Paul's Newsletter #49
Hello there,
Welcome to newsletter #49.
Major news this week as the Japanese government adopted an ordinance to raise fees for foreign nationals renewing or changing their residence statuses, effective from October. In the biggest hike of the bunch, the fee for Permanent Residency will be raised from ¥10,000 to ¥200,000. (More in the first of this issue's articles below.) I'll defer my commentary on the changes until the next issue, when I've had more time to speak with people who will be affected by them.
Overall, August has been quiet for the job market and I ended up taking the whole of Obon week off (usually I just take a day or two). Some roles opened, some closed. Interview arrangements have been slow. A little busier this week, and I'm hopeful that things will pick up from next month. I have a theory that once the calendar shows September 1st and people realise there are only four months left in the year, there's suddenly pressure to fill headcount that has been sitting empty since the spring.
I received a very interesting question on the Discord server this week, and I thought I’d share it and my answer with you here, as it’s probably crossed the minds of many overseas readers. (I’ve edited from the original Discord post for clarity)
Question: Is it worth applying for a role only looking for Japan residents, even if you don't have a visa, but you fit the requirements very well?
Usually no, unless you provide a strong reason for the company to make an exception.
Restricting a role to applicants already in Japan often dramatically reduces the pool of potential hires, so companies only do it if they believe they have a good reason. Consider some of the reasons a role may be open to Japan residents only:
- The company believes that the local candidate pool is sufficient to fill the role in an acceptable timeline (and this generally becomes truer over time as more people relocate here).
- The company doesn’t want to sponsor visas. For example, they might believe the sponsorship process is too complex for them, they don’t have someone who can handle immigration processes internally, or they don’t want to pay someone to handle it for them.
- The company doesn’t want to wait months for visa processing.
- The company doesn’t want to take on the risk of hiring someone from overseas. For example, they sign an offer with someone who gets cold feet later and backs out. Or the new hire doesn’t settle into life in Japan and quits after a relatively short period. Or the new hire isn’t really that interested in the job, treats the role as a stepping stone to come to Japan and obtain a visa, and changes jobs quickly. These can be minimised by hiring someone who already has a life in Japan.
There can be other reasons, but these are the main ones I hear from companies.
From the outside, you don’t know which reason, or combination of reasons, is why the role is being advertised as “apply from Japan only”.
Let’s look at some reasons why you still might be considered for the role from overseas:
- The role requires niche skills or experience that aren’t as common in the local market as the company originally thought, but that you have.
- The role has been open for too long and the company hasn’t been able to fill it. There can be multiple reasons for this - perhaps the requirements are niche (as above), the salary isn’t tempting enough for a local to switch jobs, the company’s reputation isn’t great and it puts residents off applying, the company is being very selective, and so on. In many cases, the longer a role remains unfilled, the more pressure can build to fill it - locking in a solid hire who can’t start for several months due to visa processing and relocation might be painful in the short run, but acceptable in the long run.
- You don’t require visa sponsorship - especially if the job ad signals that the reason they’re not considering overseas applicants is due to visas.
- Your resume demonstrates that you’re low risk of backing out of the offer or of not committing to the job. This could be from showing a very strong commitment to Japan (e.g. significant Japanese language learning efforts), having lived here in the past, personal links to Japan (e.g. a Japanese spouse, friends or family here), etc. Even having a stable job history in your home country is a positive signal - if you change jobs at home every 12-18 months, it’s hard to convince a company in Japan that you’ll behave differently once here.
- You have the kind of resume that gets attention anywhere - you went to an elite university, you have worked at globally recognised companies, are recognised in your field (e.g. speaking at conferences, contributing to a significant open source project, publishing relevant papers), and so on.
In effect, being successful from overseas would result from the company seeing a good enough reason in you to change their preferences (and they need to see that on your resume).
