Well, it's official. I've now jumped, hurdled, and Navy-SEALed my way through three at a financial company. Reflecting now I can say there have been more rough times than good, more conflict than resolution. Bright spots in my week that are predominately overshadowed by larger, loomyer dark spots.
I've come this far though, and I'm resolving to stick with it for at least a year. If at the end of the year it's not working out, then I can look at other options. Different department, different offices, or even quitting altogether. At least I tried. This is not a quitter's thinking, per-say, it's just taking succeeding at this job from the slot of “a sure thing” to “desirable outcome.” It makes me more open and I get less headaches this way.
As I experience more and more in this all-Japanese team, I've encountered things that I would like to sort out in my head but really can't because of my lack of experience. Let me give you an example.
There's a veteran on my team. Let's call him Bob. Bob is generally a nice guy when you talk to him outside of the office. A bit of a introvert, in fact. Even in the office he's a nice guy, if you're one of his business superiors. But in being the new guy on the team, I've experienced a very different side of Bob. Bob can be an outright dick.
While doing my work I use quite a number of different trading systems and programs, none of which I knew how to operate coming into this job. Throughout the day I would sometimes get errors and problems trying to use these. I like to call this a learning curve. Bob is probably calling this incompetence. One time I asked him about one of these errors. His response? A biting “No, no, no, that's impossible.” He hadn't even turned around. I had to print what was on my screen and shove it under his eyes to actually get his attention. This is one of the guys who's supposed to be training me. Instead, I get a lot of flak for not knowing stuff. Opposite of helpful.
This is just an example of some of the negativity on my team. It's not everybody, but Bob here does a good job of dishing it out. I'd like to sort this out in my head and give it a label. Is this just Bob? Is this a cultural thing (Are Japanese people like this when teaching stuff?) Is this a business thing (Do people just expected to turn into dicks when they get a job?) or is this even a business cultural thing (Japanese people turn into dicks as soon as they get a job and have to teach something?)
Figuring this out, as well as a good number of other things, obviously seems a task bigger than a short three months.
[ General
]
20 January, 2008 22:41
[ General
]
25 November, 2007 20:58
I wasn't sure I was going to make it at first, but I've finished my first month of work (long and hard) and received my first paycheck (monetary awesomeness). Looking back at my last post you can tell how addled I was becoming at work. Things are hectic, yes, but a lot of it is just managing the hours. As I was lamenting in my last post, the hours are long. I'm at work roughly 12-14 hours with another hour of commute per day (30 minutes door-to-door each way). This doesn't leave me a whole lot of time in between to get other things done during the week. I've managed to get through the first month intact. From here it's just a matter of refining my morning and evening routine so I can get seven-ish hours of sleep per night, plus a real dinner and some time to relax. Things like whether you have breakfast at home or at the office, do you shower at night or in the morning, is everything for the next day set out the night before can actually make a significant difference to your time and how smooth your day runs. Let's go a bit more into detail.
Saint wakes up at 6am. Shit, shower, and shave (the three morning S's that we all know and love) and it's 6:30am. Saint makes himself an actual breakfast (with proteins and everything!) because breakfast is important to him. He makes a quick cup of coffee because coffee is also important to him. Eat, dress, and Saint is out the door by 7 (:05 usually).
Saint briskly walks to the train station at manages to catch the 7:15am train on a good day (7:19am on a not-so-good day). The train starts at his station so he typically has the option to sit down, but chooses not to because he's in a chair all freaking day. No sitting.
7:30am and Saint is in his chair, turning on his computer(s) and opening the blinds because the view kicks ass. Saint starts his work as his other coworkers trickle into the office.
It's 8:30am and the woman who sits farther away from the windows goes up to close the blinds, complaining that it's too bright (notice the ironic seating arrangement). Saint glowers. Saint rues the woman and promises that he will talk to the woman tomorrow and see if they can't reach some more favorable compromise, like having the blinds not shut (Saint makes this promise to himself every day).
Saint looks up and it's 9:45am, time to hop down to the convenience store for second breakfast because breakfast is important to him (see above).
Lunchtime falls pretty close to 12pm, but no one is able to leave their desks to go to lunch. One person takes orders, buys food and brings it back for the team. Saint doesn't really have any tasks during this time, so he usually goes with just to get outside. God help him when he learns what tasks they do during lunchtime.
The Japanese market closes at 3pm and all hell breaks loose. Saint transforms into his alter-ego, an excel ninja that imbues the Microsoft Office knowledge of Bill Gates with the badass-ness of Samuel L. Jackson (hey, it's my story). He loses grip with reality and when he comes to, it's after 5.
Things have calmed down at the office, but there is usually enough work to keep Saint there until 8 or 9pm. With an “お疲れさまです,” Saint bounds out of his chair, rediscovers the use of his legs and dashes out of the office.
Saint arrives home variably around 8:30-9:30pm, and by that time his ladyfriend is already back and has started dinner. They eat while watching on his laptop (lately, Firefly) and after dishes and a shower, it is time for him to sleep.
And there you have it. My day in a nutshell (and in third-person, no less). This is the quasi-routine that I'm on at the financial company that I work in.
One anecdote that I found funny lately is my boss (who sits beside me) often says げっ！very loudly whenever she hits a problem spot. In Japanese, this is just a standard exclamation of surprise. When I first heard this, I thought she actually said “Gay!” and I almost broke. Everytime she says this now, I can't but help she's saying “gay!”
It's little things like this that add brightness to your day.
Saint wakes up at 6am. Shit, shower, and shave (the three morning S's that we all know and love) and it's 6:30am. Saint makes himself an actual breakfast (with proteins and everything!) because breakfast is important to him. He makes a quick cup of coffee because coffee is also important to him. Eat, dress, and Saint is out the door by 7 (:05 usually).
Saint briskly walks to the train station at manages to catch the 7:15am train on a good day (7:19am on a not-so-good day). The train starts at his station so he typically has the option to sit down, but chooses not to because he's in a chair all freaking day. No sitting.
7:30am and Saint is in his chair, turning on his computer(s) and opening the blinds because the view kicks ass. Saint starts his work as his other coworkers trickle into the office.
It's 8:30am and the woman who sits farther away from the windows goes up to close the blinds, complaining that it's too bright (notice the ironic seating arrangement). Saint glowers. Saint rues the woman and promises that he will talk to the woman tomorrow and see if they can't reach some more favorable compromise, like having the blinds not shut (Saint makes this promise to himself every day).
Saint looks up and it's 9:45am, time to hop down to the convenience store for second breakfast because breakfast is important to him (see above).
Lunchtime falls pretty close to 12pm, but no one is able to leave their desks to go to lunch. One person takes orders, buys food and brings it back for the team. Saint doesn't really have any tasks during this time, so he usually goes with just to get outside. God help him when he learns what tasks they do during lunchtime.
The Japanese market closes at 3pm and all hell breaks loose. Saint transforms into his alter-ego, an excel ninja that imbues the Microsoft Office knowledge of Bill Gates with the badass-ness of Samuel L. Jackson (hey, it's my story). He loses grip with reality and when he comes to, it's after 5.
Things have calmed down at the office, but there is usually enough work to keep Saint there until 8 or 9pm. With an “お疲れさまです,” Saint bounds out of his chair, rediscovers the use of his legs and dashes out of the office.
Saint arrives home variably around 8:30-9:30pm, and by that time his ladyfriend is already back and has started dinner. They eat while watching on his laptop (lately, Firefly) and after dishes and a shower, it is time for him to sleep.
And there you have it. My day in a nutshell (and in third-person, no less). This is the quasi-routine that I'm on at the financial company that I work in.
One anecdote that I found funny lately is my boss (who sits beside me) often says げっ！very loudly whenever she hits a problem spot. In Japanese, this is just a standard exclamation of surprise. When I first heard this, I thought she actually said “Gay!” and I almost broke. Everytime she says this now, I can't but help she's saying “gay!”
It's little things like this that add brightness to your day.
[ General
]
06 November, 2007 21:14
I've finished my first two weeks at my new job. There have been tons of new experiences, some of which are specific to working in Japan and some of just come with the “getting your first real job” deal. I apologize for any overlap as I am yet unable to sort out the difference.
First of all, the hours are loooooong. Being employed at a financial company I've got a hunch that this is very much a “financial industry” thing. However, given Japan's reputation for overworking its employees, I'm wondering if I get some sort of special double-layer effect. Long hours because it's finance times two 'cause it's freakin' Japan. Yeah, I'm still trying to adjust from a college lifestyle (two hours of class and an addition two [maybe] of studying per day) to my current salaryman schedule (14 hours a day). I'm really hoping this feeling of “paid imprisonment” will pass soon. I try to remind myself that people don't turn down ivy-league schools just because they're worried they might spend too much time studying. I'll let the reader draw the connection there.
Secondly, for all intensive purposes I'm in an all-Japanese environment. People in my team can speak English and I do have some foreign friends that I met in orientation, but all the day-to-day stuff is in Japanese. This is a lot easier than I thought it was going to be. Most of my communication with my coworkers is either receiving orders (hey, could you send off that confirmation?), having stuff explained to me (then you select this file and put it in excel like this), or just regular conversation (albeit politely because everyone is my senior). Before I started, I thought I'd have to be talking about crazy financial concepts that I don't even have a firm grasp of in English. Nah, turns out most of that ends up as borrowed words in Japanese anyways.
Unfortunately right now things seem to be especially busy for my team, so people don't always have the time to go through things step-by-step with me. This creates a lot of downtime for me while I wait for people to be unbusy again. As the weeks go by and I learn more of what I'm supposed to be doing things will get better.
I apologize if this post is poorly written. My English brain becomes sort of addled after a long day at work. I just wanted to give everyone a heads up that I'm alive, some initial impressions, and maybe an insight or two.
[ General
]
19 October, 2007 09:34
Oh visa. Elusive, elusive visa.
