customs office there fucking doesn't even know what senbei or furikake is and does not need that distinction...

They forced me to reopen my package, spread all the contents out on a table and use a tablet to digitally list up all items sorted into arbitrary categories they told me, while also going through their catalogue to find out the correct id number of that food category. It is typical behaviour of japanese staff who never did something before to zealously stick to some rules, even if some of the rules are rather dubious. For example, the women on the counter had told me to put certain stuff into "chocolate", "senbei", furikake" category, BUT there were a few items like gummy stuff and other typical dagashi that she could not think of a category of so she told me to just put them in as "snacks". Lady, that is what I did from the start! If the broad category "snacks" CAN be used after all, why do you have me list other snacks as nuts, chocolate, senbei or whatever?

Also she put a bag of karinto on the senbei batch and I told her "karinto is not senbei" but she was like, no it's ok it counts as senbei (listed as "rice snack" in their own catalogue). This makes me so mad! They pretend to be overly-correct but then they give me arbitrary instructions like that. So I can't count karinto as "snacks" but have to count them as "rice crackers", which is just wrong! They are not even made out of rice!

The package also included small plastic dividers for bento boxes that have a face and look like a character. I had initially put it in as toys because it is for kids and it's close enough. But they told me I can't do that and have to find the right number and category in their catalogue which I couldn't so I asked them again and they didn't know either and one of their guys vanished for like 10 minutes in the back to find out the correct number for that item... (It was counted as "plastic made cooking utensil"....)

I think this is the last time that I'm so nice to send stuff to Germany for my friend and his family... If the kids are sad that they can't have japanese sweets anymore we have to tell them that evil menial post office workers just won't let us send them stuff (at least not without an 1 hour long attack on my sanity). At this point I think it must have been easier to smuggle sweets into the DDR than to send it from Japan to a free Germany...

I know people say they made better experiences in bigger post offices where they are used to international parcels, but it feels wrong that I have to carry a big parcel via train to a bigger post office when I have a local post office practically in front of my door. I can understand that staff can get a little nervous when they are not used to a certain work task, but the arbitrary invention and bending of rules to make it maximally humiliating and complicated for the costumer is really a bad cultural habit I often observed here.

It seems at this time of the year it is "crows act like assholes"-season.

Just went to the supermarket and saw 3 hooligan crows attacking everyone who passed a certain part of a busy street with a traffic light. No matter if people were on bikes or having a sun umbrella, the crows attacked everyone and hacked their beaks into the back of their heads. I saw a poor old obaachan who walked so slow that she got attacked 5 times. 😢 (I was on the other side of the street with a red traffic light else I would have run over and protected her until she was in safety...)

I searched on twitter and found many people reporting being attacked by crows these days and a few people mention that it is always at this time of the year because they protect their nests (not sure if the babys are hatching or already learning to fly but anyway some crow-family-milestone is happening right now). I also did my reddit-homework and used the search and found older posts of people being attacked by crows, and those posts were all from later June. So there is definitely a pattern here.

I'm an animal lover (and even vegetarian because of it) but I really can't muster up much pity for those asshole crows. Crows are smart, right? That spot where they are attacking people right now was ALWAYS a busy street and there was always a traffic light gathering people waiting there. Why did they build their nest right there in that busy spot if they think humans will eat their babys?!

I felt bad for the obaachan and since they also attack people on bicycles in active traffic that shit is fucking dangerous.

So everyone be careful! This week, if you encounter a group of crows shouting a lot keep eye contact with all of them. I noticed today (when I had to wait for green light in that spot) that they only attack you from behind when they think you don't see them.

I have over 10 years of work experience in Japan, mostly in localization but also a little marketing and random other tasks I could do because of my language skills (German, English, Japanese fluent). I mostly worked in IT my last job being the biggest were I worked at a famous Japanese company and was alone in charge of the localization of the German version of one of their apps. I worked there for almost 7 years, my coworkers loved me, I always got stellar feedback and I enjoyed the work and really put my heart into it. But the catch: even though I did at least team leader level work and had to work at the same times as the seishain, I was only a freelancer by contract (業務委託). I had asked the company at some point to make me an employee and they promised they would but never followed through. When I pointed out that them expecting me to work essentially like a seishain but keep me officially only a freelancer that that is against labor law they fired me almost instantly. They even cut off my logins (full remote job) and forbid me to contact my coworkers (probably because they use the same freelancer contract scam for like 20% of their work force and wanted to prevent me from telling the others about this). I got cancelled over night and did not even get the chance to say good bye to my coworkers of 6 years... Also, since I directly work together with about 20-30 people (and being the only person who can do my job) many coworkers were probably in trouble when I was suddenly unreachable. To them it must look like I just threw the towel and left the company without giving notice. I'm suing the old company but it can take up to 2 years until I get a court ruling. There are too many other details I can't get into now but just believe me it is a horrible situation. The only good thing is that I have TONS of proof for the companies illegal doings but that doesn't help me with my job search right now...

So since I was suddenly without a job starting January 2026 I have been job searching non-stop. (while also preparing the legal battle and crying for hours because I'm overwhelmed by all of this) And if I'm lucky enough to even get an interview (usually I get rejected without interview) the question "Why did you leave your old job?" is always a problem. I tried ways of saying something positive about wanting to do the next career step etc. etc. but the thing is, I don't think it is believable. Why would anyone who works at a prestigious famous company just quit without a new job lined up? To me it feels obvious that I was fired. And as the company is famous and everyone knows they have a lot of money I can't even claim that I was fired for company financial reasons. But at the same time I can't really give them the truth about the company being corrupt and getting rid of me because I called them out on breaking the law.

