Reflections on Job Hunting as a Software Engineer in Japan

Preface

Having long been fond of Japanese culture, the idea of working in Japan gradually took root during my college years. Due to military service and financial constraints, however, I was never able to make it happen. I recently finished my mandatory military service; prior to that, I worked as a frontend engineer at a company. Now that my service is complete, I can finally look for jobs in Japan with nothing holding me back.

It just so happens to be a favorable time: faced with an aging and shrinking population, Japan is aggressively recruiting IT talent. Requirements for visas and permanent residency have also been lowered. For instance, with the recently relaxed criteria for the Highly Skilled Professional Visa, one can obtain permanent residency in as little as one year. Some outdated practices (such as lifetime employment and seniority-based wage systems) are also undergoing reform. Feeling the time was ripe, I began targeting various Japanese job channels and submitting resumes.

Having settled in and started working for a while now, I’d like to share some experiences as an engineer in Japan and document this journey.

Table of Contents

• Why I Wanted to Come to Japan
• The Japanese Job Market
• Job Hunting Channels
• Companies Interviewed
• Realizations from Living and Working Here
• Final Thoughts

Background

• Department of Information Management, National University of Science and Technology
• Approx. 3.5 years of experience (Frontend)
• JLPT N1

Why Did I Want to Come to Japan?

The purest reason was simply that I love Japan and wanted to understand it more and experience life here. Secondly, gaining overseas work experience is an invaluable opportunity for me; collaborating with people from different countries and building projects together offers a tremendous learning curve.

Of course, Taiwan also has great companies and talent, along with huge demand for web applications. But compared to Japan’s market scale and population, it’s on a completely different level. There are many pure software companies here actively hiring, and I wanted to venture out while my opportunity cost was still low.

Engineers here, even Japanese nationals, try their best to communicate in English. Although it’s not always easy to follow, I believe making an effort to convey and receive messages is far more important in international environments. If one approaches it with a mindset that communication is troublesome or unnecessary, working anywhere will be a struggle.

Additionally, during my interviews, except for larger companies (Mercari, LINE, SmartNews), almost none of them gave pre-tests. In the interviews, they only evaluated my development experience and tech stack through conversation, which surprised me quite a bit.

Job Hunting Channels

• Headhunting agencies specializing in Japanese jobs (NeoCareer, PERSOL, Adecco)
• Headhunters reaching out proactively on LinkedIn
• Indeed
• Connect Job
• Internal referrals

Number of Applications

9 companies

Offers:

• CAGLA
• diffeasy
• Pear
• HRBrain
• LINE Fukuoka

Rejections:

• SQUEEZE
• SmartNews
• Mercari
• Nintendo

Knowing Japanese makes a huge difference in the opportunities available, though engineers are less constrained. As long as you have the technical chops and basic English communication skills, big companies (like Rakuten, LINE, Mercari, etc.) are still willing to hire you—some even subsidize your Japanese language learning. That said, if you lack experience and technical depth, living on a salary of 200,000 to 300,000 JPY in Japan can be quite tough.

Application Channels & Experience

Neocareer

A recruiter contacted me directly by phone. After a brief greeting, she said, “Let’s test your Japanese proficiency, and I’ll transfer you to our Japanese consultant.” The follow-up process left a lot to be desired. First, all communication was conducted via LINE. They scheduled an interview with a Japanese consultant on LINE, but after I finished my self-introduction and gave an overview of my background, he said, “Oh, it sounds like you have a STEM background. I handle humanities, so let me transfer you to the STEM department.”

So the next day, I had another interview with the STEM consultant and filled out the most excruciatingly tedious Japanese standardized resume (Rirekisho) and work history document (Shokumu Keirekisho) of my life. After our conversation, a month passed with zero response.

Only after I followed up did they assign another consultant. After speaking with the new consultant, I found that aside from dispatch (Haken) roles, none of their jobs matched my expected salary.

The overall impression wasn’t great. Maybe it comes down to luck in finding the right consultant, or maybe my skills were just lacking QQ.

PERSOL (Intelligence)

PERSOL also reached out to me proactively via LinkedIn, reviewing my resume before giving me a call.

Similarly, a Japanese consultant confirmed my Japanese proficiency before starting to recommend jobs. However, the consultant kept trying to push my expected salary down based on my background and age. Compared to Neocareer, PERSOL felt somewhat better.

