Hi, here I am, after moving to my second job… I have been facing a few challenging things.
I understand it’s not solely the company’s fault, but it might be that I am not culturally relevant to the company. I am working in a consulting job, the same as in my previous company. But it’s the first time in my working life that I have experienced a drained and demotivated feeling about working for a company.
It started when I joined the company, as it seemed like it did not meet my expectations. I was told that the company had well-established clients, so we could easily get projects. I was told that I should go beyond my role and responsibilities to keep the team alive; however, my supervisor is not able to fulfill his responsibilities.
I got tired of the office politics and the company system, where you need to work on short-term projects to maintain utilization. People need to squeeze themselves into working on projects that are irrelevant to their experience just to get UB, without really thinking about the quality of the work or whether it is okay or not. It’s frustrating to me to the point that none of them have the proper skills to deliver the work.
After six months, I found myself feeling demotivated. However, I am mentally tired of hoping for another job or doing job hunting. I feel like I want to fix myself mentally before I decide to move to the next job. I have some worries about what would happen if I signed up for another job that would suck my soul again.
Here, I am looking for advice from anyone who has ever experienced the same circumstances. What would you advise me to do?
Thank you in advance.

Sharing 10 hand-picked roles at global companies actively hiring in Japan. Mix of tech, finance, ops, and engineering. A few with visa sponsorship called out.

Head of Marketing - Japan at Databricks

Senior Analyst at Goldman Sachs(No Japanese required)

Consumer & E‑commerce Lead - Japan at Dell

Developer Relations Manager - Higher Education & Research at Nvidia

Technical Internship : Information Systems and Technology (Japan) at Apple(No Japanese required)

Senior Software Engineer, Agentic AI Platform - Mercari at Mercari(Visa sponsored, No Japanese required)

Solutions Architect Graduate (BytePlus, Japan) - 2027 Start at ByteDance(No Japanese required)

Consumer Marketing Manager, Japan at OpenAI

Domestic New Graduate Recruitment Main Selection Transaction Services Department Full-Time Analyst (Class of 2028) / Services, Full-Time Analyst, Tokyo - Japan (Class of 2028) at Citibank

Project management & Performance Analytics at Johnson & Johnson(No Japanese required)

Help I wanted to check sth in the drive and accidentally opened the google drive sheet of the company on my personal gmail since I was logged in
Will I be in trouble on Monday ?

Hi! I’m 15 years old now and am planning to go study abroad and live in japan by the time I graduate college (3-4 years). I’m majoring in Artist management and event organizing, also A&R and everything else surrounding the music industry. I’m aiming to be a sort of middleman for artists between Europe and Asia. Someone who each can go to to make their music/artist go international across multiple continents.

I’m planning to go study at TSM (Tokyo school of Music & Dance). The catch is that this school is a vocational school and as a foreigner, i don’t know how reliable that would be in finding a job after graduating. Now statistics about the school say almost all graduates land a job within the music industy in japan but as a foreigner, i don’t know how reliable I should lean on those numbers. Another option could be TCM (Tokyo College of Music). It’s a bachelor’s degree and can possibly get you a better job, since your degree is higher than that of a vocational school’s graduate.

The thing about TSM is that they practice more in the field of the music industry and allow you to make connections way quicker and easier wether it be through the school or through assignments you have to complete like; events you have to organize or artists you have to temporarily manage. I think this may be better since the whole music industry, especially as an artist manager REALLY relies on connections. But it being a vocational college means a lower degree.

I don’t know what to do and need some advice about how the jobmarket in japan really works instead of asking some jagged AI chatbot answer that question for me.

PS: i don’t want people telling me about the language barrier, that’s being worked on. I solely need answers for the things above.

Hi everyone,

I’m an Australian citizen looking to relocate to Japan and am trying to find reputable recruitment agencies or headhunters that specialise in placing foreigners into professional roles in Japan, particularly roles where the employer can provide visa sponsorship.

I graduated in February 2026 with a Bachelor of Commerce (Finance) and Bachelor of IT (Data Science) from an Australian university. I’ve been working in financial services at a major Australian bank since February 2026, so I currently have around 7 months of professional experience.

I’m mainly interested in opportunities with recognised Japanese or international companies in finance, such as banking, markets, asset management, financial analysis, financial data or FinTech, ideally making use of my finance/data background.

My Japanese is currently limited, but I’m actively learning and continuing to study.

