20 top tech companies in Japan that hire from overseas

The emergence of hiring from anywhere in the world as a concept might just be the best development that has happened in the recent history of global business culture.

It feels a bit strange to say this, but it may be partially thanks to the pandemic. While hiring from abroad was a trend that was already on the rise prior to 2020, lots of businesses were still reluctant to take a chance.

They didn’t want to deal with the bureaucracy of visa procedures, nor did they think it was worth it.

With the emergence of remote work as a permanent concept, businesses started to question how things were done before. The globalization of the workforce helped companies realize that hiring from abroad was nothing to be afraid of.

In the tech industry, considering the fact that there’s a need for software engineers all over the world, it’s no wonder some companies immediately warmed up to the idea and are now enjoying the benefits of a larger pool of candidates. 

I talked about this previously in my post “Work from anywhere in Japan,” but this state of affairs caused hiring from abroad and remote working to become acceptable and even popular in Japan, which is known for its strict work culture and its commitment to doing things in the most traditional way imaginable.

Now that it’s perfectly normal for most tech companies in Japan to hire from overseas, I want to talk about the best Japanese-based tech companies that do so and introduce each one in this post.

Let’s jump right in.

Zeals

Zeals is a company that provides AI-powered customer service tools. 

The company has been providing great customer support through its AI-powered chatbot since 2014. Their product “Zeals” allows customers to shop online by simply talking to an AI chatbot assistant, which aims to provide customers with classic Japanese hospitality.

Zeals is open to hiring from anywhere in the world, which means that you can apply even if you’re from overseas. The best part is that you can also work remotely — in your native country without relocating.

The company has full flex time for developer teams, and other departments also work on flex time with core hours between 1:00 PM to 3:00 PM. The dev team at Zeals speaks primarily in English.

Zeals also has competitive time-off benefits as the company provides 10 days of paid time-off after the first three months of employment in addition to the national holidays, a year’s end holiday, and a summer holiday.

Mercari

Mercari is Japan's first unicorn startup, and they provide the largest C2C marketplace in Japan. The Mercari app allows customers to easily buy and sell “previously loved” items.

The company works on a flex-time basis, with core hours being between 12:00 PM and 4:00 PM. With Mercari’s “Your Choice” policy, employees can choose to work from home or at the office, and they hire from overseas too, of course.

Mercari has one of the best time-off benefits in Japan, with 10 days of paid leave in the first year, which increases by one each year. However, the company also provides 10 days of sick leave in addition, which isn’t really common in Japan (see my “Vacation Days in Japan” post).

You also don’t need to worry about spending your PTO days for special occasions and incidents, as the company also provides additional days for a variety of occasions. 

Mercari doesn’t require Japanese, as most teams work in English.

Mujin

Founded in 2011, Mujin provides “intelligent robot controllers” using a technology called motion planning. This technology allows industrial robots to enter areas where the environment is dynamic and unpredictable.

The Tokyo-based company hires from abroad, and it has a pretty diverse environment with employees from 26 different countries. They sponsor visas for employees from abroad and provide a relocation fee in addition to covering flight ticket expenses.

Moreover, Mujin also helps foreign employees find housing in Japan and provides temporary housing in the meantime.

The company doesn’t require Japanese for developers, as the dev teams work in English. The work hours are fixed and are between 8:45 AM and 17:45 PM, with an hour-long lunch break in between.

Mujin offers 10 days of PTO in the first year in addition to national holidays, and you can also take additional condolence and maternity leave. 

TableCheck

TableCheck is a company that provides an online reservation platform for restaurants. Their platform provides a smooth reservation experience while allowing customers to leave reviews that help inform other users.

The company hires from overseas, and they even provide visa support for candidates from abroad. They allow new hires to start working from abroad while their visa applications are being processed.

TableCheck is relaxed when it comes to remote work, hiring candidates that want to be fully remote as long as they’re available between 10:00 AM and 7:00 PM JST on weekdays. 

Otherwise, the company works on a flex-time basis with core hours between 11:00 AM and 3:00 PM. 

The primary language at TableCheck is English, and the IT staff isn’t required to speak Japanese at all. However, knowing conversational Japanese is still preferred.

TableCheck provides its employees with the standard PTO of 10 days in the first year, which increases in accordance with Japanese Labor Law.

Ubie

Ubie is a medical tech startup that focuses on delivering the right treatment using AI. Their products are used by hundreds of medical institutions in Japan and Singapore.