So if I told the truth the company would reject me because I "badmouth" my old employer or just seem like trouble. And if I lie and pretend I just wanted to leave to find something better the new company may just reject me because they think it is suspicious that I would leave without a new job. Especially now that I'm already unemployed for 6 months I don't look like a "great worker who confidently just changes jobs" but a leftover loser who nobody wants to hire.

This whole situation is so soul crushing. I could understand if I was fired for performance problem, but that really is not what it was. I'm really good at what I did and was on very good terms with my coworkers. But it seems no one will ever believe that, because of how suspicious it looks from the outside and because I can't explain what really happened.

Japanese companies are especially strict about gaps and I feel like I became unemployable once I crossed the 6 months mark. I feel like my career is over and the only way to even just get a job at all (I'm on a working visa and getting nervous about this as well...) would be to accept jobs that are just career dead-ends and pay only half of what I used to make.

Did maybe any of you have a similar experience and still got a good job after all? Or do you know someone who did? It just need some hope that even with a bigger gap and leaving with my old employer on bad terms I can still have a chance of getting a good job that values me for my experience.

EDIT: Had to put the part about me suing my old employer in fat print because some people seem to not have noticed that part and told me to get a lawyer. I have a team of 3 labor lawyers and we are suing the hell out of my old company. And I do have a lot of proof because I knew all the time that it was illegal what they were doing and recorded everything (screenshots, recorded meetings etc.). But since this case is complicated (since I was not a seishain) it can take 2 years to get a ruling. So this post is not about getting legal advice about my old employer, I seek advice and hope for what I can do right now to save my career.

I have been unemployed for 6 months now and last week I felt so lucky when a big Japanese IT company (prime stock market even) seemed really interested in me. The first 2 interviews went wonderfully and the interviewers seemed to love me and thought highly of my work experience. Then the final interview AND a few days later the offer interview (オファー面談) were scheduled. So even before the final interview (just the formal meet and greet higher ups) took place they already wanted to decide the date for the offer interview. Even though I know that it is not a guaranteed job offer yet, I though this was a strong signal from them that they want to waste no time to hire me. (They had mentioned that in the past they lost good candidates because their selection process was too long and other companies scooped the candidates up first)

The final interview also went really well, but after the final interview, even just as a formality, I was still expecting some kind of email before the offer interview would take place but it was quiet. Fast forward, last Monday (the day before the scheduled offer interview) I send them an email just in case and asked if the scheduled offer interview would take place as planned. Only then, on Monday afternoon not even 24 hours before the scheduled interview they told send me a really vague email about how they have not decided yet and the offer interview would be cancelled for now. They did not give a reason or a timeline or anything. Only after I send them another email and prodded them to tell me the reason they admitted that they are still interviewing other candidates. What the fuck?! Why do they schedule an offer interview with me (the meeting where they give you the 内定 and details about their offer) and simultaneously keep interviewing other people?? And of course a whole week later they gave me a boring standard rejection...

I know people say you should never stop searching until you have an offer, but because in this situation I really thought it would be unwise to keep applying to other companies when I was sure to receive a 内定 with that company in a few days. And I did focus all my energy on this company and prepared for a whole 2 days for that final interview too. (they have a ton of products and I really deep dived into understanding them all and also went through the company history and all)

Since they did mention before that in the past they lost candidates to other companies who were quicker to give an offer I honestly get the suspicion they just scheduled that offer interview with me and gave me false hope to "keep me warm", just as a backup in case that other unicorn they interviewed days later would not work out. Of course any kind of rejection hurts but for me this was not a normal rejection, because they unethically strung me along by dangling the offer right in front of me for several days. I didn't even know that they were still interviewing other candidates when they approached me to schedule the offer meeting. I was sure I was their top candidate, but I was really just the backup and they gave me false hope to buy enough time to interview their real first choice candidate.

I really had my hopes up and was looking forward to work there. I had been job hunting for half a year now and though this nightmare was finally over! The interviewers were really nice people (no HR hurdle, I talked directly to my "future team members") and everything seemed to go great. It was also my birthday last week and I was looking forward to announce at my birthday party to my friends who have been supporting me through these grueling 6 months of job search that I finally got a job, and even at a company I really respect. This really felt like a Happy Ending to long streak of bad luck. Instead I ended up crying myself to sleep and had to spend my birthday being depressed and do hours of job searching again to try to make up for the days I lost to those fuckers.

EDIT: I should probably not have translated オファー面談 as "offer interview" as it seems many are misunderstanding this as a part of the screening process when an オファー面談 is more of a formal meeting where the company presents their offer to the candidate. They give them the 内定通知書 that contains salary and other conditions that will later be written in the contract. Usually that is also where the exact day of joining the company and other smaller logistics are discussed. This step is post-screening. That is why a company scheduling an オファー面談 usually is a very sure signal that they are about to hire you.

So no, I'm not just a rando who is mad that they got rejected by a company. I can totally accept being rejected in a normal hiring process. But having the offer talk scheduled (officially with google calendar entry from the company, all participants names and zoom-link and all) was VERY misleading by them. Having a "Tomorrow we will give you the official offer!" turn into "Nah, we will hire someone else. Bye!" is not normal and all Japanese people I talked to about this were shocked and agreed that it is essentially the same as 内定取り消し. It is really just extremely unprofessional for a company to do that and also just really cruel.