Let's talk about visas for a moment, shall we? Getting to the Japanese consulate in San Francisco was half of the pain in the ass-ness of the whole process. I don't really like the American public transit system, but I don't like driving in San Francisco even more. Therefore, train. Before I went I gathered up the necessary documents, which in my case, were:
passport
passport photo
Certificate of Eligibility (notice the caps. this signifies the relative ease (not) of getting this “important” document.)
application form (you get this at the consulate)
A word of caution for all you consulate-goers. I don't remember the student visa being particularly like this, but the work visa application form requires a wholelotta information about the company employing you, contact information for someone at that company, address of your company, etc. Basically a bunch of stuff that I would have in all likelihood forgotten had I not checked the consulate website beforehand. If I had forgotten it, I think I would have spontaneously combusted from the thought of having to go all the way back again. These are all-day trips for me, guys.
Impressions about the consulate:
-general building security dudes in the main lobby. They seriously looked like they had just come from working the front at a club. Good job on putting on suits, guys, but don't forget to take the bling out of your ears next time.
-the bathroom is under lock-and-key. A security guard has to lead you into the elevator and turn his nuclear access key in order for you to go down a floor where they keep the bathrooms.
-you know, for being an Japanese consulate in America, I expected better English out of the people working the front desk. I'm not trying to be mean, but this is an official consulate. It's...official. Anyone have any experience with American consulates in different countries? Are we pretty good about speaking the native language, or are we dicks about it and only speak English?
-on the flip side, they were pretty cool about switching to Japanese at any time. Not only with me, but I saw them accommodate quite poor speakers of Japanese (wanting to practice, of course, can't blame them) with seemingly infinite patience. Rock on, front desk.
-when I went to the consulate initially to apply for my visa, I saw a caucasian women speaking fluent (very seriously fluent) Japanese trying to get visas for some other people. I became simultaneously humbled and fired-up. I like (and need) experiences like this every so often, just to remind me these people ( are out there.
-it seemed like there was an unofficial dress-code going on. Most of the people I saw trying to get visas were wearing suits/business clothes. I don't know if this was because they were on lunch break from work and handling their stuffs, or if they wanted to make a good impression. I would recommend a collared shirt, just in case.
That is all. Stay tuned for my report on new hire orientation whatnots.
Let's talk about visas for a moment, shall we? Getting to the Japanese consulate in San Francisco was half of the pain in the ass-ness of the whole process. I don't really like the American public transit system, but I don't like driving in San Francisco even more. Therefore, train. Before I went I gathered up the necessary documents, which in my case, were:
passport
passport photo
Certificate of Eligibility (notice the caps. this signifies the relative ease (not) of getting this “important” document.)
application form (you get this at the consulate)
A word of caution for all you consulate-goers. I don't remember the student visa being particularly like this, but the work visa application form requires a wholelotta information about the company employing you, contact information for someone at that company, address of your company, etc. Basically a bunch of stuff that I would have in all likelihood forgotten had I not checked the consulate website beforehand. If I had forgotten it, I think I would have spontaneously combusted from the thought of having to go all the way back again. These are all-day trips for me, guys.
Impressions about the consulate:
-general building security dudes in the main lobby. They seriously looked like they had just come from working the front at a club. Good job on putting on suits, guys, but don't forget to take the bling out of your ears next time.
-the bathroom is under lock-and-key. A security guard has to lead you into the elevator and turn his nuclear access key in order for you to go down a floor where they keep the bathrooms.
-you know, for being an Japanese consulate in America, I expected better English out of the people working the front desk. I'm not trying to be mean, but this is an official consulate. It's...official. Anyone have any experience with American consulates in different countries? Are we pretty good about speaking the native language, or are we dicks about it and only speak English?
-on the flip side, they were pretty cool about switching to Japanese at any time. Not only with me, but I saw them accommodate quite poor speakers of Japanese (wanting to practice, of course, can't blame them) with seemingly infinite patience. Rock on, front desk.
-when I went to the consulate initially to apply for my visa, I saw a caucasian women speaking fluent (very seriously fluent) Japanese trying to get visas for some other people. I became simultaneously humbled and fired-up. I like (and need) experiences like this every so often, just to remind me these people ( are out there.
-it seemed like there was an unofficial dress-code going on. Most of the people I saw trying to get visas were wearing suits/business clothes. I don't know if this was because they were on lunch break from work and handling their stuffs, or if they wanted to make a good impression. I would recommend a collared shirt, just in case.
That is all. Stay tuned for my report on new hire orientation whatnots.
[ General
]
24 September, 2007 13:12
After a combination of being lazy in my apartment and being lazy in coffeeshops near my apartment, a few things have come to my attention:
-the prevalence of hardcore gangsta rap as background music in ramen shops, family restaurants, everywhere. Does this not bother anyone else? Do these people just regard it as “American music” and just tune it out? Sometimes it's difficult to eat my ramen with a straight face when lyrics like “Fuck those bitches!” are coming out of the speakers. I turn to the obaasan grandma sitting next to me expecting a shocked face..no, nothing.
-the one pant-leg rolled up thing. If you're walking around, especially at night in places like Roppongi and Shibuya, you can see lots of college-age and youngers wearing sweatpants or baggy jeans like this. This was originally a style started by rappers in the US almost 10 years ago. Let it go, kids, let it go.
-reggae music in general. Reggae music hasn't been popular in the US for quite some time (if ever), but over here it has quite a scene. I'm actually starting to like it...
-I don't mind separating my trash. I don't mind not having a dishwasher. But for the love of all that's sanitary, give me a freakin' garbage disposal!
-the unexistence of coffee presses that hold over 4 cups. Some of us have an addiction to feed.
-what's up with paperbacks written in English that sell for $15 over here? I can go to Kinokunya's at Japantown in SF and get Japanese books with only a $2-3 dollar markup. Stop dropping the ball, Japan. I like reading your books too, I just need a break sometimes.
-the Engrish, oh, the Engrish! Ok Japan, I can understand when you print crappy English on a t-shirt and try to pass it off as cool. We do that with your language too. But when I see multi-million dollar companies and the government print advertising with English spelling and grammar mistakes, I cry inside.
-is there any reason why the train system in Japan can't be running 24 hours a day?
-24 hour ATM's. Please.
-Ok Japan, I know you like your lager. It's pretty much the only kind of beer you sell. I'll give you credit, though, you do it quite well. Can we start making other kinds of beer though? A brown ale? Red ale? Maybe a pilsner?
-And no, not everyone in America drinks Bud.
-pizza. Japan has yet to figure out what a real pizza is.
Certain things that Japan has figured out which need to catch on in the US:
-the toilet and the shower NOT being in the same room together. I'm sorry, you should not poop and wash yourself in the same room. It's unclean.
-hot water pots. Because they're awesome.
-Actually household electronics in general in Japan are awesome. My microwave also functions as an oven as well as a toaster. The vacuum cleaner weighs a fraction of those sold in the states and is just as powerful, without bags. My rice-cooker (almost non-existent in the states) cooks by pressure and I can set it to make of rice for different kinds of dishes (fluffy, rice for sushi, rice for curry, etc).
-cell phones. There is no excuse for the US to be 10 years behind in cellular phone technology.
-customer service. The phrase “the customer is always right” actually carries weight here. In Japan, I don't have to wait in a line with my purchased goods for the employees to check and make sure I didn't steal anything. Way to go losing customer confidence, America. (A big pet peeve of mine)
-convenience stores. I'll take a 7-11 here over one in America any day, even if it doesn't have slurpees. In Japan, convenience stores are more convenient, cleaner, and safer than those in the states, hands down.
-vending machines. They're everywhere and sell everything. I can even buy hot drinks in winter. See argument for convenient stores.
-ramen. American has yet to figure out what real ramen is.
Ok, that's my list. Hope you enjoyed it. I have a question and hopefully someone out there will know the answer. I want to bring some wine back from America. I know I can bring up to three bottles without charge. Does anyone know what kind of tariff they slap you with if you try to bring in more than three bottles?
-the prevalence of hardcore gangsta rap as background music in ramen shops, family restaurants, everywhere. Does this not bother anyone else? Do these people just regard it as “American music” and just tune it out? Sometimes it's difficult to eat my ramen with a straight face when lyrics like “Fuck those bitches!” are coming out of the speakers. I turn to the obaasan grandma sitting next to me expecting a shocked face..no, nothing.
-the one pant-leg rolled up thing. If you're walking around, especially at night in places like Roppongi and Shibuya, you can see lots of college-age and youngers wearing sweatpants or baggy jeans like this. This was originally a style started by rappers in the US almost 10 years ago. Let it go, kids, let it go.
-reggae music in general. Reggae music hasn't been popular in the US for quite some time (if ever), but over here it has quite a scene. I'm actually starting to like it...
-I don't mind separating my trash. I don't mind not having a dishwasher. But for the love of all that's sanitary, give me a freakin' garbage disposal!
-the unexistence of coffee presses that hold over 4 cups. Some of us have an addiction to feed.
-what's up with paperbacks written in English that sell for $15 over here? I can go to Kinokunya's at Japantown in SF and get Japanese books with only a $2-3 dollar markup. Stop dropping the ball, Japan. I like reading your books too, I just need a break sometimes.
-the Engrish, oh, the Engrish! Ok Japan, I can understand when you print crappy English on a t-shirt and try to pass it off as cool. We do that with your language too. But when I see multi-million dollar companies and the government print advertising with English spelling and grammar mistakes, I cry inside.
-is there any reason why the train system in Japan can't be running 24 hours a day?
-24 hour ATM's. Please.
-Ok Japan, I know you like your lager. It's pretty much the only kind of beer you sell. I'll give you credit, though, you do it quite well. Can we start making other kinds of beer though? A brown ale? Red ale? Maybe a pilsner?
-And no, not everyone in America drinks Bud.
-pizza. Japan has yet to figure out what a real pizza is.
Certain things that Japan has figured out which need to catch on in the US:
-the toilet and the shower NOT being in the same room together. I'm sorry, you should not poop and wash yourself in the same room. It's unclean.