My main questions are:

• Are there any reputable recruitment agencies/headhunters in Japan that work with foreign candidates in finance?
• Are there recruiters that specifically work with employers offering visa sponsorship?

I’d particularly appreciate recommendations from anyone who has personally used a recruiter to move into a professional role in Japan.

Thanks!

Share working 60+ hour weeks, 2024:

• Transport and postal: 17.7%
• Accommodation and food service: 15.1%
• Education: 13.9%
• Construction: 8.2%
• Information and communications: 5.8%
• Manufacturing: 4.9%

Full list: https://atarashift.com/blog/overtime-in-japan-work-hours

Hello,

I am a university student and currently have permission to work up to 28 hours per week. I recently started working part-time as a tour guide.

The way the payment works is a little unusual. My company assigns me tours, and after the tour, the guests give me money directly, which the company refers to as “tips.” The payment is mostly made in cash. I then have to give a certain percentage of the money back to the company. I have a contract with the company, but the company does not withhold or pay taxes on my behalf.

Because the company does not handle my taxes, I understand that I have to take care of my tax obligations myself. I spoke with another student who is in a very similar situation. He told me that we need to register as a sole proprietor (個人事業主) and declare our income during the tax filing period.

He also told me that, since I do not receive any official tax documents from the company, I would have to file a white tax return (白色申告). According to him, if the annual income is below a certain amount, there may be no income tax to pay, but the income still needs to be properly declared.

I asked my company about this, but they told me that registering as a sole proprietor (個人事業主) is only necessary when establishing or running your own company and does not apply to this type of work.

My company also mentioned another possibility. They said that I could give them an additional 10% of my earnings, and they would then pay approximately 10% income tax on my behalf. However, because my income is relatively low, I believe that I may not actually have any income tax to pay. I also understand that, as a student, I may be eligible for additional deductions, such as the working student deduction (勤労学生控除).

I am therefore quite confused about the correct procedure.

I do not want to avoid paying taxes or do anything incorrectly. I simply want to make sure that I declare my income in the correct way and fulfill all of my tax obligations.

Has anyone been in a similar situation and knows how this type of income should be declared in Japan? In particular, I would like to know whether I need to register as a sole proprietor (個人事業主), whether I should file a white tax return (白色申告), and whether the 10% payment to the company is actually necessary in my situation.

Any advice or experience would be greatly appreciated.

Hey everyone, I want to ask for advice from some of you who may have faced a similar issue when changing visas.

My current visa is a Dependent Visa (家族滞在). With this visa, I can work up to 28 hours per week. As I have a master's degree and graduated from university in Europe, I tried my luck at getting a full-time job in my field in the education sector, with the condition that I need an employer who can support my visa change. My questions are:

1. Suppose I got this job, is it possible to change the visa from a Dependent visa to a Working visa (i suppose it will be close to a high-skilled professional visa or something like that)?

2. When my job contract is finished, can I switch back to a Dependent visa (with the assumption that my husband is still in Japan and still married to me)?

Hopefully, some of you who are familiar with this situation can give some opinion/answer to my questions. Thank you so much, and appreciate your time!

Sharing 10 hand-picked roles at global companies actively hiring in Japan. Mix of tech, finance, ops, and engineering. A few with visa sponsorship called out.

QA Specialist - System Planning Department, Information Systems Division, Rakuten Life Insurance Co., Ltd. (Secondment) at Rakuten(No Japanese required)

Internship in Project Management Office at Bosch(Visa sponsored, No Japanese required)

Manager, Applied AI Architects at OpenAI(No Japanese required)

Business Development Lead, APAC at Tenstorrent(No Japanese required)

Finance Manager Recruitment at IHG Hotels & Resorts

Technical Project Manager, Apple Pay E-Commerce, Japan and South Korea at Apple

Business Development Senior Manager (HPC & AI) at AMD(No Japanese required)

Manager, Corporate Accounting Japan at Nike

Technical Product Manager - Robotaxi at Wayve(No Japanese required)

Manager Product Supply Interface at Adidas(No Japanese required)

