Hi! My name is Ikram from Srilanka. I am a graduate from Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University and currently working in Bloomberg Japan. I came to Japan with no prior knowledge and language skills, but I’ve grown to love the country and decided that I wanted to pursue a career here. Although many say that the working culture here is bad, I personally think the other benefits offered by Japan, (for example the convenience), far outweighs these cons.

Be Active in Building Your Profile

It is important to seek qualifications or recognition outside of your own campus. This includes joining international conferences, publishing your research paper in an academic journal, getting globally accredited qualifications, and much more. These kinds of self-driven activities not only help you improve your skill and knowledge, but it will also help highlight your profile amongst other candidates. Build up your skillset and it will bring you a long way.

Be Ready To Face Challenge

Regarding working in Japan itself, there are definitely challenges. The most blatantly being the working culture. As someone who worked at a large Japanese corporation before, I definitely have experienced this so-called working culture that tends to be tedious, stiff, and hierarchical. However, people tend to focus on the cons so much that they forget the benefits of working in Japan. For me, I believe that the pros outweigh the cons by far. The interconnectedness of Tokyo, the fast-paced life, countless opportunities, and unbelievable convenience. At the end of the day, the challenges and benefits you face will differ according to each individual, but it is important to not only focus on the difficulties and look at the bright side of things too.

Don't Stop Learning Japanese!

I will be straight up and blunt; the most important skill to have is Japanese language skills. If you really love Japan and want to stay here, then it is crucial to be proficient in the Japanese language. Even if you plan to work at a multinational company, the reality is that most people there are bilingual. By Japanese skills, I do not mean a JLPT score, but practical conversational skills. After all, I don’t have any JLPT qualifications, but through the interviews, I was able to prove my own Japanese abilities.