Adecco

Originally, I wanted to apply for SmartNews through them. To my surprise, I discovered they partner with Japanese companies and can recommend jobs in Japan. The number of openings was impressive, the JDs were detailed, and the salary ranges were attractive.

Later, I applied through the recruiters on the Japanese side, and they recommended about 7–8 companies. However, since I was directly competing against local Japanese candidates, many companies rejected me right at the document screening stage. Experienced or Japanese-speaking engineers might want to give this channel a shot.

Connect Job

Connect Job (formerly Top Career) recently co-hosted an info session with JPTIP featuring big names like Rakuten, teamLab, and Mercari. I initially thought company representatives would come to Taiwan, but it turned out to be just Connect Job staff explaining the process and inviting their CEO to give a talk.

The resume form on their website was tedious to fill out, and after hearing nothing back for a long time, it fizzled out.

Interview Process

(All interviews below were conducted via Skype)

SQUEEZE

Recommended by PERSOL.

A Tokyo-based hotel management startup focused on unstaffed hotel products. They also maintain a backend management system for hotels and operate their own accommodations. The interview mainly revolved around work experience, tech stacks, developed systems, and job descriptions.

Since I had never done a job interview in Japanese before, I wanted to interview with one or two companies first to test my Japanese conversational skills and see if it aligned with what I envisioned.

Being my very first Japanese interview—and conducted remotely and entirely in Japanese—I felt I didn’t perform well in my responses, and the interviewers didn’t seem particularly engaged either.

After that single interview, I received a phone call notifying me of the rejection.

Following this experience, I completely revamped my resume and prepared a thorough Japanese self-introduction alongside answers to potential questions.

HRBrain

Applied because the salary range looked good. Round 1 was an informal chat with the HR and CTO, covering everything from past work experience and various projects to why I wanted to come to Japan.

After waiting several weeks, Round 2 included several engineers who asked more granular questions—such as preferred programming languages, day-to-day technologies—and introduced their current tech stack and challenges.

About a week later, I received an offer with a decent salary. However, before formally issuing the offer, they required me to fly to Japan to speak with the CEO. By then, I had already received other offers, so I declined.

Mercari

The largest flea market app in Japan. Their work style and environment looked fantastic. I applied through Connect Job and took a two-question Codility test (1 hour). The difficulty was around Easy to Medium. After finishing, I waited several weeks before being informed of a rejection.

SmartNews

Started with a consultation with an Adecco recruiter, followed by a Codility pre-test with two questions (2 hours), which also felt Medium-level. Unlike LeetCode, where you can test iteratively, you had to think through edge cases yourself.

Unfortunately, I was cut right after that. Bummer.

CAGLA

A company that builds backend systems for clients, referred by a friend. Due to NDAs, they couldn’t elaborate on the specific systems built.

Unlike typical outsourcing agencies, they have solid technical foundations. In the interview, they only asked about my past experience and checked out my GitHub.

Result: Accepted. However, the salary was brutally low.

LINE Fukuoka

I had actually wanted to take a shot at LINE over a year prior, but had to put it on hold due to military service. A friend referred me. Step 1: questionnaire; Step 2: pre-test; Step 3: remote interview; finally, the offer.

Step 2 was a take-home assignment related to frontend implementation.

Step 3 consisted of separate interviews with several engineers to dive deep into the assignment from Step 2.

Step 4 was with an engineering manager, covering open-ended topics like past experience, career goals, and what I hoped to accomplish at the company. Finally, HR introduced the benefits package. A few days later, I received the offer.

LINE Fukuoka does not require Japanese proficiency. During interviews, Japanese was used only with Japanese interviewers; everything else was in English.

From submitting the resume to receiving the offer took about 1.5 months, and another 2.5 months passed waiting for the Certificate of Eligibility (COE) to be issued. The wait was excruciating. Furthermore, a mishap during the COE delivery almost derailed my move to Japan—see EMS 驚魂記 — 在留資格認定書遺失.

Pear

A startup in Fukuoka (3 years old) developing an e-commerce platform. To my surprise, the first round was directly with the CEO, who was my age, came from an engineering background, and had secured funding from LINE—truly impressive!

