To find out, I teamed up with my good friend Joe who just got back from two years living and teaching English in Japan and had now started work with a Japanese moving company here in the States. He went through the same Japanese program that I did at college, but his two years actually living in Japan really rocketed his Japanese skills to new heights. In this article we’ll be exploring his journey for employment back here in America.

FYI Joe’s actual thoughts and words will be italicized for your reading pleasure.

The Experience

Like I mentioned above, Joe majored in Japanese at Ohio State University and then went on to teach English in Japan for two years through the JET program (more info on that and how to apply here). Some of you may remember how mediocre I thought OSU’s Japanese program was, but as with most things – you get out what you put in.

Joe was in a lot of the same Japanese classes as me during undergrad, but since Japanese was his only major, he could afford to put a lot more time and effort into the language than I could (I double majored in Japanese and economics and minored in engineering).

After graduating, Joe started looking for jobs in Japan and managed to land a pretty nice gig through JET teaching English. He was way up on the island of Hokkaido- far, far away from all things English. This was immersion at its finest.

I am like, so immersed right now…

Joe’s stint in Japan really bolstered his Japanese skills and his own confidence in his abilities. But how hard is it to find a job in a country like the United States when most all of your experience is in Japanese? Where do you search? What kind of jobs can you expect to find? Let’s follow Joe’s journey and find out.

The Search

Q: So Joe, why don’t you describe what sort of jobs you were looking for and where you found them. How many did you apply to? How many did you actually hear back from?

A: I haven’t been at it long enough to speak with any great amount of experience, but at the outset I cast a wide net over the internet, just looking for jobs available in Ohio. What I came up with wasn’t much, but it led to my job at Yamato Transport USA (a moving/delivery company) and could certainly lead to more.

There are recruiting companies such as TOP Chicago who actively search for people with Japanese qualifications and try to refer them to their clientele – Japanese companies in America. They did a lot of the foot work for me, and that is what led me to a few Skype interviews and one in-person interview.

Searching is hard :(

While I (John again here) was looking for jobs, I had my own dealings with TOP Chicago as well. I had one phone interview and one in-person interview. The in-person interview ended up not panning out because I was a little misled as to what the actual position was, and the other interview didn’t pan out because I wasn’t actually qualified for the job.

So basically the takeaway here, I think, is to apply like crazy to everywhere. There’s no harm in applying, right? Recruiting companies such as TOP Chicago are a great resource, but definitely do not rely solely on them. You never know what you might find on your own.

The Interview Process

Q: Could you describe the interviews you had? What was the process like?

A: My first Skype interviews were with the recruiters at TOP Chicago, and they seemed to be primarily to get a feel for what kind of work I was looking for, but since these were all conducted in Japanese, they also served the double purpose of testing my Japanese ability to better find a suitable position for me.

(As it turns out, the market here is pretty flush with Japanese majors who taught English in Japan and now want jobs here – I was hired just two weeks after another friend from OSU had been hired for the same position, and another long-term employee had similar qualifications when he started.)

The Job Itself

Q: So, your job at Yamato – could you describe more what the job is like? How is Japanese utilized and how much Japanese skill do you feel you really need there? How much of the day are you actually using Japanese? Is it mostly speaking, writing, reading?

A: For my particular position, it isn’t entirely too necessary to know much Japanese, being that I’m just starting out as a box-moving grunt, except when receiving training, advice, and directions from the boss, who by my second day stopped using English with me.

That sort of job could be considered a promotion actually, and would be a fully integrated mix of reading and writing paperwork and box labels, as well as speaking and listening to customers and fellow employees at the home office.

John again here – for those of you who aren’t already aware, Yamato is the number one parcel express and delivery company in Japan. You heard of takkyubin? Yamato is king. In America, they still do the same sort of stuff, they just get a whole lot of their business from Japanese people since they already know who Yamato is and are familiar with their quality and professionalism.

Advice

Q: So Joe, do you have any advice to offer that wasn’t covered in the other sections? What do you think set you apart that got you hired for the position you landed? Was living in Japan the most helpful? Undergrad studies? Feel free to share anything you wished you had done differently during the process.

A: Living in Japan was an invaluable experience and I would recommend it to anyone (here’s some ways to get there cheap), especially anyone who is interested in the Japanese language or Japan related jobs. If, however, I wanted to do anything differently, it would be to find a non-teaching job IN JAPAN while living in Japan.

