Japan Dev

I think the options you have listed are pretty accurate. If you are a working for a large multi-national then getting an internal transfer to the Japan office is probably the best way to move to Japan. As for companies in Japan, there is a wide range. From very old fashioned businesses where programming is seen as simple grunt work to modern development shop that keep up with industry best practices. If you don't speak Japanese you will limit your options, but filtering for English speaking workplaces will probably leave you with a smaller number of better companies. Start off by taking a look at the English speaking expat focused job sites [1][2]. If you have a university degree and can get hired by a company in Japan the visa situation is very straightforward. No lotteries or waiting lists, just a few forms. You would be right in saying that salaries tend to be lower. This article[3] from JapanDev is a good starting point. Cost of living is also lower, depending on your lifestyle. Inflation is starting to catch up with Japan so it's not clear what things will be like in the future. [1] https://japan-dev.com/ [2] https://www.tokyodev.com/ [3] https://japan-dev.com/blog/software-developer-salaries-in-japan-the-ul…

This might be helpful for you (previously found on HN): https://japan-dev.com

You don't need Japanese skills to find a job here. Check out these sites for jobs from English-friendly companies: - https://japan-dev.com - https://tokyodev.com And FYI: living in Japan is nothing like visiting Japan. But working as a dev here can be a rewarding experience. Good luck!

Looking around the internet, it seems Shift Inc. is paying around 4.5-5.0 (full range: 3.8-7.8) million JPY / year total comp. This is about 40k-45k USD/year. It's somewhat better than what engineers would get on a black companies and local consulting companies and perhaps on par with some of the traditional blue chip companies. But this doesn't come anywhere close to what a software engineer can earn on the highest paying companies here, like Google or Indeed (levels.fyi pegs Google L4 as earning 14-23 million JPY per year, though the dataset is a little bit small). Even the large local IT-focused companies are competing for talent: Yahoo, Line, Rakuten, Works Applications, Mercari etc. will all pay up to 11m-13m for non-manager software engineers (even though they won't necessarily pay much higher for entry-level engineers). Many well-funded startups are also paying 7m-10m salaries to their engineers. The pay gaps between different companies in the very same city (Tokyo) for the same position can be quite high. You can read more about it here: https://japan-dev.com/blog/software-developer-salaries-in-japan-the-ul… In short, if Shift Inc. is paying around 5m for their engineers, it might help them fight high turnover, but it won't be enough to bring the best engineers. There are companies which are both more well-known and stable and are still paying higher salaries.

https://japan-dev.com/blog/black-companies-in-japan Dogs and Demons: Tales from the Dark Side of Japan japanese Business Culture and Practices: A Guide to Twenty-First Century Japanese Business Protocols

That's so weird. Employers have always paid for employees' commuting expenses here in Japan [0]. It's not even mandated by law and there's a legal limit of 150k yen / month, roughly $1000 though most companies limit it to 25k (~$200). Still it's enough that commuting by bullet train is a thing [1]. Even part timers get reimbursed. [0]: https://japan-dev.com/blog/employee-benefits-in-japan [1]: https://www.reddit.com/r/japan/comments/y1nurn/places_outside_of_tokyo…

While I think Japanese society has lots of good traits and outcomes such as a low crime rate, and a ethic to involve everyone in process improvements, this is another clear example of what the English call "keeping up appearances". It seems Japanese call it "tatemae" - https://japan-dev.com/blog/honne-and-tatemae

I've tracked down the root cause: I needed to disable two uBlock Filters in order to successfully load the page: Fanboy's Annoyance and Fanboy's Social. It seems that they block some JS related to social buttons (https://japan-dev.com/assets/socialButton.9ddbb1cc.js) and that makes the rest of JS responsible for the rest of the page to not execute (due to a failed request). Sorry for the false flag.

I believe you can now enter Japan for the purpose of working, if you have a job offer. There are several tech companies that speak English internally. You can google for Tokyo Dev Jobs or Japan Dev Jobs and a few websites will popup. Edit: https://www.tokyodev.com/jobs/ https://japan-dev.com/jobs/

My understanding is that in Japan, engineers generally make a lot less money than they do in the USA, and that American companies with engineering offices in Japan tend to pay better. - https://unseenjapan.com/japan-programmers-salaries-poor/ - https://japan-dev.com/blog/software-developer-salaries-in-japan-the-ul… - https://opensalary.jp/

Here are some good resources on tech salaries in Tokyo/Japan. https://japan-dev.com/blog/software-developer-salaries-in-japan-the-ul… https://opensalary.jp/en/

I got my current employment being introduced by someone inside. I found my previous company via job website, here are two that I find most helpful: https://japan-dev.com/jobs https://www.tokyodev.com/ Obtaining residence: my current visa is (quite long): "Engineer/Specialist in Humanities/ Int'l Services" (技術・人文知識・国際業務) I got this visa sponsored by my first company, which is the most common thing for foreigners. Mine is 5 years, some are just a year long. It all depends on the company and how they file your paperwork. I don't have permanent residency. I could switch over to spousal visa, but since I still have a lot of time left with my visa, I'm not going to bother the bureaucracy. Also, getting residency isn't as easy; it's like a point system here: how long you've been working, if you went to school in Japan, JLPT (Japanese Language Proficiency Test), etc. Guarantor is only necessary for renting apartments (from my experience).