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In 2024, when my wife and I decided to move to Japan, I thought I was an ideal candidate. I had 10 years experience in web development and a Computer Science degree from a top university. I’ve worked for startups, large companies, and universities. Whenever I looked for a new role in the UK, I could usually find one within a week. Recruiters messaged me daily, and switching on “Looking for work” on LinkedIn would trigger hundreds of messages.
So how hard could finding a job in Japan be? I kicked off a six-month job search and soon had my answer.
Recruiters ignored me. Roles I applied for often had over 500 applicants. For each role, somebody else had 20 years experience, or was ex-FAANG, or didn’t care about compensation. How could I beat them?
I took a risky route that isn’t available to everyone. Being British, I used a Working Holiday visa as my route into Japan, then took a two-month contract through a dispatch agency, which led to them sponsoring me for a Certificate of Eligibility for an Engineer/Specialist in Humanities/International Services visa.
- Tracking my stats
- Why I was a “bad candidate”
- Turning myself into a “good candidate”
- What actually got me in the door
- How I got the job
- Transitioning to an Engineer visa
- Final advice
Application statistics
Many people complain about job searching in Japan. I knew it would be easy to become pessimistic, so I automated and tracked my approach. For each role I noted the job requirements, when I sent my application, and the dates of each following stage.
I marked jobs as stale when they didn’t reply for two weeks. I didn’t worry about following up on roles, choosing to send and forget. After all, most roles have hundreds of applicants; no human has time to read 500 applications and respond to each one.
In addition, I tracked whether each application resulted in an interview, and then whether that interview resulted in a tech test. These were some of my results:
- TokyoDev: 40 applications -> 16 interviews (40% conversion)
- LinkedIn Jobs: 200 applications -> 3 interviews (1.5% conversion)
- Daijob: 60 applications -> 1 interview (1.6% conversion)
TokyoDev roles were the most likely to convert to an interview. They were also the most competitive, with hundreds of applications per role. The technical tests were demanding, with some taking weeks.
Why I was a “bad candidate”
Right candidate, wrong country
While I was searching job boards and reaching out to recruiters on LinkedIn, Paul Roberts replied to me with a message as long as the one I’d sent him. Our connection as fellow Brits helped the conversation flow, and he explained to me how recruitment works in Japan.
Another hiring manager told me they simply no longer take candidates from overseas. In the last ten roles they had hired from abroad, two had ghosted them on their start date. A third hiring manager revealed that the role I was interviewing for had over 600 applications.
I felt I did have a connection to Japan, though. I grew up in Singapore, and have lived since then in England, Japan, and Taiwan. I’ve been on holiday to Japan three times, and then my wife and I spent from 2022–2023 traveling across Japan on Working Holiday visas.
Since I’d already lived in Japan for a year, I knew how to go to the town hall, get a phone number, get a bank account, and pay my bills there. That would beat many candidates’ experiences, but I knew there was still more I could do to overcome the disadvantage of not yet being in Japan.
Making myself more hirable
- Does the candidate live in Japan?
- Has the candidate lived or worked in Japan before?
- Will this candidate actually show up?
I wasn’t just looking for any job. I wanted a job in Japan, and I made every modification I could to show that.
I reorganized my CV, profile, and portfolio around Japan
I added katakana to my LinkedIn name. In my profile, I highlighted my low level of Japanese skill (“low” beats “zero”). I updated my portfolio to have a Japanese language toggle. My goal was an English-speaking role, so these were just signals to show that I was serious.
I also made a Japanese version of my CV, again not because I was looking for a Japanese role, but to show I was taking my job search seriously.
I reframed my job history for Japanese hiring managers
As a freelancer my CV is erratic. I’d spent the last five years traveling the world and supporting a variety of startups. To appeal to Japanese employers, though, I knew I needed to position myself as a reliable, long-term developer for big businesses.
Instead of hiding my job history in my CV, I tried to be explicit about why my job history was that way. It wasn’t that I was unreliable: I had been trying to move to another country, and the pandemic had interfered with that. I also highlighted specific experiences and skills that were relevant to the positions I applied to.
I networked on LinkedIn
LinkedIn worked very well for me in the UK, so I tried to shift my network to Tokyo.
