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Also not the parent but I have been in Japan for three years now (but leaving to move to my home country soon). I'll share my experience. I had basically no tr
by lmiller1990 8y ago
Also not the parent but I have been in Japan for three years now (but leaving to move to my home country soon). I'll share my experience.
I had basically no truly "negative" experiences based on my race. I am fluent (understand 95% - 98% of what's going on, including complex convos about tech stacks and so on (I work in software engineering).
Sometimes people speak (usually not very good) English to me, assuming I don't understand, but as soon as I reply in Japanese they talk to me like they would a normal Japanese person. One could consider this a "negative" experience (why judge whether I can speak Japanese based on my skin colour??) but I don't think they have negative intentions, so I don't take it personally.
I think living here without speak good Japanese would be a pretty mediocre experience. There are tons of awesome tech meets all the time, but noone speaks English. Living here but not being able to live with the people here would be a pretty lacking experience, you would really miss what makes Japan Japan (the people and culture).
I would be happy to raise a family here (I don't think I will, but I wouldn't be against it either). At least until high school age. The Japanese university system does seem nearly as good as my country (Australia), though, so I would my kids to study overseas. I think Japan is a safe place and good environment to raise a family, and has an excellent healthcare system.
One thing I noticed is developer salaries (at least if you work in a regular Japanese company, like me) are very low - I earn 50% of what my friends back home do). Maybe if you work at a company with many ex-pats you can have a higher salary.
- devilsbabe 8y agoI've heard that salaries are on average much lower but companies offering competitive wages do exist. Like you said, you will have an easier time fitting in and earn more if you work for an international company rather than a Japanese one. I'm a software engineer in an American tech company's Tokyo office with 1 yoe and have around ¥13M total comp.
- lmiller1990 8y agoThat's nuts, I have 4 yoe and only on like ¥5M. Like a parent comment stated I am content with low pay and carrying an entire team with several years exp on me, though. You don't come to Japan for the money, or at least I didn't. Good to hear you found a well paying org (I hope you can get the chance to use and learn Japanese there as well).
- devilsbabe 8y agoUnfortunately I speak mostly English all day. I'll speak Japanese when interacting with a Japanese colleague directly but everything else is in English. I have to work actively to improve my language skills. I'm glad to hear you're happy but I hope you try to move to a company that will pay you what you're worth. For a software engineer and team leader, that's way more than ¥5M.
- lmiller1990 8y agoYeah. It’s a fairly small and young company (5ish years) so I knew I’d be taking a paydrop but I think the experience and Japanese practice was worth it! There are tons of tech events you can use Japanese at, try finding them on compass.com. As long as you turn up and try to speak amd socialize you’ll find your Japanese improving rapidly. Glad you found a good position with a solid salary! Good engineers who speak English and Japanese are hard to come by, get your languages skills up a hit and you’ll be able to work anywhere you want.
- codesuki 8y agoWhere do you work at?
- lmiller1990 8y ago30-50 ppl size org. branu.jp
- laurieg 8y agoAny advice on finding a position like this? 13M JPY is a large salary for Japan.
- devilsbabe 8y agodevjobs.jp is a good place to start. American companies like Microsoft, Amazon, Google and Indeed pay well. I know a front end engineer with a few years of experience who got an offer from Mercari for 17M.
- seanmcdirmid 8y agoGoogle Japan is supposed to pay decent as well.
- emchamp1 8y agoWow, would you be willing to disclose what companies offer that much in Tokyo? Especially for 1 year of experience thats insane.
- devilsbabe 8y agoLike I mentioned in another comment, I've heard that companies listed on devjobs.jp pay well. In general companies like Microsoft, Amazon, Google and Indeed try to match their salaries as they're competing for the same pool of talent. I work for one of those. I know an engineer with 3-4yoe who got a very good offer from Mercari (~17M)
- glandium 8y ago> Sometimes people speak (usually not very good) English to me, assuming I don't understand This has changed in recent years. At least in the prefecture I live in (Aichi), and where I've traveled outside Tokyo, people just start talking to me in Japanese. 15 years ago, when I lived in Japan for 15 months, it would happen that they'd first try English or I'd feel they were hesitant to speak Japanese to me (but still did). But since I moved to Japan again 5 years ago, nothing of the sort. They start in Japanese without batting an eye. I think that's because there are way more foreigners living here than there used to, and they tend to talk Japanese. And in non touristy places, there are probably more foreigners who speak Japanese than not.
- bojo 8y agoI’ve noticed this too. Years ago I had to lead with a hesitant あの so they’d be aware, but these days they just dive right in.
- aikinai 8y agoJust another +1. I lived in Japan many years ago, moved away, and live here again now. Before moving back I was assuming I'd have that awkward start to all interactions before they realize I speak Japanese, but I also haven't seen it since I got back.
- propman 8y agoThanks for the insight! Glad you had a great experience and I’m sure others will find this helpful if they decide to make the move too. Looks like if you use the other advice here and get the decent paying developer job, it’ll be a great move.