Coming to Japan to look for development jobs. Where to start?

I’m posting here on behalf of my boyfriend.

My boyfriend (potentially husband soon) is a software developer currently working for Sharp Laboratories of America. We are looking to relocate to Japan, but as I have learned in can be a tricky process, particularly with the need for sponsorship. It seems that coming there and looking for a job in person under visa exemption is the best way to go. However, it would be difficult for us to stay too long as he especially can’t miss too much work.

So I’m wondering if anyone would be willing to help us out to know how to best use our time there. We’re hoping to make connections with other developers and those who may know of the best ways to get a job there. We’re planning to be there for about 2 weeks but want to fit in as many meet-ups, group gatherings or hopefully even interviews as possible.

Thanks in advance for any help!

Since Sharp Labs is a subsidiary of Sharp Japan, I’d start by trying to find a way to do an internal transfer to Japan. At the very least, he should try somehow to leverage his connections through his existing job to at least meet with some of the Sharp Japan developers.

He could also try working with recruiters. I don’t have any experience myself here though, so I can’t offer any specific advice.

I realize this post is super old, but as I recently just set out to do almost an identical thing, I thought I would share this:

https://www.wantedly.com/

If your boyfriend is comfortable in reading and writing Japanese, this was the main site I used to quickly setup about 8 interviews in the span of a week.

The nice thing is that you literally only have to click a button to apply. They look at your profile, and get back to you if they are interested. At that point you setup a time to talk in person, which may either be 面接 style or more laid back 相談, depending on the company.

Definitely fill out the profile with work experience, example projects, and a fun 自己紹介. All these little details seem silly but they matter /alot/ to Japanese employers in my experience.

Best of luck!

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I’ve been looking for relocating to Japan for years, thinking it would be pretty hard. I threw my resume from time to time, had a bunch of skype interview, but would never get a job offer.

Then I came to Japan for 1 month, and everything became very simple. I got 100% job offer after interviewing with 3 companies.

My advise would be to scout the market from the US, get in touch with a bunch of recruiters. Plan a period to come to Japan and interview over here.

But apparently you got the same advise before :smile:

Somebody already advise you to have a look at Wantedly. You may have a look at justa.io and bizreach. Bizreach looks aweful and not customer friendly, but many recruiters use it, and that’s from this website that I got the best job offers.

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