Guide to Getting into Japan

Coming to Japan as a teacher or student
So you have always dreamed of coming to Japan. Ever since you can remember you have been fascinated with everything Japanese and you know that you are destined to live in Japan. If this is you then this guide is just what you have been looking for. Here are the most effective strategies for getting into Japan and starting a new life in Japan.

Work Visa
First, to come to Japan to live you need a good reason. Just because you like Dragon Ball Z and might have picked up some Japanese phrases from the last Miyazaki film doesn't give you the legal right to come to Japan and start a new life. Instead, to come to Japan you are going to need a good reason to come. The two easiest and valid reasons are to come as a student or to come for work. To come as a student you are probably going to need some financial help. Don't worry, there are plenty of ways. Like mentioned before, the other reason is to come to Japan for work. Unfortunately, you can't just fly over to Japan and start working (at least, legally you can't). Instead, you are going to need a work visa.

To obtain a work visa you will need sponsorship by a Japanese company or a foreign company operating in Japan. Basically, the company signs some forms for you, the local Japanese embassy or consulate in your country looks over the forms, and if everything is valid you receive a work visa. The catch is that it is difficult to obtain work visas outside of Japan. Depending on the Immigration office you go to you might be able to change your visa within Japan. For example, if you have a certificate of eligibility then you can change your visa to a work visa at the Immigration office in Tokyo. So you might be asking yourself, if I'm not in an area where the local Immigration office will change my visa will it be impossible for me to get a work visa? No, it's not impossible. Technically, it is illegal to work in Japan without a work visa but technically, thousands of people do it every year. If someone comes to Japan on a tourist visa and is able to find a company to sponsor them all the person has to do is take a one-hour flight to Seoul, South Korea and they can apply for the work visa there. They must also stay the night because the rule is that they cannot return to Japan on the same day. There are plenty of foreigners who have taken this route and were successful. If you are unable to find a school to sponsor you for a work visa and you are desperate to stay in Japan your last option would be to leave and re-enter Japan on multiple tourist visas. This is illegal and a bit unethical but it happens every year.

So before you make the decision to skip the return flight and or overextend your tourist visa you might want to consider some of the other options for obtaining a visa into Japan. Most expats who obtain visas and come to Japan come as language instructors. The pay is decent depending on the school, the job is relatively easy (although there are numerous stories of poor working conditions) and you get international work experience. Within Japan there are numerous companies and programs that can will bring you into Japan and then will support you for several years while you live the life you had always dreamed of living. To find out more information on schools that will sponsor you outside of Japan see our article Coming to Japan as a Teacher.

Work Visa Requirements
So that you don't waste your time and money applying for several jobs or flying to Japan for nothing it's best to look over the rules for obtaining a work visa. First of all, you need to have a college degree from a 4-year college. Work visas are very rare for those without college degrees. Second, you need to have a valid passport that has been valid for at least 15 months. Third, you will need all of the paperwork filled out by a sponsoring company and have it filed at the nearest immigration office. After those forms are approved then they must be taken to a consulate (outside of Japan) for the visa to be issued.

If you are interested in coming to Japan on a tourist visa and looking for a job then see our article Finding a Job in Japan.
If you are interested in finding a job as an English teacher before you come to Japan then see our article Coming to Japan as a Teacher

Preparation before coming to Japan
Obviously coming to Japan on a tourist visa and looking for a job in Japan as a tourist is going to be tough and risky. There is the chance that you will not be able to find a job and that you will have return home empty handed. To offset as much risk as possible it is important to plan ahead. This includes finding a cheap place to live while you are searching for a job, setting up job interviews so that you are not wasting any of your valuable time or hard-earned cash, saving about $3000 to $4000 for living expenses, brushing up on Japanese, and networking.

