Are you considering an internship in Japan? The country holds an endless fascination for millions of people around the world, but everyone has a different reason. Tech lovers, anime geeks, foodies, tea drinkers, martial arts enthusiasts, design buffs, and fashionistas have all been flocking to Japan for decades, and show no signs of slowing down.<\/p>\n
But there is, of course, a difference between visiting Japan and living in it. If you really want to experience Japanese culture firsthand, you need more time to immerse yourself in the day-to-day life of its buzzing cities. An internship in Japan will allow you to do this while gaining invaluable resume-boosting experience. Especially with being the third-largest economy in the world, there is a vast variety of industries and businesses for interns to work in.<\/p>\n
Searching for an internship in Japan can be confusing. In this article, we fill you in on everything on everything you need to know: From language requirements to different internship options to how to find the internship of your choice \u2013 both from abroad and from inside Japan.\n <\/p><\/strong><\/p>\n Short-Term Internships<\/strong>\n Common contents of short-term internships are:\n <\/p><\/strong><\/p>\n Because of their short duration and the fact that the \u201cinterns\u201d aren\u2019t doing any work, these internships are usually unpaid and treated as networking opportunities. They can be useful to get in touch with a company and the people working there before the start of the recruitment season. This can give you the upper hand in the selection process later on. They\u2019re also an easy way to scout out whether the general vibe of a company matches your expectations.\n <\/p><\/p>\n <\/p><\/p>\n <\/p><\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p><\/p>\n <\/p><\/p>\n <\/p><\/p>\n <\/p><\/p>\n <\/p><\/p>\n <\/p><\/p>\n <\/p><\/p>\n <\/p><\/p>\n Note that these numbers are probably a bit lower than they really are. For one, only a fraction of companies in Japan is reflected in Recruit\u2019s survey. Also, some Japanese companies don\u2019t do internships but accept student part-time work, which corresponds to the more \u201chands-on\u201d type of internships outside of Japan.\n Shuukatsu internships (or job hunt internships) are part of the traditional hiring process, meaning that they take place after you\u2019ve formally applied for a job at the company and passed the first few rounds of screening. Their purpose is to make you familiar with your everyday tasks before you start working full-time, and they\u2019re very likely to directly lead to a job. Because these internships tend to be part-time, most of them offer no visa sponsorship options and require you to already be in Japan.\n <\/p><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Find an internship in Japan, and experience the local culture. Japan is one of today\u2019s leading global powers, economically, socially, and politically.<\/p>","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2176,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"image","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[43],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2173","post","type-post","status-publish","format-image","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-43","post_format-post-format-image"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tgedu.com.vn\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2173","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tgedu.com.vn\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tgedu.com.vn\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tgedu.com.vn\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tgedu.com.vn\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2173"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/tgedu.com.vn\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2173\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2174,"href":"https:\/\/tgedu.com.vn\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2173\/revisions\/2174"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tgedu.com.vn\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2176"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tgedu.com.vn\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2173"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tgedu.com.vn\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2173"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tgedu.com.vn\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2173"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nThe Japanese Internship System<\/strong>\nInternships in Japan are not all the same. In addition to being paid or unpaid, they differ in purpose, duration, workload, and visa sponsorship availability. Because they\u2019re all lumped together under the term \u201cinternship,\u201d it can be hard to find precisely what you are looking for.\nBefore we go into how to find internships, let\u2019s have a look at the different types to clear up the confusion. For starters, here\u2019s a simple overview (we\u2019ll go into the details below):<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/tgedu.com.vn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/\u30b9\u30af\u30ea\u30fc\u30f3\u30b7\u30e7\u30c3\u30c8-2022-09-28-100346.jpg\")
\n
\nMost internships that you\u2019ll see advertised in Japan are of the short-term variety (sometimes called event-type internships). They run from 1 day to a few weeks and are more or less glorified workplace tours. In the 2019\/20 job hunting season, these short-term programs made up a whopping 88% of all internships offered by companies, and around 60% of them were single-day events (according to Recruit\u2019s \u201cJob Hunt White Paper for 2020\u201d).<\/p>\n
