Quoting from Japanese TV program series “Reason why I live in Japan” that directs a spot light on foreigners who establish their lives in Japan and puzzles out how they decided to live Japan, let’s explore the possibility of how you can live in Japan.
The first person into the spotlight is John Crossley from HopeWell, New Jersey, the United States , who has lived in Japan for over 27 years. He now works for Visa WorldWide Japan as Chief Risk Officer. His office is located in Marunouchi which is CBD of Tokyo. He got married with Japanese in 1997 and he was blessed with two good children. Now he lives in Myogadani, where is close to Tokyo Dome.
Contents
John Crossley’s Profile
| Name | John Crossley |
|---|---|
| Age | 51 (born in 1967) |
| Academic background | University of California (major: Japanese language) |
| Job, position | Executive of Visa World Wide Japan |
| Family | Japanese wife, son and daughter |
| Living place | Myogadani, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo |
| Residence in Japan | 27 years |
| Visa status | Engineer/Humanities/International Services → Permanent (my conjecture) |
| 1970 ~ 1980 | Started to be interested in Japan because of his father |
|---|---|
| 1985 | Entered in University of California and majored in Japanese language |
| 1989 | Graduated from the university and came to Japan for sightseeing. |
| 1991 | Came Japan again to start his career as a programmer in Panasonic |
| 1997 | Got married with Yoko who was a colleague of his office |
| 2003 | His son was born |
| 2006 | His daughter was born |
| 2018 | Now he is working for Visa |
Why he was interested in Japan
When he was a kid in 1970 to 1980, Japanese economy grew as rapidly as other countries couldn’t follow up and electric appliances manufactures including “Sony” and “Sharp” emerged out and started conquering the industry with quality of products as a weapon.
Naturally, there were some Japanese electronic appliances in his house that he raised up. He said “ There were 3 TVs in his house. One of 3 was Sony’s product. The quality of Sony’s TV surpass the rest of two American TVs. Japanese TV lasted very long although other TVs broken.”
The first Japanese product that impressed him who had been familiar with Japanese products in his youth was “Open Reel TC -777” by Sony which is a sound recorder to record music by magnetic tape. TC-777 is the first fully transistorized Japanese reel-to-reel recorder with a built-in amp. Developed to bring studio-class recording into the home.
He impressed the sound of this recorder. He said sound quality is far better than the modern digital music players and there are still deep-seated popularity of admins.
He became interested in Japanese technologies. His father also helped him stimulate his curiosity. His father was an engineer of semiconductor in the US. In the period of 1970 to 1980, Japanese semiconductor technology was no exaggerated to say No. 1 in the world.
His father often travelled on business to Japan and saw the Japanese technology. His father frequently told him Japanese period was about to come. He felt his passion to study the Japanese technologies one day in Japan
So he decided to go on to University of California that is said to have made every effort to establish the first department for studying East Asia in the US.
After two years after graduating from the university, he started working as a programmer in Panasonic.
How he got a job in Japan
He started build his career in Japan in pretty much standard way as a foreigner.
- Went on to university and learned Japanese
- After graduation, he applied to a Japanese company.
- He at least have the knowledge of Japanese electronic appliances
- He could speak Japanese through 4 years studying at university.
This is very orthodox way that you can get a job in Japan. Mostly, if you want to be hired by a Japanese company, Holding academic degree which is related to the sort of occupation you want to work for is a must.
I recommend that you graduate from a university at least if you want to work in Japan. Hopefully, you should major in Japanese language. This will help you to survive in Japan where almost few people can speak English.
What type of visa you need to be granted to work in Japan?
Engineer/Humanities/International Services Visa that John was thought to be granted when he started working in Japan is most popular and easiest visa that non-Japanese can working in Japan. Prior to thinking of woking in Japan, you have to check in advance if you clear one of the following tree conditions or not.
- If you graduated from university and majored in a department which is about technology and knowledge related to the task you are expected to be in charge of.
- If you graduated from vocational school which is about technology and knowledge related to the task you are expected to be in charge of.
- If you have already experienced in a certain field related to the task for over 10 years
The most realistic way that you can smoothly get a job in Japan as soon as you want is the first choice. No.1 and No.2 seem to be the same situation but there is a problem of reliable factor on them.
In the first place, Engineer/Humanities/International Services Visa is the one you are not allowed to do your business on your won in Japan but you must belong to a certain organization in Japan. You don’t have any choices but to be hired.
If you were concerned in HR of Japanese company, which one of applicants would you like to hire between No.1 and No.2? I will not be saying there is no possibility to work in Japan with case No.2. But If you want to go certainly through Japanese company’s selection process, you should choose more secure way.
Needless to say, for those of whom want to spend a life in Japan as soon as possible, polishing your skills which you can make the most of for Japanese labor market in your country for over 10 years is too long for you to wait. After 10 years, probably your passion to build your career in a foreign country cools down and you will settle down the place.
Going to university is still a minimum condition for you to realize your dream. Going to university and majoring in Japanese language and also studying the field which is related to the company you want to work for are perfect conditions for you to work in Japan in orthodox way.
To get Engineer/Humanities/International Services Visa, you need to be sponsored by a Japanese company
This type of working visa is not the one you can apply for personally in contrast to Working Holiday visa but a company sponsors you to arrange for your visa application to the Immigration Bureau.
If you work for big Japanese enterprise, it is pretty much easy to prove its business results and its scale which is necessary information for screening so that the Immigration Bureau can easily to issue visa. This is the problem of credit worthiness.
If you work for small-to-medium size Japanese company, so many documents that tells detailed company’s situation need to be prepared due to credit worthiness. It is not easy for a small-to medium-companies to hire foreign labors. Only to invite you to work in Japan will burden so much on their tasks. So when hiring foreigners, small-to-medium tends to be careful to select someone. By the way, the smaller business scale is, the more difficult it is to get Visa from the Immigration Bureau.
No matter how seriously you want to work for a company, if there is nothing you can make the most of except for speaking Japanese, which can contribute to a company’s benefit, it is difficult to be selected.
If you graduated from university, you are in sufficient position to target big Japanese enterprise. If you want to work as just employee in Japan, going on to university and applying for a Japanese big company is much more secure way.
Wired things that John Crossley felt when he came to Japan
He felt a couple of things wired culturally compared to that of the US. I introduce two things which he thought were wired in this TV program
Drinking beer inside train
This is really wired custom that Japan has. Mostly western countries prohibit the behavior of drinking alcohol in public. I could slightly understand the situation. Probably drunk people’s behavior in a country that regulates by law is so terrible that it can’t compared to that of Japan.
Good or bad molarity directly reflects to the law or regulation in a country. I can’t say Japanese people are perfect to morality but thinking of no regulations to people drinking in public, the authority at least think it’s no problem in terms of the situation caused by drunk people or even if problems occur, there is low possibility to turn it to crime.
Employees trip
In some Japanese companies, there are an event that employees go for sightseeing. But this is not voluntarily trip to go with only friendly people together but this is a forced participation trip that one department or one section go for a trip to become better acquainted each other on weekend.
John Clossley said himself that he is shy and was not good at going somewhere for fun with colleagues to a place that has nothing to do with business. This is unique Japanese culture that a company encourages employee to develop a sense of comradeship
Get a hint from the history of a person living in Japan for long time
For those who want to start your life in Japan, introducing and direct a spotlight on a non-Japanese person living in Japan for long years and building career in order to find some clues to how to get visa and how to get a job in Japan from their background.