Unfortunately, from the outside, you don’t know where the company sits on the spectrum between “absolutely won’t consider applicants from overseas” and “we need to consider someone overseas for this”. You’ll need to judge how strong your application would look, given the above reasons.
You know your own professional experience and, for example, if you don’t require visa sponsorship, but it can be difficult to evaluate other reasons, such as how long a job has been open, or if the requirements are difficult to meet locally. In this case, try to research the company online/connect with someone on LinkedIn, ask a question in a Discord community like mine, ask contacts here, or just apply and see what happens.
Finally, just FYI, if the job you see is being advertised by a recruiter, the recruiter should have confirmed whether or not the company will accept overseas applicants, since we can (and should) ask the hiring company directly, so the advertised requirements are usually pretty concrete. If you see the role on a job board, the job board provider may have confirmed the details of the role, but could simply be posting whatever information the hirer gave them. In the case of my job board, I always ask.
Some housekeeping: I migrated this newsletter from Mailchimp to Ghost over the Obon holiday (Mailchimp is owned by Intuit, a dreadful company). Let me know if you experience any problems with the new platform (e.g. links not working, email delivery problems, etc.)
Without further ado, this month's articles, jobs, and fun stuff.
From Me:
Software Engineer (and Other Tech) Visas in Japan – 2026 Guide
An overview of the Engineer/Humanities & Highly Skilled Professional visas (this has been sitting on my to do list for far too long) [article]
What I've Been Reading:
Japan adopts ordinance to raise foreign nationals’ residency fees from October
An overview of the price hikes for residency fees. [article]
‘Total whiplash’: Foreign residents react to Japan’s changing permanent residency rules
PR is next in the crosshairs. Foreign residents who have spent years working toward permanent residency say the government’s proposed new requirements have left them angry, anxious and unable to plan for the future, with some reconsidering whether they can remain in the country at all. [article]
As Japan grapples with inflation and higher interest rates, it's going to need to relearn basic financial skills that we not necessary in the low interest rate era. [article]
Is the death of a minor the last straw for Japan’s hostage justice system?
A 16-year-old girl has become the latest victim of Japan’s hostage justice system, dying from malnourishment after being detained without charge. [article]
Manga-inspired theme park to be built near Paris
Three theme parks will be built near Paris as part of a €6bn (£5.13bn) deal agreed between France and Saudi Arabia. The new development is expected to include a manga-themed park, inspired by the popular Japanese franchise Dragon Ball Z. (Apparently, MbS likes some Dragon Ball Z, when he's not otherwise occupied dismembering journalists) [article]
How Japan Turned Department Stores Into Dreamworlds
Potted history of the Japanese department store. Mitsukoshi started off as a kimono fabric store for wealthy patrons in 1673 in Edo. Other well-known chains have equally hoary pasts. Takashimaya originally served imperial family members; Matsuzakaya sold religious robes for Buddhist temples and Shinto shrines, while Daimaru catered to the less privileged masses. [article]
Jobs are often something you can enter through the side door, by finding people doing work you care about, making your value visible, and creating opportunities rather than waiting for the perfect job posting to appear. [article]
The One Energy Solution Japan Will Probably Never Build
Japan's inherent energy problems are engineering-challenging. In this video, Engineering with Rosie ranks 8 energy technologies based on their technical viability. Number one might not be what you'd expect. [YouTube video]
Hands On:
The asteroid currently hitting frontend web development
Nolan Lawson is a programmer from Seattle who previously worked at Salesforce, Microsoft, and Squarespace. He asks what will become of frontend development if the frontend is considered less risky to just hand to an agent. [article]
Engineers will do anything to avoid learning from history — David Horn
"Now I feel compelled to complain about what I believe is the nastiest habit of engineers: no one reads the fucking manual." [link]
How tech workers are feeling in 2026: a workforce splitting in two
How are tech workers actually feeling in 2026? This article digs into the latest data on job security, AI, burnout, and what’s changed for people working in tech. It’s based on the second annual survey of tech workers conducted by Lenny Rachitsky and Noam Segal. [article]
Interviewing Engineers in the AI Era: Lessons from a Year of Rebuilding
From Coinbase: "Now that nearly all of our new code is AI generated and overseen by humans, we’ve rebuilt our engineering interview loop to keep pace, testing how candidates direct AI, evaluate its output, and apply judgment where models fall short. This post documents three phases of that work: what changed, what the data showed, and what we're still figuring out." [article]
Notes from inside China's AI labs
ML Researcher Nathan Lambert shares what he learned from touring several upstart AI labs in China earlier this year. [article]
Hot Jobs:
Jobs at Partner companies (you can apply directly via my job board):
Jobs at KabuK Style (Japan's leading eCommerce marketplace): Note: all roles are contract-based.
