How to get work in Japan

So, you've made it to Japan as an exchange student; congratulations! After spending a little while here, you've probably come to the revelation that living in a foreign country without an income can be a huge drain on your resources. At this point, you get the bright idea to get a part time job. After all, your visiting student visa should allow up to 14 hours a week. So let's start job hunting!

Not so fast, cowboy. Just because you can work on a student visa, doesn't mean you can just start right away! You need to get special permission stamped into your passport, or more specifically, "Permission to engage in activity other than that permitted under the status of residence previously granted," from the Immigration Bureau of Japan. They've got translators working overtime on these document names.

Japan loves its bureaucracies, and there is none that is seemingly more ridiculous or convoluted than the Immigration Bureau. When I had to get my re-entry permit for my trip to Taiwan, I had my first encounter with with Bureau, and found myself wondering just why the office is over 20 minutes away from the nearest station, surrounded by nothing but factories and industrial complexes. I also wondered why it's in Shinagawa, practically on the opposite side of the city from Shinjuku, where the main government buildings reside. What's even more confusing is that there's a lot of paperwork that apparently runs between the bureau and these other administrative offices, which places unnecessary strain on the postal couriers and also adds wasted processing time. Surely it's been put there for a good reason, other that simply making a hassle for foreigners to get anything done, right?

But I digress.

Teaching English is the best paying and most common job that foreigners take. I've heard stories about people who were late to their interviews, made basic grammar and vocabulary mistakes in their resumes, and have had absolutely no work experience. They were all called back and offered jobs. There's a saying amongst foreigners here, that the only two requirements to get hired as an English teacher is a necktie and a pulse. Getting a job here isn't a matter of qualifications, it's all about paperwork.

So where were we? Ah that's right, you wanted to work. Well, you're already in Japan, so you don't need to go through all the hassle of finding a school to sponsor your visa or anything. Should be a piece of cake. A few of your friends have started working at an eikaiwa (English conversation school) called Gaba. This school has a lot going for it, but by far the best thing about this particular school is that you can set your own schedule via the internet. The only problem, it seems, is that they're absolutely sticklers for paperwork.

So you go to an info session at your friend's behest, after blowing several hundred on suits and shoes to look presentable. You look sharp, and you stand out above the rest of the interviewees in the group, some of whom are dressed for less than success, and speak less than stellar English. What separates them from you, however, is that they will get called back, because they already have work permits! After finishing the info session, and destroying the test they set before you, they quickly show you the door, telling you that you are certain to get the position just as soon as you come back with a work permit in hand. Lovely.

You've had the benefit of going to the office at school with your friend and seeing them hand him the fukushinsho, proof of your student status, that's required for the permit. You go to the office and get the same paper, and double check with the receptionists to make sure that you aren't missing anything; you certainly wouldn't want to make an extra trip out to the office all the way out in Shinagawa for nothing. They assure you that you have everything, and even give you a list of things. Armed with the entire list of items, you make the journey out to Shinagawa and walk for twenty minutes to get to the Immigration office. Why IS it so far away from the station? There is a bus, but it takes just as long as the walk, so you decide to save yourself a couple hundred yen.

You get to the office and fill out your application form, but when you get to the front of the line, the guy tells you that you're missing the fukushinsho. You tell him that it must be a mistake, because you were told by the people at school that the paper they handed you was the fukushinsho and that your friend, that walked you to the office, was able to get his work permit with the same paperwork as yourself. After sending you running around the building, you are told that the paper you got from the school wasn't the fukushinsho "because the name of the school isn't on it." Suddenly, your friend remembers that you need to take the paper to another office at the school to get the real document, and is shocked that the people in the department didn't explain this to you. The list itself simply says that you need your Alien Registration Certificate, which you have brought with you. The paper you are holding is an application to get the fukushinso. As ridiculous as it is that you would need to go to multiple departments in your own school to get a proof that you're a student, apparently your student visa, gaijin card, and student ID aren't enough.

With no other options left, you leave the Immigration office empty-handed. You walk back to the train station. It's rush hour, so you squeeze into a crowded car and have unintentional inappropriate contact with half a dozen people at once. In order to avoid being called a pervert, you loop both hands high in the air around one of the overhead poles. It's Friday, so you'll have to wait until Monday to go through the whole process again. Hopefully next time you'll have the foresight to be told that you have everything you need to actually get something done.

The best part is, once you actually submit your application, you get to wait at least a week and a half before they send you a postcard, telling you to come back to pick up your permit at the Immigration Bureau. Ponder that a moment.

Isn't bureaucracy wonderful?