Your Japanese Visa Renewal Depends on Your Employer. Here's How It Works.

Renewal fees rose from ¥6,000 to as much as ¥75,000 on 1 October. Your employer's category decides your paperwork, and often how many years you are granted.

Work Report: Cybersecurity, Care Homes, and English That Held Up

Job List: The Engine Rooms

Japanese Employers Rarely Fire You. Here's What They Do Instead.

退職勧奨, early retirement programs and the paperwork behind them, and the visa clocks that start on the day your contract actually ends.

Work Report: Drugstores, Consultants, and a Japanese-First Week

Job List: The Wide Net

Your Japanese Employer Can Transfer You. Here's How Far It Can Go.

Transfers, secondments and 転籍: what a Japanese reassignment order can change, and the filings your residence status needs when it does.

Work Report: Factories, Code, and a Two-Speed Rebound

Job List: When the Recruiters Are Hiring

Your Japanese Bonus Is Not Guaranteed Pay. Here's What Decides It.

The 賞与 system, the payment date rule that can forfeit a whole bonus, and why immigration may not count yours.

Work Report: Retail, Pharma, and a Broad Pullback

Job List: Both Ends of the Ladder

Japan Lets You Pre-Check a Job Change Against Your Visa. Here's How.

The certificate that tests a new job against your status before you resign, the 14-day notification everyone forgets, and how to tell if your next role sits inside your category.

Work Report: Tech and Gaming Power the Rebound

Job List: The Trainee Tracks

Japan Has Four Employment Types. Here's What Each Does to Your Visa.

Four legal relationships, one English word. Which one you are offered decides who employs you, what protects you, and how immigration reads it.

Work Report: Chips Rise as the Autumn Ramp Cools

Job List: The Broad Middle

Your Japanese Salary Is Set by a Grade, Not a Negotiation. Here's How.

How Japanese companies decide which band you belong in, why they ask your current salary, and what your grade does to your visa.

Work Report: Consulting, Studios, and a Japanese-First Surge

Job List: The Engine Rooms

Probation in Japan Is Already a Real Job. Here's What It Protects.

What 試用期間 actually means in Japanese law, what a company can and cannot do during it, and what happens to your visa if it ends badly.

Work Report: Banks, Factories, and the Autumn Ramp

Job List: Beyond the Tokyo

Recruitment Agencies Work for the Employer. Here's How to Use Them.

Who pays the fee, what your consultant is optimising for, and how to run an agency process without losing control of it.