The company is open to hiring from overseas, as they provide visa support and cover flight tickets in addition to a relocation fee. They even help find employees from abroad a place to live.

However, you can also choose to work remotely, as Ubie is a “remote first” company, and they allow employees to work from different countries in Asia and Oceania, even after the pandemic. The company also provides a remote work allowance on top of standard pay and works on a full flex-time system with no core hours.

Ubie offers a whopping 14 days of PTO in addition to national holidays, a summer holiday, and the year’s end holidays as soon as you join the company. 

Although Japanese is not required, some level of knowledge is appreciated. Ubie has a diverse team with employees from four different countries.

Money Forward

MoneyForward is one of the most popular FinTech companies in Japan. The company offers various financial services — from managing personal finances to providing financial services for businesses.

The company hires from overseas, and they offer visa support and a relocation fee to cover moving expenses. They also cover flight tickets and help employees find an apartment in addition to providing temporary housing.

At MoneyForward, employees can work from home up to four days a week, which is a policy the company intends to continue moving forward. 

Money Forward provides the usual 10 days of PTO with the addition of three days of summer vacation, two days of winter vacation, and national holidays. 

The work hours at Money Forward are completely flexible, as you can choose which hours you work as long as you complete your daily tasks.

Although the primary language is Japanese at the company, the dev teams work fully in English, so Japanese isn’t required.

Leapmind

Founded in 2012, Leapmind is an AI tech company that provides ultra-efficient AI inference accelerators. The company’s product Efficiera is used by over 150 companies.

Leapmind hires candidates from overseas and offers visa support as well, especially since they require employees to be located in Japan. However, employees can work from anywhere as long as they’re located within the country.

The company also provides flight tickets, temporary housing, and relocation money to employees from abroad, and they also help new employees find permanent housing.

The communication is mostly done in Japanese, as that’s the primary language at Leapmind. However, some engineering positions may not require Japanese at all. The company currently has employees from eight different countries.

Leapmind provides the standard 10 days PTO in the first year after three months of employment, while employees also get a year-end vacation and additional vacation days for personal occasions like childbirth, condolence leave, etc.

PayPay

PayPay is a FinTech startup that provides payment solutions and was founded in 2018. The company quickly became a success story after its launch and is now one of the most popular payment apps in Japan.

PayPay frequently hires from overseas and provides visa support. In fact, the company has employees from over 35 countries, and 70% of the employees are from outside of Japan.

The company also provides flight tickets and temporary housing in addition to a relocation fee. They’ll also help you with translation for your visa and residence permit documents. And if things couldn’t get any better, they cover the deposit fee for permanent apartments for employees.

Both English and Japanese are the official languages of PayPay, but you don’t need to speak Japanese to join. PayPay works on a fixed work hours basis between 10:00 AM and 6:45 PM. 

The company provides the standard 10 days of PTO in the first year in addition to year-end holidays, childbirth leave, and national holidays.

Citadel AI

Citadel AI was founded in 2020, and they make products for testing and monitoring AI systems. Their products help customers create more secure and reliable AI systems.

The company offers visa support to employees from overseas, but they work remotely and provide a remote work allowance. Still, employees are required to come to the office at least one day a week, which means that overseas candidates will have to relocate to Japan anyway. 

The work schedule at Citadel AI is flexible as well. As the primary language of the company is English, no Japanese skills are required. However, the company still offers language learning opportunities for employees that want to learn Japanese.

The company currently has a small team of employees, but they offer unique perks such as an employee stock ownership plan. 

Citadel AI provides the standard 10 days of PTO in the first year in addition to national holidays.

ExaWizards

ExaWizards is a startup that offers AI-based solutions to a wide variety of companies from different industries. They create custom-made SaaS products to help businesses solve specific problems.

The company recently started hiring from overseas again, and they have a diverse environment with employees from 16 different countries. They also sponsor visas and provide language courses for candidates from abroad. 

ExaWizards’ primary language is Japanese, but candidates who don’t speak Japanese can still apply — there are teams that speak mainly in English as well. Still, the company prefers at least conversation-level Japanese.

The company works on full flex time, which means there are no core hours. The work system is currently fully remote due to the pandemic, which may change in the future. 

ExaWizards provides 12 days of PTO in the first year, which goes up to 15 the next year, and employees from overseas get 2 additional “travel days“ as well.

Nanameue

Nanameue is a startup that was founded in 2013. The company is the creator of one of the most popular chat apps in Japan, which is called “Yay!,” and also has AI-powered products that provide business solutions.