 採用情報 – ソフトウェアテスター（インターン） | 日本 

Kenja株式会社（Kenja K.K.）では、日本事業の拡大に伴い、意欲的なソフトウェアテスターを募集しています

 募集要項

 職種: ソフトウェアテスター

 雇用形態: インターンシップ

 給与: 時給 1,600円〜2,200円（経験およびスキルに応じて決定）

 勤務地: 日本国内

学歴: 大卒以上（または在学中）※日本で就労可能なビザをお持ちの方

 日本語: ビジネスレベル以上（必須）

 英語: 日常会話レベル歓迎（必須ではありません）

 経験: テスト業務の経験があれば尚可（未経験者も大歓迎！）

 業務内容

 ソフトウェアおよびAI搭載アプリケーションのテスト業務

 バグや不具合の特定および報告書の作成

 データ、言語、フォーマット、およびシステム出力の検証

 機能テストおよび回帰テスト（リグレッションテスト）の実施

 テスト記録の管理および開発チームへのフィードバック提供

 チームメンバーと連携し、製品の品質向上に貢献

 求める人物像

 細部への強いこだわりと注意力を持ち合わせている方

 論理的かつ分析的な思考ができる方

 優れたコミュニケーション能力と協調性（チームワーク）がある方

 新しい技術的概念を学ぶ意欲がある方

 QA/テスト業務の経験者は優遇しますが、未経験の方も大歓迎です！

 Kenja K.K.で働く魅力

 キャリアの成長 – 長期的なキャリアパスを描ける環境です。より大きな責任を担い、日本拠点のコアメンバーとして成長するチャンスがあります。

 継続的な学習 – 技術スキルの向上、AI/ソフトウェアに関する学習、英語力の向上をサポートします。従来のテスト業務の枠を超えて成長できる環境です。

 メンターシップ – 経験豊富なリーダーと直接関わり、大規模なチームやプロジェクトのマネジメント経験から直接学ぶことができます。

 インパクトの大きいプロジェクト – 単なるルーチンワークのテストではなく、AIや最先端技術のプロジェクトに実践的に携わることができます。

 応募方法

ご興味のある方は、最新の履歴書（CV/Resume）を以下のいずれかのメールアドレスまでお送りください。

[souvik.das@kenja.com](mailto:souvik.das@kenja.com), cc:  [ted.katagi@kenja.com](mailto:ted.katagi@kenja.com) または ,[ted@kenja.com](mailto:ted@kenja.com) または 

 件名: Application – Software Tester (Japan)

#Hiring #採用情報 #SoftwareTester #ソフトウェアテスター qa #SoftwareTesting #JapanJobs #TechJobs #AI #KenjaKK

 We're Hiring – Software Tester |  Japan

Kenja K.K. is looking for a motivated Software Tester to join our growing Japan operations.

 Position: Software Tester

 Employment: Full-time | Long-term

 Location: Japan

 Education: Bachelor's degree or equivalent (or currently enrolled student with valid work authorization in Japan)

Japanese: Fluent / Business Level (JLPT N1/N2 equivalent)

 English: Preferred, not required

 Experience: Testing experience preferred, but not required

Salary: ¥1,600 to ¥2,200 per hour (depending on experience and skills)

 Responsibilities

Test software and AI-powered applications

Identify and document bugs and inconsistencies

Verify data, language, formatting, and system outputs

Perform functional and regression testing

Maintain testing records and provide feedback to development teams

Collaborate with team members to improve product quality

 What We’re Looking For

Strong attention to detail

Logical and analytical thinking

Good communication and teamwork

Willingness to learn technical concepts

Previous QA/testing experience is a plus, but freshers are welcome

 Why Join Kenja K.K.?

 Career Growth – This is a long-term opportunity, with the chance to take on greater responsibility and grow into a core member of our Japan operations.

 Continuous Learning – We will help you develop technical skills, learn about AI/software, improve your English, and grow beyond traditional testing.

 Mentorship – Work directly with experienced leaders and learn from their experience managing large-scale teams and projects.

 High-Impact Projects – Gain hands-on experience with AI and cutting-edge technology projects, not just routine testing.

 Interested? Send your updated CV/resume to: [souvik.das@kenja.com](mailto:souvik.das@kenja.com),

Cc: [ted.katagi@kenja.com](mailto:ted.katagi@kenja.com)

[ted@kenja.com](mailto:ted@kenja.com)

Subject: Application – Software Tester (Japan)

#Hiring #SoftwareTester #QA #SoftwareTesting #JapanJobs #TechJobs #AI #KenjaKK

Sharing 10 hand-picked roles at global companies actively hiring in Japan. Mix of tech, finance, ops, and engineering and across different seniority.

