News Young Japanese follow the money and work abroad

[thomas]

The weak yen achieved what years of globalisation and "internationalisation" didn't: more and more young Japanese are looking for jobs abroad, proven by a marked increase for work holiday visa.

That includes a lot of "cheap talent", like chefs and drivers.

A man who used Re-abroad's services to go to Canada said he now works 10-hour shifts cooking at a Japanese restaurant there five days a week. He earns 6,000 to 7,000 Canadian dollars ($4,400 to $5,140) a month. "Prices are high too, but I'm planning to send money back to Japan as well," he said. Online searches in Japan for jobs overseas increased around 20% in mid-October from three years earlier, before the pandemic, according to job search platform Indeed. Searches tend to increase during extended holidays, such as the New Year's period. But it is rare for them to surge in October. Many are looking for positions in the U.S. and Canada, as well as for working-holiday placements in Australia. Some are searching for part-time jobs. "It's not just highly skilled individuals, who traditionally have been the ones interested in working abroad," an Indeed staffer said. "There has been more interest among nurses, drivers and other field workers as well."

Paywall alert

Weak yen sends young Japanese abroad for higher-paying jobs

Applications for Australia's 'working holiday' visas rise 140%

asia.nikkei.com

 

[salyavin]

 

[Uncle Frank]

I'm headed to the post office now dad , should get it in a week.

 

[johnnyG]

Not that I'd want to go back, ...but we heard about someone who is in the US for a different reason (spouse was transferred). They recently found a job with a salary over twice what they had been making in japan.

For the working holiday visa, I think Japan and Canada have that agreement, but Japan-US does not.

 

[thomas]

For the working holiday visa, I think Japan and Canada have that agreement, but Japan-US does not.

Yes, they mentioned Canada and Australia specifically.

 

[salyavin]

My wife was just saying recently she thinks Japan is more convenient, safer, and likes it better but she wants the US salary so that is why we are here. I make a lot more here than I could in Japan doing the same thing. These days as I am over 50 she is worried about agism basically getting whacked due to being a foreigner over 50.

I know some Japanese here who do get the H1B so it is possible to get a work sponsored visa here, even to come over on an internship visa for company A and find a real job at company B who will sponsor your visa. Not as easy as a working holiday visa but it can work.

 

[thomas]

Nikkei Asia was running this story once again, reporting that the trend among young Japanese to consider moving abroad goes on unabated: Australia, Canada and Europe are the most preferred destinations.

Young Japanese are more eager than ever to travel, study and work overseas, and are fleeing their home country on working holiday visas. [...] Each territory has its own set of requirements that visa applicants must meet, but generally any 18- to 30-year-old Japanese can live and work in one of the 27 for up to a year. The number of Japanese going overseas on working holiday visas is picking up now that the COVID-related social restrictions have been lifted. As of the end of December, about 5,700 Japanese were staying in Australia on working holiday visas, 7.7 times more than a year earlier. Re-abroad, a Tokyo-based company that counsels and helps people find study programs and working holiday destinations, says it had 220 clients go overseas in April, more than three times the number from a year earlier and 6.5 times more than in April 2019, before the pandemic.

Paywall alert:

Young Japanese seek way out of country, hit on working holidays

COVID era, weak yen and Japan's rigid work culture turn off nation's youth

asia.nikkei.com

Re-abroad Inc.

Re-abroad Inc. (株式会社リアブロード) is a Tokyo-based recruitment agency specialising in overseas assignments (in Japanese).

• JREF
• 4 May 2023
• Views: 328
• Category: Jobs and Recruitment

 

[salyavin]

Just keep in mind cost of living as well but likely financially you still win due to higher earning abroad. Sydney for example is not a cheap place to live the salary does not go as far as you might think.

 

[Belkov]

Just keep in mind cost of living as well but likely financially you still win due to higher earning abroad. Sydney for example is not a cheap place to live the salary does not go as far as you might think.

In the UK, most of the jobs that foreign professionals come her for are related to the financial sector in the City of London. The average professional can only get properties outside London which is expensive, both to rent or to buy. The will have to travel into London which depending on location, could be a two or three hour commute each way. The rail transport system here isn't that good and it is very expensive.

If for instance, a Japanese person came here to work in for instance the City of London, they may get a far larger salary than working in Japan but the high cost of living eats into the age. There is also the different culture where a lot more anti-social behaviour is tolerated here so quality of life has be considered as well.

 

[Lothor]

In the UK, most of the jobs that foreign professionals come her for are related to the financial sector in the City of London. The average professional can only get properties outside London which is expensive, both to rent or to buy. The will have to travel into London which depending on location, could be a two or three hour commute each way. The rail transport system here isn't that good and it is very expensive.

If for instance, a Japanese person came here to work in for instance the City of London, they may get a far larger salary than working in Japan but the high cost of living eats into the age. There is also the different culture where a lot more anti-social behaviour is tolerated here so quality of life has be considered as well.

Adding to that, I recently read that schools in inner London, in areas such as Islington, are struggling to retain pupil numbers or are even closing, because the cost of living, particularly accommodation, puts the areas out of reach of most parents, resulting in these areas becoming almost child free.

 

[Majestic]

If for instance, a Japanese person came here to work in for instance the City of London, they may get a far larger salary than working in Japan but the high cost of living eats into the age. There is also the different culture where a lot more anti-social behaviour is tolerated here so quality of life has be considered as well.

I wonder if, even will all the downsides, the experience of working abroad is in itself valuable and useful leverage to get a more lucrative career somewhere else down the line. I mean, if the alternative is staying in Japan in what may be a lifetime stuck in a low paying and unrewarding career, perhaps its worth a few years toughing it out in the City or in New York, even if the living conditions aren't great. Even if you just boomerang back to Japan, that experience, the salary boost, the (hopefully) improvement in English, will all translate to better career opportunities.

 

[Belkov]

I wonder if, even will all the downsides, the experience of working abroad is in itself valuable and useful leverage to get a more lucrative career somewhere else down the line. I mean, if the alternative is staying in Japan in what may be a lifetime stuck in a low paying and unrewarding career, perhaps its worth a few years toughing it out in the City or in New York, even if the living conditions aren't great. Even if you just boomerang back to Japan, that experience, the salary boost, the (hopefully) improvement in English, will all translate to better career opportunities.

Another reason for economic migration is the possibility of getting a life-changing opportunity which would not have been happened if they stayed home.

A person goes abroad and spends a number of years as you say roughing it. In doing this, they have the ability to save quite a bit of money where they can come home and start a new business on their own. As well as having the capital to do so, they have the experience of living in another company that could help them if their business adventures to either create a niche or innovate in the market they want to operate in. A practical example of this is could a young Japanese person going abroad and working in the hospitality business then come home and operate a Yatai serving a fusion of Japanese meals and ones from the country they were living in.

I know that involves a lot of risk and potentially lower pay especially for somebody who had spent a good deal of their younger life studying but for some, the idea of having a more fulfilling life is more attractive then being part of the rat race.

 

[mdchachi]

That's what I did. I "toughed" it out in Japan for 5 years before returning to the U.S. It changed the trajectory of my whole life. I'm confident it was for the better but hard to say for sure since I can't see what happened in the alternate planes of the multiverse.