Software (IT) Engineer Salaries in Japan – 2024 Guide
“What are the salaries of software developers in Japan,” “Do information technology jobs pay well in Japan?” These are the first questions you would likely ask while exploring the possibility of finding an IT job in Japan.
Be sure you read this guide if you are wondering about the salaries of software engineers in Japan. We will also be covering software developers’ salaries, specifically in Tokyo, and talk about the yardsticks to help make any decision for the job change based on the salary for other cities of Japan.
There are plenty of job opportunities for software developers and other information technology professionals in Japan.
You will definitely have an added advantage if you have some bilingual proficiency in Japanese. Still, even if you don’t, there is also a big demand for English-speaking talent in Japan, and companies like EJable.com can simplify your search for a job with Japanese software companies.
Software Development: One of the Best Paying Jobs in Japan
The IT industry has some of the best-paying jobs in Japan, with the highest entry-level salaries for foreigners and Japanese nationals.
If you have the necessary skills and the desire to work in Japan, information technology will always be the best industry for foreigners who wish to work here.
Due to its rapidly aging population, Japan needs to grow its skilled IT workforce, and recruiters are working overtime to connect companies looking to hire foreign talents who may want to explore the joys of living and working in Japan.
Many foreigners who have taken the plunge into software development careers in Japan love it. Japanese people and culture are very welcoming. You may want to check out some of the interviews with foreign IT professionals in Japan.
There are many quirky, fast-moving startups and gaishi-kei (foreign companies) in Japan – meaning they are less traditional or hierarchy-conscious and thus could be a better culture fit for a non-Japanese employee. Moreover, last but not least, technological salary trends in Japan are on the rise and are very competitive in relation to the Western world.
I would also suggest that you read the articles about why Japan is a great place for foreign software engineers and how to get an IT job in Japan before we discuss IT salaries.
Now, if you are seriously planning to explore information technology job opportunities here, let’s talk about what kinds of salaries you can expect when you work in a Japanese tech company.
Average IT Salaries in Japan
We can begin by talking about general averages for Japanese technology industry salaries.
Any search for software developer salaries in Japan will show you that there is an infinite amount of information on the internet on this topic. However, this free-floating salary information about IT salaries in Japan may prove to be very confusing because of the high contrast in the numbers from various sources.
Averages are Just Averages
For IT salaries in Tokyo, Glassdoor puts the 2023 figure at 7.21 million JPY (Japanese yen) per year. In contrast, the top answer on Quora for IT/communications jobs in Japan comes in at 4.7 million JPY, with men averaging 5 million JPY and women at 3.9 million JPY!
As another source, a 2021 report published by one of Japan’s biggest job portals (only available in Japanese) indicated that the average annual salary of IT engineers in Japan is 4.53 million JPY.
Because IT is such a huge sector, when we talk about salaries, we look at average salaries across the different subsets of the industry. And the average IT salaries differ greatly from subset to subset.
The salaries of a Java developer, a UI/UX engineer in e-commerce, DevOps, a Database administrator, or cybersecurity talent will all differ and cannot be combined to calculate the average IT salary.
Consider this—you are an artificial intelligence engineer and wish to find an AI engineer salary in Japan to decide if you should move there. Now consider the fact that according to a 2024 report by the Economic Research Institute, an AI engineer’s salary in Japan is JPY 10,219,570 (JPY 10.2 million). Now, would the Glassdoor data of 7.21 million average for IT salaries in Japan would have helped you in any way?
Moreover, we have to consider experience levels. If you’re a 22-year-old fresh graduate aiming for an entry-level role for a programming job in Japan, will the average salary figure, which includes senior IT professionals, help?
So, if we zoom in and examine the numbers further, we soon see that the averages are averages.
The differences do not end only with skill sets and experience levels; they extend to IT salaries of foreigners vs. native Japanese. So, this salary guide aims to dive deeper to bring you more authentic IT salary data in Japan.
Software Developers’ Salaries in Tokyo
Though we are discussing the salaries of software developers and other information technology professionals in Japan, many of us wish to know the IT salaries, specifically in Tokyo.
The reason is simple: a very high demand-supply gap of the IT talent in Japan. Therefore, because of the large number of job opportunities for information technology professionals, there is a better chance that you land a job offer in Tokyo than in any other Japanese city.
As Tokyo is the biggest business hub in Japan, any salary survey generally gets more data points from Tokyo than from any other city.