-hot water pots. Because they're awesome.
-Actually household electronics in general in Japan are awesome. My microwave also functions as an oven as well as a toaster. The vacuum cleaner weighs a fraction of those sold in the states and is just as powerful, without bags. My rice-cooker (almost non-existent in the states) cooks by pressure and I can set it to make of rice for different kinds of dishes (fluffy, rice for sushi, rice for curry, etc).
-cell phones. There is no excuse for the US to be 10 years behind in cellular phone technology.
-customer service. The phrase “the customer is always right” actually carries weight here. In Japan, I don't have to wait in a line with my purchased goods for the employees to check and make sure I didn't steal anything. Way to go losing customer confidence, America. (A big pet peeve of mine)
-convenience stores. I'll take a 7-11 here over one in America any day, even if it doesn't have slurpees. In Japan, convenience stores are more convenient, cleaner, and safer than those in the states, hands down.
-vending machines. They're everywhere and sell everything. I can even buy hot drinks in winter. See argument for convenient stores.
-ramen. American has yet to figure out what real ramen is.
Ok, that's my list. Hope you enjoyed it. I have a question and hopefully someone out there will know the answer. I want to bring some wine back from America. I know I can bring up to three bottles without charge. Does anyone know what kind of tariff they slap you with if you try to bring in more than three bottles?
[ General
]
21 September, 2007 22:22
Hey everyone. I just wanted to check in and let everyone know I haven't let this blog fall to ruins just yet. Like the title suggests, the reason I haven't been writing is that I haven't really been doing much of anything at all. Apparently it takes a substancial amount of time to switch your visa status from visitor to work visa, so in getting hired on a visitory or "tourist" visa, I've gotten a sort of late summer vacation while I wait for my work visa to come through.
Anywho, yes I'm still alive and pretty much just spending my days seeing friends and furnishing my new apartment. Leave a comment if you have a question or are in the Tokyo area and want to grab a drink.
[ General
]
28 August, 2007 13:46
I met up with a friend of mine the other day who had just arrived in Japan and is going to start job hunting much the same way I did. He and I had studied together during a year abroad in Japan 2 years ago and had become pretty good friends. After the year abroad ended, I went back to America and he went back to England to finish up our respective undergraduate work. It was only coincidence (and a haunting feeling of unfinished business) that brought us both back here to Tokyo around the same time. It seemed like we had both come back to Tokyo for the same purpose of employment with the same background. If I could find a job without too much trouble, he would be fine too, right? After talking with him a bit, I became more aware of the fact that we were here with different backgrounds, for different reasons, and with different goals.
Let's face it. It's pretty easy to get a job teaching English in Japan. All you need is the ability to speak native English and the ability to show up to an interview on time and in a semi-conscious state. Boom. You're in. The Japanese focus much more on the “English” side of the equation and much less on the “teaching.” Nothing exemplifies this more than an ad I saw on the train the other day where it was comparing the percentage of teachers in Japan with graduate degrees (masters and above) with graduate degree holders in America. According to the ad's statistics (I think it was an ad for a grad school), 59% of America's teachers have higher higher education while only 9% of those in Japan do.
So, like I said, much more focus on the English side, much less on the teaching side. Teaching English in Japan is not a bad thing and is actually the right step for a lot of people. But you don't need my advice to get a job teaching English. I may be able to help finding a different job, though.
Let's start from the beginning. You want to come find a job in Japan. The first two things you need to think about are:
1. What are your goals?
2. What are your assets?
What are your goals? Why the hell would you want to leave your comfortable western environment and come to Japan to work in the first place? “Because I want to” doesn't really cut it. If you like adventure, that's fine. If you want to be exposed to a different culture, that's cool too. Learn a second language, ok. But this is too expensive, difficult and frustrating of a thing to do without having very good reasons to do it. Let me give you my reasons that I doled out at every interview:
-Improve my Japanese in a business setting.
-Learn about the financial world.
My ideal career path is working as a freelance interpreter/translator. Trust me, I don't want to be working twelve hours a day at a financial company for the rest of my life. Learning the financial world would give me a specific area of knowledge that I can use when I want to change career paths. And considering I want to go into interpretation/translation, improving my Japanese in a business environment is a no-brainer. These are my two immediate goals. If the job I was interviewing for didn't meet both of them, I wouldn't consider it. So take a minute and ask yourself what, specifically, do you hope to accomplish by working in Japan?
Second, take a look at your assets. When I met my English friend the other day, I became aware that his set of assets was very different than mine. I thought it was the same, considering we both had a Japanese focus in university. After my year studying abroad, I went back to my university in America and kept studying and improving my Japanese. I took classes that focused on translation, reading newspapers, etc. I got a part-time job that allowed me to speak to and make friends with Japanese international students. I structured my life around improving my Japanese more and more. And it paid off. When I finally came to Japan a little more than six weeks ago, I was happy to find that interviews in Japanese didn't really pose that much of a problem. I could get through them and sound intelligent to boot. My language skill is my biggest asset, and I used that as my leverage to get a job.
My English friend, on the other hand, turned out to have a double major in Japanese and Business. When he went back to England, he had to really buckle down with his business classes while his Japanese ability fell a bit by the wayside. This is neither good nor bad, it simply is. His assets lie much more on the business side of things. He has much more experience than I do interning at various companies and even started his own small import/export business. He also has formal education in economics. Even though his Japanese level may not be up to mine, he focused in other areas and therefore has other assets to fall back on.
You're basically selling yourself to a company, so what do you use to make yourself look all bright n' shiny? For me it's my language skill. For my English friend, it's a combination of language as well as business education and experience. So take a look at yourself. What assets do you have?
Let's face it. It's pretty easy to get a job teaching English in Japan. All you need is the ability to speak native English and the ability to show up to an interview on time and in a semi-conscious state. Boom. You're in. The Japanese focus much more on the “English” side of the equation and much less on the “teaching.” Nothing exemplifies this more than an ad I saw on the train the other day where it was comparing the percentage of teachers in Japan with graduate degrees (masters and above) with graduate degree holders in America. According to the ad's statistics (I think it was an ad for a grad school), 59% of America's teachers have higher higher education while only 9% of those in Japan do.
So, like I said, much more focus on the English side, much less on the teaching side. Teaching English in Japan is not a bad thing and is actually the right step for a lot of people. But you don't need my advice to get a job teaching English. I may be able to help finding a different job, though.
Let's start from the beginning. You want to come find a job in Japan. The first two things you need to think about are:
1. What are your goals?
2. What are your assets?
What are your goals? Why the hell would you want to leave your comfortable western environment and come to Japan to work in the first place? “Because I want to” doesn't really cut it. If you like adventure, that's fine. If you want to be exposed to a different culture, that's cool too. Learn a second language, ok. But this is too expensive, difficult and frustrating of a thing to do without having very good reasons to do it. Let me give you my reasons that I doled out at every interview:
-Improve my Japanese in a business setting.
-Learn about the financial world.
My ideal career path is working as a freelance interpreter/translator. Trust me, I don't want to be working twelve hours a day at a financial company for the rest of my life. Learning the financial world would give me a specific area of knowledge that I can use when I want to change career paths. And considering I want to go into interpretation/translation, improving my Japanese in a business environment is a no-brainer. These are my two immediate goals. If the job I was interviewing for didn't meet both of them, I wouldn't consider it. So take a minute and ask yourself what, specifically, do you hope to accomplish by working in Japan?
Second, take a look at your assets. When I met my English friend the other day, I became aware that his set of assets was very different than mine. I thought it was the same, considering we both had a Japanese focus in university. After my year studying abroad, I went back to my university in America and kept studying and improving my Japanese. I took classes that focused on translation, reading newspapers, etc. I got a part-time job that allowed me to speak to and make friends with Japanese international students. I structured my life around improving my Japanese more and more. And it paid off. When I finally came to Japan a little more than six weeks ago, I was happy to find that interviews in Japanese didn't really pose that much of a problem. I could get through them and sound intelligent to boot. My language skill is my biggest asset, and I used that as my leverage to get a job.
My English friend, on the other hand, turned out to have a double major in Japanese and Business. When he went back to England, he had to really buckle down with his business classes while his Japanese ability fell a bit by the wayside. This is neither good nor bad, it simply is. His assets lie much more on the business side of things. He has much more experience than I do interning at various companies and even started his own small import/export business. He also has formal education in economics. Even though his Japanese level may not be up to mine, he focused in other areas and therefore has other assets to fall back on.
You're basically selling yourself to a company, so what do you use to make yourself look all bright n' shiny? For me it's my language skill. For my English friend, it's a combination of language as well as business education and experience. So take a look at yourself. What assets do you have?
[ General
]
22 August, 2007 20:28
I apologize for the lack of updates. The reason I haven't been updated is because I've been busy. The reason I've been busy is because I've done got a job! Huzzah! Let me try to recap so as to keep the timeline progressing smoothly...
I left you fellow readers with the interview at investment company number five. I came in around 10am for what I thought was the usually half hour deal (unspoken agreement, of course) and was unknowingly taken on a rollercoaster of interviews. I was first interviewed by the foreigner head of the department, who then handed the baton to his Japanese second-in-command. Those two took about an hour and were actually quite pleasing to speak with. They then left me with the words "Don't screw it up." and before I had a chance to really ponder the deeper meaning, five or six other people from one of their operations teams came to interview me in succession. Yes, I got a little tired of explaining why I chose Japan and Japanese six consecutive times, but you know, you make these kinds of sacrifices when you do an interview. Well, there are 'other' kinds of sacrifices, but we won't get into that.
As the foreigner department head was leading me (I was very disoriented at that point) to the elevator, he gave me a verbal offer. This was pretty cool, I thought. You know when you apply for college and you send that one application to your dream school knowing that you won't get in but figure it's worth the shot anyway? Yeah, that's me and this company. I got in.
