Getting Hired at a Japanese University from Overseas in 2023

So, you just graduated with a master’s degree in TESOL or Applied Linguistics. Now, you’d like to take your teaching services overseas, possibly to a Japanese university.

Maybe the bleak outlook back home has compelled you to look elsewhere. Or maybe you’ve always wanted to live in Japan and university teaching is your perceived pathway to get there.

Whichever the case may be, you might be wondering, how do I get hired at a Japanese university from overseas? If you’ve just graduated from an applied linguistics or TESOL MA program, a 3-5 year contract is the most realistic possibility.

This article should help you get a better idea of the landscape as well as strategies to get a foot in the door if you’re not yet in Japan. And of course, if you are looking at another country, the tips below will still be useful.

JAPANESE UNIVERSITY HIRING PRACTICES

It’s harder to get hired at Japanese universities when living outside of Japan. Most schools like to hire from within the country. Why? They expect they’re getting a teacher familiar with life in Japan, Japanese working style, and hopefully someone with experience in the Japanese university system. These factors all indicate a more reliable worker.

So, how does a Japanese university handle overseas hires? It’s hard to say without asking all 800ish institutions. But let’s start with mine.

My department coordinator told me most universities probably don’t have a policy set in stone regarding overseas hires, but since there are enough suitable teachers in Japan, they often stick with teachers already here. His explained that “personally, I probably wouldn’t consider someone who didn’t have teaching experience in Japan for a [contract] position, simply because we get plenty of good candidates who do.”

Many universities would rather not deal with the hassle of bringing someone in from the outside. He added that those he knew of who had been hired from outside Japan still had previous experience working here.

So, if you’re not already in Japan, what do you do? Well, I know some teachers (myself included) without university experience in Japan who were hired from abroad. Let’s look at three strategies that will help add you to the list.

#1: MAKING CONNECTIONS TO JAPAN

If you know you want to work in another country in the future, it’s never too early to start adding skills and experiences relevant to that country on your CV. In the process, you will start to build a network as well.

By building connections, I don’t mean meeting new friends online or being a host family for a home stay student. Don’t get me wrong, those can be good things to do. Nevertheless, focus on experiences or skills that you can point to on your CV. These are things you can work toward whether you’re in Japan or not.

To illustrate this, the hiring director who offered me my first position at a Japanese university had this to say on the subject: “[Teachers] need to show how they connect to Japan, so they need to be interested in some parts of Japan, like language, culture, and so on.”

He wasn’t concerned about the applicant’s location. Instead, all the hires he made for our department (including myself) had one thing in common: a connection to Japan. For him, he needed to trust the applicant’s “base would be in Japan”. The last hire he made was someone who had no experience teaching in Japan, but had achieved a high level of Japanese language proficiency and was able to demonstrate this on her CV.

His hiring preferences show that not all universities stick just to hiring in Japan. My former colleagues and I are proof of that. It means that out of the nearly 800 universities in Japan, you’ll find different hiring practices.

By making connections to Japan or any other country, you are demonstrating on your CV your investment in that place. The important point is there are opportunities back home to orient your CV toward a future career abroad.

#2: EXPERIENCE OUTSIDE OF UNIVERSITIES

For this one, I’ll assume you’ don’t you’re fine with working at another type of school before making the jump to a university. If so, you could easily get on somewhere as an Assistant Language Teacher (ALT). These positions fill public school system’s needs for native English teachers.

An ALT position is one way to get yourself to Japan and in the language teaching field. In fact, it is the target for some people, especially for those who really want to get to Japan and are less adamant about teaching specifically at the university level. The Japan Exchange and Teaching Programme (JET) and Interac facilitate hiring for aspiring ALT teachers.

If not as an ALT, you have the option of getting hired at a private English school (eikaiwa). The larger ones are willing to sponsor work VISAs for applicants coming from abroad. These positions are usually offered as 1-year contracts with an option to renew.

Usually, the most important requirements for foreigners at eikaiwa are native English ability and a bachelor’s degree. Several corporate other schools regularly hire from outside Japan like Westgate, and Berlitz.

You might really enjoy working with kids as an ALT or feel at ease with the relatively light responsibility of eikaiwa teaching. If not, you can always opt out when your contract is up, having gained teaching experience to apply elsewhere. In any case, it’s always a good idea to be up-front about your intentions.

If you see yourself eventually transitioning from one of these positions to university, you could enter a TESOL master’s program while in teaching in Japan as an ALT or at an eikaiwa.

#3: EXCHANGES AND PARTNERSHIPS

Now I’m speaking to anyone who is considering a masters program, or at least has yet to graduate.

Sometimes universities have partnerships with other schools abroad. As an example, the school whose MA/TESL program I attended, has such a partnership. These can lead to study or teaching opportunities for students or graduates.

There are many other direct partnerships between universities. If you’re going to enter a master’s program and teaching abroad is on your radar, do a little research and see what universities your desired institution is partnering with abroad.

If you have already completed a master’s program, then the train may have left the station for the previous scenario, but teaching fellowships for your desired country may still be an option. Fulbright is a well-known institution for teaching fellowships, partnering with over 140 countries. 

A university partnership or program like Fulbright is another way to get started in another country or even land a university position right out the gate.

LONG TERM GOALS IN THE JAPANESE UNIVERSITY SYSTEM

Eventually, many teachers who have the goal of staying long term in Japan are hunting for that elusive tenured position. These, as you can imagine, are much less common than contract positions and require higher credentials.

If you are hoping to land a tenured position, you’ll need to be flexible with your location. In fact, I have noticed that postings for permanent teaching positions in more “rural” areas seem to state slightly less lofty qualification requirements. These include things like fewer academic publications or less emphasis on Japanese ability.

That shouldn’t be surprising. A hiring committee in a larger city has an abundance of applicants as well as plenty more who would like to relocate there. In contrast, a prefecture with no major hub and just a handful of schools is more likely to see teachers leaving for larger metropolitan areas.

I experienced this situation in Okayama prefecture. The area about 10 universities and a real “who’s who” type atmosphere. All but one of the foreign teachers in my faculty ended up moving on to greener pastures, including Osaka, Hokkaido, UK and US.

We all left within the span of two years. The one teacher who stayed in the area took a job commuting about an hour to Himeji. By contrast, while in Osaka, the six teachers in my department who have finished their contracts have stayed in the area.

Whether Osaka or Okayama, you can play the contract game infinitely. Until a teacher gets a tenured position, they’re destined to jump to the next position every 3-5 years. Or I know some who patch together enough part-time gigs to make their lifestyle work.

IN SUMMARY

How you approach finding a teaching job in Japan depends entirely on your personal context. That said, being in or having spent time in Japan holds an advantage. Each of the three tips above suit some more than others.

The world of contract teaching positions can be like playing musical chairs, especially at universities. If a teacher finishes a 3- or 5-year contract, and it’s their time to move on, they can be sure that hundreds of teachers around Japan are going through the same process.

A strange dynamic plays out every winter with teachers in their final contract year getting offers or rejection notices. Sometimes colleagues go for the same position. Maybe you get rejected only to be contacted months later by the same school with an offer. For whatever reason, their original hire backed out. I’ve personally had this happen to me.

If you don’t mind the dance routine, I recommend landing at schools in the larger metropolitan areas, so you have more options when your contract is up. However, as I touched on earlier, this may be more difficult if you’re going directly for university positions.

Whether at a university or other, there are a lot of good reasons to teach English in Japan. There are also some reasons why it might not be for you. Hopefully this post has given you some ideas to help you decide and move forward.