working in japan

[saviboy]

hi everybody and happy new year 2003
does somebody know what it takes to work in japan(visas, type of licences, salary, etc...)
thank you in advance
saviboy

[Farknel]

Sorry to put a dampner on this but unless you`re being sponsored by a Japanese Airline it would be all but impossible to work in Japan as a pilot.

For example the JCAB will conduct written exams in English for expats employed by a local operator, however this concession would very likely be unavailable for a self sponsored applicant. So unless you are will to learn the language to the extent that you can undertake a written technical exam in Japanese, forget it.

Further obstacles similar to that already described above await the un-sponsored applicatant at almost every step along the way.

Cheers,

Fark.

[slice]

Farknel - I am wondering if any Japanese Turboprop Operators (HAC, NAL etc.) would consider sponsoring someone with a bit of experience on pistons who could get a visa (ie married to Japanese). I have always considered it a non-starter but you may know otherwise?

[Farknel]

Re: Request from Slice "Working in Japan"

There have been a few posts recently covering this topic, however, my understanding is that you need to be sponsored by an employer/airline to be able to work in Japan.

By and large, the JCAB do not readily recognise foreign qualifications unless you are being sponsored by a Japanese Employer/Airline, and that recognition would be on the basis of relevant and significant experience. This situation may also be partly influenced by the visa situation. That is, if a Japanese Employer/Airline wishes to employ a foreigner, there has to be good reason to do so ...e.g. the potential employee has skills and experiences that are not available from local employees, therein lies the justification for employing a foreigner - and then the JCAB gets in on the act with their requirements and so it goes on...

With the above in mind, if you could obtain a visa by other means, such as a spouse visa and you wish to live in Japan permanently (for all intentional purposes) it may be possible to obtain JCAB qualifications. However to the best of my knowledge they will only recognise your foreign qualifications to the level of a PPL (unless you satisy the requirements for sponsored employment). Therefore you would most likely need to go to a Japanese Flight School to obtain your CPL and Instrument Rating(M/E), anf then you would need to get a job (??). This would necessarily require a high degree of fluency in the Japanese language. How far down this road are you now? The speaking is not so difficult, but if you were going to function in a Japanese company that did not normally employ foreigners, there would be very little set up to have company documentation etc in English.

Kaptin M made a comment recently in another post (JCAB Air Law?) about how sometimes doing business in Japan can be incredibly frustrating - if you have spent some time here, then you will know how true this is.

As it is unclear which country you come from, you may or may not be able to do this easily. For example if you have an FAA licence, then you may already be familiar with many of the manouevres required for the CPL and M/E type rating and Instrument Rating. If however you are from the UK, Australia, NZ or anywhere else not FAA based then you will have a lot of learning to do.

On top of all this the cost of all this training in Japan would be frightening! Best of luck!

If you wish to correspond further may I suggest you send me private message and that you also make yourself available to receive private messages. Your profile indicates you do not wish to receive any private messages.

Cheers, and gambatte!!

Fark.

[slice]

I am an Australian AUS ATPL holder with a Japanese spouse. Your informative post confirms the gut feeling I had. My Japanese is basic to say the least (No written), and from several visits there I know it is basically like being on another planet with regards to doing almost anything.


Cheers

[Farknel]

Slice:

It does have a sort of unusual charm about it though...don`t you think?

Fark

[Lasiorhinus]

Wait a minute....
slice, you claim to be married to a Japanese, and you either live there now or are moving there... and you cannot read or write any Japanese??
Just how do you justify this to yourself?
Lasior

[Farknel]

Lasiorhinus,

You must have really been skulking around the depths of Pprune to dredge this topic up - and just where do you "get off" on making the outrageous statement in your last post.

It's not impossible but do you realise how much work is involved in becoming literate in written Japanese? Maybe you do, but in case you are unaware there are 3 written scripts - 2 of which are phonetic and are relatively easy to master, however the third is the Kanji script (borrowed from China) which is ideographic and the Japanese Ministry of Education recommends that students be proficient in at least 1900 characters by the time they graduate from high school.

I have frequently encountered situations with Japanese friends who are graduates of top universities who cannot tell me the meaning of certain Kanji from time to time and they themselves have to seek out dictionaries as there are far more than the basic 1900 alrady mentioned.

Aussie friends who have studied at universities in Japan have had to spend over a year full time at special university entrance language schools just to build up their already impressive skills to the level where they can attend classes given in Japanese.

So can you imagine what it would be like sitting down and having to read all the exam questions written in Japanese and then answer in the same language?

I think you should lie down for a while, stick your head up your clacker and get some enlightenment that way.

Fark.

[A-V-8R]

Lasiorhinus, I am a white american married to a Korean woman and I do speak Korean, and am also school trained in Vietnamese.

I would profer that it is very difficult for a westerner to learn an Asian language. It is easy enough to learn the nouns and adjectives and conjugate the verbs, but if you haven't grown up in a Confucian society it is very difficult to correctly apply the language...As an example, most Asian languages have different pronouns for "I", depending if you are talking to someone older or more powerful than you, or a peer, or a young child.

Many times I've "gotten into trouble" using the wrong honofic even though it seemed right at the time.

As an example to has how difficult Asian languages can be, on the last trip I flew from Incheon to Korea, at the conclusion during deplaning a Korean businessman had cornered the purser about the "insulting style of the Korean Language spoken" by the Korean Language Qualified Flight Attendent onboard.

Upon investigating, the language qualifed flight attendent was a Korean male who was born in the United States and spoke familial colloquial Korean at home as a household tongue. However, not being school trained in Korean or raised in a confucian society, even though he could get his point across in Korean he could not do it in accordance with social standards.

As an aside, anyone who wants so advice on learning a foreign language can email me. I have several good resources available, all of which can travel with you on the road in your hotel room.