The company hires from overseas, provides visa support to employees, offers temporary housing and a relocation fee, covers flight tickets, and helps with finding a more permanent living place of residence.

Nanameue also boasts a diverse working environment, with 50% of its employees from abroad. This also means that Japanese isn’t required, and the primary language is English. 

However, the company also provides language learning support for employees that want to learn Japanese.

Nanameue has a flex time system with core hours between 11:00 AM and 3:00 PM, and employees are free to work remotely as long as they come to the office at least twice a week.

The company’s PTO offering is the standard 10 days with the addition of year’s end and summer holidays, as well as national holidays.

Autify

Autify is a startup that was founded by a group of Japanese students in San Francisco in 2016. The company provides an AI-based software testing automation platform.

Autify works fully remotely, and in fact, they don’t even have a physical office in Japan anymore, but they still hire candidates from overseas and sponsors visas. In addition, the company also offers relocation money, as well as a remote work allowance.

Autify also supports working from abroad, and 20% of their employees are located outside of Japan.

The primary language at Autify is English, and knowledge of Japanese isn’t required at all. However, they do offer English learning support for candidates who don’t speak English as their first language and want to improve.

Autify works on a flex-time basis, and there are no core hours. The company provides the standard 10 days of PTO and an additional five days of sick leave on top of the national holidays in Japan.

HENNGE

Founded in 1996, HENNGE is a Tokyo-based B2B company that provides a cloud security service called “HENNGE ONE” among others.

Not only does the company hire from overseas, but they also offer visa support, as well as help with finding accommodation. HENNGE also covers their employees’ flight tickets.

The company recently went fully remote after the pandemic and provides a remote work allowance to improve employees’ home office conditions.

HENNGE has a flex time system with core hours between 11:00 AM and 4:00 PM, but employees with small children can request to shorten their work days.

The primary language at HENNGE is English, and knowing Japanese isn’t required for engineers. However, the company supports candidates who want to learn Japanese by covering their language lessons and certification costs.

HENNGE offers the standard PTO, which is 10 days on top of national holidays. In addition, there’s a four-day summer vacation and five days of extra vacation yearly to take care of family and friends.

WealthPark

WealthPark was established in 2018, and it’s a startup that focuses on asset management. They make apps and provide services for investors and real estate companies to manage their assets from anywhere at any time.

The company is open to hiring from overseas and does provide visa support. In fact, 50% of the employees at WealthPark are non-Japanese. However, candidates from abroad can start working remotely right away until the pandemic measures are completely lifted. 

The primary languages of WealthPark are Japanese and English, but as 90% of the engineers at the company are from other countries, Japanese isn’t required. 

The company works on a flex-time system with core hours between 11:00 AM and 4:00 PM, and a standard work day doesn’t start before 10:00 AM and is done by 7:00 PM.

WealthPark provides more than 120 days off in a year, as they provide summer and year’s end vacations, congratulatory leave, and childbirth/care leave in addition to the standard PTO days and national holidays.

dotData

The Silicon Valley-based startup dotData is a company that provides an AI-powered machine learning platform. Their services are trusted by many Fortune 500 companies across the world.

The company has offices in the U.S. and Poland too, but they hire candidates from overseas for their Japan office as well. The company sponsors visas for candidates that want to relocate.

The main language spoken at dotData is English, but since the company has many Japanese customers, communication is sometimes conducted in Japanese as well. This means that while knowing Japanese isn’t required, it’s still preferred to some degree.

dotData supports employees that want to work remotely from anywhere in Japan and even provides a remote work allowance. They work on a regular schedule with work hours between 9:00 AM and 6:00 PM.

The company provides the standard 10 days of PTO in the first year, which increases each year, in addition to public holidays.

Corekara

Corekara is a Tokyo-based marketing and e-commerce agency. Their web services help businesses grow and increase their sales while operating in the most efficient way possible.

The company is open to hiring from abroad, and they sponsor visas for candidates that live outside and in Japan. In fact, Corekara has employees from 11 countries, and 90% of their employees are from abroad.

Corekara works primarily in both Japanese and English, and internal communication is mostly done in Japanese, but some engineer positions don’t require Japanese at all. The company also provides translation for English-speaking employees when necessary.

The company has a flexible work style as employees are allowed to work remotely as they wish, and they intend to keep it that way even after the pandemic measures are lifted. 

The company offers the standard PTO days for new employees, but people who have been employed for more than five years get extra vacation perks. The company also provides national holidays and a new year’s holiday as well.