Finding a place to live
If you are not smart about choosing accommodation you will blow all of your money in a short amount of time and find yourself sleeping in public parks or Karaoke parlors so listen up. Apartments in Japan are expensive! This is mainly due to high land prices but can also be attributed to an outdated system in which you must pay "security deposit" and "thank-you money", 敷金 (shikikin) and 礼金 (reikin) in Japanese. Shikikin and Reikin can add a hefty weight to the cost of moving into an apartment, usually one to two months rent for each, so it is best to consider these two costs carefully when choosing an apartment. If you don't then you might find yourself paying 200,000 yen or more in shikikin and reikin charges. These charges do not include renter's insurance, management fees, the first month's rent and any other creative charges the real-estate company can come up with to make more money off of you so if you are not smart you might have to pay 300,000 to 400,000 yen for the first month! Your solution to dodge these charges should be to look for a place with low or no shikikin/reikin, to live at guest house or gaijin house, or to house up with a friend or girlfriend/boyfriend.

Cheap guest houses
Looking for a guesthouse outside of Japan will be a tough task but it can be done. Depending on the place you might find accommodations with rates charged by the day, week or month. Some cheap places to note are:

Guest Houses in Tokyo and Yokohama

The Tokyo Cozy House
Tokyo Cozy House is so gaijin friendly that you would think that an actual gaijin was running the place! They have rates as low as 30,450 yen per month with a six month lease! Of course their rates vary with the number of people in a room but regardless of how much privacy you demand their rates are excellent! They also have a small deposit but it isn't much. Some of their other benefits include free internet (over 3 months stay), free rental bikes (over 3 months stay), free mobile phone (over 3 months stay), free coffee and tea and many other free services! With their low price, good locations, and numerous services Tokyo Cozy House is one of the best deals I have ever come across. They have a few places in Tokyo so check with them through their website about availability and rates.

Sakura House Apartments and Guest House
Sakura House is probably one of the most well-known names in guest houses for foreigners in Japan. They have a long history of dealing with foreigners so they are very understanding of foreigner needs. They offer cheap rates, clean rooms, they don't require key money, guarantor, or agent fees, all their rooms are furnished, they have a free internet line available in most rooms, rent including utilities is payable by major credit cards, and they have staff that can speak English, Chinese, Korean and French. They have quite a lot of rooms so you could probably find an opening. Check out their website for more information.

Tokyo Room Finder
Tokyo Room Finder is a great solution for searching for cheap accommodations within Tokyo. You can find guest houses, apartments, and shared apartments in the Tokyo area with low shikikin/reikin and no need for a guarantor.

Guest Houses in Osaka, Kyoto and Kobe

Banana Guest House Osaka
The Banana guest house is one of the most popular guest houses in all of Osaka. Located in Sakai, Osaka they offer private and shared rooms, Coin laundry, a computer for 24hours free access, internet, Cable TV/ Video room, Lobbies, shared kitchen, bathroom, 5 more cookable space, free shower room, and air conditioning and Kotatsu tables in private rooms. Their rent prices start at 55,000 yen per month but they also have daily and weekly rates available.

Osaka English House
Osaka English House is a nice guesthouse located in Hirakata City Osaka. A very open and friendly environment adds to the charm of this guest house. Some of their benefits include have a spacious community lounge & library, dining & kitchen area with Phone, Fax, TV, VCR, Piano, Copier, laundry, Refrigerator, Cooking utensils etc. The private rooms have A/C, Heat and furniture.
Kyoto Apartment

Heights Sanpo
Green Peace Guest House
Orange House
Nanba Park Guest House

Staying with a girlfriend/boyfriend or friend
This is also an option for finding a place to stay while you begin your job search! The most important factor in this solution is to actually have a friend or girlfriend who lives in Japan. Since most people only have friends in the country they are living in this will take a bit of work on the internet. Before I tell you some options please remember social skills 101. I don't know why but there is an overwhelming number of people in this world who love to throw cheesy lines at girls. Like if they see that a girl likes to workout they say "Hey hot and sexy, lets work up a sweat together!!!". Well, if the girl has an IQ over 30 then crap like that isn't going to work so please quit using it. Just be a normal person!! Having that said, let's move on to getting your girl/boy. Now don't get me wrong. I am not suggesting to make friends with someone just to use them for a place to stay. I am suggesting making several friends and express to them your interest in coming to Japan. If you are lucky they will happily offer their place for you stay while you are searching for a job. Two of the easiest ways to meet people online would be a friends network like myspace. There are lots of Japanese who use myspace so meeting and making friends through that outlet would be quite easy.

