Hi there, if you have just arrived in Japan and you are looking for some work to do, congratulations, this article might be a good piece of information for you! It contains “what-you-need-to-know-first-of-all” about finding part-time jobs in Japan. Because, there are jobs that are extremely difficult to get alongside plenty of jobs that are quite easy to apply for, depending on how good your Japanese ability is. In other words, if you have “zero” Japanese ability, you first look for jobs in light industry such as factory jobs, and when you can speak some Japanese, restaurant or combini jobs are waiting and then you gradually advance to white-collar ones.

However, do not feel nervous yet. Due to the experiences of many “senpai”, it is not that difficult to have a good part-time job if you know how to take action wisely!

What kind of Baito jobs are available in Japan? Let’s check it out!

Part time jobs in Light industry

Japanese language proficiency: N5 or none

As an industry, you will work in factories. The job is packaging (instant foods, bento - lunch box, …). You will spend most of the time working in the production line, therefore, Japanese is not necessary due to the lack of communication.

However, the working environment is very complex, many people usually do not last long, only work for a short time and then leave. How will you work? Workers just simply pack the product to other parts for delivery. Surprisingly, the salary is quite high, about more than 1150 Yen / hour. It is even higher when you decide to take night shifts.

Delivery

Japanese language proficiency: N4 or higher

The delivery job does not require Japanese, you just need some very very basic Japanese communication skills to work as a delivery person in Japan. The salary can vary depending on the delivery fees and tips received, so it's not stable, but earning between 2,000 and 3,000 yen per hour is not out of reach.

Newspaper Delivery

Japanese language proficiency: N4 or higher

Surely many of you will know about a famous newspaper scholarship named "Asahi Scholarship", right? The newspaper delivery is just basically putting the newspaper to the customers’ door every morning then leave, so there's no need to talk to anyone. You can earn around 1,200 Yen / hour (about 13 ~ 14 man / month). However, you must get up early to go to work at 1 ~ 2 am until 5 ~ 7 am on weekdays.

The most difficult task is you have to remember the address of each place in your delivery list. Do not worry, even if your Japanese is not good, there is no problem.

However, recently people tend to read online newspapers instead of original newspapers, so the number of traditional newspapers has decreased gradually, meaning that there are fewer job offers than before.

Hotel cleaning

Japanese language proficiency: N4 or higher

This baito job is considered as one of the most popular part-time jobs. If you have N4 or being able to basic communicate in Japanese, you can work several tasks such as cleaning the room, washing dishes, polishing glass doors. The salary ranges from 1000 Yen to 1250 Yen per hour. However, there is one minus point is that the work shifts are normally short, only about 4-5 hours.

Conbini - Convenience stores

Japanese language proficiency: N3 or higher

Combini or Konbini is the common name for convenience stores that are popular throughout Japan and popular among the people here. Speaking of Combini in Japan, can not help mentioning the big-three: 7-Eleven, Lawson, and FamilyMart.

If you have an N3 qualification or enough basic Japanese communication skill to handle the interview, you can work in convenience stores or restaurants. Many of the convenience stores, especially in large cities, provide guidance in English, Chinese, Vietnamese, and other languages. I think this job is not difficult to apply.

But Japan's convenience store system is arguably the strongest with the most functions in the world. So employees have to not only know how to display items in the store but also how to manage money, guide customers to use ATMs and copying machines, make fast food, send goods (function as a post office), …….

The salary ranges from 1000 Yen to 1400 Yen, this environment will help you improve your Japanese ability.

Restaurant

Japanese language proficiency: N3 or higher

If applying for restaurant staff, you are allowed to do the following two:

Firstly, waiters.

Waiters are the ones ordering and bringing food to the guests. This job requires highly qualified people because they often have to talk to guests.

Second job, kitchen assistant.

Kitchen assistants are responsible for preparing dishes that have been called by customers. However, in Japan, the assistant cook also needs a certificate to work.Therefore, if you want to work as an assistant cook, it is almost like washing dishes, or reheating and frying ready-made food.

Also, working in restaurants is very common for Japanese students.If you want to make friends with many Japanese people, you can apply for this job. The salary is neither high nor low, ranging from 950 ~ 1,200 Yen / hour depending on the area in Japan.

Higher Level

Once you have reached the Japanese Level of N2 above, you might want to find some “brain-needed” work to gain experiences and knowledge but balancing the work and the school will be such a difficult task. Do not worry yet! Some companies out there are willing to get you into work as a baito (part-time), especially Telcos. Softbank, Au Mobiles, UQ Mobiles,.. are telecommunication companies who do really need bilingual workers in order to serve the high amount of foreign customers.

Surprisingly, despite the fact that the company will demand from you higher skills in Japanese, the salary is not higher, ranging from 1200 Yen to 1600 Yen per hour.

The Shoukai Tradition

This is the ultimate tip for you to get a baito job!

Well, even though being able to communicate in Japanese is extremely important when you work in Japan, you can do the job if you have a few connections because in this country there is a tradition called: Shoukai (紹介). It means the person you know will introduce you to the boss for work.

Although you lack of Japanese skills, just try to show you are an eager-to-learn person, it is not as difficult as you always thought. For example, you thought that the image of working in Conbini (Japanese Convenience store) would be like communicating to the customer all the time and you were scared. But the fact is you just need to say a few sentences repeatedly.

Of course, besides the jobs mentioned here, there are plenty of part-time jobs available in Japan. If you're looking for part-time work, be sure to check out Guidable Jobs! Wishing you success in your job search!