Its actually the opposite. It is completely unnecessary for every day life. I know plenty of people here that don't speak any Japanese and get by just fine. As

Its actually the opposite. It is completely unnecessary for every day life. I know plenty of people here that don't speak any Japanese and get by just fine. As far as working goes, it depends on the type of job you want. Most of the people I know with low Japanese skills are English teachers. Most engineering jobs require business level reading/writing/speaking since you often work in teams.