This post is going to be the definitive 룸 알바 guide to finding a part-time job and living well in Japan for an international student. Part-time jobs are the best way for international students to get a taste of Japanese society and culture.
Moreover, working part-time in Japan helps students to get decent wages, as well as to greatly improve their Japanese language skills within a short period of time. Students from English-speaking countries can make good use of their skills in order to make money in Japan by working as English teachers in part-time jobs. Bilingual Japanese speakers with English language skills can take advantage of this benefit by getting a well-paid translation job.
Whether speaking or writing the translation, the job typically offers flexible hours and work locations, since many interpreters work from home. Another job which does not require Japanese is cleaning and bedding service in hotels.
In terms of scheduling, most places are pretty relaxed on how many days per week you will be working, as well as taking vacation days. This is a widespread problem throughout Japan, with husbands expected to be more in work and less home. It is a bigger hurdle for marriages if the men are out of work: About 70% of women stop working after having the first baby, and for some time, rely on the salary from the husband.
Women who do try to find a steady job often end up with erratic jobs as well, which has implications for raising a family, because hours are unpredictable and pay is lower. The rise of irregular jobs does not only pose challenges to people who hold these jobs. It turns out, even robots are having trouble keeping their jobs.
The government has had a long-standing culture of overwork–there is even a Japanese word, karoshi, for death from overwork–but it has gotten worse after the Great Recession, Haruki Konno says, because companies realized good jobs are harder to come by in Japan, so they are pushing employees even harder.
Eventually, whining falls to the wayside. This book follows one young woman in Japan who is looking for a non-stressful, easier job. Unable to convince quite a few such people to discard or sell their rings, and even completely unconvinced they were willing to dispose of them, they would come and bury them in a forest. Notes*Kikuko Tsumara experienced harassment on the job during her first post-college job, quitting 10 months later in order to get retrained and get a different job, and this experience inspired her to write stories about young writers.
If you have grown up in Japan, and are comfortable with Japans traditional business culture, then finding and holding down a job should be no trouble. Within the Japanese employment system, this is a potential crisis, as an individuals first job right out of university is the critical stage to secure a lifetime employment with any given firm, as well as guaranteed salary increases with every year of employment. Now, according to Jeff Kingston, professor on Temple Universitys Japan campus and the author of several books on Japan, roughly 40% of the Japanese labor force is irregular, meaning that instead of working at companies that provide steady jobs throughout a full career, they are pieced together from temp-and-part-time jobs that pay lower wages and lack benefits.
Japanese wage earners typically work as many as 16 hours per day, and longer, with no overtime pay. Unfortunately, many businesses in Japan have not traditionally taken the initiative to offer work contracts for part-timers.
Drinking after work is considered part of the workday for Japanese wage earners. My sisters husband is a salesman at a Japanese medical equipment company, and even after working long hours every day, he is still expected to bring drinks to clients after work (this is called settai). Even though this is only part-time, that does not mean that one can let themselves off the hook and get tardy without a valid reason.
There are a few foreigners that swear by English Cafe as their preferred part-time work in Tokyo, and others who favor more fast-paced positions. For English cafe companies renting out spaces, you will also travel to many different locations, which may be pleasant at first, but often gets tiring after a few months.
We also have jobs like that here in the U.S., but in Japan, it is a lot more common, even overkill. Many sorting and packing companies or shipping companies such as Yamato and Sagawa hire overseas students to work in those jobs as there is very little interaction with customers. I moved back to Tokyo briefly after graduating college, and worked at several Japanese companies, but these were part-time contract jobs, so I am not going to pretend I have any idea of what it is actually like to work at Japanese companies.
Jou Matsubara thought that he was going to live out his Japanese dream when he graduated college and got a job with the Daiwa House Group, a Japanese house-builder. After only undergoing 25 sessions of psychological therapy, and receiving a few medications to ease Mr. Hs anxiety, he was able to move out of his apartment and find a part-time job. For a short period, after receiving counselling and participating in a local support centers organized group activities–which included things like going to the gym, telling stories, and visiting a local coffee shop–Tohepo was actually feeling better enough to find a part-time job.
Japanese economists, such as Yuji Genda at Tokyo University, worry these single, jobless young people are burdening Japans economy in what is supposed to be those single young peoples peak work years.