English language job in Japan that is not teaching

September 15, 2015 7:55 AM

I have been offered the dream position for me - teaching English in Japan. It is with a good school, I have up to two years to take up the offer, and there is a visa attached which will also mean my son and husband can come as dependents. And if we went it would be for a number of years, at least. Only fly in the ointment is what is my husband going to do with himself?

My husband doesn't 'do' not working - more than two weeks holiday and he is nearly unbearable to be around. The one time he was unemployed in his life - 3 weeks - he ended up severely depressed. So going to Japan and not working for years is just not an option. However, there are some obstacles.
-His current employer has no opportunities in Japan, so there is never going to be a chance to 'transfer to the Japanese branch'.
- My husband only speaks English. And he is not going to learn Japanese before we go there. He has previously tried to learn a foreign language, and he just doesn't have the aptitude. I am sure once he was there he would pick some up, but not enough to get a Japanese speaking job (we have lived in countries where we don't speak the language so that is not an issue for him).
- He doesn't want to teach, so an English teacher job is not really an option.
- Money is not the most important thing, but being honest I am not sure if after 25+ years of professional work in which he has risen to a high level he is going to be happy working at a kombini stocking shelves.
- He is not the entrepreneur type so he is not going to set up his own business from home or the like as a career.


He is a qualified civil engineer, though for the past decade or so he has worked almost entirely only in management (he has been known to go out and play on the excavator or lay concrete on a job site for fun). He says that if he was applying in an English language country he would be back at the 'graduate recruit' level when it comes to applying for 'practical' civil engineering jobs (I think he is selling himself short, but he works in the field, not me). He has no formal training in CAD but does have experience in both horizontal and vertical construction as well as working in disaster relief. He is also extremely practical, and good at making and designing things - he is a self-taught woodworker and has recently been designing and making furniture from scratch. He is also very outdoorsy, especially mountain biking and hiking, and has previously been qualified as a climbing instructor and general Adventure Training leader.

I realise that organising a job for him before we got there is going to be near impossible, but I have no idea if this is a case of 'get there and probably within 6 months you will have found something' or 'nope, there is no chance he is going to find a job'.

We have visited Japan on various previous occasions, my son and husband love it there nearly as much as I do, and the whole idea of downsizing and moving to another country doesn't bother us (we have lived and worked in half a dozen different countries so far). We will have substantial savings before we go and I would have employment, so we would have a buffer to look for the right kind of thing for him to do - but I am wondering if it is realistic to think there would actually be anything there for him.

Note 1 - I am probably looking at working in Osaka, but the school that is willing to hire me has branches around the place so there is a little bit of flexibility on where he could go to work. Osaka would be our preference though.
Note 2 - I briefly thought of going out to Japan for a year and while there scouting around for a job for him, but the reality is his current job would not give him the time to look after our son as required. Sexist, but sadly unavoidable in our situation.

posted by thepuppetisasock to Work & Money (17 answers total)

What does HE want to do? Is there a reason he can't figure this out?
posted by kinetic at 8:13 AM on September 15, 2015 [4 favorites]

I just googled this so, what about undertaking a university course? Tokyo seems to have a couple universities that offer instruction in English, also Hokkaido.
posted by TWinbrook8 at 8:15 AM on September 15, 2015 [2 favorites]

If it were about the quality of life, not the income, I would look for learning opportunities instead of employment - something like woodworking schools in the Japanese style. Can your budget handle it without him working?
posted by aimedwander at 8:16 AM on September 15, 2015 [2 favorites]

There are quite a few of civilian military jobs in Japan on usajobs.gov. Could be wrong however
posted by basketballandinternet at 8:34 AM on September 15, 2015

Very outdoorsy? Outward Bound Japan (just as an example).
posted by Iris Gambol at 8:46 AM on September 15, 2015

If you're in Osaka, that's within commuting distance to Kyoto and Nara. Perhaps he could get involved with a group that restores traditional machiya houses. Alex Kerr's Iori could be a starting point.
posted by chimpsonfilm at 8:52 AM on September 15, 2015 [1 favorite]

Probably his best bet is a US-based job that will allow him to work remotely. It's unlikely that his company is going to want management doing that, but there might be a position there (or another company) that is more of an analyst situation where it won't matter that he's remote and time-shifted.

Also, start looking at large multinational companies that have operations in Japan - not just engineering firms, look at soda companies, pharmaceutical, cosmetics, definitely the military, anything headquartered in the US that would have a major presence in Japan, and see what jobs they have listed in Japan. (And there's probably not an enormous barrier to entry for large companies headquartered in Canada/EU either as they'll have resources for getting permits for US citizens.)

