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Relocating to Japan for work

I'm in aviation... all aspects of aviation. My 20+ years here in Japan have included cockpit, airport operations, cargo, maintenance, manufacturing, quality control. I can confirm the statement about recruiters here... calling them "head-hunters" is being overly polite. Calling them "pirates" is a compliment. I only trust about 25% of the information they provide me about any given job. Luckily, I know enough people throughout the industry to back research any offers I receive.

My point? All that warm, fuzzy stuff you read about Japanese being friendly and honest and helpful... in the business world... it's all bullshit.
 
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Sweetpotato said:
Again, it's up to what team you'll end up in. I've never met anyone working there describing it as a "black" company (although that could be true of the more Japanese departments, I suppose?) and everyone seems to be doing regular hours and so on. There's certainly lots of (work-)culture chocks awaiting but that's kind of part of the deal. You'll survive.

Since the visa isn't that tightly connected to the company (this is an Engineer visa you're getting, right?), as previously mentioned you can easily switch jobs later if you like to. Being on the ground and able to do physical interviews, as well as having all the relocation already settled, helps when looking around.

If you've never lived abroad before, this is a big deal. Think carefully and consider your personal circumstances (family, friends) etc. It's going to be really tough at first, no matter where you work, and will take time to get used to and adjust.
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Correct on the visa. It is engineer and for five years. I’ve yet to live abroad before other than taking extended vacations for at least 3 weeks at a time in Japan. I’m more concerned about essentials, how to setup a bank account, finding a place, utilities, and so forth, items that foreigners usually write about online anyway. HR did mention that the only thing assisted with in finding a place is that they will act as a guarantor, which to me doesn’t necessarily make things any easier to find a suitable place.
 
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Scooker said:
HR did mention that the only thing assisted with in finding a place is that they will act as a guarantor, which to me doesn’t necessarily make things any easier to find a suitable place.
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It does. Having a big Japanese company acting as your guarantor for the house makes many landlords to tolerate even those who use shoes inside and are unable to separate the garbage properly; in other words foreigners.

You will have a much bigger selection of houses presented to you with them having your back.
 
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Scooker said:
Longtime lurker and first time post. I’m relocating to Japan for work in a few weeks, and was just wondering if anybody has heard any experiences, or feedback on how Rakuten is for assisting new comers to Japan, especially when Japanese language level is even more basic than beginner?
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I know someone who used to work for Rakuten, they have many foreigners and he didn't need to use japanese at work. I think if you want to learn Japanese you'd have to want to.
 
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Give it a go for a while. But usually I stay at least for 6 months so the recruiter got some cut. Some company doesn't pay if before x months the talent leaves.
 
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tuljaenak said:
Give it a go for a while. But usually I stay at least for 6 months so the recruiter got some cut. Some company doesn't pay if before x months the talent leaves.
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To get the promised relocation funds, the minimum is at least 3 months to stay. I am not sure about the recruiter though, perhaps the same length of time then.
 
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Scooker said:
To get the promised relocation funds, the minimum is at least 3 months to stay. I am not sure about the recruiter though, perhaps the same length of time then.
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They usually keep the money but will need to find a replacement for free if it's less than a year/six months.
 
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I came to Japan in a very similar situation to yours (visited Japan many times before, contacted via recruiter, interviewed on Skype, landed a 5-yr gig and visa); so I may be able to shed some light.
1. The only-English-is-fine no-Japanese-required is bullshit. Unless you plan to interact with only English speaking folks. I fell for it, you shouldn’t. If you don’t know Japanese, invest in learning it when you come here; if only until conversational level. It helps in business a bit, but helps multi fold in personal life (esp if you plan to indulge in P4P, or want a girlfriend, or simply interact with random people incl. staff at shopping malls).
2. Never trust the recruiter to give you all the information. Read between their lines; ask hundreds of questions (the usual). My recruiter was from East-West and better than most, but still it sapped my energy to get him to act fast and give me all the right info.
3. Negotiate. As hard as you can with a smile on your face. In addition to airfare and shipping my furniture; I was able to get my company to pay the entire initial deposit+key money+first month rental and added housing rent allowance/month (it actually saves them tax). Also got company HR to help me prepare inkan, set up bank account, 1-month temporary accommodation till I found a rental house, etc etc. Most of the above options weren’t in their original offer. Use the gaijin-card; see if you can get HR to add in at least a few things esp for house-hunting (oh it’s a pain and merits it’s own post/thread)
4. Enjoy the challenge: working here is hard - job demands, plus (re)learning people skills, being able to drink a lot at dinner parties and stil turn up bright and fresh next day, not knowing if people are cracking jokes about you in Japanese in front of your face etc. It’s tough, but oh-so-much fun. I take it up on the chin and see it as something of a difficult journey to be enjoyed as much as possible.
5. Companies aren’t black, people within them are. If you don’t like your team, bide your time and transfer to another one in Rakuten. Or make one for yourself (aim for the moon, you’ll land one of the stars ...). I haven’t left my current company so I’m not sure if moving to another one is easy. But I’ve been getting calls from more recruiters even since coming here, apparently skilled foreigners are still rare here).
 