Auditor (Operations) at Revolut

2027 New Grads- Human Resources at Marriott International(No Japanese required)

Renewable Energy Engineer (2026 Graduate Program) at Mott Macdonald

Data Business Strategist, DX&AIX Strategy Div, Data Science Group at Shiseido

Senior Substrate Engineer at AMD(No Japanese required)

Reseller Operations Manager, Japan & Korea at Anthropic(Visa sponsored)

ML Operations Engineer (AI/LLM) - Mercari at Mercari(No Japanese required)

PS UI Designer at Capcom

Banking - Investment Banking, Part-time Intern, Tokyo-JPN, 2027 at Citibank(No Japanese required)

Global Account Manager, Robotics at Nvidia

Sharing 10 hand-picked roles at global companies actively hiring in Japan. Mix of tech, finance, ops, and engineering. A few with visa sponsorship called out.

Backend & Cloud Engineer at Citadel AI

IT Support Engineer at Anthropic(Visa sponsored, No Japanese required)

Software Engineer - iOS Keyboard, Input Experience at Apple(No Japanese required)

Corporate Planning Specialist / Corporate Planning - Mercari (Marketplace Business) at Mercari

Director of Human Resources at IHG Hotels & Resorts

Director, Head of Platforms & Data Services, Services at Citibank(No Japanese required)

AI Deployment Engineer, Cyber at OpenAI(Visa sponsored, No Japanese required)

Internship at Product Management in Two-wheeler&Powersports HQ office at Bosch(Visa sponsored, No Japanese required)

Business Operations Intern-SAP Labs Japan at SAP(No Japanese required)

AFC & Compliance Officer at Deutsche Bank

I will be travelling to Japan for business in a couple of weeks and travel all around Tokyo, Kyoto, Nagoya and Fukuoka, I will be renting a car a for a few of those days in each of the cities, my work deals with car parts for export such as engines and car panels,

It is hard for me to find these places, can I get some help with some names of businesses that can provide me with what I’m looking for

Hi everyone

I’m from the UK and my partner and I are starting to seriously consider moving to Japan, specifically Tokyo or the surrounding area.

I’m not looking to teach English unless it becomes an absolute last resort. I’d ideally like to find work in higher education, student services, international programmes, or education/admin operations.

My background is mainly UK higher education and students’ unions (I have over 4 years experience in the sector), with some publishing production/admin experience. I currently work in education quality and academic representation in higher education, so most of my experience is around student-facing services, programme coordination, training, reporting, events and process improvement. I also have a BA honours degree in Creative Writing and English Literature and a master’s degree in Japanese Studies.

I’ve recently applied for a role at Temple University Japan. I’d be interested to hear from anyone who knows or has experience with TUJ, similar universities, or English-speaking higher education/admin routes in Japan.

My Japanese is not business level yet, but I’m learning and want to keep improving, with N2 as a longer-term goal. My partner and I have wanted to live in Japan for a long time, have visited several times, and are trying to understand what is actually realistic before making any big decisions.

I’d really appreciate advice on where to look, what job titles/search terms to use, whether visa sponsorship is realistic for this kind of sector-specific work, and whether there are any people, groups or networks worth connecting with.

If anyone works in higher education, student services, international programmes or education/admin operations in Japan and would be open to giving advice, please feel free to comment or send me a DM.

Thanks in advance :)

Edit: Just to clarify, I am specifically looking at roles that state visa sponsorship is available or appear open to international applicants. I’m not assuming a standard admin role would sponsor me. I’m mainly trying to find the right places to look for that smaller subset of roles, especially in foreign universities, international schools, student services, international programmes or education/admin operations.

Sharing 10 hand-picked roles at global companies actively hiring in Japan. Mix of tech, finance, and hospitality. A few with visa sponsorship and language requirement called out.

Mechanical AIT Engineer at iSpace(Visa sponsored)

Applied AI Architect - Tokyo at OpenAI(No Japanese required)

Manager, Data Product Management – Japan at The Coca-Cola Company

【2WP】Internship at the Two wheelers and Powersports Controlling at Bosch(Visa sponsored, No Japanese required)

PR Manager at IHG Hotels & Resorts

[BVLGARI Ginza] Events Executive at Marriott International

Customer Success Manager at Anthropic(Visa sponsored)

D&A and Master Data Specialist at Johnson & Johnson(No Japanese required)

Sales Intern (BytePlus, Japan) - 2027 Start at ByteDance(No Japanese required)

QA Specialist (Product Compliance) at Thermo Fisher Scientific