Through this process Alex Ngai leaped out as somebody unique. Alex wrote posts that felt human. He was the first person in Japan who had a real conversation with me. He suggested I talk to Levi Pells, who runs meetups and retreats.
After connecting with these two, LinkedIn highlighted even more people that I knew were likely to be at the meetups I planned on attending. The people I talked to at this time were later the ones who hugged me when I arrived, and helped me settle in.
I studied for the JLPT N4
During this time, I also studied for the JLPT N4, the second-lowest level of Japanese proficiency recognised in Japan. While I’d self-studied for five years, I was embarrassed to still hold only a JLPT N5. These levels aren’t competitive, but that wasn’t my strategy.
I had shifted my perspective from “How do I be the best?” to “How do I beat most of my competition?” If a candidate was better at Japanese than me, but didn’t hold JLPT N5, I’d beat them at the CV stage.
And, I got married
Meanwhile, I wasn’t the only one in my family looking for a job in Japan. My girlfriend and I had been partners for almost 15 years, and we naturally wanted to maximize our chances of living and working in the same country. We also knew that one of us might find a role in Japan months or years before the other; if so, Japan’s Dependent visa could help us stay together. However, that visa only covers an applicant’s dependent children and/or spouse, not unmarried partners.
Our solution: get married! We love each other, so this was the easiest and most enjoyable part of the process.
What actually got me in the door
After I added my JLPT N5 to my resume and created a Japanese resume to signal my seriousness, people started to trust that I would be arriving soon. Interviews pivoted from “Can you be here in six months?” to “How about we have the next interview in person?”
Still, the competition was fierce. Any time I managed to reach a real human, I’d ask them questions about their hiring process. One told me they had around 650 applicants; in that many applicants, there is at least one ex-FAANG developer who wants to move to Japan. I’m confident in my skill level, but also realistic. That left me wondering if there was something more I could do.
These were difficult choices, but they’re the ones that finally got me through the door.
Working Holiday visa (again)
I considered some different visa options to relocate to Japan ASAP, but in the end I decided to apply for a Working Holiday visa. Even if I couldn’t locate a job immediately, a year of attending language school, networking events, and internships in Japan was only going to help. That was already what I was doing, but in the wrong country.
Luckily for the British, we can now apply for a second year of Working Holiday in Japan. I applied one month before I turned 31, when I would have aged out of the Working Holiday scheme.
This process is not a common or well-documented one, but immigration assured me this was allowed. I also spoke again to a few of the kinder recruiters I’d come to know, and asked them all if they’d had candidates arrive on student or Working Holiday visas. Some checked with their own HR departments to make sure the process was legal. They all confirmed I wasn’t the first to take these routes.
Now my CV was updated to say I had the right to work in Japan and would be there within one month. Suddenly, I was a very viable candidate. Recruiters that couldn’t help me before now could, and that led directly to my next steps.
Dispatch agencies
At the start of this process, I’d never heard of dispatch agencies (派遣, haken), which are companies that dispatch and manage temporary staff to contract roles, often analogous to temp work in other countries.
Benefits and downsides
In the UK, I’d call this kind of company a temp agency, though in practice the work seems much more technical than what I’d expect of a temp employee. In Japan, dispatch work is not considered impressive or stable.
Yet I’ve met a few developers who stay in dispatch roles by choice. The dispatch company is your employer, paying your salary, taxes, and health insurance, and sometimes will also sponsor an initial visa. At Michael Page specifically, I found that not only is overtime paid, it’s paid at a higher rate than usual hours. You can take unlimited unpaid holidays, and work from home, though these choices won’t impress your client.
Another nice benefit is that, because dispatch agencies charge by the hour, they set a cap on interview length. Interviewing as a dispatch employee usually calls for a single meeting, with an offer to start next week.
The downside is the lack of stability. At Michael Page specifically (other companies may do it differently), the agency won’t hire you without an initial contract. Contracts are usually only three months long, and you get one month’s notice of extension or termination. The reputation of working as a dispatch employee can also give the impression you aren’t a good hire.
Is dispatch too risky?
Early in my search, I accidentally applied for a dispatch role with Robert Half, the first recruiter to be eager to speak with me. Through our conversation I unpacked what it meant to be a dispatch hire, and it seemed like an exciting offer: easier interviews, faster placement, and the potential to work at larger companies like Rakuten, PayPay, Woven, and similar.