If you have a decent knowledge of Japanese language you could opt for the Japanese version of myspace which is Mixi. Mixi has millions of members but the format is Japanese and you must be invited by someone who is already using Mixi. If you know at least one Japanese person though, chances are that they or someone they know uses Mixi and would be glad to invite you. Unlike myspace, Mixi only has one-tenth the number of slime balls and perverts and you don't need to run a virus scan every time you use it.

Note that if you are looking for a girlfriend Mixi and myspace might not be the best places to look. Both are great places for networking and meeting friends but because of all the pervs most females have their guard up.

The one way in which I have known several people to obtain Japanese girlfriends/boyfriends through the internet is through pen-pal type services. I wish I could give the exact reason why this option works so well but my guess is because it is indirect and seems somewhat innocent. Probably the most well-known pen-pal service is japan guide pen friends. The service is completely free. Thousands of new ads are posted everyday and like I wrote before, I've heard a lot of good things about this service.

Ok, so hopefully now you are ready to start with your job search. Now you need to go to the jobs page to find out ways to get jobs while in Japan.

Finding a Job in Japan

Coming to Japan as a teacher
Ok so either you have decided to go to Japan and look for a job in Japan, hoping that you will find a company that will sponsor you or you are already in Japan and are wanting to change jobs or find more jobs. Either way, this guide will show you all of the available resources to find jobs within Japan.

Job sites for English teaching
There are a variety of sites here. Some are only good for finding private students and others can help you find full-time work. If you are planning to come to Japan on a tourist visa you will need to find a full-time job and hope for sponsorship. Whatever your needs I hope you enjoy the list.

7act is a site for finding private students. Unlike other private student sites you are bound by some rules by the 7act company. Basically you sign up for their site and they will provide you students. As for teaching the students you will have to do it in your own home or somewhere like a cafe.

The job lists at Dave's ESL Cafe and Japan English Teacher are extensive lists of teaching jobs throughout Japan. These are really excellent resource for everyone looking for a job.

Jobsinjapan.com is a site with a "mother lode" of jobs to browse. Jobs of all fields and users can also post classifieds for their services.

www.tesall.com. Tesall is an excellent search engine for job searches because you can specify all the criteria for your job search. It calls itself "The web's first vertical search portal for ESL and EFL teachers. They have quite a lot of jobs posted here so happy hunting!

www.gaijinpot.com is the Meccah of Job sites in Japan. You can browse through hundreds of job postings and post your resume for employers to see. This is a must site for anyone looking for a teaching job in Japan!

Ohayosensei.com is another site dedicated to showing listings for teaching jobs in Japan. Like many other job sites you can receive periodic updates about new jobs if you subscribe to their newsletter.

teachabroad.com has a few English jobs listed. Many of their jobs are for the big Eikaiwa companies like Nova, Aeon, and such.

Orangutan English is a great site for finding private students. Create a profile and post your rates and let interested students contact you.

121sensei.com Like Orangutan English and Findateacher.net, 121sensei.com is a great site for finding private students. Create a profile specifying your rates and where you will teach and students will contact you.

JALT Jobs has several jobs listed and many jobs teaching at universities in Japan.

a-kaiwa.net is a site where you fill out their registration form and they will put students in contact with you. This is for finding private students in the Chiba, Tokyo, Kanagawa, and Saitama areas.

Gakken School Management has full time English teaching positions for their schools in Tokyo, Yokohama, Chiba, Nagoya, and Fukuoka. Their site looks like a spam site with all the popups but it is actually legit.

