What's new

What jobs do most Western foreigners have in Japan?

Kawaiicutebunny

Registered
12 Jun 2020
16
5
13
I would imagine 80% of them are english teachers, earning an average of 250,000 yen a month?
10% would be on a working holiday visa or working on a student visa, in a bar or a shop, earning an average of 180,000 yen a month?
The last 10% would be programmers, businessmen and managers, earning an average of 500,000 yen a month?

Lastly, where they are employed, I estimate 60% of them to reside in Tokyo. 30% of them to reside in the other larger cities in Japan, and the last 10% to reside in the small towns and rural areas.

I'm just guessing. I'm not really sure.
 
If you are referring to Western, native English-speaking residents, your numbers might be quite close to reality. However, I guess the number of teachers and foreign students has declined due to the coronavirus pandemic. I'm not sure whether more precise data is available, you'd need to dig deeper into the statistics.
 
Your professional salary estimate may be low. If I include bonus and paid rent I was making Y1,000,000/month as a junior programmer when I went to Japan to work. I wasn't an expat but did get the housing perk. That was 1994.
 
I guess things look a bit different today, not only for programmers.



Average salaries:

 
Yes I may have been an outlier. Although if you look at IT salaries in Tokyo finance (Morgan Stanley for example) you'll see reported salaries are still in the range I experienced. Those were the good old days. I sometimes wonder how things would have worked out had I stayed in Japan. Definitely would have been more profitable. But I feel my quality of life is better here.
 
Back
Top Bottom