At first, though, I couldn’t get over the short-term nature of the contracts. If the role didn’t go well, this option could lead to me returning to my chaotic job search in just a few short months. My partner and I concluded that this felt too risky, but we also decided that if I didn’t have an offer three months later, I would be in touch.
Crunching the numbers
Exhausted by unending technical tests, I did follow up on the call three months later. I wanted to understand how stable these roles were.
I decided that was an acceptable risk, and to pursue dispatch roles alongside the others I was still in the running for.
My experience with Michael Page
When I decided to apply for a dispatch job after all, I went with a competing agency, Michael Page, because I had already connected organically with a recruiter there, Hikari Takamura. Michael Page got me my current position at Rakuten, and thus my work visa to enter Japan.
The way Michael Page works, I needed to interview directly with Rakuten and secure an offer from them. Then Michael Page would employ me as a contractor.
Landing the job
While on a last holiday in Singapore, I managed to line up my interview with Rakuten and a conversation with my handler at Michael Page for the same day.
I’d been told Rakuten was excited by my CV, which was refreshing to finally hear. I felt quite relaxed. I was also told the interview would be thirty minutes. Instead, it lasted sixty.
These questions were shocking to me. They were also the questions I had recently learned how to answer. I was a good candidate: I’d be there soon, I’d lived there before, and I spoke a bit of the language. I wasn’t afraid to go to town hall or to get rejected from an apartment. None of these are exciting responses to questions about working in Japan, but they showed I knew what I was doing.
I asked if I could start the following Monday, but also added that I would need time in a few months to return to the UK to attend a wedding and change my visa status. They agreed.
Minutes after the interview was over, my handler from Michael Page called me. We discussed the interview and I received the most positive feedback I’d gotten in my job search. I recognized this as an early warning that a job offer would come shortly after.
Japan, here I come!
I received the contract two days later on Friday. I flew back from Singapore to the UK four days later. That gave me four days in Manchester to pack up everything I needed.
I sorted out a short-term rental as close to the office as possible through Sakura House, and landed in Tokyo on October 31st. Of course, the flight lost my bag.
I moved into my apartment in Setagaya on November 1st. On November 4th, at 10 a.m., I was waiting in the lobby of the Rakuten offices, in some backup work clothes I’d bought over the weekend.
What a dispatch contract looks like
The structure of my employment is that I started on a two-month trial contract. After one month they extended it by three more months. At this point I’m confident it will be renewed every three months. I hope that Rakuten will eventually convert me to a direct, permanent employee.
Most developers around me are either dispatch employees, or recently-converted dispatch employees. There is no sense that they are low-quality developers. I am surrounded by people far smarter than me, who are happy to share what they know.
Transitioning to an Engineer visa
Once in Japan I had two goals:
- Get an Engineer/Specialist in Humanities/International Services visa, so my spouse could join me as my dependent.
- Transition from dispatch work to being a permanent employee.
Getting the Engineer visa was a very easy step, and I had this process started within six weeks of beginning the role. This involved my dispatch agency sponsoring my Engineer visa, and we completed that step in December.
Technically I moved out of Japan for the two weeks I was in the UK. That meant I had to “move out” at my town hall and immediately “move in” on my new visa. For some banks, leaving like this means you have to close your account; luckily that didn’t apply to me. I cannot understate the bureaucracy that was endured, but hopefully that’s the last time I will have to do it.
And that brings you to where I am today. My next goal is transitioning away from the dispatch agency and into a permanent role at Rakuten. Many coworkers seem happy with the dispatch life, but I can’t deny the advantages being a permanent employee brings.
Conclusion
When I started this process, I had so much confidence, based on my experience job-hunting in the UK. How much harder was job-seeking in Japan? By far the hardest it’s ever been for me.
If you’re trying to do the same, focus less on perfection and more on credibility. Show that you can get to Japan, that you understand what living there is actually like, and that you’re committed to staying.
I started my first job ten years ago, in Manchester. In winter the sun set early, it rained a lot, and I walked to work along a foggy ring road. Now I sit down at my desk with a blue sky view of Mt. Fuji, and it feels like all that hard work has paid off.
