What I can do while travelling

Currently have 1.5 years of experience of being a graduate QA engineer doing stuff like manual tests, web/mobile e2e automated tests and integrating them into CI pipelines. I can speak Japanese ok and understand stuff at a n3-n2 level. Going to Japan in December for 2 weeks on a holiday (hopefully). I’m planning to do some job hunting there while I’m travelling. are there any agency like organizations I can visit while I’m there which can help me find QA jobs in Japan or is this a waste of time and I should just apply online?

Generally speaking, agencies aren’t interested in candidates who aren’t already based in Japan, unless the candidate has something exceptional about them (e.g. is working at a “famous” company like Google). While there’s no harm in reaching out to agencies, I wouldn’t count on them being able to help.

Rather than applying for jobs, my personal strategy would be connecting directly with other developers. At the very least, it helps you get a better idea of what working here is like, and in the best case, someone might know of a suitable opportunity that isn’t advertised anywhere. This is of course predicated on in person developer events happening when you visit (they’re pretty much non-existant right now, and while people are hosting online events instead, these don’t tend to provide the opportunity to spontaneously meet people).