I was wondering about working in Japan - I'd love to know how the scene/pay/hours/good parts/bad parts/visa acquisition is compared to other countries.
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What it's like to join a startup in Japan
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Re: What it's like to join a startup in Japan
#12What does this have to do with Japan?
Re: What it's like to join a startup in Japan
#13I was wondering about working in Japan - I'd love to know how the scene/pay/hours/good parts/bad parts/visa acquisition is compared to other countries.
The Good: very safe country; Tokyo is an amazing city; public transportation is extensive and fairly cheap (no need to have a car); good, inexpensive food; no tipping; if you are a straight guy, dating will be somewhat easier than in Silicon Valley.
The Bad: as Robert says, working at Japanese companies can be soul-crushing; IT salaries are much lower than in comparable US areas; foreign web/software companies' presence here is very small in terms of R&D; rent in Tokyo is expensive; jobs that use English or otherwise hire foreigners are extremely concentrated in Tokyo; most Japanese cannot speak English, you need to learn Japanese; Japanese is not easy; many train lines in Tokyo are somewhat crowded.
The Ugly: Tokyo is ugly; you cannot easily get permanent residence even if you're married to a Japanese person, has a job and have lived here for years; most tenants refuse to rent to foreigners (discrimination is not illegal); we are subject to somewhat big earthquakes.
Re: What it's like to join a startup in Japan
#14I was wondering about working in Japan - I'd love to know how the scene/pay/hours/good parts/bad parts/visa acquisition is compared to other countries.
How's working in $YOUR_NATION? A fairly diverse experience, right? You've got scrappy startup programmers and 7-11 clerks and toilet-plunging janitors and people kept on a government payroll for no discernible reason, right? We have those, too. Whatever job conditions you have seen, we almost certainly have someone here. Concrete for techies, work at myGengo is very different than being a salaryman at a particular Ja…
So assuming I would be interested in gaining employment in Japan, which I actually am, working for a BFFM in Tokyo would be one of the better options to pursue? Any particular ones that you have heard to be nice places to work?
Re: What it's like to join a startup in Japan
#15I was wondering about working in Japan - I'd love to know how the scene/pay/hours/good parts/bad parts/visa acquisition is compared to other countries.
Bit more background info here (I co-founded the company that the person blogging here is working for, s'pose he'd better answer about the pay :)) http://blog.500startups.com/2011/01/24/how-to-create-a-succe... Visa: If you have a college degree and/or significant experience it helps a lot but we know people who've managed to self-sponsor with just the experience. But working for a traditional Japanese company is norm…
How exactly does visa-self-sponsorship work? Is it required that you've had a company-sponsored visa before applying for self-sponsorship (or can you self-sponsor your first visa)?
How is it determined whether you are allowed to self-sponsor?
Re: What it's like to join a startup in Japan
#16Earlier quoted context omitted.
How's working in $YOUR_NATION? A fairly diverse experience, right? You've got scrappy startup programmers and 7-11 clerks and toilet-plunging janitors and people kept on a government payroll for no discernible reason, right? We have those, too. Whatever job conditions you have seen, we almost certainly have someone here. Concrete for techies, work at myGengo is very different than being a salaryman at a particular Ja…
So assuming I would be interested in gaining employment in Japan, which I actually am, working for a BFFM in Tokyo would be one of the better options to pursue? Any particular ones that you have heard to be nice places to work?
From HN meetups, which is most of my exposure to the Tokyo tech grapevine, I have heard good things about a gigantic multinational advertising firm and an assortment of finance companies. Tokyo's a big place and every industry you've ever heard of, and most multinationals in those industries, has some presence there.
Re: What it's like to join a startup in Japan
#17Earlier quoted context omitted.
Bit more background info here (I co-founded the company that the person blogging here is working for, s'pose he'd better answer about the pay :)) http://blog.500startups.com/2011/01/24/how-to-create-a-succe... Visa: If you have a college degree and/or significant experience it helps a lot but we know people who've managed to self-sponsor with just the experience. But working for a traditional Japanese company is norm…
How exactly does visa-self-sponsorship work? Is it required that you've had a company-sponsored visa before applying for self-sponsorship (or can you self-sponsor your first visa)? How is it determined whether you are allowed to self-sponsor?
It's complicated. This is one of my favorite hacking-a-non-technical system situations: you are allowed to self-sponsor if you can convince the examining clerk that you are allowed to self-sponsor. Points in favor: you are capable of writing a letter in support of your application which repeat the requirements of the Japanese immigration law and convinces him you pass them, you have contracts and invoices which demonstrate a level of income that the clerk accepts (variously phrased as "enough to live on", "more than the average Japanese person", or "3 million yen" -- he has wide discretion here) plus tax receipts which match them for the latest year, you have an attorney or someone in your corner who knows how the game is played, and in general your comportment and presentation scream Desirable Foreigner.
Can you self-sponsor your first visa? Do you want the technical answer or the useful answer here? Technically, yes, I suppose you could. It would help if you have a stamped letter from the Emperor attesting that your freelance web programming skills are the only thing standing between Japan and total annihilation. If you have that letter, I'd give you fifty-fifty odds.
Re: What it's like to join a startup in Japan
#18I was wondering about working in Japan - I'd love to know how the scene/pay/hours/good parts/bad parts/visa acquisition is compared to other countries.
The Good: very safe country; Tokyo is an amazing city; public transportation is extensive and fairly cheap (no need to have a car); good, inexpensive food; no tipping; if you are a straight guy, dating will be somewhat easier than in Silicon Valley. The Bad: as Robert says, working at Japanese companies can be soul-crushing; IT salaries are much lower than in comparable US areas; foreign web/software companies' prese…
> if you are a straight guy, dating will be somewhat easier than in Silicon Valley.
Only "somewhat"? Haven't you read Charisma Man? Dating in Japan is like paradise for a nerd if you like Asian women. Actually, even Caucasian women are easier to get in Japan because you'll have no competition because all the other Caucasian guys will be with Japanese women.
Re: What it's like to join a startup in Japan
#19Point of note: "a Startup in Japan" does not necessarily mean "a Japanese Startup." I don't think I see any Japanese people in that picture, and I seem to remember from my sources that there are only one or two Japanese people working at the company.
Interestingly enough, I have worked for a Japanese Startup, and it really wasn't much different from a regular Japanese company, other than a lot more freedom when it came to procedures. Also the fact that I got to help build our entire development platform.
(Also, I think I see a familiar face third from the right...)
Re: What it's like to join a startup in Japan
#20Earlier quoted context omitted.
The Good: very safe country; Tokyo is an amazing city; public transportation is extensive and fairly cheap (no need to have a car); good, inexpensive food; no tipping; if you are a straight guy, dating will be somewhat easier than in Silicon Valley. The Bad: as Robert says, working at Japanese companies can be soul-crushing; IT salaries are much lower than in comparable US areas; foreign web/software companies' prese…
> if you are a straight guy, dating will be somewhat easier than in Silicon Valley. Only "somewhat"? Haven't you read Charisma Man ? Dating in Japan is like paradise for a nerd if you like Asian women. Actually, even Caucasian women are easier to get in Japan because you'll have no competition because all the other Caucasian guys will be with Japanese women.
Yeah, I meant it as an understatement (same for "somewhat big earthquakes").