He's going to have to start with really wide-open job searches to get a feel for what companies are looking for in those locations, and then decide how to make himself fit into one of those niches.
posted by Lyn Never at 8:59 AM on September 15, 2015 [2 favorites]

It seems like the 2015 answer to this question is to find an exclusively telecommuting job. I know a number of expats that do this and they're often programmers or customer support people.

But, I have to ask if this leap to Japan makes sense at this stage in all of your lives. If he has worked for 25+ years and is at a fairly high level in his field, it seems like it would be a poor time financially and professionally to walk away from that.
I'd also wonder if this makes sense in terms of your life plan time line and eventual retirement.
I don't want to be a downer but this sort of decision is so big and if you're still at the "what's Bob gonna do for work" stage you may not have thought through all the next steps. Just my stranger two cents. Although I do see that you've lived abroad a lot.
posted by k8t at 9:04 AM on September 15, 2015 [2 favorites]

Response by poster: Sorry, forgot to mention
- we are not from the US, not US citizens, not currently in the US.
- he is happy to move to Japan, will eventually be entitled to a pension when he turns 65 whether he stays in his current job or not
- I am the one looking in to things because a) I know more about Japan than he does b)I am the member of boards like Metafilter where I can ask questions and c) previously when we have moved for his job he has helped me look in to the issues that will effect my life and in return I am doing the same for him.
posted by thepuppetisasock at 9:48 AM on September 15, 2015 [5 favorites]

I have a friend who ended up working for a patent law office in Osaka. He had no Japanese prior to going (and he still doesn't) and no prior patent experience either. He did have an undergraduate chemistry degree. Perhaps with your husband's engineering degree he could find similar work.

But with his engineering background I think the neatest thing would be to get into traditional construction/restoration like aimedwander and chimpsonfilm suggested.
posted by any portmanteau in a storm at 9:52 AM on September 15, 2015 [2 favorites]

Technical writing is a type of job where (ex) engineers are highly welcomed and remote positions are not plentiful but available. If he cannot find a remote position right out of the gate, he could sign up to volunteer on one of many OSS projects to get some experience under his belt.
posted by rada at 10:08 AM on September 15, 2015

Good timing I saw this! I've lived in Japan for about 13 years now, am fluent in the language, and work in the recruiting industry.

Honestly speaking, the only viable option I see for him is with the above suggestions for remote employment. I would also have him check with the armed forces over here, though I don't know that they have a large presence in the Kansai region (Okinawa or Kanto is your best bet).

Unless you're at executive level, the only two real options for someone who doesn't speak Japanese here are English education and headhunting, and I can tell you that the chances of a firm being interested in someone of his background are very remote, especially given that he would likely only be around for a couple years.

There are exceptions here and there (for some reason data center technicians are almost always non-Japanese, no idea why), but by and large the only options are remote or governmental work, and both might be difficult for someone with his history.

Beyond that relatively depressing synopsis, it's hard for me to say much more without knowing about your opportunity; unless you're looking at working for a private international school, I can tell you that teaching here is an absolute waste of time and energy. Even the collegiate-level career path is a dead end due to racial (national?) discrimination and lack of being taken seriously.

Depending on the specifics of the situation, it might just be best to live in separate countries for two years and have him visit frequently. I've been here 13 years, you'd be surprised how easy it is to stay in touch with family via Skype and whatnot.

It's possible I'm being too pessimistic and not aware of the full plate of options out there, but that's my input from what I've seen in over a decade.
posted by GoingToShopping at 10:27 AM on September 15, 2015 [4 favorites]

In my field (tech industry) there are American companies with offices in Japan where English is the language spoken. Many non Japanese speaking employees work there. I know this exists in finance and some other areas as well.

I don't know of that exists in civil engineering but he should definitely check.
posted by thefoxgod at 12:14 PM on September 15, 2015

Although on second thought everything I can think of is in Tokyo, might be more difficult elsewhere even in fields that do have English speaking jobs.
posted by thefoxgod at 12:15 PM on September 15, 2015

Husband should look at it like a trial retirement. One idea:

Tour guide - If you moved to Osaka and lived there a while, he could task himself with getting to know the area and get set up to take small groups of English-speaking people on bike tours or hikes in the country. Get a website going, maybe a blog, learn enough Japanese while he's there to say basic stuff, etc. It would probably take a little while to get things rolling, he might need a car to drive people to the country, but if he sticks with it it could be fun.
posted by lizbunny at 12:33 PM on September 15, 2015 [2 favorites]

Many countries regulate tour guides pretty closely and require licenses (cursory Googling would indicate that Japan is one of those countries).
posted by jaguar at 2:21 PM on September 15, 2015 [1 favorite]

There are Japanese companies that operate in English. I think Rakuten is one of them. I don't know how well that works (I know Japanese diplomats whose English is atrocious) or whether your husband could find a Job there, but it may be worth checking out.
posted by LoonyLovegood at 10:42 AM on September 16, 2015