\n\u2022\tSeminars\n
\n\u2022\tGroup discussions and other group activities\n
\n\u2022\tQ&A sessions with employees\n
\n\u2022\tTours through the company building(s)<\/p>\n
\nAccording to data collected at Rikunabi, short-Term internship attendance peaks in August and February. These are called summer internships and winter internships respectively, and application deadlines are usually 2 months in advance \u2013 in June and December. Needless to say, there\u2019s no visa sponsorship for this type of internship.\n
\nLong-Term Internships<\/strong>\nThis is the type of \u201cproper\u201d internship you\u2019re probably used to from your home country. Running from anywhere between 1 to 6 months (and even longer in some cases), these internships serve the purpose of making students familiar with practical work tasks. There are full-time and part-time variants.\n
\nLong-term internships are still in the minority in Japan. In 2019\/20, only 0.5% of internships were of the long-term variety (1 month and longer), and only around 5% of surveyed students answered that they did one (according to Recruit\u2019s \u201cJob Hunt White Paper\u201d).<\/p>\n
\nTwo types of long-term internship\nLong-term internships in Japan fall into two larger categories: \u201cstandalone internships\u201d and \u201cshuukatsu internships.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nStandalone internships, on the other hand, are a bit more open-ended. You apply for them separately, before your proper job application. They\u2019re usually offered by multinational companies and startups, are full-time, and often come with visa sponsorship. These internships can lead to a job at the company but are not guaranteed to. In my experience, they usually don\u2019t unless you have skills that neatly match the company\u2019s current needs.\n
\n
\n\nFinding an Internship from Overseas<\/strong>\n
\n\nWhen searching from abroad (e.g. your home country), your main target are long-term, standalone-type internships. To get the visa, you need to fulfill the following requirements (regardless of the internship being paid or unpaid):\n
\n\n\u2022\tYou\u2019re a student currently enrolled in a university outside of Japan\n
\n\n\u2022\tThe work you\u2019ll be doing during your internship is relevant to your studies will be credited as part of your curriculum by your university\n
\n\nFor more detailed info on visa requirements, check out our visa guide for internships. We also have an article on paid internships in Japan specifically.\n
\n\nWith this out of the way, let\u2019s get into how you can actually search for internships!\n
\n\n\n1. Online Platforms and Job Boards<\/strong>\n
\n\nOnline platforms and job boards list offers from various companies and may also provide the function for you to place inquiries. The benefit of this method is that it costs you basically nothing until you land your internship. On the other hand, it might take you a while until you find something that matches your expectations and requirements (especially paid opportunities).\n
\n\nCompanies posting offers on these websites are actively searching for interns, so your chances of \u201cgetting in\u201d are pretty high if you have the right skill set and are careful with your application documents (for example, don\u2019t put the wrong company address in your cover letter \u2013 like I once did).\n
\n\nExamples of English-language platforms where you can find internships in Japan:\n
\n\nInternship-focused\n
\n\n\u2022\tMETI Government of Japan Internship Program\n
\n\n\u2022\tKOPRA (for people in Europe)\n
\n\u2022\tThe website of the Chamber of Commerce of your home country in Japan\nGeneral-purpose\n
\n\u2022\tGlassdoor\n
\n\n\u2022\tLinkedIn (Go to \u201cJobs\u201d and search for internship with the location set to Japan)\n
\n\n2. Internship Placement Agencies<\/strong>\n
\nPlacement agencies offer the most comfortable route to an internship. All information is readily available in English, there are a lot of company options, and the only thing you have to do is send them your information, which the agency will use to hand-pick a suitable internship for you. Many agencies also offer additional services like housing support, English-language support during your stay, and extra stuff like cultural activities.\n
\n\nThere is one big downside, though: This route to an internship tends to be expensive. Usually, you\u2019ll have to pay an application or registration fee upfront, and then the actual program fee. On top of this, a lot of the internships offered through these agencies are unpaid. So in addition to the program, you\u2019ll also have to rely on your savings for rent and other living expenses.\n
\n\nAll things considered, internships of this variety can easily cost you as much as attending language school in Japan. But if you don\u2019t have the time to search on your own, don\u2019t speak Japanese, don\u2019t want to be left on your own in Japan (with things like searching for a place to live, getting a SIM card\/phone contract etc), they might be worth considering.\n
\n\nHere are some examples of Japan-based internship placement agencies:\n
\n\n\u2022\tSakae Japan Internship Program (one of the few agencies that doesn\u2019t charge for placements)\n
\n\u2022\tInternship in Japan\n
\n\u2022\tZentern\n
\n\u2022\tMeiji Internships\n
\n3. Direct Applications<\/strong>\n