They rushed the whole process pretty quickly to get me started on the immigration procure as soon as possible. They gave me a verbal offer last Wednesday, a written offer on Friday, I turned in the signed written offer on Monday and I'm on my way. But folks, immigration takes forever and a day. Seriously, if I can actually be working by early next year, I'll be surprised. In actuality though, I'll hopefully be starting around early October, but still. The image of me working in Japan actually consisted of me working. Behind a desk. With, you know, computers and stuff. Not just twiddling my thumbs, waiting for the Japanese government to give me the 'ok' to start working. Oh well, you take what you can get.
Besides the immigration procedure, I have a whole bunch of fun stuff I get to do in the interim. First, and most importantly, I need to find a place. I've been staying at various friends’ places for the last six weeks, and I think I may be running out of friends. I went apartment hunting with my ladyfriend and a real estate agent (yes, they are necessary to rent an apartment) and found a really great place just a 10 minute train ride from where I work. Hopefully I can get the paperwork started on this too.
Before I move into my own place, the company will provide me with a 'temporary residence' to use. As sketchy as it sounds, I think it will work out pretty well.
Anywho, more updates as they come. My life is pretty much filled with paperwork and processing right now, so don't expect anything exciting.
[ General
]
13 August, 2007 22:28
Not that anyone really noticed, but I skipped town for the last four days to head up to Nikko (read: cooler mountainous area) for some hot springs fun. I also brought my laptop along, mistakenly thinking that I would have a chance to post from a more natural setting than Tokyo. What I forgot (and this is entirely my own fault) was that while Tokyo is one of, if not the most technologically advanced city in the world, the rest of Japan somehow missed the boat. Oh well, even though I couldn't connect to the internet I still was able to catch up on some episodes of House M.D. (one of the few tv shows I actually kind of follow). This also has the added fun of having my ladyfriend ask me to translate parts of the show to her ("How do you say sickle cell anemia in Japanese?" "......I think my dictionary s'over here...").
We went down to the main part of Nikko, which took a few hours by bus and train (it’s a big area) in order to get to this place called Edo-Mura (or literally Edo-town). For those not 'in the know,' Edo was what Tokyo was called back in the Tokugawa/Meiji periods. It was pretty surprising to me though, because it was the first time I've ever seen Japan package its own culture and sell it back to itself. I mean, they had ninja training houses, geisha courts, etc., basically everything needed to cheese-out their own culture. It kind of felt like a renaissance fair back in the states, but more fake and marketed towards children. I can see them packaging their culture and selling it to foreigners (they’ve done that countless times), but this was the first time I've seen it 'for Japanese, by Japanese.' Go figure.
Job hunting seems to be a little slower this week because of Obon. I had an interview at hotel number two today which went well. Two of their hiring managers sat down with me and took turns asking me questions, one in Japanese and one in English. I have to admit, it was a little weird going back and forth every minute. Usually I feel more comfortable setting the dial internally and sticking with a single language for a little while, especially for sticky situations like interviews. It turned out well though, and they said they'll get back to me in a few days (they always say they're going to call but they never do. They don't really love me.)
I have one other piece of really good news. I got offered a position at investment company number two! I only really know which department the position is in, so I'm going back on Wednesday morning to talk with them about the job specifics and hammer out the details. Nothing is set yet though.
I got an interview with another investment company (number five) through one of the recruiting agencies here in Tokyo, so I'll be going to that interview before the one at investment company two on Wednesday.
So...Wednesday is pretty packed, but other than that my week is completely free. I'm looking forward to finding out the specifics on the offer so I can compare it to the first one and see what it is I'm actually looking for in a job, what is reasonable to ask for, etc.
As I've been writing this blog I've felt kind of bad for keeping this all anonymous. I guess it doesn’t really help people figure out how to get a job in Japan unless I actually post the names of services I used and so forth. I'd actually post the names of companies if I wasn't worried about you ambitious readers going out there and taking my jobs *suspicious face* I've actually tried (and failed) at several blogs throughout high school and college based on this whole 'how much do I disclose' issue. If you reveal too much, well, let's just say there are some aspects of your life that others just don't really prefer to read about. If you don't tell enough of the story, well then, that's just boring. I think I finally decided that a good rule of thumb is tell it like you would be telling a friend at a crowded bar. You can pretty much tell them the story, but just be aware that other people will probably overhear you and check yourself accordingly. Well, as soon as this job hunt is finished, I'll give people the scoop of exactly what I did to get a job in Japan (with only a tourist visa no less). And of course, if people email me directly I’ll be more than happy to help.
[ General
]
06 August, 2007 22:16
Coming up on a month, huh?
This week is going to be a short but busy one. I'm going out of town on Thursday with my ladyfriend to spend an extended weekend in Nikko, so I'm trying to get everything I want done this week done before I leave.
Monday - Today I went back to investment company number two for the second set of interviews. It turns out that two departments both have openings and are interested in interviewing me. I had an interview with the “Outsourcing” department, which on a whole I'm not quite sure what they do, but apparently they have a junior position open. My job would be the jack-of-all-trades kind of thing, doing various assignments within the department so I can figure out how an investment company actually operates. The upside for me is that work in the outsourcing department is predominantly conducted in Japanese. The downside? Well, other than being an office gopher... The other department, Human Resources, was too busy today and bailed out on me. I'm meeting with them tomorrow.
Tuesday - I was supposed to meet with a recruiting company (not to work for the company but to see if they could place me somewhere) but because of investment company number two's HR (stupid HR) moving the interview to Tuesday, I had to cancel with the recruiting company and am now going to head back to Roppongi in the afternoon. Not a big loss, though. The recruiting company was just following up with me after I had given them my info back at that career fair. They're primarily a tech-based recruiting agency, so I don't think they could have done much for me anyways.
Wednesday - In the morning I'm meeting with a Japanese headhunter that got another foreigner friend of mine a job at a big firm here. Even though my friend claims he's entirely lost at his new job, he still recommends the guy. Any help I can get, you know? In the afternoon I'm meeting up with a representative of an organization that I do some volunteer translation work for. I haven't really been “hired” on yet (not really hired since I don't get paid) but they want to meet with me to see in what capacity I could help them.
Wednesday night I'm going to be moving to another friend's place. This is another thing to remember for those readers that are thinking about doing the same thing I'm doing. Make sure you have lots of friends in Japan that are willing for you to crash at their place. I definitely would not have been able to do this job hunting without the hospitality of a few spectacular people.
More updates to come as the week progresses.
This week is going to be a short but busy one. I'm going out of town on Thursday with my ladyfriend to spend an extended weekend in Nikko, so I'm trying to get everything I want done this week done before I leave.
Monday - Today I went back to investment company number two for the second set of interviews. It turns out that two departments both have openings and are interested in interviewing me. I had an interview with the “Outsourcing” department, which on a whole I'm not quite sure what they do, but apparently they have a junior position open. My job would be the jack-of-all-trades kind of thing, doing various assignments within the department so I can figure out how an investment company actually operates. The upside for me is that work in the outsourcing department is predominantly conducted in Japanese. The downside? Well, other than being an office gopher... The other department, Human Resources, was too busy today and bailed out on me. I'm meeting with them tomorrow.
Tuesday - I was supposed to meet with a recruiting company (not to work for the company but to see if they could place me somewhere) but because of investment company number two's HR (stupid HR) moving the interview to Tuesday, I had to cancel with the recruiting company and am now going to head back to Roppongi in the afternoon. Not a big loss, though. The recruiting company was just following up with me after I had given them my info back at that career fair. They're primarily a tech-based recruiting agency, so I don't think they could have done much for me anyways.
Wednesday - In the morning I'm meeting with a Japanese headhunter that got another foreigner friend of mine a job at a big firm here. Even though my friend claims he's entirely lost at his new job, he still recommends the guy. Any help I can get, you know? In the afternoon I'm meeting up with a representative of an organization that I do some volunteer translation work for. I haven't really been “hired” on yet (not really hired since I don't get paid) but they want to meet with me to see in what capacity I could help them.
Wednesday night I'm going to be moving to another friend's place. This is another thing to remember for those readers that are thinking about doing the same thing I'm doing. Make sure you have lots of friends in Japan that are willing for you to crash at their place. I definitely would not have been able to do this job hunting without the hospitality of a few spectacular people.
More updates to come as the week progresses.
[ General
]
03 August, 2007 23:51
Ok, a quick update.
This week became a lot busier than I thought. It's been interesting to see waves of contacts that I made when I first arrived come back around now. I'll break it down day by day.
Monday - I got a call from a translation company that I had been contacting recently, but their HR center is located in New York so the call came in around 1am. Meh, I guess I'm not really in a position to complain. It ended up not really being an interview, but rather the person in HR just wanted to confirm sending me a translation trial test by email. The translation test is really...hard. I don't really think this one is going to happen.
Tuesday - I had lunch with a fellow from recruiting company number two, but he actually just quit his job to set up his own recruiting company. He gave me some advice on avenues to pursue that I hadn't thought of before (magazine companies, universities, etc), but nothing really materialized from the meeting. Nice guy though, and he paid for lunch.
Wednesday - I had an interview with investment company number four. This one went pretty well. The interview was mostly in English, with a short interview in Japanese to test my ability. The English interviewer was really easy-going, and is actually a big advocate for bringing in people fresh out of college (my kind of guy). Hopefully I'll get a follow-up email soon once he checks with different departments and “assesses their needs.”
Thursday - My first interview with a hotel here in Japan. I'm kind of split with this one, because even though the two Japanese people who interviewed me (interview all in Japanese) seemed to warm up to me, they also just seemed to compliment my Japanese over and over. I mean, I expect the usual “Your Japanese is so good!” every once in awhile (although the less the better), but it usually doesn't bode well for me if they keep doing it. It usually means they see me as more of an “outgroup” person and use the complimenting to reenforce that feeling. We'll see if they actually follow-up with me.