There were two interviews. The first was with the CEO discussing work experience, motivations for moving to Japan, past projects, followed by casual chit-chat (literally casual, like video games and anime) and an overview of the work and internal setup. The second was with other engineers, mainly chatting about technologies I had used. A few days later, I was offered the job.

Diffeasy

This company’s interview felt very traditional Japanese. First, a Japanese typing test, followed by a personality test, and finally live coding. It’s primarily an outsourcing dev shop; they only asked about work experience, tech stack, and goals after joining. A few weeks later, an offer came in, but since the salary didn’t meet my expectations, I politely declined.

澄晶科技股份有限公司

This company was so bizarre that I have to share it.

Someone from this company called me out of the blue, saying they saw my resume on 104 Job Bank and wanted to introduce Japanese opportunities. Then they sent a message on LINE, and I realized it was a semiconductor company (?).

Skeptical, I took the train to a café near Hsinchu Station to interview with the Japanese representative. Only after talking did I realize they had no production lines; they subcontracted out to semiconductor fabs. Seeing hiring needs across various fabs, they decided to do recruitment. It was already fishy enough at this point, but I figured I’d treat it as Japanese speaking practice.

Then he started complaining about Vietnamese workers and saying Taiwanese are better, with an abysmal salary to match. He had no clue about the difference between software and hardware, nor had he read my resume, so nothing came of it.

If you encounter them, think twice! Looking back, I still feel a bit silly for going.

Taiwan vs. Japan: Engineer Salaries

In terms of compensation, the most immediate impact comes from taxes. Taxes in Japan are substantially heavier than in Taiwan, and since they are deducted directly by the company before payroll reaches your account, your take-home pay is noticeably less than the nominal figure.

That said, it’s not as dramatic as a flat 20% slash off your gross income—after all, doesn’t tax filing in Taiwan factor in deductions too?

Furthermore, low-end engineering salaries here can be shockingly low (roughly on par with part-time wages). However, the ceiling is much higher than in Taiwan. Senior engineers can command 10–12 million JPY, which still affords a comfortable lifestyle after taxes. Fresh graduates with strong potential can also comfortably find offers in the 5–8 million JPY range.

Overall, after deducting all taxes, net salary in Japan doesn’t differ dramatically from Taiwan. However, in terms of daily living comfort, the experience is vastly different. Plus, most companies subsidize commuting expenses; with a bit of budgeting, you can use your commuter pass to explore nearby areas, allowing you to save just as much money as in Taiwan.

Most Frequently Asked Questions

• Walk through your work experience and job responsibilities
• Self-introduction
• Why did you want to learn Japanese / move to Japan?
• Do you have prior work experience in Japan?
• Do you have experience working in cross-border/international teams?
• What were your responsibilities at your previous company?

These aren’t particularly difficult questions, but expressing them fluently in Japanese requires practice.

Realizations After Actually Living and Working Here

Life

The most direct shock was that living expenses were far higher than anticipated. While I knew it would be costly, it exceeded my expectations. Rent and upfront move-in costs alone can burn through a substantial chunk of savings if your company doesn’t offer subsidies.

As for food: Japanese cuisine is delicious, but before long you realize the options can be repetitive—yakiniku, ramen, teishoku, donburi, udon, soba, salmon, sushi, sashimi, and skewers, interspersed with occasional hamburg steak or Italian food. Appetizers are inevitably salads and pickles, vegetables are scarce, and soups are almost exclusively miso soup or tonjiru. It pales in comparison to the sheer variety in Taiwan, which has prompted me to cook at home almost every day.

While living in Tokyo was once a dream, the rush-hour commuter trains around Shibuya look utterly soul-crushing. Fukuoka, by contrast, is an energetic city: convenient living and transport, lower cost of living, far less crowded than Tokyo, and surrounded by scenic spots. Taking the Shinkansen allows easy travel across Kyushu. To me, it’s a city where everything is “just right.”

Many people hear “Fukuoka” and assume it’s the countryside, but Fukuoka is very much an urban metropolis! Hakata Station bustles with office workers daily, subways and buses are convenient, and it serves as the transportation hub of Kyushu. While perhaps not quite as comprehensive as Tokyo, it offers an ideal work-life balance.

That said, after living here for a while (even if just for a month), I still miss Taiwan’s delicious food and ubiquitous boba tea shops.

