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Working in Japan

There are a lot of international people with several kinds of purpose in Japan, someone visit with his Working Holiday Visa, other people come to work in Japan and some students study in Japan. But Job is one of the most important activities in Japan including some of students.

So, I would like to write some basic information about working in Japan on this page.

Kind of Employment

In Japan, the kind of employment is difference from other country's one, for there are three kinds of employments. And the below table show them.

Kind of employmentfeature
Regular employeeIt's a Salaried worker. We work full time with several kinds of insurances.
ArbeitWe work the period of time requested by the employer with our payment by the hour. When we contract with an employer, we don't decide our schedule perfectly. So we can sometimes work with flexible schedules by our negotiations.
Part-timerWe usually work with our fixed working hours, and the payment is by the hour.

I guess that students and Working Holiday VISA holders would be the Arbeits and the people who came to with their Working VISA would be the regular employee.

Immigration Status

Your immigration status is more important then your visa to find a job in Japan. Because your visa will be used when you'll get your immigration status and your immigration status will be only your resident evidence after that.

In other words, your VISA is necessary to enter into Japan and your immigration status is valid to stay in Japan after entering into.

The relation between visa and immigration status is written on the below table.

Visa CategoryStatus of residence
Working VISA Professor, Artist, Religious Activities, Journalist, Investor/Business Manager, Legal/Accounting Services, Medical Services, Researcher, Instructor, Engineer, Specialist in Humanities/International Services, Intracompany Transferee, Entertainer, Skilled Labor
Working Holiday Designated Activities
General VISA College Student, Precollege Student, Dependent, Trainee, Cultural Activities
Temporary Visitor's VISA Temporary Visitor

On the above table, the statuses of residence colored with Red have the right to work in Japan, and the colored with Green give the chance to work with an application.

And please check below HP also. It has the information about visa.

Information of Visa
This page is to check the information about kinds of Visa to stay in Japan and it contains such information as the features, the ways to get and the kinds included Working Holiday Visa. So, we must check it before going to Japan.

Working VISA

You can work in Japan with your immigration status that issued by your Working Visa when you enter into Japan. At this situation, you already have your new job found before coming to, so you can work at the company as full-time regular employee.

Working Holiday

I think that people who have their Working Holiday VISA would get their job, which is usually the Arbeit. In additionally, you can study for six months in any schools, so you can find new job after finished your class.

General VISA

There are six kinds of immigration status, which are College Student, Precollege Student, Dependent, Trainee, Cultural Activities and Temporary Visitor, and we can't work in Japan with the immigration statuses as a general rule. In other words, the students can't work as a general rule. But, if students obtain the "APPLICATION FOR PERMISSION TO ENGAGE IN ACTIVITY OTHER THAN THAT PERMITTED UNDER THE STATUS OF RESIDENCE PREVIOUSLY GRANTED" from the Immigration Bureau, the students can work in Japan with it.

The students can work for the below time and it depends on their status of residence.

Status of Residence WorkingTime
College Studentmaximum 28 hours each week, and 8 hours each day at some vacations such as summer vacation, winter vacation.
Precollege Studentmaximum 4 hours each day.
Dependentmaximum 28 hours each week.

And students can't work at the entertainment and amusement trades.

Illegal Work

We can't work in Japan with the status of residence except a permit to work or the expired period of stay or no permission of landing. The every situation at the cases is illegal work and we should be displaced from Japan.

The Law for worker

Japanese laws, which are "Labor Standards Law", "Minimum Wage Law", "Occupational Health and Safety Law" and "Workmen's Accident Compensation Insurance Law", apply to every international worker and the law prohibit every discrimination of nationality at the working conditions.