Friday - This was a pretty crazy day. I met with the recruiting company (number one) of the original headhunter (he left to go to work in Hong Kong) and they told me that they were going to open up a research position and that if I wanted, it would be there in September. This is an attractive position for several reasons. First of all, it is a small business, half Japanese and half foreigners. My primary job responsibilities would be calling potential clients (people looking for jobs) and customers (businesses looking for clients) and assess their needs...in Japanese. This means both phone and email primarily all in Japanese. One of the Japanese guys who is in charge of all the translation there used to be a university professor and they basically said that he would mentor me on my business Japanese. My only hitch is that I don't want to get sucked into just talking with all the foreigners at the office. They all seem pretty close and tight-knit and I'm not really sure I want to get drawn into that. Pay is great and a full month and a half of paid vacation per year. They were even cool enough to let me go out and keep looking for jobs so I can figure out what I want to do. And then if I decide to go with them, the position will essentially be waiting for me.
In the afternoon I had an interview with a medical supply company in Japan that I had just sent a random email to. I had done an internship back in the states every summer during university at a medical supply company, so I had picked out a bunch of them in Japan to send emails to. The place is the Japanese branch of an American company, so they're always needing documentation to be translated, as well as interpretation for when they send teams to the States or vice-versa. The interview was entirely in Japanese as well and seemed to go over very well. We talked about what kind of salary I wanted, where I would live, etc. Most of my interviews don't get that far. They then ended the interview by saying that they just need to contact the home office in America and they'll get back to me. Needless to say, it seemed to go very well. This company looks good because the environment is entirely in Japanese. No English. The only thing is that it seems like kind of a traditional Japanese company environment, so it might not be as flexible as the recruiting company from the morning. We'll see if they give me the positive response I'm expecting.
The two big triumphs of the week was:
1. The job offer from the recruiting company
2. I got called back for a second round of interviews at investment company number two! Interviews start Monday.
Looks like I'm in the safe zone now. I can always take the recruiting job and I don't have to teach English.
Mission effectively accomplished.
This week became a lot busier than I thought. It's been interesting to see waves of contacts that I made when I first arrived come back around now. I'll break it down day by day.
Monday - I got a call from a translation company that I had been contacting recently, but their HR center is located in New York so the call came in around 1am. Meh, I guess I'm not really in a position to complain. It ended up not really being an interview, but rather the person in HR just wanted to confirm sending me a translation trial test by email. The translation test is really...hard. I don't really think this one is going to happen.
Tuesday - I had lunch with a fellow from recruiting company number two, but he actually just quit his job to set up his own recruiting company. He gave me some advice on avenues to pursue that I hadn't thought of before (magazine companies, universities, etc), but nothing really materialized from the meeting. Nice guy though, and he paid for lunch.
Wednesday - I had an interview with investment company number four. This one went pretty well. The interview was mostly in English, with a short interview in Japanese to test my ability. The English interviewer was really easy-going, and is actually a big advocate for bringing in people fresh out of college (my kind of guy). Hopefully I'll get a follow-up email soon once he checks with different departments and “assesses their needs.”
Thursday - My first interview with a hotel here in Japan. I'm kind of split with this one, because even though the two Japanese people who interviewed me (interview all in Japanese) seemed to warm up to me, they also just seemed to compliment my Japanese over and over. I mean, I expect the usual “Your Japanese is so good!” every once in awhile (although the less the better), but it usually doesn't bode well for me if they keep doing it. It usually means they see me as more of an “outgroup” person and use the complimenting to reenforce that feeling. We'll see if they actually follow-up with me.
Friday - This was a pretty crazy day. I met with the recruiting company (number one) of the original headhunter (he left to go to work in Hong Kong) and they told me that they were going to open up a research position and that if I wanted, it would be there in September. This is an attractive position for several reasons. First of all, it is a small business, half Japanese and half foreigners. My primary job responsibilities would be calling potential clients (people looking for jobs) and customers (businesses looking for clients) and assess their needs...in Japanese. This means both phone and email primarily all in Japanese. One of the Japanese guys who is in charge of all the translation there used to be a university professor and they basically said that he would mentor me on my business Japanese. My only hitch is that I don't want to get sucked into just talking with all the foreigners at the office. They all seem pretty close and tight-knit and I'm not really sure I want to get drawn into that. Pay is great and a full month and a half of paid vacation per year. They were even cool enough to let me go out and keep looking for jobs so I can figure out what I want to do. And then if I decide to go with them, the position will essentially be waiting for me.
In the afternoon I had an interview with a medical supply company in Japan that I had just sent a random email to. I had done an internship back in the states every summer during university at a medical supply company, so I had picked out a bunch of them in Japan to send emails to. The place is the Japanese branch of an American company, so they're always needing documentation to be translated, as well as interpretation for when they send teams to the States or vice-versa. The interview was entirely in Japanese as well and seemed to go over very well. We talked about what kind of salary I wanted, where I would live, etc. Most of my interviews don't get that far. They then ended the interview by saying that they just need to contact the home office in America and they'll get back to me. Needless to say, it seemed to go very well. This company looks good because the environment is entirely in Japanese. No English. The only thing is that it seems like kind of a traditional Japanese company environment, so it might not be as flexible as the recruiting company from the morning. We'll see if they give me the positive response I'm expecting.
The two big triumphs of the week was:
1. The job offer from the recruiting company
2. I got called back for a second round of interviews at investment company number two! Interviews start Monday.
Looks like I'm in the safe zone now. I can always take the recruiting job and I don't have to teach English.
Mission effectively accomplished.
[ General
]
31 July, 2007 00:41
Response to Richard: Advice on Learning
(see comment from Richard on article “Day 20”)
Hey Richard,
Thanks for the comment! I'm assuming since you're posting all this, you'd like some advice on how to tackle this language barrier. If not, well, I've been meaning to write a article on this for awhile, so I'm going to dispense some advice anyway.
First of all, learning Japanese is a job. But then again, learning any language is a job. Attitude is key. Let's look at the English-learning Japanese for example. When you were here in Japan, did you notice all the English conversation schools like Nova, Aeon, Geos, etc? And did you also notice that despite six years of mandatory English education, plus these schools, plus English lessons on NHK (Japan's public broadcasting), plus access to shelves and shelves of material in major bookstores, that with all this available to them very few Japanese actually learn English to a usable level? I believe this primarily has to do with attitude. Many Japanese look at English as a weekend hobby and think if they study it for a few hours a week that eventually they're going to get the hang of it. They consider English to be just another subject in school and unfortunately most people here treat learning it that way. I'm not sure where you're from, Richard, but back in America we have maybe half a shelf dedicated to Japanese at major bookstores, with a collective total of maaaaybe 50 books. We don't have bilingual t.v., and we don't have Japanese conversation school. Granted that not many Americans learn Japanese (or any foreign language for that matter) but I think the ones that usually apply themselves to Japanese do so because they want to, not because they have to. A fundamental difference in attitude. (By they way, did you know that a person who can speak three languages is called trilingual and person who can speak two languages, bilingual? And those that speak only one language? American.)
Second language learning requires constant diligence. Especially for a tough lingual pair like English and Japanese, one has to focus everyday even if it's just a little bit. Consistency is key (just like attitude). Just because you live in Japan doesn't necessarily mean you'll magically acquire Japanese by osmosis. I've actually met westerners that have live in Japan for 4+ years who's Japanese is limited to ordering beer, just because they didn't want to learn anything else. There is enough English here where you're not going to be forced to “pick up” Japanese. You will,however, have access to many more learning materials than you did in the states and being here will give you more opportunities to practice, should you choose to take them.
Richard, I'm not sure what exactly it is you want to learn. You mentioned you want to acquire the ability to communicate, which might indicate you only want to learn conversation, but you also said you're planning on moving here. If that's the case, I would seriously suggest that you also learn how to read and write as well. Learning conversational Japanese is great and all, but unfortunately speaking and written literacy usually go hand-in-hand, especially with learning materials. I would suggest, unless you want to learn Japanese on only the most casual level (then you really shouldn't be diving into an asian language) that you acquire both oral and written abilities.
Ok, now that we have that little intro and disclaimer out of the way, I'll proceed with the advice dump.
The first thing you need to do is to keep your motivation up. If you have no motivation to learn, there'll be no learning, right? A lot of people get fired up when they start learning Japanese and they dive right in, trying to get as many kanji or phrases under their belt in the shortest amount of time. Trust me, this usually leads to burn out real quick. Do things in small chunks. First learn hiragana, then focus this week on phrases you can use at the bus stop, do a few pages in your workbook today, etc. The point is to break it up and do something every day, even if it's small. You're not going to learn anything if you just spend a few hours studying on Saturdays.
Set clear goals for what you want to get done. You mentioned you have a stupidly busy life. You're going to need to get the motivation to make time in your stupidly busy life. I know this doesn't really relate to Japanese specifically (more like productivity/goal-setting) but it's just as important. Remember how to study like a student. Realize that normal people's concentration starts to flag after the first hour or two of studying. Take breaks. Anywho, enough of that. If you want to read more about productivity/goal-setting type stuff, just search “productivity blogs” in google and you'll be swimmin' in stuff.
Another thing to help motivation is to get involved. I took classes at university to learn Japanese and that easily kept me on track. I had friends to study together with and teachers that were pretty fired up to teach us. For those not taking classes though, I would recommend becoming involved online. There are several websites dedicated to language learning that have active forum communities. By getting involved, you not only keep yourself on track, but you learn new study techniques, can participate in study challenges, etc. Remember, this is all for the sake of keeping your fire burning. If your fire goes out, no more learning. One of my favorite websites for this is here.
As long as we're talking about resources on the internet, check out internet radio/podcasts in Japanese. If you have iTunes, you can download podcasts in Japanese. Just go down to the bottom of the iStore page and change the region to Japanese. They have a lot of learning English podcasts where they give you the Japanese phrase too, effectively making it a good tool to learn Japanese with. If you can get the hang of that, move up to things like news broadcasts, etc. You can also download t.v. shows on the internet if that's your thing. Try watching them first with subtitles, then without. Repeat what they characters say and practice your pronunciation. If you download the episode and watch on your computer, you can pause it and go over segments as many times as you want.
