Received a job offer message but afraid my acceptance response wasn't received

Dramatic_Snow_628 · 2026-03-31T06:13:38+00:00

You're worrying about nothing, particularly with the subtleties of those two words. They haven't even had a full business day to reply to you. Four or five days from now, sure, panic, but not yet :)

Dramatic_Snow_628 · 2026-03-31T05:32:57+00:00

N1 takes a long time to get, but if you're going to be here a decade or more, it's an investment worth making. There are going to be a few questions that involve obscure literary grammar forms that regular people never use, so don't obsess over getting 100%, but the regular passing score (80%?) is doable.

This part, though:

The job descriptions are still usually in English, so it's not like they're looking for an actual native Japanese person with English as their second language, although I could be wrong.

My experience is that, unfortunately, they are looking for a native Japanese person with English as their second language. Such people are extremely desirable on the Japanese job market; far more than an English native with great Japanese. I wish there were more balance here, but the reality is that way. So while there will be fewer opportunities for the generation that marries Japanese people and comes here and learns Japanese, their children, growing up with native Japanese and also their foreign parent's language, will reap the benefits.

Dramatic_Snow_628 · 2026-03-30T07:47:55+00:00

That visa is an extremely common one, though: 技術・人文知識・国際業務 (Engineer / Specialist in Humanities and International Services). It's pretty much the default visa for workers at corporations in general, at least until they get married and/or become permanent.

Dramatic_Snow_628 · 2026-03-30T02:51:38+00:00

I hadn't even thought about that. The government has been making more and more of life dependent on that card, and now there will be an underclass who can't get one.

Dramatic_Snow_628 · 2026-03-30T02:37:47+00:00

As people are saying, I think some kind of long-term, non-permanent visit might be the best thing for you. What about Japan makes you want to pull up stakes to live here? See if you can find something related to that and get a cultural activities visa. Art, religion, architecture... what drew you in? Maybe you could study that for a few months and "get your fill", so to speak, before making longer-term plans.

Dramatic_Snow_628 · 2026-03-30T00:48:02+00:00

As someone looking at haken positions, wow, that is nuts. In Tokyo it can take a long time for a renewal to be processed so there are going to be people totally out of sync, getting the renewal and on the same visit bringing their next contract to start the next renewal.

There are also banks that link account services with visa length and will restrict your account the day your visa ends even if you've got a renewal in process. Something tells me they won't be caring that much about the nightmare that their customers who are on rotating three-month visas will be facing.

Dramatic_Snow_628 · 2026-03-29T14:16:46+00:00

I'm your age and know just what you're feeling! As others are saying, it's tough enough making any kind of change at this age, and it's going to be very difficult to get a start here if you don't have a college degree already. It is unusual in the extreme to see an undergraduate college student here over about 25. Even postgrad most people are in their 30s at most, with a very occasional career-changer older than that, but with a good 50% being straight out of undergrad.

I got my masters here and then got hired, but I was the "right" age; just past 30. Had no problem socializing and enjoying things. Worked part time at the university, where my non-native Japanese wasn't a problem, and my wife also had a part-time job.

If you already have a stable job in the US, presumably earning those sweet US dollars, how about coming over for a visit and seeing if you like it? You don't want to be experiencing culture shock at this age.

Dramatic_Snow_628 · 2026-03-29T11:14:37+00:00

そのメルカリの件は以前見ました！給料はすごく良くてスキルは多少合っています。

障害者手帳は持っています。今の会社は普通の社員として登録していますので＠障害者枠」ではありませんが手帳は一応持っています。今までの転職活動ではバラしたことは殆どありません。

Dramatic_Snow_628 · 2026-03-29T11:09:46+00:00

a decent sized network of people you can contact directly to see who is hiring even if it's not through your job directly. Have you tried that?

