14 Companies in Japan with "Worldwide Remote OK" Policies [Nov 2022]

The normalization of remote work is one of the few good things to come out of the pandemic.

Technically, it was already a thing even before covid-19 came along.  But for most, it was a pipe dream.  We’d heard vague stories of these “forward-thinking” companies that let employees work remotely from anywhere in the world and sigh with envy.

And then everything changed.  Look at where we are now — companies in Japan allowing worldwide remote work are abundant.

In just a few short years, working remotely went from being a privilege to standard practice, even for industries that would never consider letting their employees work from home in a billion years. 

And while most companies touting “remote work” still require employees to be in the same city — or at least country — a surprising amount of companies are allowing remote work from anywhere on earth.

This includes companies in Japan. Especially in the tech world, working from home has become a valid choice.  And a significant subset of companies have opened their remote policy to those who want to work from overseas as well as within Japan.  Now, working for a company in Japan from abroad is an option.

This is why I’m writing this post today. I know that most of us enjoy the perks of working remotely, and I wanted to gather a list of the top companies in Japan that allow remote working from anywhere. 

Work at Japan-based Companies From Abroad

I already wrote about this in detail in my other blog post about remote work in Japan, but in the past few years, working from home has become a common practice for many companies here.

It’s not all industries, of course — there are a number of traditionally structured industries that have a hard time implementing remote work. This is why you see news about 70% of Japanese people returning to offices even before things start cooling down.

However, the reality in the tech world is different. Most internationally operating tech companies in Japan have implemented remote working permanently, and they promise to keep it that way. 

Some companies only allow remote workers from within the country, but some allow you to work from anywhere in the world. 

Below, I’ll list some of the best companies in Japan that allow remote work from anywhere in the world, and introduce them briefly.

Zeals

Founded in 2014, Zealsis an AI-based chatbot company that provides signature Japanese customer service to companies all over the world. 

The company provides an AI-powered service that can replace sales or customer service representatives. The popularity of the service is caused by the “conversational commerce” trend, as AI chatbots are becoming increasingly common in Japan.

Zeals allows remote working from anywhere in the world and offers 10 days of yearly paid time off (after 3 months of working). 

You also get all Japanese public holidays off, as well as benefit from observing an end-of-the-year holiday and a summer holiday, which are common in Japan.

The work hours system is flex time with core hours of 1-3 PM JST, which I explained in another post about flex time. Basically, it means that everyone will be working between the core hours, but the rest of your work hours can be at any time of day you want. 

CADDi 

Established in 2017, CADDioffers products to the manufacturing industry. Basically, the company provides a product that simplifies RFQ(Request for Quota) processes by utilizing automation. 

CADDi has a flex-time system with core hours, where employees must be working between 11 AM and 4 PM JST. Working from anywhere in the world is possible, but employees are also free to work at the office if they want to. 

The yearly paid time off is 10 days, and you get it after you complete your first 6 months at the company. However, there’s a 3-day leave for new employees to compensate for that. Needless to say, you also have the same traditional Japanese holidays off too. 

Cybozu 

Another IT company, Cybozuhas products that provide HR solutions to companies. The company has products that allow team and project management, as well as a mail management product for companies.

Cybozu’s idea of flex time is a little different, as the core hours are either between 9 AM and 6 PM JST or 9 AM-6 PM PT. Even if it’s not completely flexible, this still offers some flexibility.

Cybozu is currently working remotely, and it’s possible to work from anywhere in the world. The company promises that this isn’t going to change once the pandemic measures are lifted. 

Also, Cybozu offers a whopping 20 days of PTO annually in addition to the traditional and national Japanese holidays.

KOMOJU 

KOMOJUis a product of the Japanese companyDegica, and it offers payment solutions to companies around the world, with TikTok and Steam among their top clients. 

Even though Komoju has somewhat pre-determined work hours for other departments, developer teams get to enjoy the perks of full flex time. 

KOMOJU has great benefits, as the annual PTO is 10 days in the first year, and this number increases with each year you work there. The company also offers 5 days off on both summer and end-of-the-year holidays, as well as a day off on your birthday.

KOMOJU allows working from anywhere in the world, with only one small caveat. They just want at least some of your work hours to coincide with the work hours of Japanese local time, which is perfectly doable.

Appier Japan 

Appier Japanis a software company established in 2018. The company provides AI-powered data analysis tools that help companies optimize their marketing practices. 

Like many others on the list, Appier Japan also subscribes to the idea of flex time with a core hours system. The core work hours of the company are between 10:30 AM and 3:30 PM JST, with a lunch break included. 

After your first 6 months at the company, you get 10 days of paid time off annually. The company allows remote work from anywhere in the world and promises to keep it that way even after the pandemic is fully behind us.

Peatix 

Peatixis an event management and listing platform that allows users to explore events and buy tickets. The company was founded in 2011 in Japan, and the popularity of the platform spread to North America and Singapore shortly after as well.

The work hours at Peatix somewhat adhere to a full flex-time system, but not quite. This means you’re free to work whenever you want, as long as you work for 8 hours a day. Luckily, there’s also an hour-long lunch break included in these 8 hours.