Richard, you mentioned that your wife is Japanese. I don't want to make any presumptions about your relationship, but I'm guessing that when you guys go out to eat in Japan, she's the one ordering at restaurants and generally speaking for the both of you when conversing with Japanese people, right? These are actually good times for you to practice. Try ordering food, try asking for directions (even when you don't need them), try complimenting someone on their taste in t-shirts, whatever. The point is to get the words out of your mouth and see if you can catch them when they come 'round back at you.
On the other side of the coin, trying talking to your wife in Japanese. This may or may not work, depending on your relationship. For some people, it feels awkward to switch to Japanese with someone they've always talked together in English. Usually it feels strange because English is easier for both of you. Language and communication usually take the path of least resistance. But if she's cool with it, try to get her to sit down and have a short 10-15 minute conversation with you. If this is all too strange for you guys, see if she has any friends that would be willing to exchange language practice for a cup of coffee or a meal.
Alcohol. Alcohol is great, isn't it? It's actually a very useful tool for language learning. A lot of people hit a stage where they know the words and they know what they want to say, but they can't quite get the words out of their mouth. They choke on the words, feel embarrassed, and then often unconsciously force themselves to remain quiet in order to avoid more embarrassment from choking even more. Alcohol keeps you from feeling embarrassed (uninhibited, right?) and allows you to keep talking. Heck, it doesn't matter if it's bad Japanese. It just matters that you're getting the words out of your mouth and your mouth is getting used to speaking Japanese. So, when you do manage to finally snag a conversation partner, try buying 'em a beer or a glass of wine instead of coffee.
A lot of people think that listening and speaking go hand-in-hand. This is true on a few levels, but just because people can listen and understand a certain language does not necessarily mean they can speak it too. Don't forget to focus specifically on listening and specifically on speaking and avoid always lumping them together.
Read. Doesn't matter if it's a children's book, a magazine, the newspaper, an article on the internet, just read in Japanese. This is the hands-down best way to improve your vocabulary. Pull out that book, keep that dictionary next to you, and sit down your butt down.
Buy an electronic dictionary as soon as you settle down in Japan. Best tool ever.
I don't know your level, Richard, so I don't know if I'd recommend this now, but check out the Japanese Language Proficiency Test (JLPT). It's held once a year and basically is just the Japanese equivalent to the English TOEFL or TOIEC standardized tests. It tests your reading ability, grammar, listening ability and kanji. You can find study materials in the bigger Japanese book stores. I'll be going for Level 1 again this winter.
That's about it. This is the basic advice post that I've been meaning to write for awhile. I hope you enjoyed it and feel free to leave comments about your own thoughts and experiences.
Hey Richard,
Thanks for the comment! I'm assuming since you're posting all this, you'd like some advice on how to tackle this language barrier. If not, well, I've been meaning to write a article on this for awhile, so I'm going to dispense some advice anyway.
First of all, learning Japanese is a job. But then again, learning any language is a job. Attitude is key. Let's look at the English-learning Japanese for example. When you were here in Japan, did you notice all the English conversation schools like Nova, Aeon, Geos, etc? And did you also notice that despite six years of mandatory English education, plus these schools, plus English lessons on NHK (Japan's public broadcasting), plus access to shelves and shelves of material in major bookstores, that with all this available to them very few Japanese actually learn English to a usable level? I believe this primarily has to do with attitude. Many Japanese look at English as a weekend hobby and think if they study it for a few hours a week that eventually they're going to get the hang of it. They consider English to be just another subject in school and unfortunately most people here treat learning it that way. I'm not sure where you're from, Richard, but back in America we have maybe half a shelf dedicated to Japanese at major bookstores, with a collective total of maaaaybe 50 books. We don't have bilingual t.v., and we don't have Japanese conversation school. Granted that not many Americans learn Japanese (or any foreign language for that matter) but I think the ones that usually apply themselves to Japanese do so because they want to, not because they have to. A fundamental difference in attitude. (By they way, did you know that a person who can speak three languages is called trilingual and person who can speak two languages, bilingual? And those that speak only one language? American.)
Second language learning requires constant diligence. Especially for a tough lingual pair like English and Japanese, one has to focus everyday even if it's just a little bit. Consistency is key (just like attitude). Just because you live in Japan doesn't necessarily mean you'll magically acquire Japanese by osmosis. I've actually met westerners that have live in Japan for 4+ years who's Japanese is limited to ordering beer, just because they didn't want to learn anything else. There is enough English here where you're not going to be forced to “pick up” Japanese. You will,however, have access to many more learning materials than you did in the states and being here will give you more opportunities to practice, should you choose to take them.
Richard, I'm not sure what exactly it is you want to learn. You mentioned you want to acquire the ability to communicate, which might indicate you only want to learn conversation, but you also said you're planning on moving here. If that's the case, I would seriously suggest that you also learn how to read and write as well. Learning conversational Japanese is great and all, but unfortunately speaking and written literacy usually go hand-in-hand, especially with learning materials. I would suggest, unless you want to learn Japanese on only the most casual level (then you really shouldn't be diving into an asian language) that you acquire both oral and written abilities.
Ok, now that we have that little intro and disclaimer out of the way, I'll proceed with the advice dump.
The first thing you need to do is to keep your motivation up. If you have no motivation to learn, there'll be no learning, right? A lot of people get fired up when they start learning Japanese and they dive right in, trying to get as many kanji or phrases under their belt in the shortest amount of time. Trust me, this usually leads to burn out real quick. Do things in small chunks. First learn hiragana, then focus this week on phrases you can use at the bus stop, do a few pages in your workbook today, etc. The point is to break it up and do something every day, even if it's small. You're not going to learn anything if you just spend a few hours studying on Saturdays.
Set clear goals for what you want to get done. You mentioned you have a stupidly busy life. You're going to need to get the motivation to make time in your stupidly busy life. I know this doesn't really relate to Japanese specifically (more like productivity/goal-setting) but it's just as important. Remember how to study like a student. Realize that normal people's concentration starts to flag after the first hour or two of studying. Take breaks. Anywho, enough of that. If you want to read more about productivity/goal-setting type stuff, just search “productivity blogs” in google and you'll be swimmin' in stuff.
Another thing to help motivation is to get involved. I took classes at university to learn Japanese and that easily kept me on track. I had friends to study together with and teachers that were pretty fired up to teach us. For those not taking classes though, I would recommend becoming involved online. There are several websites dedicated to language learning that have active forum communities. By getting involved, you not only keep yourself on track, but you learn new study techniques, can participate in study challenges, etc. Remember, this is all for the sake of keeping your fire burning. If your fire goes out, no more learning. One of my favorite websites for this is here.
As long as we're talking about resources on the internet, check out internet radio/podcasts in Japanese. If you have iTunes, you can download podcasts in Japanese. Just go down to the bottom of the iStore page and change the region to Japanese. They have a lot of learning English podcasts where they give you the Japanese phrase too, effectively making it a good tool to learn Japanese with. If you can get the hang of that, move up to things like news broadcasts, etc. You can also download t.v. shows on the internet if that's your thing. Try watching them first with subtitles, then without. Repeat what they characters say and practice your pronunciation. If you download the episode and watch on your computer, you can pause it and go over segments as many times as you want.
Richard, you mentioned that your wife is Japanese. I don't want to make any presumptions about your relationship, but I'm guessing that when you guys go out to eat in Japan, she's the one ordering at restaurants and generally speaking for the both of you when conversing with Japanese people, right? These are actually good times for you to practice. Try ordering food, try asking for directions (even when you don't need them), try complimenting someone on their taste in t-shirts, whatever. The point is to get the words out of your mouth and see if you can catch them when they come 'round back at you.
On the other side of the coin, trying talking to your wife in Japanese. This may or may not work, depending on your relationship. For some people, it feels awkward to switch to Japanese with someone they've always talked together in English. Usually it feels strange because English is easier for both of you. Language and communication usually take the path of least resistance. But if she's cool with it, try to get her to sit down and have a short 10-15 minute conversation with you. If this is all too strange for you guys, see if she has any friends that would be willing to exchange language practice for a cup of coffee or a meal.
Alcohol. Alcohol is great, isn't it? It's actually a very useful tool for language learning. A lot of people hit a stage where they know the words and they know what they want to say, but they can't quite get the words out of their mouth. They choke on the words, feel embarrassed, and then often unconsciously force themselves to remain quiet in order to avoid more embarrassment from choking even more. Alcohol keeps you from feeling embarrassed (uninhibited, right?) and allows you to keep talking. Heck, it doesn't matter if it's bad Japanese. It just matters that you're getting the words out of your mouth and your mouth is getting used to speaking Japanese. So, when you do manage to finally snag a conversation partner, try buying 'em a beer or a glass of wine instead of coffee.
A lot of people think that listening and speaking go hand-in-hand. This is true on a few levels, but just because people can listen and understand a certain language does not necessarily mean they can speak it too. Don't forget to focus specifically on listening and specifically on speaking and avoid always lumping them together.
Read. Doesn't matter if it's a children's book, a magazine, the newspaper, an article on the internet, just read in Japanese. This is the hands-down best way to improve your vocabulary. Pull out that book, keep that dictionary next to you, and sit down your butt down.
Buy an electronic dictionary as soon as you settle down in Japan. Best tool ever.
I don't know your level, Richard, so I don't know if I'd recommend this now, but check out the Japanese Language Proficiency Test (JLPT). It's held once a year and basically is just the Japanese equivalent to the English TOEFL or TOIEC standardized tests. It tests your reading ability, grammar, listening ability and kanji. You can find study materials in the bigger Japanese book stores. I'll be going for Level 1 again this winter.
That's about it. This is the basic advice post that I've been meaning to write for awhile. I hope you enjoyed it and feel free to leave comments about your own thoughts and experiences.
[ General
]
29 July, 2007 02:10
Yesterday I attended the Go Global Bilingual Career Fair, held in Yurakucho.