RESTAR

The B2B software company RESTAR focuses on the real estate market. Their platform allows real estate companies and financial institutions to manage and analyze their real estate-related data.

The company already has a number of engineers from overseas, and they welcome new candidates from abroad. They currently don’t offer fixed relocation support, but according to the company, this can be negotiated.

Both English and Japanese are the primary working languages at RESTAR, and Japanese requirement depends on the position applied.

RESTAR has a regular work schedule, with the usual work hours being between 11:00 AM and 6:00 PM. Employees are allowed to work from home as long as they’re located within Japan. The company states that this will be the case, even after the pandemic is over.

The company also offers shorter work hours for employees with small children. As for the holidays, RESTAR offers five days of PTO every quarter year, which makes for a whopping 20 days of PTO annually in addition to public holidays.

Axelspace

Founded in 2008, Axelspace is a micro-satellite company that provides ways to observe Earth. They aim to democratize space technology and optimize it for daily use.

The company has a diverse team, with 40% of employees being from abroad. Overall, the company has employees from 16 countries and sponsors visas to hire new employees from abroad as well.

Both English and Japanese are Axelspace’s main languages, and most positions don’t require knowledge of Japanese at all. The company still urges candidates to check job listings, as some positions do require Japanese.

Axelspace currently allows working remotely as long as the employees are all located in Japan. They work with a flex-time schedule with no-core time at all.

The company has very competitive PTO perks, providing 20 days in addition to a year-end holiday and public holidays. Employees are also free to take additional days for personal life events.

Cybozu

Cybozu is a software company that’s been in business since 1997. The company brings individuals together as they specialize in providing groupware solutions.

Cybozu hires from overseas as the company provides both visa sponsorship and relocation support, but this is only provided after successfully completing three months. 

Remote work is fully supported at Cybozu, and the employees can work from anywhere even after the pandemic is over. The company also provides a remote work allowance.

Although the primary language spoken at Cybozu is Japanese, some teams speak primarily English. Therefore, knowing Japanese may not be required, but that depends on the position.

Cybozu doesn’t work on a flex-time basis, but they do have flexible hours, depending on your team. The usual work hours are between 9:00 AM and 6:00 PM. 

The company provides well-above average PTO days as they provide 20 days in addition to five days of sick leave, five days of personal leave, and an additional five days to take care of family. The public holidays are also days off at Cybozu and don’t count toward the PTO.

TenTen

TenTen provides an Internet of Things platform for vending machine services that allows online payments through smartphones. They also provide loyalty programs and marketing services.

The company has an international environment, as over 50% of its employees are from abroad. They hire from overseas and offer visa support too. 

The communication is conducted both in English and Japanese at TenTen. The company doesn’t require Japanese for engineering positions, but they appreciate foreign employees who make an effort to learn and speak Japanese.

The work hours are fixed at TenTen, which is between 9:00 AM and 6:00 PM. The work hours can be shortened for employees with small children. 

At TenTen, remote work is supported not just as a pandemic measure but for good, and the engineering teams work on a remote-first basis.

The company provides a maximum of 12 days of PTO in the first year, depending on the position, but they also offer 10 days of sick leave and an additional four days for summer or year-end vacation — in addition to public holidays.

Work at Japan’s Top Tech Companies From Overseas

Historically speaking, Japan’s had a notorious work culture. 

As I explained in my post on Japanese work culture, it used to be that employees would practically live at their workplaces, and completely devoting yourself to your job was the norm. All of this makes the improvements that we see today feel even more surreal. 

Yet, it’s true.

Especially in the tech industry, the standards are quickly catching up with the rest of the world, and the work conditions are getting better with each passing day. 

Flexible work hours and working remotely are almost considered norms in tech, and there are many companies like the ones I mentioned above that have great competitive work conditions and benefits, provide visa support, and most of them even offer relocation fees.

Some also help find accommodation for employees that relocate, and they cover the deposit fees as well. These aren’t just an exceptional bunch, either. There are many more great companies like these in our Japan Dev company list that I couldn’t fit into this post. 

Considering all this and the fact that Japan has some of the fastest-growing startups in the world, I can safely say that Japan is a great place to look for a job, no matter where you are in the world. This is why before I go, I’d like to leave you with a couple of resources for finding your dream job in Japan.

If you want to start your job search in Japan today, here’s my guide to finding a job in Japan as a software developer. While you’re at it, make sure to also take a look at my other posts on headhunters in Japan and my guide to acing job interviews in Japan, which I’m sure will be immensely helpful on your journey.