Backend Engineer, Platform (#1618)
Build KabuK Exchange, a B2B2B travel distribution platform connecting global hotel supply with demand channels. Develop backend services for supplier integrations, booking workflows, pricing, billing, and payment systems using .NET.
[Salary details not provided | Apply from: Japan only | Full remote in Japan | English: Conversational | Japanese: Not required]
Engineering Lead, Platform — KabuK Exchange (#1619)
Lead technical architecture for KabuK Exchange, a B2B2B travel distribution platform connecting Japanese hotels globally. Own core platform domains including pricing, inventory, booking, billing, and supplier integrations while guiding distributed engineering teams toward scalable, reliable systems.
[Salary details not provided | Apply from: Japan only | Full remote in Japan | English: Conversational | Japanese: Not required]
Product Analyst / Associate Product Manager – Payments / Integrations (#1620)
Join KabuK Style's Platform team to own critical payments, billing, and API integration systems powering a global travel B2B2B SaaS platform serving 30,000+ accommodations. Combine data analysis with product ownership to optimise complex financial and supplier integration workflows.
[Salary details not provided | Apply from: Japan only | Hybrid | English: Business-level | Japanese: Not required]
Senior Backend Engineer, Platform Services (#1621)
Build KabuK Exchange, a B2B travel distribution platform, developing core backend services for pricing, billing, payments, ledger, and reconciliation systems that must handle high transaction volume with strict financial auditability and correctness.
[Salary details not provided | Apply from: Japan only | Full remote in Japan | English: Conversational | Japanese: Not required]
Solutions Engineer — Platform / Travel Distribution (#1622)
Support technical onboarding and integrations for KBKx, KabuK Style's B2B2B travel distribution platform connecting hotels, OTAs, and travel suppliers via scalable APIs. Bridge product, engineering, and partner teams to ensure successful implementations and post-launch stability.
[Salary details not provided | Apply from: Japan only | Hybrid | English: Business-level | Japanese: Not required]
Senior Backend Engineer, Travel Integrations & Distribution (#1628)
Build KabuK Exchange, a B2B2B travel distribution platform connecting 30,000+ accommodations globally. Design robust backend systems for supplier integrations, API normalization, rate/availability ingestion, and booking workflows across complex partner ecosystems.
[Salary details not provided | Apply from: Japan only | Hybrid | English: Business-level | Japanese: Not required]
Jobs at Mercari (Japan's leading eCommerce marketplace):
Senior Platform Infrastructure Engineer – Mercari (#1614)
Build and operate Mercari's multi-tenant Kubernetes platform and Infrastructure-as-Code at scale, managing cluster lifecycle, custom controllers, and developer-facing self-service tooling for hundreds of microservices across the organisation.
[Salary details not provided | Apply from: Anywhere | Hybrid | English: Business-level | Japanese: Not required]
Software Engineer, Backend (Foundation) – Mercari Marketplace (#1615)
Build and operate Mercari's critical foundation backend services in Go: notifications, user settings, and media systems handling massive scale. Balance reliability, backward compatibility, and large-scale data migrations while supporting product teams across the platform.