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I have two friends working in Rakuten for the last three and four years, one is mid level software engineering and the other is in the same dept but being fast tracked to upper management levels.

The engineering depts are practically a different company. Great hours, lots of benefits and tons of vacation time everyone is actively pressured into taking.

The marketing and all the original mainly Japanese depts is where hope goes to die. So I think you lucked out.
 
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Scooker said:
Correct on the visa. It is engineer and for five years. I’ve yet to live abroad before other than taking extended vacations for at least 3 weeks at a time in Japan. I’m more concerned about essentials, how to setup a bank account, finding a place, utilities, and so forth, items that foreigners usually write about online anyway. HR did mention that the only thing assisted with in finding a place is that they will act as a guarantor, which to me doesn’t necessarily make things any easier to find a suitable place.
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Okay, seriously, think this over. If you're absolutely sure you're up for the challenge, and all the ups and downs, go for it. Of course, I shouldn't make this more dramatic than it is, you can always quit and move back home anytime (I'm guessing??) if you can't stand it. Just keep in mind you might like it so much that you get stuck here, like me and many others. This is a real possibility.

Bank account (get 7-eleven's bank or Shinsei), phone (Softbank), finding a place (not that hard), utilities (not that complicated) and so on isn't too bad. There's plenty of people here to ask even! Having a guarantor is great, this is actually one of the great obstacles for getting a proper apartment when you're a foreigner. My company does this too, but many don't, so that's nice of Rakuten. I'm guessing with all their foreign talents they are pulling in, they more or less have to.

About apartments, there are some good introduction videos on Youtube on how to get an apartment in Tokyo and all the local customs related to housing like for example why you have to pay so much money up front when you move in and why you probably won't get your deposit back without a fight. Might be worth checking out.
 
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Solid advice except for the phone. Why would anyone in his right mind get a phone from the big three?
 
MikeH said:
Solid advice except for the phone. Why would anyone in his right mind get a phone from the big three?
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I’ve never seen my phone bill so I dont know about cost performance but I have a SoftBank iPad and and a docomo iPhone. The docomo connection is generally better.
 
Get yourself a woman, a room and a toaster oven in that order. It will take about a week to get sorted. That’s what I did 30 years ago anyway. I’ve had to change the woman, the room and the toaster oven a few times since but I ain’t complainin. Some were upgrades.
 
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Granator said:
I came to Japan in a very similar situation to yours (visited Japan many times before, contacted via recruiter, interviewed on Skype, landed a 5-yr gig and visa); so I may be able to shed some light...
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Thank you for this response and comments. The negotiation has long since closed though, but I did fight for things. Your fourth point is exactly what I would look forward to. To me, this is more about the adventure and growing personally than trying to make big $$$.

Sweetpotato said:
Okay, seriously, think this over. If you're absolutely sure you're up for the challenge, and all the ups and downs, go for it. Of course, I shouldn't make this more dramatic than it is, you can always quit and move back home anytime (I'm guessing??) if you can't stand it. Just keep in mind you might like it so much that you get stuck here, like me and many others. This is a real possibility.
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I appreciate your comments and suggestions on the various needs. It’s funny you mention about liking it so much that you may get stuck here. That very notion is in the back of my mind and my immediate family is believing that to be a very real possibility.

warubuta said:
Get yourself a woman, a room and a toaster oven in that order. It will take about a week to get sorted. That’s what I did 30 years ago anyway. I’ve had to change the woman, the room and the toaster oven a few times since but I ain’t complainin. Some were upgrades.
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Great advice! Being on this site though, P4P is more up my alley.
 
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Hofmeyer said:
I have two friends working in Rakuten for the last three and four years, one is mid level software engineering and the other is in the same dept but being fast tracked to upper management levels.

The engineering depts are practically a different company. Great hours, lots of benefits and tons of vacation time everyone is actively pressured into taking.

The marketing and all the original mainly Japanese depts is where hope goes to die. So I think you lucked out.
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I can back that up, I know a couple of (foreign) guys who have ended up working there in the engineering depts and making careers, even interviewed there once myself. Sounds like it can be a bit disfunctional and no shortage of internal politicking but hey, it's a big company.

As for recruiters... After quitting a job once I got an email from the recruiters who got me the job in the first place with a job description which fit my profile... it was the job I just quit and the description was written by myself...
 
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bergmann said:
Talking of Rakuten, if they ever offer you a transfer to Bangkok, you might want to make sure you don't end up working at this branch: https://goo.gl/maps/DYRxJ1a49Fy (Google streetview link)
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Why not? As previously discussed on TAG, massage jobs may start with a low salary but they have great possibilities to grow to a better salary, and some great tips on the side ;)
 
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