This being my first time at one of these fairs, I didn't really know what to expect. Looking at the statistics from previous years on their website didn't really help either. I actually needed to be there to figure out what kind of beast this is and how to tame it. Let me give you the run down.
There were probably 50 or so companies that set up cubicle-like booths in a huge room that apparently doubles as a convention center. Cubicle decorations were quite lavish for the larger companies (Reuters, Dell, Armani, and a few of the recruiting companies) and quite sparse for most of the other small-medium sized businesses. The whole thing was from 2-8pm on a Friday, I'm assuming running so long as to give the mid-career change people a chance to catch action on the back-end after work. My ladyfriend and I attended together, she getting a head start with job hunting (Japanese students start this typically mid-3rd year of university), and I...well, I'm trying to do this all before my 90 day visitor visa runs out. Dressed to the nines in our business suits, we registered at the door and were given nice, bright yellow 新卒 (new graduate) badges to hang around our necks. I thought it clashed with my steely-grey tie, but who am I to judge true fashion?
We were pretty much free to wander from booth to booth, hang out uncomfortably in front of those that interested us waiting for the representatives to free up, or be ninja-ed by representatives that would just materialize out of the shadows. Most of the representatives were really nice and helpful, and it was interesting to see the wide-array of companies that came. I was initially surprised at how many people like me there were. Just graduated, came to Japan to find a job, can speak Japanese on a conversational/business level, etc. I mean, I should have expected it being a bilingual fair, but foreigners always have that “superstar” syndrome when in Japan.
I mean, I'm still struggling to get over it myself. People who are white should especially know what I'm talking about it. You're the only white guy around and everyone's looking at you as if you're some mythical animal who's mistakingly wandered onto the train platform. You go up to the dude working behind the desk on the side of the ticket gate and speak some fluent Japanese asking directions, almost as if to confirm your own existence and legitimacy. You smile inwardly. You are special. An island of blonde in a sea of black. Ok, maybe I'm taking this example a bit too far (or maybe I just take it a bit too far), but you get what I mean. Then, you spot another foreigner from across the way and scrawl. This should be opposite to general reasoning, right? I mean, shouldn't you be happy to see another fellow from the west? No, no indeed, he's stolen your thunder. He's just divided your specialness in half by being forced to share it with him, even more if he speaks better Japanese than you. (Please tell me other people feel like this sometimes and I'm not the only crazy one).
Anywho, like I said, I'm still getting over it. I saw a lot of different people at the bilingual fair. To be fair, it was actually probably half and half, half foreigners looking to get jobs that deal with Japanese and half Japanese looking to get jobs that deal with English. Or, at least I'm assuming. I stopped by one of the hotel booths and one the reps actually recognized me. I mentioned that in my last post I've been emailing hotels in order to get interviews. Apparently not too many people do this, as the rep immediately recognized my name and then promised to get back to me next week. I guess following up in person is better than following up by phone. Tends to put on the pressure.
There were seminars there too, but I didn't go to any of them. They didn't really apply to me anyways, with titles like “How to start your own business in Japan,” and “How to work the relations between Japan and South Korea.” I just mostly wandered from booth to booth until I had covered all the ones that weren't too busy or looking specifically for engineers (another high demand, besides the bilingual thing), then I went back and hit the rest. They didn't do interviews or anything like that at the fair, so nothing is decided yet, but there were some companies that seemed pretty cool. I even found a cool English-teaching company (if it comes down to that) where they have you do one-on-one lessons in a coffee shop, which is perfect considering my coffee addiction.
Tomorrow I'm going over to Lalaport in Toyosu to check out their Ukiyo-e exhibition with my ladyfriend. As luck would have it, it's the last day they're doing it so if any of the readers are in the area and interested, you should come check it out too.
On the docket confirmed for next week: phone interview Monday, lunch Tuesday with a contact, and interview with investment company 4 on Wednesday.
This being my first time at one of these fairs, I didn't really know what to expect. Looking at the statistics from previous years on their website didn't really help either. I actually needed to be there to figure out what kind of beast this is and how to tame it. Let me give you the run down.
There were probably 50 or so companies that set up cubicle-like booths in a huge room that apparently doubles as a convention center. Cubicle decorations were quite lavish for the larger companies (Reuters, Dell, Armani, and a few of the recruiting companies) and quite sparse for most of the other small-medium sized businesses. The whole thing was from 2-8pm on a Friday, I'm assuming running so long as to give the mid-career change people a chance to catch action on the back-end after work. My ladyfriend and I attended together, she getting a head start with job hunting (Japanese students start this typically mid-3rd year of university), and I...well, I'm trying to do this all before my 90 day visitor visa runs out. Dressed to the nines in our business suits, we registered at the door and were given nice, bright yellow 新卒 (new graduate) badges to hang around our necks. I thought it clashed with my steely-grey tie, but who am I to judge true fashion?
We were pretty much free to wander from booth to booth, hang out uncomfortably in front of those that interested us waiting for the representatives to free up, or be ninja-ed by representatives that would just materialize out of the shadows. Most of the representatives were really nice and helpful, and it was interesting to see the wide-array of companies that came. I was initially surprised at how many people like me there were. Just graduated, came to Japan to find a job, can speak Japanese on a conversational/business level, etc. I mean, I should have expected it being a bilingual fair, but foreigners always have that “superstar” syndrome when in Japan.
I mean, I'm still struggling to get over it myself. People who are white should especially know what I'm talking about it. You're the only white guy around and everyone's looking at you as if you're some mythical animal who's mistakingly wandered onto the train platform. You go up to the dude working behind the desk on the side of the ticket gate and speak some fluent Japanese asking directions, almost as if to confirm your own existence and legitimacy. You smile inwardly. You are special. An island of blonde in a sea of black. Ok, maybe I'm taking this example a bit too far (or maybe I just take it a bit too far), but you get what I mean. Then, you spot another foreigner from across the way and scrawl. This should be opposite to general reasoning, right? I mean, shouldn't you be happy to see another fellow from the west? No, no indeed, he's stolen your thunder. He's just divided your specialness in half by being forced to share it with him, even more if he speaks better Japanese than you. (Please tell me other people feel like this sometimes and I'm not the only crazy one).
Anywho, like I said, I'm still getting over it. I saw a lot of different people at the bilingual fair. To be fair, it was actually probably half and half, half foreigners looking to get jobs that deal with Japanese and half Japanese looking to get jobs that deal with English. Or, at least I'm assuming. I stopped by one of the hotel booths and one the reps actually recognized me. I mentioned that in my last post I've been emailing hotels in order to get interviews. Apparently not too many people do this, as the rep immediately recognized my name and then promised to get back to me next week. I guess following up in person is better than following up by phone. Tends to put on the pressure.
There were seminars there too, but I didn't go to any of them. They didn't really apply to me anyways, with titles like “How to start your own business in Japan,” and “How to work the relations between Japan and South Korea.” I just mostly wandered from booth to booth until I had covered all the ones that weren't too busy or looking specifically for engineers (another high demand, besides the bilingual thing), then I went back and hit the rest. They didn't do interviews or anything like that at the fair, so nothing is decided yet, but there were some companies that seemed pretty cool. I even found a cool English-teaching company (if it comes down to that) where they have you do one-on-one lessons in a coffee shop, which is perfect considering my coffee addiction.
Tomorrow I'm going over to Lalaport in Toyosu to check out their Ukiyo-e exhibition with my ladyfriend. As luck would have it, it's the last day they're doing it so if any of the readers are in the area and interested, you should come check it out too.
On the docket confirmed for next week: phone interview Monday, lunch Tuesday with a contact, and interview with investment company 4 on Wednesday.
[ General
]
25 July, 2007 21:20
Hooray for the sun coming out again! The typhoon that hit Tokyo a week or so back apparently trailed a bunch of clouds behind it, making it completely cloudy until now. It's gotten warmer since the sun's been out, but I'm from California. I thrive on the sun.
I had an interview yesterday (Tuesday) with investment company number 3. I was actually kind of worried about this one, primarily because I was having an interview with the president of the Japan branch. A friend of mine advised me not to be worried, as presidents of companies are usually more laid back than their underlings. Well, he was right. I was led to the president's office, offered a beverage, and he and I talked for awhile about my job hunting in Tokyo, what possible position I could fill in the company, etc. He was an extremely nice guy with that “kind old uncle” feel to him. We did the whole interview in Japanese, which would normally worry me a little but thankfully I had my game on that day.
The Japan branch of that company is a small one, only 30ish people. Most of the employees are in their 30's or above, all started with experience, and all were hand-picked individually to work there. Ok, we've ruled out me. I am 23, I have no experience, and I am doing my damnest to spam as many companies as I can to give myself a fighting chance. The president guy did promise, however, to make a few calls and see what he could do. Something might come out of it, and might not. I'm not really that concerned about it.
I am trying to focus on the upcoming bilingual career fair. I picked up some business cards today that I had made. For the last three interviews I've felt a little inadequate by not having a business card to give in return for receiving theirs. The giving and taking of business cards is almost a ritualism in Japan, how you're supposed to give the card, how you're supposed to receive them, where to put them when you do receive them, etc. I mean, you could study this as a subject. Anywho, I now have 100 fresh, white bilingual business cards to exchange with unsuspecting victims.
Contacts have been dragging a little bit lately. I mean, four interviews in two weeks isn't exactly the best pace so I've started just emailing companies that I think I'd have a chance of getting hired with. I've been going about it by industry, starting with the hotel industy. I was actually surprised by how well it's worked. I sent out emails to about eight or so different hotels in Tokyo, and I think I've gotten responses (positive responses at that) from about three-fourths of them. Hopefully this will lead to interviews and possible employment. One hotel even asked for my photograph, maybe to see if I'm attractive enough to put on the main floor ;-)
I've sent emails off to a bunch of hotels, so I think I'll try translation/interpretation companies next (seeing as how it's my focus) and see if they don't have some sort of entry-level or paid internship position available. Actually, that'd have to be one hell of a paid internship to be able to afford living in Tokyo, now that I think about it. Well, I'll see if they have something. I've learned that if you're not too pushy in the email, for example, say something at the end like “if there isn't any position open in your company, would you know of another company that could utilize my skills?” or something like that.