The above fact results in all the salary data guides, like this one, being closer to the average salaries in Tokyo than in any other city. Hence, please consider all the salary data for software engineers in this guide to be average salaries in Tokyo.
Average Salaries of Japanese Natives maybe Less
The traditional hiring system of Japanese corporations is called “Shinsotsu-ikkatsu-saiyō” (新卒一括採用) or “Shinsotsu-saiyō” (新卒採用). This term means “new graduate hiring” in English. This system still continues with the mega-corporations of Japan.
Japanese companies hire students before graduation from college without deciding on specific job roles.
After graduation, companies train these new graduates to fill specific roles. The work they are to do can be completely different from their educational background. For example, an English literature graduate may be trained in Java and then start working as a software developer.
Traditionally, the hired new graduates would work with the company till retirement. Their salary growth and promotions were mainly based on seniority and not performance, except if the performance was exceptional. Please note that many big companies and employees still follow these practices.
Considering these traditional systems, the average IT salaries of Japanese nationals are much lower in traditional Japanese mega-corporations.
Why Are Averages Only Averages?
We have to note that the biggest issue for looking at data for IT wages in Japan is that most, if not all, only apply to Japanese employees. And, Japan’s average IT salary data may not serve a foreign software engineer.
The average number of foreign workers across Japan is only 1.43% of its population. In 2022, that translated to about 1.8 million people out of the overall Japanese population of 124.63 million.
According to Japan’s Ministry of Health, Labor, and Welfare, the latest census numbers show that about 50,000 foreigners are working in IT in Japan out of approximately 1.04 million workers overall. So, foreign IT talent in Japan is still very much a minority at 4.9%. What does this mean for you?
It means that many public sources about the average salaries in IT in Japan are not really relevant to you as a foreign professional.
As a foreigner, you are very much in a special niche for an information technology role. As a foreign IT professional, you can expect much higher salaries than the average remunerations that local Japanese IT engineers receive.
Finding Success Working in Japan as a Foreigner Software Developer
Check out the article Japanese Work Culture for a deeper insight into working in Japan. Let’s say that as a foreign IT professional, you have most likely taken a very different educational or career path compared to most Japanese IT engineers, which can impact the salary you will earn.
Companies usually hire talented software developers to fill vacancies locally in Japan for a good reason.
For these companies, there is a greater level of commitment from their side and risk in bringing in talent from outside Japan. Moreover, those candidates may or may not speak Japanese well or understand the intricacies of Japanese culture and social norms.
However, the mindset of modern Japanese tech companies is completely different. As mentioned earlier, the new mindset and approach for hiring are driven by the talent shortage and hunger for increasing diversity, at the cost of sacrificing language requirements and cost.
So, the motivation is there for them to find the right person for the job, and when they do, they pay them well.
IT Jobs in Japan Are Different from What You May Be Used To
As experienced recruiters, we can tell you that IT roles filled by foreigners in Japan are distributed differently than those filled by Japanese employees. So, the organizational flow chart may differ from what you know in your home country.
There are systems engineers (SE), then higher up the pay scale are systems integrators (SI). In-house software engineers are still few and far between.
According to Meiji University, one of the top private universities in Tokyo, at present, merely 23% of system engineers in Japan hold degrees from fields related to information technology.
The above figure is considerably low when compared to other nations. For instance, India, renowned as an IT powerhouse, boasts that 72% of its system engineers come from IT-related academic backgrounds. Meanwhile, in the United States, this percentage is 44%.
Why is the percentage so low in Japan?
According to Professor Tomokazu Hayakawa, Senior Assistant Professor at the School of Science and Technology at Meiji University, one of the reasons may be as follows:
“A tendency to place too much priority on hardware development and less importance on software in Japan. Or, maybe it is believed that you can get the knowledge required to work as an SE after joining the workforce”.
So, it seems that the solid IT credentials of foreign talents can be in high demand by the more established multinationals for software developer jobs in Japan. Some smaller domestic startups may hire foreigners, too, but the salaries tend to be a bit lower.
Why Higher Salaries in Japan for Foreign Software Professionals?
As a ballpark figure, the top software companies in Japan should expect to remunerate a foreign developer about 1 million JPY extra over a Japanese employee. The scarcity of pre-qualified foreign IT professionals is making them highly sought after by the major IT companies in Japan.
This is why your salary in a Japanese software developer position may be higher than the national average. But where can we look to find salary ranges that are relevant to you? Below are some of the top sites for you to check out.