Findateacher.net is a well-known site for finding private students in Japan. All you do is create a profile and students contact you.

my-sensei.com is another site for finding private students. Create a profile and students find you.

findstudents.net is another site for finding private students. English is not the only language though. You can teach Chinese, Spanish, Korean, Italian, German, and French.

tefl.com is an ELT site with an extensive job database. You can narrow search criteria to type of job, type of institution, and type of position.

ESLjobfinder is an ESL job search site where you can post your resume and search for jobs for free.

ELT News Japan has a number of jobs in their job section for ELT positions throughout Japan.

Jobs outside of Teaching (Finance, accounting, professional services, etc.)
CDS Consulting is a site for searching for jobs outside of the teaching field. You can both search for and apply for jobs on their site.

dotjapan.com is job search site with ranging from accounting and banking to hosting and dancing in Roppongi.

Japan Research Career Information Network is a site dedicated mainly to listing job openings for research related jobs. Many of these jobs are also university related jobs.

Rikunabi for Overseas Students is a site made by the well-known Japanese job recruitment company Recruit. To quote their site directly, "Rikunabi for Overseas Students provides employment information and career fair information exclusively for job seekers who are fluent in Japanese, English and/or other languages, studying outside Japan."

CFN career forum is a site for Japanese-English Bilinguals looking for Jobs in Japan. Many of these jobs are will also recruit people who are living abroad.

Career Builder has some listings for jobs in Japan. These look to be professional jobs for individuals with 1-5 years work experience.

CareerCross is another site dedicated to listing jobs for bilingual individuals. Many of the jobs don't require work experience but do usually require native or fluency in both English and Japanese.

Workinjapan.com is a site with a wide variety of job listings for both those who can speak Japanese and those who cannot. Another great site for those looking for a job in Japan but still haven't mastered Nihongo.

Japan Times Jobs are job listings from the leading English newspaper in Japan. Most of the jobs require Japanese language ability but sometimes you can find ones with no language ability required.

Japanesejobs.com a site for bilingual jobs in the US and Japan.

Job Seek Japan is a site where users can upload their resume for Japanese employers to see and can browse job postings by employers.

Jobsinjapan.com is a site with a "mother lode" of jobs to browse. Jobs of all fields and users can also post classifieds for their services.

jobdragon.com is a site with thousands of job listings and a great search engine where you can specify your English ability, Japanese Language ability, industry, minimum salary and location.

Coming to Japan as a student

In general there are two basic categories of students: Short-term exchange and Long-term exchange. Short-term exchange students study in Japan for a period of 10 months or less and are usually classified as undergraduate students at their home university. Long-term graduate students typically study in Japan for more than one year and are classified as graduate students. This is not always the case as some undergraduate students obtain their entire 4-year degree in Japan. The most common way to come to Japan as a short-term exchange student is to check with the foreign languages department at your home university to see if they have any exchange programs with Japanese universities. Usually these exchange programs include a scholarship that will pay for your plane ticket to Japan and will provide you with a monthly stipend of 80,000 yen. You will be housed in a student dormitory and your rent will be dirt-cheap, averaging around 5,000 yen a month. The exchange period typically lasts for 10 months, October to August, but there area also some programs for 5-month exchanges as well.
At the end of the exchange period students will also receive a paid plane ticket to return to their home country. Note however, that over the past years the number of scholarships available for exchange has drastically decreased. Organizations began cutting scholarship numbers and amounts in response to the deteriorating Japanese economy. Although the Japanese economy has recovered and has been growing for consecutive years now, the organizations are still making cuts so competition for these scholarships is getting tougher.


