Working For An International Company in Japan

If you’re an international developer looking for work in Japan, you’re in luck.

Japan is home to countless companies with a global reach. Aside from Silicon Valley tech giants like Google and Netflix, there is a growing number of Japanese companies expanding to international markets. These companies actively hire talent from all over the world, offering great working conditions and competitive salaries to Japanese and non-Japanese candidates alike.

Mercari, MoneyForward, and LY Corporation are just a few examples from the ever-growing list of Japanese companies hiring foreigners. 

I had the opportunity to work for one of these international companies for over five years. During that time I learned how bilingual workplaces operate in Japan, and how companies deal with linguistic and cultural gaps. There were all sorts of challenges, but I can confidently say that it was a fantastic opportunity to learn, grow, and experience life in Japan. 

Here’s a deeper look inside one of Japan’s global tech companies.

The Language Barrier

Even in international companies, language barriers absolutely exist.

The company I worked for began as a small start-up formed by a team of Japanese members. As it gained success and expanded, it started hiring tons of new software engineers to strengthen its technical base.

Japan has a shortage of domestic engineering talent, so the company decided to proactively recruit candidates from outside of the country. In a short span of time, the company welcomed engineers from over 30 nations, sponsoring their visas and helping them relocate to Japan.

Of course, most engineers from outside of Japan don’t speak business-level Japanese. And likewise, the majority of Japanese engineers don’t speak business-level English. With this, a huge language barrier was born.

Communication is a vital part of any job, and software development is no exception. And as you can imagine, working on complicated tech projects with colleagues you can’t understand is quite a struggle.

Facilitating a Bilingual Work Environment in Japan

The company took several approaches to create a fair playing field where both Japanese and foreign employees could succeed.

The Language Team

The company had a team dedicated to providing in-house language services. This included translating company documents and attending meetings to provide real-time interpretation.

Software teams in any company rely heavily on documentation. Technical specs, design docs, team announcements, and bug reports are just a few of the many documents that engineers use on a daily basis. At my company, these were essential resources that needed to be available in both English and Japanese. 

This is where the translators stepped in, creating English versions of Japanese documents when requested and vice-versa. 

Similarly, product teams regularly held team meetings to discuss progress, upcoming projects, and ongoing issues. When needed, interpreters joined to ensure that all members could understand each other, express their ideas, and avoid miscommunications.

Having the language team was absolutely vital for the company as it adopted an international and multilingual environment. However, the huge caveat here was that the language team couldn’t keep up with the company’s rapid growth.

As the company expanded, hundreds of new developers were hired and hundreds of new projects were established. The demand for language services grew exponentially, and pretty soon the language team was overloaded with requests.

One potential solution would have been to simply hire as many new translators and interpreters as possible. However, the company took an alternative approach and focused on developing each individual employee’s language skills, decreasing the reliance on translation services.

Language Classes and Coaching

The company provided Japanese language classes for English-speaking employees and vice-versa. It also implemented level tests and provided coaching services. This helped employees figure out their strengths and weaknesses, and develop plans to improve as quickly as possible.

Employees who were new to Japan and spoke beginner-level Japanese were eligible to take Japanese lessons provided by in-house instructors. This helped members pick up basic communication skills that helped them both at work and in their personal lives.

If deemed necessary for work, intermediate and advanced Japanese learners were also eligible to take private lessons provided by external services like Coto Academy. Similarly, employees learning English were also given the option to take lessons. All lessons could be taken during work hours, and all costs were covered by the company. 

Several of my teammates were enrolled in the language program and felt very positively about it. Taking lessons during work hours helped them focus on learning and removed the stress of having to find time outside of their busy schedules. 

Although it took much more time for this approach to see results, the actual benefits were extremely noticeable. Many employees who joined the language education program made incredible progress, jumping from the A1 level to B1 level in the span of a few months (based on the CEFR framework). Other members who already had basic conversational skills managed to develop business level fluency. 

The language program not only reduced communication barriers, but also gave employees valuable and lifelong linguistic skills. 

‘Yasashii’ English and Japanese Training

Being in a bilingual company, employees often had to communicate using their non-native languages. For many of them, this was uncomfortable.

Meanwhile, members who primarily used their native language at work often got too comfortable! Ironically, it’s easy to develop habits that make you harder to understand when speaking the language that you’re most fluent in.

Some of these habits include speaking too quickly, using long sentences, telling jokes, and using slang. These are all natural tendencies when using your native language, but they can really cause headaches for the person on the receiving end!

The company recognized this issue and responded by starting a ‘Yasashii Communications’ program. ‘Yasashii’ is a Japanese word meaning ‘kind’ and ‘easy,’ both of which embody the program goals: Be considerate of your colleagues’ language levels and try to make your speech as easy-to-understand as possible.

Deliberately speaking in a ‘Yasashii’ manner takes a lot of conscious effort and isn’t nearly as simple as it sounds. It’s surprisingly easy to slip up and return to your usual speaking habits.