Japanese mobile plans don’t offer truly unlimited data—at most, unlimited social media apps—and costs are two to three times higher than Taiwan. Underground subways see speeds drop drastically. It really makes you miss Taiwan’s blazing-fast, unlimited mobile data.

Garbage disposal is also a headache for someone who cooks regularly. Burnable trash can only be thrown out twice a week, and food waste will inevitably smell, forcing me to freeze it in the freezer. While you don’t have to wait for a garbage truck like in Taiwan, twice a week is still quite restrictive!

Work

Working with both international and Japanese colleagues is a unique experience. Because communication occurs in non-native languages, clearly conveying what you mean and accurately understanding others is paramount.

There are far more Taiwanese people working at LINE than I expected. Frequently hearing familiar languages keeps the feeling of isolation and foreign alienation at bay.

Even though I have JLPT N1, the working language varies by team composition. In my project, where foreign engineers are the majority, the ratio is about 70% English and 30% Japanese, which once again underscores the importance of English.

The way Japanese engineers write documentation is truly admirable. The documentation here is so meticulous that whenever an issue arises, a quick search will surface an exhaustive guide. Because of this, on my first day, I received over 10 pages of guidelines covering company procedures and life in Japan.

Since joining, there are meetings almost every day, often concluding without a concrete decision. Because everyone’s opinion is valued, whenever someone has reservations about a proposed solution, people immediately start looking for compromises, stretching things out much longer than expected. Moreover, due to cultural and linguistic nuances, Japanese colleagues rarely state things affirmatively, often opting for phrases like:

「〜の方がいいじゃないかなと思います」(“I wonder if this approach might be better…”)

Such indirect phrasings make reaching a consensus take quite a bit of time.

Reflections

Aside from a few interviewers at LINE who conducted interviews in English, most of my interviews were conducted in Japanese. One thing to watch out for is that technical terminology sounds quite different in Japanese katakana—for example, React becomes riakuto (リアクト), and Angular becomes angyurā (アンギュラー). Hearing them for the first time can definitely make you pause.

Also, rather than Tokyo, I actually yearned more to work in Fukuoka.

Overall, the companies I interviewed with didn’t give off the rigid, traditional Japanese corporate vibe; instead, I felt the vibrant startup culture taking hold in Japan.

While Japanese proficiency significantly broadened my job prospects—aside from large corporations, many startups and small-to-medium firms lack the resources to let you learn on the job and require decent Japanese upfront—the most critical factors remain technical competence, experience, and communication. Speaking fluent Japanese with zero technical competence is putting the cart before the horse.

Then again, maybe speaking fluent Japanese can land you a better salary, who knows.

Language is ultimately just a communication tool. For a capable engineer, achieving adequate conversational proficiency in a short timeframe isn’t insurmountable—immersing yourself in Japan for a year usually does the trick. Taiwanese speakers also enjoy a linguistic advantage that allows faster acquisition of Japanese compared to many other foreigners.

Technical skills, on the other hand, require sustained experience, time, and perhaps a bit of luck.

Then comes the frequently criticized factor: age. Being younger, my work experience was frequently questioned during interviews, which made me realize that applying abroad puts you at a disadvantage compared to Taiwan. Even if you have projects, a blog, or existing professional experience, they might overlook it and simply label you a “shinsotsu” (new university graduate).

While youth is an asset, foreign interviewers can typically only evaluate your degree and GitHub—unless you’ve maintained an English or Japanese tech blog or established deep roots in local tech communities. Otherwise, they have to judge you solely by what’s on your resume and your interview performance.

Epilogue

I consider myself fortunate to have joined a great startup during college. The engineering team there was exceptional—sharing knowledge, constantly brainstorming improvements to workflows and products. Over time, that culture shaped me, and subsequent companies offered immense value as well. This allowed me to accumulate substantial experience while still in school. Once you enter the workforce full-time, the cost of making mistakes or starting from scratch grows exponentially.

If you are interested in pursuing software engineering roles in Japan, feel free to email me or DM me on Twitter. I’m more than happy to share insights, though I hope you won’t ask elementary questions like how to write a resume.

Additionally, if you’re interested in Japanese learning, check out my journey of learning Japanese or Japanese Grocer (日語八百屋). Now that I’ve settled down, I should be updating them gradually!