Scholarships for Undergraduate Exchange

JASSO(Japan Student Services Organization)Scholarship

The JASSO scholarship is the most common scholarship financing short-term exchange students. Depending on the nature of the program and university the application period may vary but generally applications will be due in early Spring. As with many things in Japan there will be a lot of paper work, so you should express your intent to study in Japan quite early, in the late or early Fall if possible. Paper work typically includes several letters of recommendation, essays, application forms, physical examination, and there is also an interview. It is not something you can do in two or three days. Once you turn in your forms in early spring you must wait until around May or June before you will know whether or not you have been accepted by the Japanese university. Once accepted you must wait another two months or so before you will find out whether or not you will receive the scholarships. So basically you must apply for two things: The Japanese University and the JASSO scholarship. Most, but not all, students who are accepted into the university will receive the scholarship. So if you are notified in early summer that you were accepted then you can breathe a little easier because more than likely you will also receive the scholarship. The amount of the JASSO scholarship is 80,000 a month including paid airfare to and from Japan and they will provide you with 150,000 yen when you arrive in Japan for relocation expenses. Tuition is not paid for! Since
this is an exchange scholarship you do not have to pay tuition to the Japanese university but you must still pay tuition to your home university during your stay in Japan.

Note: You cannot apply for the JASSO scholarship directly. You must contact someone in your home university to find out about any programs they have with Japanese universities. Since this is a scholarship that requires nomination you will need to have a decent GPA, around 3.0 or above, and good recommendations. If your GPA is low you could still possibly be accepted if your recommendations are really good.

For more information on the JASSO scholarship visitJapan Student Services Organization


MEXT (Monbusho) Scholarship
The Monbusho scholarship for undergraduate students is another option for those wanting to attend a Japanese University. Like many other scholarships you will need reccommendations from your home university to apply, but unlike other scholarships you can also apply for the Monbusho scholarship after graduating high school. The period of the scholarship can last up to 5 years with a monthly stipend of 135,000 yen, will receive 25,000 yen upon arriving in Japan and the scholarship will pay for all tuition and examination expenses. For the general undergraduate scholarship you must be under 22 years old to apply but there are other Monbusho undergraduate scholarships for older aged students but these scholarships limit students depending on their field of study. As with all MEXT scholarships there are two ways to apply. You can apply at your local Japanese consulate or Embassy. This process will include an examination and interview process and is very competitive. The other method is to receive a University Recommendation.
To receive a University Recommendation you will need to know a professor at a Japanese University and ask him or her to recommend you for the MEXT scholarship. Also,if your home university has a strong relationship with a Japanese University then you could contact someone at your home university about asking one of the professors at that Japanese University about a recommendation. Typically though, your home university will only be able to recommend one student so you must be an outstanding student at your home university.
As part of the University Recommendation application process you will need to obtain recommendations from teachers, the president of your university (if not the president, the Dean of your department may be sufficient), write essays, fill out application forms, and take a very comprehensive physical examination. Once you turn in all of your applications you should find out about your acceptance around mid to late summer.
In the past, the acceptance rate of students who were recommended by a Japanese University was quite high so if you have the right connections your chances of getting accepted will be quite high. For more information on the different types of MEXT scholarships and their respective requirements you can download the pdf file at MEXT scholarships
Sometimes the pdf file may not be working so you can also view the cache html page at Google Cache of MEXT scholarship


Fulbright Scholarships
Fulbright has a wide variety of scholarships for both US citizens and citizens of other countries. As long as you do not hold a PHD, have not lived in Japan for more than six months for some purpose other than military and you are not a citizen of Australia, Belgium/Luxembourg, Canada, Chile, Finland, Hungary, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Sweden, or Switzerland you basically have a chance of receiving one of their scholarships.
For more information you can go to Fulbright Online


NSEP (National Security Education Program) David L. Boren
The NSEP scholarship is quite competitive but the scholarship amount is pretty decent. The scholarship amount is $10,000 a semester and open to all US citizens.
For more information NSEP Boren Scholarships


Bridging Scholarship
The Bridging scholarships are open to US citizens and are not very competitive but the lack of competitiveness is shown in their payment of only $2,500 a semester or $4,000 a year.
This scholarship alone is not enough to cover all living and tuition expenses so other means of financial assistance would also be needed.
For more information Bridging Scholarships.


For more information about scholarships for undergraduate students wanting to study in Japan you can visit JGuide

How to come to Japan as an Graduate
Student