To help with this, the company provided Yasashii Communication training seminars for teams that worked bilingually. The trainers also occasionally observed these teams’ meetings, providing feedback and pointing out speaking patterns that were difficult for non-native speakers to follow.

By being more mindful of their speaking habits, members were able to make communication significantly easier without relying on translation services.

Translation Apps, AI, and Slack Tools

Translation apps have been around for a long time, and they certainly weren’t known for providing high-quality results in the past. 

However, translation tech has improved exponentially in recent years, and the company was quick to recognize this. It actively encouraged the usage of these tools to assist with communication, and even took measures to make them more accessible for everyone.

Although Google Translate was the go-to choice for most of the internet’s history, lots of alternatives became available over time. Members of my company quickly switched to DeepL after its release thanks to its noticeably higher quality. A few engineers even integrated translation functionality into the company’s Slack using the DeepL API.

Before, employees who wanted to translate Slack messages had to manually copy and paste them into translation apps. But with the new integrations in place, anyone could translate Slack messages by pressing a single button. It was a small change that saved everyone tons of time and energy.

Later on, AI tools like ChatGPT and Gemini started taking over. To capitalize on this, employees developed and deployed a custom version of ChatGPT tailored to the company’s needs. This not only gave it the ability to use the best available translation algorithms, but also allowed it to accurately translate company-specific terminology.

Casual Communication

Last but certainly not least, the company created plenty of opportunities for fun and casual communication.

One of them was a ‘Chat Lunch’ program giving employees the chance to practice their language skills. Every week, one fluent English speaker (the ‘leader’) would be grouped with three English learners. The group would go out for lunch together and speak only in English during that time. 

There was also a Japanese version of the program, where Japanese learners would be grouped with a native speaker. Both programs were valuable opportunities to not only practice languages, but also to meet new people in the company and build connections.

To encourage participation, the company covered all lunch costs. The program was incredibly popular and had several hundred participants, myself included. I personally really enjoyed being able to practice my Japanese while helping my coworkers practice their English. 

Many of the people I chatted with were people I worked directly with. Having extra chances to interact and get to know them really helped improve our teamwork and communication in our daily projects.

The company also regularly held large-scale events centered around fun activities. There were game nights, pub quizzes, dance performances, live music, and more.

From the outside, it must have looked like we were just partying mindlessly. But I truly believe that these events were fantastic opportunities for casual communication, which in turn had positive effects on how we interacted during work hours.

Other Ways Companies Can Support Bilingual Work Environments

Creating a bilingual workplace is no easy feat. Initiatives like the ones mentioned above were incredibly helpful, but only part of the bigger picture.

For any company recruiting new employees, culture fit is extremely important. And for bilingual companies hiring globally, the importance of culture fit increases tenfold. 

Frankly speaking, communicating across linguistic and cultural barriers can be a messy process. Even with translation services and tools in place, miscommunications can and do happen all the time.

The only way to deal with these situations is to simply be as patient and open-minded as possible. This can be easy or difficult depending on the person – some are more than happy to deal with these challenges while others aren’t.

Lots of tech professionals want to focus purely on their craft, and would prefer not to deal with the additional communication barriers. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with that, but these types of people aren’t always a great fit for a bilingual company.

Meanwhile, there are candidates who enjoy communicating and are open to learning new languages. They view linguistic challenges as opportunities for growth and skill development. These types of people can be extremely valuable to Japan’s global tech scene.

I believe the company I worked for had a great understanding of culture fit. It prioritized candidates who were genuinely interested in its unique environment and challenges. Mindset and curiosity were valued over technical skills, because technical skills can always be taught.

Why Companies Are Building Global Teams

Almost any company looking to build strong engineering teams will eventually need to consider hiring globally.

This is true now due to Japan’s limited supply of experienced software professionals. It will arguably be even more important in the future due to Japan’s gradually declining population. Companies willing to recruit overseas candidates and help them relocate to Japan will have the advantage. 

This strategy inevitably brings the need to adopt English and create multilingual work environments. But it can also bring huge benefits aside from solving labor shortages. A diverse workforce means more diverse approaches to solving problems, which in turn can lead to more innovation. 

There’s also no denying that English is the dominant language in the global tech industry. Research is conducted in English first, and new breakthroughs are reported in English first. Having a strong English-speaking workforce means that companies can stay up-to-date on industry changes and keep their competitive edge.

What This Means For Developers Looking For Jobs In Japan

Simply put, the Japanese tech industry is full of great opportunities for foreigners. 

Many job seekers believe they need to speak fluent Japanese and be willing to endure brutal working hours to live in Japan. Rest assured that these are simply misconceptions, and that it’s absolutely possible to enjoy a healthy life and career here.

Companies looking for global talent need to offer the right incentives. This means that candidates can expect perks like relocation support, solid compensation, and great work life balance.

Working for a global company in Japan will certainly come with challenges. No company can do a perfect job eliminating communication barriers, but they can hire candidates who are willing to face these challenges with an open mind.

If this sounds like an exciting opportunity to you, check out Japan Dev’s job board.