The company allows employees to work from anywhere in the world, and they promise that this is a permanent system.

On top of the regular public holidays in Japan, you also get 20 days of paid time off. In addition, you’re given 5 extra days off for personal matters.

MakeLeaps 

MakeLeapsis a company that sells a software application with the same name, which allows companies to create invoices and carry out other invoicing tasks easily. 

The company, founded in 2009, has been working remotely since 2020 and allows remote work from all over the world. They have employees from 14 different countries, and the primary language is English.

MakeLeaps also has a flex-time system, but with core working hours. This means that as long as you work between 11 AM and 4 PM JST, you’re free to work the rest of your hours whenever you like.

TableCheck 

TableCheckprovides an all-in-one platform that allows users to explore restaurants, view their menus, and make reservations. 

The company’s work hours are flex time with core hours, which are between 11 AM and 3 PM JST. In addition, the company follows a “remote work from anywhere” policy. 

However, you’ll need to set your work schedule according to JST, as TableCheck only allows remote employees from other time zones if they can at least be available for a few hours between 10 AM and 7 PM JST.

TableCheck’s paid time-off benefits are pretty standard, as they offer 10 days annually in addition to Japanese national holidays.

Scoville 

Scoville is a company that works in a wide variety of industries like education, human resources, and healthcare. Their work is mainly focused on business-to-business (B2B) solutions, but they also provide business-to-customer products as well.

The company allows employees to work from anywhere, in whatever condition they like. The offices are open to all employees if they wish to work in an office, of course. 

The paid time off system at Scoville is a bit different, as you get a set amount of 36 days off, but this includes all national holidays as well. The company has a flex-time work system where employees are free to decide when they work.

Startbahn 

Startbahnis an art tech company, and their most popular product, Startrail, is a platform that allows the authentication and tracking of digital art pieces and NFTs (non-fungible tokens) on a blockchain-based system. 

Statbahn has a flex-time system with core working hours of 11 AM to 4 PM JST and an hour-long lunch break in between. The company is also pretty relaxed about remote work, as they hire from anywhere in the world. 

The company offers a 10-day paid time off, in addition to the traditional end-of-the-year and summer holidays, as well as national holidays. 

Babel 

Founded in 2017, Babel creates applications that are centered around the company’s signature top-notch AI technology. The company’s products are mostly centered around entertainment, but they also have AI-powered analysis tools for sales and marketing activities.

Babel operates on a system of flex time with core hours, and the core hours are between 1 PM and 5 PM JST. The company is also very relaxed when it comes to where you work. They are open to hiring employees from all over the world.

While working at Babel, you get 10 days of paid time off, in addition to Japanese national holidays and a 3-day-long end-of-the-year vacation.

CureApp 

CureAppis a medical startup that provides a revolutionary app. It utilizes a new way of treatment that’s backed by science, and the aim is to approach hard-to-treat conditions like addiction, cancer, and hypertension in a cognitive way.

The company has a remote-first policy, as they allow employees to work from anywhere. The work hours are flexible too. As long as you work between the core hours of 11 AM and 4 PM JST, you’re free to schedule the rest of your workday however you like.

The time-off perks are great at CureApp. You get 10 days of PTO in your first year in addition to the national holidays. You also get a whopping 7 days of year’s end vacation and 3 days of summer vacation too. 

One thing to look out for when applying to CureApp is that they require business-level Japanese from all employees.

Ubie 

Another AI-powered service, Ubieis a med-tech startup that provides software for diagnostics. Their most popular product, Ubie for Hospitals, is a tool that acts as a questionnaire for symptoms, and it’s designed to simulate a doctor’s visit.

Unlike Zeals, Ubie has what’s called a “super-flex time (full flex time),” which means that there are no core work hours. A workday lasts 8 hours, and the company allows for remote work in Asia and Oceania to keep things in the same time zone.

Ubie offers 14 days of yearly PTO as soon as you start working, and you’ll get the perks of traditional Japanese summer and end-of-the-year holidays as well.

Authlete

Authleteprovides APIs for authorization and identification processes for developers. The Tokyo-based company provides solutions to various industries like fintech, healthcare, travel, and entertainment.

Authlete’s management style can be best described as “flexible,” as everything is pretty much left to the discretion of the employees. The work hours are full flex time, and there are no core hours.

The employees at Authlete have so much autonomy that they even decide the amount of paid time off and vacations themselves. This is because the company is only concerned with the output of work rather than the time spent online, which is a true characteristic of full flex time. 

Final Word on Remote Work in Japan

As you can see, you don’t actually need to be in Japan to work in Japan. 

There are plenty of companies that have embraced work from anywhere, especially in the past few years. They all offer pretty good benefits too. 

As most of these businesses state that remote work is a permanent deal, the number of companies that subscribe to the “work from anywhere” model is also increasing each day.

If you want to find out more about companies in Japan and how the software engineer salaries are, you can head over to the guide I recently prepared on software engineer salaries in Japan. I keep it up-to-date, and I recommend you read it if you’re looking for a job here.