oNizuka

Hello,

I am looking to work for a British company situated in Japan and am struggling to find any information out on the internet.

Does anybody have a list of British companies in Japan or know of any recruitment agencies specialising in recruiting British expats

DigitalGhost

Difficult to come by, maybe increase your range to British, American and Canadian companies too as there are far more North Americans over there than there are of us.

Also try Gaijinpot if you haven't already, I get their daily jobs email and there are occasionally things in there for people looking to work with an English company in Tokyo, Kyoto or Osaka.

oNizuka

Thanks for the advice. Maybe your right about looking for American and Canadian companies. I think I would like to work for a British company because I imagine that I would be treated similar to how I would back home.

I will give Gaijinpot a look.

Thank you.

DigitalGhost

I wouldn't count on that, unless they ship you over there then they can pay local rates and offer benefits in line with local policy.

In Japan, that's not too much of a problem though as they are generally paid more than Europeans and North Americans and still get an average of around 10-20 days paid holiday plus national holidays off but it's still something to bear in mind.

It can also mean working unsociable hours. I met one of my gf's old study friends from the British Council and her husband often works late into the night and gets calls at all hours because the company he works for is based in the US.

oNizuka

In a nice way I’m not sure I agree with what you said about the Japanese getting paid more than Europeans and North Americans. Although I might have misunderstood.

Defiantly in Britain you would get paid more per hour than in Japan. Most office jobs are about 750 yen per hour (not to mention all the tax and health insurance deductions) and you could probably earn that on a paper round aged 15 in the UK.

Another thing is, your age/experience isn’t dependent on the amount of money you are paid in Japan. So if you are 50 and join a company, you would be expected to start at the bottom of the ladder with minimum salary. Unless you’re a manager or professional.

I know a few people who work at foreign owned companies and from what I hear it is a lot better than working for Japanese one. You get the same holidays you would in the UK, such as Easter a believe it or not you actually get Christmas Day off! For the last two years I have had to work Christmas Day and would love to have time off but it isn’t considered a holiday here.



That sounds like really hard work. So I guess in some cases working for a British company isn’t all what it’s cracked up to be.

I really enjoy Japanese life (excluding work) and would like to settle down here. Start a family, buy a small house in the country, have weekends off to spend with my children, have a garden e.t.c

The sort of life style that I would like seems to be very hard to obtain here and in some respects I think I have taken for granted how easy it is back home.

DigitalGhost

From what I've heard, Japanese companies will generally give most christians Christmas Day off as long as they ask for it. My gf comes from a Christian Japanese family and her parents never worked Christmas day throughout their working lives.

With regards to pay, I've only really looked at English teaching as my level of Japanese language ability would pretty much prevent me from doing any other job there and a lot of the Eikawa jobs I have seen pay around £15-20 per hour.

I think you are totally right in that last point though and that's what prevents me from thinking that my partner and I could ever live there permanently, despite the fact that that she wouldn't really want to anyway, the tiny apartments/houses and general lack of personal time and freedom would mean that I probably wouldn't be able to spend any more than a couple of years there I think. Ironically, I think I could see myself living in Korea long term much more than I could in Japan.

oNizuka

I can't believe that your gf and family has been fortunate enough to have Christmas Day off throughout their lives. I suppose it all depends on what job you have. If they get paid for their holidays and have Christmas off they are very lucky. My wife says this is unheard in Japan.

If you work in the service sector, I am sure that your boss would be very unhappy with you if you wanted to take one of the busiest days of the year off. At the companies I have worked at, if you tell your boss in advance that you would like Christmas Day off, he might reluctantly give you that day, but the rest of your team will be short staffed and of course you wouldn't get a paid holiday. I've decided not to bother as it causes a lot of hassle.

About private schools or Eikaiwas. You might be able to get £15-20 but you would have not have health insurance and your wage is dependent on the amount of lessons that you have.

If you have a proper full-time job (正社員 Seisyain) in Japan, 70% of your medical bills are paid by the government. So if you went to the dentist or needed a minor operation you would only have to pay 30% which is still around the same price as paying privately in the UK. These Eikawai teachers have to pay the full 100% as their school doesn't put them on the health insurance that their fellow Japanese staff members are on. So they have to find their own health insurance scheme and pay it themselves from their salary.

Also you might find it ideal to have four lessons a day as you have to have time to make lesson plans and reports after the lessons. Unfortunately as you get paid per lesson, four lessons a day may be enough to survive on a working holiday type life style but if you want to save up to buy a house or apartment, have children there's no chance. The Eikaiwa would probably force you to add more lessons to your daily schedule and eventually most teacher reach burn out and throw in the towel.

Most students pay around 10000 yen per lesson and the teachers only see about 20% of that. I think it's a bit of a shame. If private schools paid their teachers fairly they would have to take private lessons on the side in cafes and parks. Maybe if Nova would have paid that poor English girl who got murdered properly, she wouldn't have considered talking private lessons with that evil boy.

Anyway, I am still seriously considering moving back to the UK to settle. Saying that, part of me still feels that there might be a small chance that I can find a real job and career where I can set up camp. I think if I did move back to the UK, I would want to work for a Japanese company believe it or not, as they are actually meant to treat their members of staff like humans. Companies such as Canon, Toyota and Honda have great reputations.

DigitalGhost

I didn't know all of that about Eikawa work, it's really helpful, thank you. I'd never event thought about medical cover to be honest with you.

I was considering teaching as a temporary thing whilst I tried to build up my Japanese to real conversational ability, however if we did go to Japan then it would probably only be for around a couple of years so it may not even be worth it. I really don't think that I could live in that country full time, it's perhaps just a little bit 'too' different for me and there are aspects of their society which I really don't agree with.