To do this you must be very resolute in your search, and have little or nothing to draw you out of Japan (companies don’t want to invest in someone who might be a flight risk) once you get there. The market there has a much higher demand for foreigners who can speak Japanese, while American-based Japanese companies will almost certainly prefer a native who can speak English.

My undergraduate studies in Japanese were also invaluable. I had a wonderful experience in that community within the university and made a bunch of lifelong friends – many of them on the study abroad to Kobe, like John! But again, if I were going to do anything differently, it would definitely be NOT TO MAJOR IN JAPANESE EXCLUSIVELY.

I also very much agree with this.

A double major or a Japanese minor with something else is definitely the way to go here. For example, computer science and engineering and Japanese language double major, or economics/business with a Japanese minor, or some other combination that brings more skills to the table.

Finally – and this could be a whole Tofugu post all on its own (if it isn’t already) (it kind of is) – beware of working for a Japanese company. It is well-known that Japanese people work very long hours for little reward, and that is a distinct characteristic that is not exclusive to their home country.

So, have any of you landed Japanese related jobs in your home countries? What sort of jobs are they and how did you find them and get hired for them? Any advice for those currently on the job search? Please, share your advice in the comments!

I would also love to hear other people’s advice and comments! I’m still looking for bigger and better things!

Who are these people!??

I like to see what people are searching for in regards to Google sometimes. I put in “Japan” as a keyword, and asked Google to tell me related terms. I was surprised to find that 68 million people per month are searching for the term “where is Japan” with 13,600,000 of those searches coming from America. Whew, I guess we only make up 20% of the world’s geographically challenged population.

But, I can’t just write about where Japan is. That would be silly. You can find the answer to that easily (or, you can just look at this map. See giant red arrow).

Hopefully you can find a country you do know to figure out where Japan is in relation

But that’s not the whole story. There’s more to it than just this. Japan isn’t just there… it’s a little more complicated than that. We can’t just ask “Where Is Japan?” and get away with a shoddy map with a big red arrow. Let’s dive deeper.

Where Is Japan: Contested Islands Version

Japan isn’t particularly friendly with its geographical neighbors. It’s not an all-out-brawl, but nobody’s getting invited over for Sunday Night Bridge. There are a number of islands near and around Japan that Japan thinks they own. At the same time, other countries think that they own them. So who owns them? I’m not sure, but they’re kind-of-sort-of Japanese islands, so you have to at least think about them when you ask the questions “Where Is Japan.”

Kuril Islands

The Kuril Islands are the islands to the North of Japan which (supposedly) are part of Hokkaido. Russia, on the other hand, doesn’t think this is part of Japan. Why the dispute? After World War II during the San Francisco Peace Treaty, Japan was told to give up all claims to the Kuril Islands. Japan, on the other hand, doesn’t accept this because in 1855 during the Treaty of Shimoda borders were created during this first diplomatic relations with the Soviet Union where it was agreed that the border would be between Urup and Iturup. On top of that, in 1875, Russia traded all the islands in exchange for Sakhalin, which is this big red island. Pretty good deal, I’d say.

Awesome trade for Russia

Even later in 1905 (right after the Russo-Japanese war), Japan got the southern half of Sakhalin back (someone’s getting island greedy). So, besides Sakhalin, they sort of have decent claim on at least some of these islands, I’d say.

Lots has gone on lately with the Kuril Islands, too. The European Parliament recommended Russia return the Islands to Japan in 2005 (though Russia wasn’t about to do that). Later, Putin offered to return Shikotan and Habomai to Japan if they could have the other two, but these two islands only consisted of 6% of the area. Japan retaliated (very nicely) by offering financial aid to the islands if they were given back, but this didn’t work because the economy was getting better around there (we don’t need your dirty yen, Japan). Japan later went so far as to add these islands into textbooks for school kids showing them as part of Japan.

It’s not all bad, though. There’s been lots of talks about it and Russia has even made it so Japan can visit the islands visa-free and Japanese fishermen can fish there. Still though, Russia has been building up military defenses on the island, including amphibious assault ships and anti-air missile systems.

Really, though, I’d say the Kuril Islands are pretty tame compared to some of the other island disputes. It’s a lot less of a crybaby battle and a lot more diplomatic, not like the next two islands.

You can find more info on the Kuril Islands here.

Diaoyutai/Senkaku Islands

Middle of nowhere island

The Diaoyutai/Senkaku Islands dispute is a little bit more interesting, I think. These islands are east of China, North East of Taiwan, and South West of Okinawa (and Island that is part of Japan). What’s so interesting about these islands? They’re uninhabited. They are pretty though, at least.