[Salary details not provided | Apply from: Anywhere | Hybrid | English: Business-level | Japanese: Not required]
Senior Software Engineer, Android (Mobile Enablement) – Mercari (#1624)
Lead Android platform development for Mercari's 20M+ user marketplace, optimising performance across devices while enabling dozens of engineers through architectural decisions, tooling improvements, and cross-functional collaboration using Kotlin, Jetpack Compose, and modern Android ecosystems.
[Salary details not provided | Apply from: Anywhere | Hybrid | English: Business-level | Japanese: Not required]
Product Engineer, Backend (Shops) – Mercari (#1626)
Build Mercari's B2C marketplace backend in Go, balancing two products on shared infrastructure while managing backward compatibility, cross-tenant isolation, and high-stakes deployments for seller transactions.
[Salary details not provided | Apply from: Anywhere | Hybrid | English: Business-level | Japanese: Conversational]
Jobs at Mico (a Japanese SaaS company specialising in AI-powered communication platforms that enhance customer engagement):
Bilingual Data Scientist (#1625)
Lead end-to-end ML lifecycle for Mico's recommendation engine and ad delivery optimization, combining first-party and zero-party data to drive business growth through advanced analytics, personalization, and MLOps in a bilingual global team.
[8M to 11M JPY | Apply from: Japan only | Hybrid | English: Business-level | Japanese: Business-level]
Jobs at MODE (the creator of BizStack, an all-encompassing IoT application):
Product Manager (BizStack Platform) (#1629)
Drive the roadmap for BizStack, MODE's IoT platform serving multiple customer segments, balancing scalability, technical debt, and feature delivery while designing extensible architecture across frontend and backend systems.
[Salary details not provided | Apply from: Japan only | Hybrid | English: Not required | Japanese: Fluent]
More roles on the job board.
If you’re interested in a role, it pays to apply early. Job Alerts subscribers get notified about new roles before they appear in this newsletter. Sign up via 'Manage your preferences' below. I send no more than one alert per week.
Outside Interests (random things I found interesting):
Why Critics Thought the Sony Walkman Would End Civilization
When the Sony Walkman came out on July 1, 1979, it was quickly decried as a sign of the end times and the unraveling of Japanese society itself. Here’s how being able to listen to music on the go was supposed to usher in a Mad Max future. [article]
An interactive, beautifully designed explainer about what’s physically inside a smartphone and how all those pieces work together. A digital teardown, not a conventional article. [article]
If you let AI do your writing, I will come to your house and kill you
Sam Kriss isn't happy. [article]
No, You Don’t Want to Time Travel
What’s forgotten when imagining time travel. [article]
Book I'm Reading:
Polostan: Volume One of Bomb Light - Neal Stephenson
Neal Stephenson is the bestselling author of Snow Crash, Cryptonomicon, and The Baroque Cycle, and other novels, often combining history, technology, and big ideas.
Polostan follows Dawn Rae Bjornberg, an American woman who grows up partly in the Soviet Union during the 1930s and becomes involved in the political and technological upheavals of the era. It’s a mix of historical fiction, espionage, and science, and I'm looking forward to volume two, coming out in October.
Subscriber 1-on-1s:
I set aside time each week for 1-on-1 calls with newsletter subscribers as a thank you for your support.
If you need help with your resume, coaching on job-hunting tactics, advice on negotiating a job offer, want to learn how I can help you hire as an agent or via the job board, or anything else Japan-related to job-hunting & hiring, you can book a free call with me.
Meetup #2 is coming up on Thursday September 17th. Once again we'll meet for a few casual drinks and some networking at Irish Pub Clann in Jiyugaoka. Last time we had a great mix of attendees, from old hands to engineers just starting their tech careers.
Hopefully, no typhoon this time!
That's all for this issue. Thanks for reading.
Time for a nap.
Paul.