Finding work as a software engineer without speaking any Japanese at all

I have been told by multiple recruiters that I made a mistake moving to Japan, because I need to speak Japanese to have work here. I find this attitude more than slightly bizarre and somewhat self-loathing.

Surely there are plenty of global IT firms here in Japan that have English speakers in them, right? I doubt companies like Amazon, Microsoft, Google, SAP, Sage, Asseco or other Western countries speak English on some or most teams? I scarcely imagine how they'd communicate with the head corporate office otherwise.

One recruiter has told me that I should just go home, and another told me that finding an English work environment in Japan is "like searching for fool's gold". Both of them seemed to be fairly bitter people in general. Still other recruiters have told me it's perfectly realistic to find work here given you have the credentials.

What's the real story here?

Google currently has a project lead position available. They list excellent Japanese skills as a requirement.

How many software engineer jobs do you know of in the US which are recruiting Spanish monolinguals? Or any non-English speakers? Do you walk into a Toyota dealership in New Jersey and get surprised that no one there speaks Japanese? It wouldn't surprise you if the salesman *only* spoke Japanese? You think he would be a useful employee, regardless if his sales skills?

How could you possibly find it bizarre that people don't want to hire people who can't even speak the language of the country the job is in, much less read it it write it?

It's one thing to have English speakers, it's quite another to have non-Japanese speakers.

The real story is that, generally, people who are unable to communicate in the language of the country they are in are unemployable in the vast majority if jobs.

No offense, but you appear to be exhibiting a severe linguistic superiority complex.


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In your other thread I noted some resources which can get you jobs in Japan even with no Japanese whatsoever, based on being a US citizen, having the appropriate qualifications and having the ability to pass a background check (which isn't unduly strenuous, really, most people who don't pass have financial problems which impede their application).

I know people who literally have no Japanese words who got jobs here, in fact it wasn't even a question during my interview. But that means contracting to (or working for) the US government.

I don't know anyone who works in an English speaking Japanese company. I also don't know anyone who doesn't speak Japanese who works in a Japanese company here.


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You are a typical arrogant (in terms of English-using) person who feels that English absolutely must be used in every country practically 100% of the time in a job that seems to be international in nature (like IT work). Welcome to Japan! It's not that way.

You complained that for certain global companies you "scarcely imagine how they'd communicate with the head corporate office otherwise". The head execs might, but even they will have problems with English. Trust me. I've been researching that a lot recently. As for little old you, well, Mr. Programmer, you are very unlikely to be contacting Mr. Big back in the U.S. for your job. You will spend far more of your time communicating with coworkers, your boss, and other departments, and unless you get a foreign company branch to hire you here, expect most of the time it will be in Japanese.

So, you should have done your homework before coming, so you can locate and focus on only the foreign branch offices (or the rare Japanese company like Uniqlo or Rakuten) that will have more (but not necessarily 100%) of its office language as English. It's not fool's gold here, but it will take a bit of prospecting!

Once you find one, then the next hurdle rises in front of you...will you meet their requirements?

P.S. in my research, I've found that among engineering types, software engineers speak the least English.

Respectfully I must disagree, I believe a lot of the "linguistic elitism", that I have seen in Japan actually comes on the part of the Japanese natives themselves. I've heard "ippai gaijin iranai" and other snide remarks in Japanese in my short time here, with one old woman even telling me in very bad English that foreigner should return home. The Japanese seem like a bit of a stubborn lot, certainly more so than in Hong Kong. Tokyo is a bit more 'cold' than most cities I have been to and seems to have a decidedly domestic mindset. Granted, this old woman probably saw WW2 and disliked Americans in general -- and again to be fair those sorts are far more common in America.


In short I suspect this is a "Japan thing", regarding blatant xenophobia and cultural conditions that create a barrier for foreigners. And that yeah people here don't know English, and why would they? In any case, could you suggest (or PM me...) what job searching resource you are referring to, Wonko? To my knowledge I have no other thread on these boards. I never came here expecting to work for a Japanese company, but rather work at a foreign company.

Terribly sorry, you were the last to reply to the other thread.

Here's what I wrote regarding resources:

WonkoTheSane said:

Check usajobs.com and you might find a GS position. Also look into companies which have contractor positions with DoD.

This is assuming you can pass at least a 7 year NACLC, and preferably an SSBI.

Click to expand...

As to linguistic elitism, they're not the ones living in a foreign country and being surprised that people won't hire them if they don't speak that country's language. Xenophobia is an entirely different thing.



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