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Curry : The Unsung Hero of Japanese Cuisine
OK so the title has already given it away, this is an article about food. I am sure a lot of people are thinking isn’t this blog supposed to be about working in Japan?! Well yeah it is and we have articles on that stuff too, but let’s be honest, food is important. We can live without work but we sure as hell can’t live without food. So I think that as food is such a key part of our lives it makes sense to be passionate about it. My friends and I when we meet up, we will often talk about food and especially about the differences in…
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Japan’s New Graduate Job Hunting 2021 – History, Background and Current Situation in 2021
Job hunting as a new graduate in Japan is a unique and confusing process. Did you know that often Japanese university students will begin their job hunting a full year before they graduate? Also companies have unique processes such as information seminars, group interviews and written exams? Some large companies such as Toyota will aim to hire more than 1,000 students every year. It is one of the most stressful times in a students life, the number of suicides due to this job hunting more than doubled since 2007 with 15% of the suicides of university students due to job hunting. But, how did this process start and why?
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Interview – Teaching at an International School in Japan
Continuing with our series of interviewing people who are working and living in Japan, we have an interview from James who is now teaching English at an International Preschool in Tokyo. Teaching English in Japan is no doubt the most common job for most westerners looking to come work and live in Japan. It can especially handy if you have been unable to study Japanese to a level where you can work in a Japanese business environment (N1-2 level), but still want to enjoy living and working here. It can be a nice temporary position for people until they move onto another position. For others teaching English is the perfect work-life balance and something…
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Interview – Working in the Game Industry in Japan
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Interview – Working in the Game Industry in Japan
We have a very special interview from Mike Paxman who is currently working in the mobile games industry here in Tokyo. Mike studied Japanese Language at the University of Sheffield, also helping to run the Japan Society on the side. He also used to run the extremely popular Japan is doomed blog and has contributed contents to other Japanese culture websites such as Tofugu. Below is the interview we did together about advice for those who are who are interested in working in Japan and specifically the game industry! Some great contents and hope you enjoy!
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Interview – Teaching at an International School in Japan
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How to do Research on a Company in Japan
When you are job hunting one thing that you will no doubt do is research about a company. It might be the company that you are applying to, its competitors or just somewhere you have an interest in. For anyone new to job hunting this entire process can seem rather daunting, even more so for a Japanese company as much of the material and resources will be in Japanese. What is even crazier is that if you are going to a job fair such as the Boston Career Forum, then there is a chance you will be applying to 10s of companies. That is a whole lotta research! However there…
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Internship – Oneway Ticket to a Job in Japan
I never intended to do an internship after finishing university. I wanted to get back to Japan ASAP and work at a Japanese company. I wanted to taste the real Japanese working culture and take my Japanese above the N1 level, and at the time I thought the only way to do this was by working at a Japanese company full time. If that was not possible, then working at a foreign company in Japan would be the next best thing. The only thing I didn’t realize was just how crazy hard it would turn out to be to find a full time job in Japan while being in a…
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Training in a Japanese Company Part 2 – Salaryman Boot camp
Hell you have met your match; its name…… Salaryman boot camp. Welcome to part two of a series of articles looking at what happens after you make the best decision of your life and join a Japanese company. Specifically we are focusing on the training period. For those that missed it, part 1 of the series looked at the pre-entry training (yep the training will often start BEFORE you even get in the company) . Pre-entry training is kind of like an early Christmas present, a Christmas present that punches you in the face and makes you write an apology letter. Oh yeah. This article is the first that looks at…
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Fault Lines – Personal Experience of March 11th 2011
I have many faults. One of them is that I am extremely ignorant towards certain things if I feel that they won’t affect me directly. I know it is not the best quality to have. As an example in the summer of 2013 I had no idea that Princess Kate was even pregnant let alone that the baby was rumored to be a girl (she was about 6 months pregnant at the time). I generally didn’t keep up with the news between Kate and William because in all honesty I didn’t see how it would affect me at all. In fact I strongly believe that 99% of the stuff the…
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Training in a Japanese Company Part 1 – The Post Entry Training Period
The Beginning of the End Hello Ladies and Gentlemen, Boys and Girls. This is IT! This is the theme that got everything rolling. The big bang for Wijapan. It is the topic I always wanted to write about and the one I also wanted to avoid, due to it often bringing up un-pleasurable memories. Now working in a Japanese company is one HELL of a big theme. We haven’t got that many articles here at Wijapan (YET!) but quite a few of them touch on working in a Japanese company. Jamie has introduced some of the annoyances to be found with everyday life here such as the good old…
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Job Hunting in Japan Part 2
OK so we are back to the long road of job hunting in Japan. Following on from the previous article we are have gone to the company presentation and hopefully our Entry Sheet has passed. The next step being the ultra-fun: Written Exam So you have made it through the first stage and it has only taken you around 4 months. The next step will often be a written exam or first interview, depending on the company the order is different and some companies leave out the written exam all together (my company and Tokyo Joe’s company both had a written exam but Joe’s didn’t). There are various kinds of…
Work in Japan
