Is Japan making it harder for Americans to find work there?

Andrew writes, “Is it hard to get a teaching job in Japan? Is Japan making it very hard for Americans to work there?”

Japan is in the midst of the same set of economic circumstances as we are.  From what I understand, many Japanese companies have been shipping jobs to China and incomes of Japanese people are down to a point that they cannot afford all those English lessons that they went so crazy for during the 80s and 90s.  Many English schools have since been shut and the private tutor market has become crowded with way too many foreigners traveling to Japan to make a quick buck.  Therefore, the Japanese authorities have also started to crack down more aggressively on people abusing their tourist visas to work in Japan.

If you are serious about this, I would say that you should still explore the opportunity the right way.  It is a market with changes every few months so if you keep trying you might be able to get a job.  Good luck and let me know how it turns out.