World's 4th largest economy — Toyota, Sony, Nintendo, robotics, and massive demand for foreign workers.
Toyota, Honda, Nissan, Mazda, Subaru. World's largest auto producer. Avg: ¥5-8M. Nagoya (Toyota City) hub.
Sony, Panasonic, Nintendo, Canon, Fujitsu. Consumer electronics + gaming. Avg: ¥5-10M. Tokyo hub.
World leader in industrial robots. Fanuc, SoftBank Robotics. Avg: ¥6-12M. Growing demand for AI engineers.
Aging society = massive demand. Takeda, Astellas. Avg: ¥4-8M. Nursing, caregiving critical shortages.
| Profession | Entry | Mid | Senior |
|---|---|---|---|
| Software Engineer | ¥4M | ¥7M | ¥12M+ |
| English Teacher (ALT) | ¥2.5M | ¥3.5M | ¥5M+ |
| Doctor | ¥8M | ¥12M | ¥20M+ |
| Finance | ¥4M | ¥8M | ¥15M+ |
| Mechanical Engineer | ¥4M | ¥6M | ¥10M+ |
• GaijinPot Jobs: #1 for foreigners
• Daijob: Bilingual
jobs
• LinkedIn Japan: Growing
• Hello Work
(ハローワーク): Government job center
• Indeed Japan:
Aggregator
• Rikunabi/Mynavi: Japanese job sites
• Hours: Long (but improving — work reform)
• Seniority
system: Nenkō jōretsu (experience-based pay)
• Nomikai:
After-work drinking (important!)
• Bonus: 2x/year (summer + winter) =
2-4 months salary
• Very polite: Business cards (meishi) ritual
•
Lifetime employment: Changing (but still common)