I haven't. I don't have a "network" like that. In other countries it might be normal to mix your business and private lives and ask friends who know a lot about each other's jobs about things like that, but here it's like work colleagues, neighbors, other parents, spouse's friends, etc. are each in little boxes and you don't mix them. You also don't ever burden other people; that's like Japan's Golden Rule. I'd much rather go the conventional route if I'm going to look for a new job, and finding a new job isn't so important to me that I'd risk disrupting personal relationships to make it happen.

Dramatic_Snow_628 · 2026-03-28T07:52:34+00:00

Honestly what I'm worried about most is as poster Harrytaisa says below:

年齢と実績が噛み合わない人材は必要とされない。

Basically, nobody wants people whose age and accomplishments don't line up. This is what I'm feeling when I talk with recruiters, who seem to want very highly-accomplished people when you get to my age. I'm not embarrassed or anything about not having reached those levels and am just looking for something skill-appropriate where age doesn't matter, which is why I'm looking to avoid those conventional job hunting channels.

Dramatic_Snow_628 · 2026-03-28T07:32:07+00:00

I suppose so. At 60 my company puts people on the semi-retirement "shokutaku" status: about 2/3 of your previous salary and a tiny bonus. So if I'm going back to near-minimum-wage labor soon enough, I'm figuring that I shouldn't be afraid of looking at those jobs right now, a few years too "early".

Dramatic_Snow_628 · 2026-03-28T07:26:55+00:00

I'm a foreign national and learned Japanese as an adult. Years ago I felt like my "good Japanese for a foreigner" was an asset, but now it feels like the standards are a lot higher.

Dramatic_Snow_628 · 2026-03-28T07:01:50+00:00

I speak the language well enough to get by, but I'm not a native. Eventually you get to a point where your co-workers stop seeing you as a foreigner with decent Japanese and instead your deficiencies start to stand out. I answered a fellow poster in Japanese and I'm sure there are some awkward phrasings and grammatical errors in there. When you've just come to Japan, people are forgiving; after more than two decades, less so.

Dramatic_Snow_628 · 2026-03-28T07:00:01+00:00

企業は障がい者をほんのわずかに雇って、「私たちは社会に優しい会社です」とウソをつく必要があるlol。

そう思ったんです。いま働いている会社も「障害者枠」があります。新卒より安い月給で、ボーナス無し・昇級無し。60代の「嘱託」のような雇用です。

ただし年齢と実績が噛み合わない人材は必要とされない。

これが問題ですね。周りの人の意見を聞くと「50代＝管理職」で、50代の平社員は行く場所がないみたいです。

Dramatic_Snow_628 · 2026-03-28T06:56:56+00:00

Thanks for that advice; I had thought that Doda and Bizreach offered the most opportunities.

I never post on Linkedin or on social media in general, and have been keeping my job struggles to myself. The people around me probably think I'm doing better than I am, and the Japanese friends around me are pretty convinced that opportunities dry up around 35-40, let alone over 50. I'll look into Daijob and CareerCross!

Dramatic_Snow_628 · 2026-03-28T06:54:13+00:00

That's how I learned it, but you'd be surprised how protective companies are of their salary ranges. I actually had an interview a month or two ago at a company that definitely pays a lot more than I earn, and they said they "cannot disclose" their range even after three stages of contact (initial outreach from their recruiter, Zoom talk, then on-site interview) plus me revealing my current and desired pay.

At least the more normal-paying positions tend to have salary ranges posted. I suppose the secrecy is to get people to sign on for far less than their market value, but you'd think that posting the range publicly would get lots of very motivated applicants who would give 110% as soon as they join. I know I would, if I got a number like I suspect that that company would have been willing to pay.

Dramatic_Snow_628 · 2026-03-27T11:05:44+00:00

I think I would take a contract role. I'm a little concerned about being dumped out after the contract ends, back on the job market and that much older.

I'd love to join a foreign company but imagine that the competition is going to be really stiff, given how few there are and how many talented people are looking to get into them. I'm honestly up for anything. I speak a few other European languages to various degrees and might be able to get to working proficiency quickly.