Is that a secret hatch I see protecting some deep, dark secret?

Japan claimed these islands in 1895 and gave them up to the United States after World War II (sensing a theme here?). In 1972, the US gave back the islands (because really, they’re kind of worthless as far as islands go) and then China and Taiwan immediately started claiming that they actually owned the islands. China said they discovered the islands in the 14th century, and Taiwan just wants to piss of China anytime they can, so I’m guessing that’s why they laid claim (oh, that and they’re much closer to the islands compared to both Japan and China).

Still though, in 1900 Japan built a bonito factory on one of the islands, making it more inhabited than its really ever been in modern history. Although this delicious bonito stopped getting manufactured in 1940 and the islands got deserted, I’d say this is a pretty decent claim. Overall if I were the God of Undisputing Islands, I’d give it to Taiwan. They’re 76 nautical miles away from the island, compared to Okinawa (220 nautical miles) and China (pretty far away).

This set of islands, though, is really just a case of national pride getting in the way of reason. Unless there’s some hidden resources or special use for these islands, that’s the only other explanation I can think of. This gets worse in the next disputed island.

You can find out moree about the Senkaku Islands here.

Takeshima Island / Dokdo

Let me get my magnifying glass...

The Takeshima Islands / Dokdo Islands (Korean), also known as Liancourt Rocks (because it consists of a few rocks) that are disputed by both Japan and Korea (you can see it’s between the two nations in the East Sea / Sea of Japan). As you can see from the picture below, there are two main rocks islands, and (what you can’t see) 35 smaller rocks sticking up around it. There’s a light house on the Eastern Island along with two Korean citizens (an octopus fisherman and his wife) along with a small police detachment, administrative personnel, and lighthouse staff (though these are non-permanent residents who probably really, really can’t wait to get home).

South Korea thinks these islands are part of the Ulleung Island government. Japan thinks these islands are part of the Oki Islands government. Overall, though, I’d say Korea has a better claim to this one. They have two permanent residents (which is an infinite number more than Japan has), over a thousand tourists who visit (it’s a nature reserve), and other non-permanent people on the island as well. Korea agrees with this sentiment as well – apparently on the ferry ride over to the Liancourt Rocks they show an animated film where a “giant Robot Taekwon V figure soars up out of the sea and routs Japanese pirates trying to invade Dokdo.” To be fair, the giant robot is protecting a couple of really nice looking rocks.

The only thing missing is a gaming cafe for the island residents to get their SC2 ladder time in

As of right now, there’s definitely very little claim that Japan could have on these islands. In recent years, Korea has built the lighthouse, a helicopter pad, a South Korean flag (visible from the sky! Ancient Aliens??), two desalinization plants, cell phone towers, and a police barracks. On top of this, Korea sends students from 62 elementary, middle, and high schools on field trips to the islands (no fair, I only got to go to the landfill / water treatment plants for my crappy field trips). They’ve made stamps with the islands on them, and wrote a textbook about the islands for kids to learn from.

Still, though, Japan has done things like create a “Takeshima Day” pretty much just to fan the nationalistic fires of the two nations. If I were Japan, I’d stick to focusing on the Kuril Islands – There’s more stuff there, anyways.

You can find out more about the Takeshima Islands Dokdo Islands here.

So, Where Is Japan, After All?

Well, to be honest, it’s pretty much exactly where you thought it was this whole time (assuming you knew where Japan was in this world in the first place). When it comes to the three main disputed islands, though, overall I’d say Japan isn’t in any of those locations. The closest they come is the Senkaku Islands, but is it actually worth all the hassle? Maybe, maybe not. Nationalism will do funny things to people, especially considering there’s no people on Senkaku.

Still, almost all of these contested situations come from Japan’s old rivals from World War II (and before). Not a lot of good history between Korea, China, Russia, Most Of Asia, and Japan. All that’s fairly far in the past now, and Japan isn’t the same imperialistic territory grabbing country of its past, but people still remember, and lots of prides are at stake, causing most of these disputes.

But, what will you say now when someone asks you “Where is Japan?”

I’d just point on a map, to be honest, and then tell this person to study their geography a little more. All this other stuff is probably way too complicated for them if they can’t find Japan in the first place.

P.S. Following us on Twitter, on the other hand, is not disputed.
P.P.S. Our Facebook and Google+ pages are always fighting over rights to our non-existent MySpace Page.