Japan is a great country to start working in Asia because it has some of the best foreign work laws and highest salaries in the region.  Since work visa standards are stringent and job requirements are some of the strictest in Asia, Japan has rewarded foreign workers with a more lenient view regarding working in the country; throughout Asia, you are tied to the employer that processes your work visa (if you quit or get fired, you have to leave the country).  In Japan, however, you are free to move to another employer/company, as long as its within the same job category of your original work visa application. 

Japan is made up of thousands of Islands, however there are five major Islands that have all the job opportunities:

Honshu is the largest Island and contains Tokyo, Mount Fuji, and a population over 100,000,000.  Hokkaido is the second largest Island, the most northern, and is connected to Honshu by the 33 1/2 mile long Seikan Tunnel.  Kyushu is the third largest Island and is the home of Fukuoka, a port city of over a million people with ferries to Pusan, Korea.  Alot of people that teach in Korea, take the ferry to Fukuoka to process or renew their Korean work visas; so I'm assuming alot of people teaching or working on Kyushu take the ferry to Pusan to process or renew their Japanese work visas.  Shikoku is the fourth largest Island; cradled by Honshu and Kyushu (look at a map of Japan), it is connected to the mainland by three major expressways.  Okinawa is the largest Island in the Japanese Ryukyu chain and is home to a sizable U.S. military presence and expat community.

Job opportunities vary greatly and range from consultants, marketing and public relations, ESL teaching, and jobs working with the U.S. base on Okinawa.  Professional jobs typically require English and Japanese speaking ability.  Teaching jobs are for one year (with an option to continue) and typically include; housing, air flight reimbursement, and a year end contract completion bonus of up to one month's salary.               

Back to Asia Employment page