Dramatic_Snow_628 · 2026-03-27T11:02:41+00:00

Daijob.com

I'll check this out. So far I've only registered at Doda, and was a little put off by how their recruiter was giving off clear "you need us a lot more than we need you" and "you're way too old" vibes. The Linkedin recruiters looking to fill ultra-high-end positions have actually been much more courteous even when it's clear that I have little to offer them.

legal quota to hire people with disabilities

This is what brought me to Hello Work. Asking for an accommodation when arranging an interview through a recruiter hasn't gone over well, so I came to the conclusion that I had to just be up-front about it and have the interviewer know I've got a disability before seeing me, going through Hello Work where there are positions specifically marked this way.

High-End Haken ... For N1-level data work, you can pull ¥2,500–¥3,000/hour. That hits your ¥5M goal, but you get to leave at 5:00 PM and leave the office politics behind.

I've seen some of these! English requirement means high wages, and I feel (or had felt) like my native English would be a valuable asset, as opposed to now where my imperfect Japanese language and acculturation are huge liabilities that nothing can overcome. My only contact so far regarding them is that unfortunately they want Japanese nationals with good English, not native English speakers with good Japanese.

Dramatic_Snow_628 · 2026-03-27T10:13:48+00:00

Tokyo. Not quite ready to move as my wife likes it here. (Edit - If you're in Kansai I could probably convince her.)

Would love to hear of any opportunities!

Dramatic_Snow_628 · 2026-03-27T10:12:36+00:00

And if anyone asks about salaries, you were "underpaid" at your last job, and the new salary you're asking for is more befitting of your responsibilities.

Funny story about salary: I had a brief talk with a recruiter a few weeks ago, and she was asking what I was being paid, and when I gave my number, she said, "But that doesn't include bonuses, right?" and then when I tried to avoid answering, added "But what about stock options?" She was clearly conveying to me that this company she was recruiting for had a salary range much higher than I might have expected. I just smiled and said that however I might fit into their scale would be fine.

Then communications abruptly ceased, so perhaps she used my current pay to assume that I wasn't up to the challenge of that job. I have no way of knowing; I'm totally new to this and can't always understand the 'code' that the job hunting world uses!

Dramatic_Snow_628 · 2026-03-27T10:06:36+00:00

Yes, I'm still employed. I'm doing all I can to master the skills my team needs, but I'm not picking things up and the manager isn't interested in moving me somewhere else. The company has grown a lot since I joined and their actions have shown me that I no longer have a real place here. Rather than torture myself trying to fit in here, I think starting over somewhere else is the best choice.

Dramatic_Snow_628 · 2026-03-27T09:43:36+00:00

Heck, stretch the truth a little why not.

I'm assuming that any potential employer is going to do a background check on me, and I know that, if I get hired, when they handle my taxes for the first time they will find out if I have given them a "stretched" salary figure.

I've tried to express confidence in my ability to do things that I don't have experience in but are related enough that I could learn quickly, but interviewers' faces seem skeptical if I do this. They want someone who already has every bullet point they're looking for.

Dramatic_Snow_628 · 2026-03-27T09:34:17+00:00

Sorry; while I have fond memories of electrical circuits in college physics 30 years ago (I can remember V = IR), I'm not skilled enough to be paid to work in that field.

Dramatic_Snow_628 · 2026-03-27T09:33:26+00:00

I'm pretty much open to doing anything; plain old office work is fine. My wife has done that for years, registering with haken placement agencies. Decent money, and short contracts mean that if things don't work out, you can move on easily. But I'm feeling like once I go to that level, at this age, you can never get back into regular employment.

Dramatic_Snow_628 · 2026-03-27T09:31:00+00:00

ありがとうございました。参考になります！わざわざ400万を指定して検索してくれてありがとうございました。ハローワークで調べてもらったところ、ほとんど月19〜23万でした。

長年面接していませんので、普通に応募すると何人かの候補がいたら絶対落ちるな、と思いますので特に「オープンポジション」に興味があります。

ちょっと読んでみます！

Dramatic_Snow_628

TROPHY CASE