Quote:
Originally Posted by spicytuna
It really amazes me how some people are willing to move to another country where they're putting themselves at an obvious disadvantage.
I have some Japanese Canadian friends with university degrees and excellent Japanese skills (for a Canadian) who are currently living in Japan. Most of them moved to Japan shortly after graduation and they've pretty much integrated themselves into Japanese society as they work regular salary-jobs where they hardly use any English.
Fifteen years later, their Japanese still isn't at a native level and they're still working junior to medium level positions! Not to mention their 90 minute commutes, 50hr weeks, lack of financial stability, etc. Needless to say, most of them are regretting their career choices but they also realize that the skills they've learned are not exactly useful back in N.America as well.
Talk about bad planning! If they had at least taken some time to make themselves a little more marketable, ie. emphasize their ability to speak English rather than Japanese in Japan, perhaps they'd be living a better life...
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Career planning is a big thing. A lot of people who voiced out how much they want to move to Japan either have the wrong reasons for it, or they don't qualify for it and kept dreaming about it.
I speak 4 different languages, and one of them IS Japanese, not natively fluent, but good enough. I have an electrical engineering background with a master in Info. Sys. Management. I have 12 years of working experience in the software testing field, from low level software, to robotics controller, to financial software. I also have certificates in photography as well as several international certification for teaching martial art (Not trying to show off. read on).
With a background like this, I thought I can easily find an employer in Japan who will sponsor me. Back in 2005, I started looking for a job in Japan, only because I really like and miss that country. For 2 years I searched, not even a single phone call for an interview after submitting easily over a hundred resume over the course of 2 years. Reason? Simple, it cost too much to sponsor someone for skills that they may not need. What I possess is not what they are looking for, and what they are looking for can easily be filled by a local engineer with limited English ability.
That said, all these people who make all kind of statement of "if you have the will you can move there", or "You don't need a university degree, you just need to be the best" sorry, but the Japanese employers are looking for something more realistic.