\nThe last option is to simply search for companies that interest you and contact them directly. A lot of multinational companies and NGOs are (also) based in Japan. These multinationals can provide an English-speaking work environment and a truly global experience. Even when there are not explicitly searching for interns, you can still send them a speculative application.\nWhen choosing this route, industry and company research is of utmost importance. Unless you can clearly lay out why you\u2019re interested in an internship and how you want to contribute, chances are you\u2019re not going to get a response. It\u2019s probably not a good idea to rely on this approach alone, but if there\u2019s a company you\u2019re really interested in, give it a shot!\n
\n
\n\n\nFinding an Internship from Inside Japan<\/strong>\n
\n\nWhen searching for internships inside of Japan, your options are a bit more varied. You can take part in short-term internships, do one (or even multiple) longer, part-time internships, or do shuukatsu-type internships that require you to enter through the regular job hunt process.\n
\n\nAs a student at a Japanese school or university, the only option that will be difficult to realize is a paid, full-time internship \u2013 because of visa issues. The work restrictions that come with a student visa simply don\u2019t allow you to work full time. With a Working Holiday Visa, it\u2019s possible though.\n
\n\n1. Online Portals\n
\n\nThe first and easiest place you can search is online. You can always have a look at English sites like Glassdoor, but you\u2019ll have access to a lot more options if you also take a look at all the Japanese-language portals. I recommend checking them out. In a pinch, your browser\u2019s automatic translation function can help you along with the navigation.\n
\n\nShort-term and shuukatsu-type internships:\n
\n\n\u2022\tRikunabi\n
\n\n\u2022\tMyNavi\n
\n\n\u2022\tONE CAREER\n
\n\n\u2022\tCareer+\n
\n\nThese sites are general job-hunting portals aimed at students. Especially the first two offer a wide variety of companies, but internships are mostly limited to short-term opportunities. On the plus side, you can also use them for regular shuukatsu later on.\n
\n\nAll kinds of internships:\n
\n\u2022\tWantedly\n
\n\u2022\t01 Intern\n
\n\n\u2022\tIntern Baito\n
\n\n\u2022\t Infra Intern\n
\n\u2022\tJeek Intern\n
\n\n\u2022\tCareer Baito\n
\n\n\u2022\tIntern Street\n
\n\n\u2022\tKyujin Box\n
\n\nOn these sites, you are more likely to find long-term\/part-time\/paid internship opportunities. As you can see from their names, the line between an intern and a part-timer (baito) can be quite thin in Japan. Some of these portals, like Wantedly and Kyujin Box, also list regular job offers, so you might have to search for \u30a4\u30f3\u30bf\u30fc\u30f3 or \u30a4\u30f3\u30bf\u30fc\u30f3\u30b7\u30c3\u30d7 in the search bar or turn on some filters.\n
\n\n2. Career Fairs \/ Job Fairs\n
\nThe events are typically aimed at students looking for jobs, not internships. That being said, they\u2019re an opportunity to establish direct contact with companies. Even if you don\u2019t plan on starting to work the following year, approaching a company and asking them about an internship is a great way to show initiative (and certainly leave a more lasting impression than just sending an e-mail through the inquiry form on their homepage). If the person at the booth thinks you could be a fit, they might be able to arrange something.\n
\n\nMost career\/job fairs take place in February March each year, with some additional events in June and December. For more info, check out our main article on career fairs in Japan!\n
\n\n3. Your School or University\n
\n\nMost Japanese schools and universities in Japan have some sort of career center or career guidance counselor. It\u2019s not rare for schools to maintain formal or informal relations with specific companies over long periods of time. This can lead to internship placements that aren\u2019t available anywhere else, or a make it easier to get in. Regularly check the bulletin board and online notifications of your school and talk to the career counseling staff. Not only can they help you find internship opportunities \u2013 they will also assist you throughout the application process.\n
\n\n4. Company Recruitment Pages\n
\n\nFinally, just like when searching from abroad, you should also not be shy to have a look at individual companies\u2019 recruitment pages. Not all companies post on portals or participate in job fairs \u2013 especially popular companies with big names or smaller companies with a high degree of specialization. They often have unique hiring schedules and rely on their own channels. They want students that are truly interested in their company and don\u2019t just stumble upon it at a job fair. If you\u2019re lucky, you might get rewarded for being proactive!\n
\n\nWhen you\u2019re checking the websites, make sure to not get \u201cinternship tunnel vision.\u201d You\u2019re not relying on the internship to get into Japan, it\u2019s always good to also look for other opportunities that could get you closer to the company, like seminars or online events.\n
\n\nA sneak peak of a life in Japan\n
\n\nAn internship is a great way to get a feel for how it is like to live and work in Japan \u2013 even if you don\u2019t transition into a job at the same company you intern at. In my case, I applied for an internship from outside of Japan and used my six months in Tokyo to search for a job. Especially if you\u2019re not yet living in Japan, coming here for an internship opens up so many other opportunities, in addition to what you learn at the internship proper.\n
\n\nDid you find the option that\u2019s best for you? Then go ahead and write that application!<\/p>\n