For now, the only thing on my schedule work-related is an interview with investment company number 4 sometime next week. Hopefully with this new email campaign that I'm doing, I can get a few more interviews.
I had an interview yesterday (Tuesday) with investment company number 3. I was actually kind of worried about this one, primarily because I was having an interview with the president of the Japan branch. A friend of mine advised me not to be worried, as presidents of companies are usually more laid back than their underlings. Well, he was right. I was led to the president's office, offered a beverage, and he and I talked for awhile about my job hunting in Tokyo, what possible position I could fill in the company, etc. He was an extremely nice guy with that “kind old uncle” feel to him. We did the whole interview in Japanese, which would normally worry me a little but thankfully I had my game on that day.
The Japan branch of that company is a small one, only 30ish people. Most of the employees are in their 30's or above, all started with experience, and all were hand-picked individually to work there. Ok, we've ruled out me. I am 23, I have no experience, and I am doing my damnest to spam as many companies as I can to give myself a fighting chance. The president guy did promise, however, to make a few calls and see what he could do. Something might come out of it, and might not. I'm not really that concerned about it.
I am trying to focus on the upcoming bilingual career fair. I picked up some business cards today that I had made. For the last three interviews I've felt a little inadequate by not having a business card to give in return for receiving theirs. The giving and taking of business cards is almost a ritualism in Japan, how you're supposed to give the card, how you're supposed to receive them, where to put them when you do receive them, etc. I mean, you could study this as a subject. Anywho, I now have 100 fresh, white bilingual business cards to exchange with unsuspecting victims.
Contacts have been dragging a little bit lately. I mean, four interviews in two weeks isn't exactly the best pace so I've started just emailing companies that I think I'd have a chance of getting hired with. I've been going about it by industry, starting with the hotel industy. I was actually surprised by how well it's worked. I sent out emails to about eight or so different hotels in Tokyo, and I think I've gotten responses (positive responses at that) from about three-fourths of them. Hopefully this will lead to interviews and possible employment. One hotel even asked for my photograph, maybe to see if I'm attractive enough to put on the main floor ;-)
I've sent emails off to a bunch of hotels, so I think I'll try translation/interpretation companies next (seeing as how it's my focus) and see if they don't have some sort of entry-level or paid internship position available. Actually, that'd have to be one hell of a paid internship to be able to afford living in Tokyo, now that I think about it. Well, I'll see if they have something. I've learned that if you're not too pushy in the email, for example, say something at the end like “if there isn't any position open in your company, would you know of another company that could utilize my skills?” or something like that.
For now, the only thing on my schedule work-related is an interview with investment company number 4 sometime next week. Hopefully with this new email campaign that I'm doing, I can get a few more interviews.
[ General
]
21 July, 2007 13:17
Today I had an interview with another investment company this morning and also met up with a headhunter later in the afternoon.
The morning interview was outwardly a lot like the first one. The company was located in a very prestigious building (in this case the new Tokyo Midtown). I nervously checked in with a similar reception desk, with similar reception desk ladies. I was led to a similar conference room. Everything in these companies is pristine. However, from this point on the actual interview went quite differently.
I was interviewed by an Irish man who's been working in Japan for more than ten years. I didn't really expect to meet an Irish guy, but I guess Japan attracts all sorts. He was actually quite friendly, more so than the people from my first interview. Looking back, the people from interview 1 seemed just coolly amiable by contrast. The Irish guy, on the other hand, spoke to me with warmth. I knew why, too, when he revealed that he came from a background much like my own (learn Japanese in college, go to Japan with few certainties, etc). From my end it was cool to see someone become that successful with just a Japanese major in college. From his end, it was probably nice to see that young people are still trying to put themselves out there and stake their own claim. The investment company itself is comprised of five mostly-independant smaller companies, which he said he'll need to double-check with to see if there are any roles I could play there.
Ok, so another probable failure (they could still call me back if they have an opening, but I'm not holding my breath). That's cool, I'm not going to get negative about it. These finance companies are a far chance considering my lack of economic experience, but I'm thankful that I at least have an opportunity to interview and meet some people face-to-face. I AM staying in Japan, it's just a matter of which company ends up doing my paperwork to let me stay here.
I met the headhunter in the afternoon. Apparently, there are a lot of recruiting/headhunting agencies within Japan that just place foreigners in jobs with businesses here. This company, ironically enough, focuses on placing foreigners within investment companies, so all of their candidates have to have experience in the financial world. I'm really starting to wish I double majored in economics or something. But even though he couldn't directly place me through his recruiting agency, he did give me lots of specific and useful advice (which I will pass along now).
First of all, there is a International Job Fair coming up here in Tokyo on July 27th called the “Daijob Go Global Career Fair” (sponsored by the job-hunting site daijob.com)(the “dai” is the same “dai” we like to see next to “beer” on the menu). The website for the job fair can be found at www.daijob.com/cfair/ Registration is not required and the hours are from 1:30pm until 8:30pm. This looks quite promising, and I'm definitely going to be there.
Secondly, I was given the name of a few websites that specialize in jobs for bilinguals. They are:
http://www.daijob.com/
http://www.careercross.com/
http://www.linkedin.com/ (this is more networking-based and after checking up on google, it seems there are just as many people who hate it as like it)
http://www.ecentral.jp/ (through the American Chamber of Commerce in Japan or ACCJ)
http://www.jobdragon.com/
You'll notice if you click on the links that most of these sites (except for LinkedIn) are in Japanese. Yes, I know there are English pages of these sites available using them but I would not advise using them. If you're comfortable enough using the Japanese sites, you should because
a) You should stop being lazy and get your practice in.
b) Apparently they are not the same.
The headhunter that I met with told me that sometimes his company puts up offers, but only on the Japanese sites. I'm assuming there are other companies like this as well.
I have been looking online for jobs for awhile now, but I was focusing primarily on job-hunting sites for Japanese people. I''m going being trying these sites and see if anything comes my way.
One other idea that I thought was pretty interesting was to become a recruiter in the field you want to work in. This allows you to gain an inside perspective to the industry as well as make tons to good contacts. Then after you've worked as a recruiter for a little while, when that perfect job comes around you can take it for yourself.
Anywho, that's pretty much it for this post. Let me know if you guys try any of this, if it works, what you think, etc.
The morning interview was outwardly a lot like the first one. The company was located in a very prestigious building (in this case the new Tokyo Midtown). I nervously checked in with a similar reception desk, with similar reception desk ladies. I was led to a similar conference room. Everything in these companies is pristine. However, from this point on the actual interview went quite differently.
I was interviewed by an Irish man who's been working in Japan for more than ten years. I didn't really expect to meet an Irish guy, but I guess Japan attracts all sorts. He was actually quite friendly, more so than the people from my first interview. Looking back, the people from interview 1 seemed just coolly amiable by contrast. The Irish guy, on the other hand, spoke to me with warmth. I knew why, too, when he revealed that he came from a background much like my own (learn Japanese in college, go to Japan with few certainties, etc). From my end it was cool to see someone become that successful with just a Japanese major in college. From his end, it was probably nice to see that young people are still trying to put themselves out there and stake their own claim. The investment company itself is comprised of five mostly-independant smaller companies, which he said he'll need to double-check with to see if there are any roles I could play there.
Ok, so another probable failure (they could still call me back if they have an opening, but I'm not holding my breath). That's cool, I'm not going to get negative about it. These finance companies are a far chance considering my lack of economic experience, but I'm thankful that I at least have an opportunity to interview and meet some people face-to-face. I AM staying in Japan, it's just a matter of which company ends up doing my paperwork to let me stay here.
I met the headhunter in the afternoon. Apparently, there are a lot of recruiting/headhunting agencies within Japan that just place foreigners in jobs with businesses here. This company, ironically enough, focuses on placing foreigners within investment companies, so all of their candidates have to have experience in the financial world. I'm really starting to wish I double majored in economics or something. But even though he couldn't directly place me through his recruiting agency, he did give me lots of specific and useful advice (which I will pass along now).
First of all, there is a International Job Fair coming up here in Tokyo on July 27th called the “Daijob Go Global Career Fair” (sponsored by the job-hunting site daijob.com)(the “dai” is the same “dai” we like to see next to “beer” on the menu). The website for the job fair can be found at www.daijob.com/cfair/ Registration is not required and the hours are from 1:30pm until 8:30pm. This looks quite promising, and I'm definitely going to be there.
Secondly, I was given the name of a few websites that specialize in jobs for bilinguals. They are:
http://www.daijob.com/
http://www.careercross.com/
http://www.linkedin.com/ (this is more networking-based and after checking up on google, it seems there are just as many people who hate it as like it)
http://www.ecentral.jp/ (through the American Chamber of Commerce in Japan or ACCJ)
http://www.jobdragon.com/
You'll notice if you click on the links that most of these sites (except for LinkedIn) are in Japanese. Yes, I know there are English pages of these sites available using them but I would not advise using them. If you're comfortable enough using the Japanese sites, you should because
a) You should stop being lazy and get your practice in.
b) Apparently they are not the same.
The headhunter that I met with told me that sometimes his company puts up offers, but only on the Japanese sites. I'm assuming there are other companies like this as well.
I have been looking online for jobs for awhile now, but I was focusing primarily on job-hunting sites for Japanese people. I''m going being trying these sites and see if anything comes my way.
One other idea that I thought was pretty interesting was to become a recruiter in the field you want to work in. This allows you to gain an inside perspective to the industry as well as make tons to good contacts. Then after you've worked as a recruiter for a little while, when that perfect job comes around you can take it for yourself.
Anywho, that's pretty much it for this post. Let me know if you guys try any of this, if it works, what you think, etc.