Resources For Japanese IT Job Market Pay Rates
While not every site provides the specifics, you can get an idea of your IT earning potential in Japan if you are working in software development roles such as front or back end, DevOps, iOS/Android, machine language, AI, data science, and others.
Opensalary.jp
The website opensalary.jp is one of the best resources for looking at technology job salaries in Japan.
Real-world tech professionals anonymously contribute all of the data on this site, so you are getting it “straight from the horse’s mouth.”
You can compare over 1,200 salaries and see how much software engineers in major companies such as Google Japan, Amazon Web Services, Rakuten, LINE, and others are making – and the salaries broken down further into years of experience and areas of focus for you to get a more in-depth idea of what IT salaries in Japan are like.
Here are some examples of what we’re talking about:
| Company | Average Annual Salary |
|---|---|
| Google Japan | 23M JPY |
| Amazon Web Services Japan | 12.5M JPY |
| Rakuten | 7.7M JPY |
| LINE | 8.8M JPY |
| Median Compensation (Total) | 8M JPY |
Levels.fyi
Still on English-language resources, next we have Levels.fyi, which brings us global tech salaries and provides useful information about tech jobs in Japan.
For example, if you search ‘Japan’, you will see that the average annual salary for a software engineer job in Japan is 8.6M JPY and that Indeed is the highest paying company for software engineers in Japan, at 19.9M JPY. The salaries are as reported by IT professionals working in Japan.
“Levels.fyi” also breaks down salaries by level name and years of experience, so it is a useful site to have a look around and get a breakdown of what salaries for software engineers in Japan look like by company:
| Company | IT Skills | Grade | Years of Experience | Average Annual Salary |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rakuten | Frontend Developer | BBB | 10 | 8.5M JPY |
| PayPay | Backend Developer | L3 | 10 | 10.8M JPY |
| Line | Frontend Developer | L2 | 2-4 | 8.2M JPY |
| MoneyForward | Backend Developer | L1 | 2 | 4.5M JPY |
| Mercari | Backend Developer | MG4 | 6 | 12.4M JPY |
| Microsoft | AR/VR Engineers | Senior SDE | 7 | 16M JPY |
| API Dev (Backend Developer) | L4 | 7 | 20M JPY |
Cogs
Cogs also lists salaries for IT jobs in Japan and provides some interesting insights on benchmark salaries for bilingual English/Japanese candidates.
It also tells how a multinational tech company in Japan usually pays more for a software engineer or UX designer than a Japanese domestic-focused business that might be building its first digital platform for its digitalization initiatives.
Here’s a breakdown of the average annual salary you can expect according to the sector:
| Role | Annual Average Salary |
|---|---|
| Digital Analytics – Data Analyst | 4M – 6M JPY |
| Product Management & Business Analytics – Senior Product Manager | 10M – 16M JPY |
| Marketing & E-Commerce – Digital Marketing Manager | 6M – 12M JPY |
| Product & Program Management – Senior Project Manager | 8M – 10M JPY |
| SAAS Sales & Customer Services – Sales Manager | 8M – 15M JPY |
| Strategy – Planning Director | 15M – 18M JPY |
Blind.com
Blind.com is another great English-language site for anyone looking for information about salaries in Japanese tech companies, especially the major international ones.
You can sign up for access to a great database of information about salaries here. There is also a fairly up-to-date forum where people can discuss or post their questions about job offers from Japanese tech companies.
You need to do some digging around, but this site has a lot of valuable information.
Here are some of the data points you’ll find on blind.com:
| Company | Average Annual Pay |
|---|---|
| Niantic | 30M JPY |
| DoorDash | 20M JPY |
| Mercari | 21M JPY |
It’s pretty impressive, but don’t take our word for it – create an account and look around for yourself at blind.com!
Payscale.com
Payscale.com breaks down the data for average annual IT salaries in Japan by role, experience level, and popular skills. It also lists what career paths you can take in IT roles and the salary you can expect as you progress in your career.
Here are some listings for average salaries based on the most sought-after IT skills in Japan:
| Role | Average Salary Range |
|---|---|
| Project Manager | 3M – 10M JPY |
| Software Engineer | 3M – 9M JPY |
| Management Consultant | 4M – 10M JPY |
| Product Manager, Software | 654K – 11M JPY |
So definitely check out Payscale.com to get a rough idea of what kind of salary to expect when you work in IT in Japan.
Wellfound.com (formerly AngelList Talent)
The Wellfound.com job board has a decent selection of IT job vacancies in Japan. You can also get an idea of the salary ranges for IT jobs in Japan from the job postings here. Here is a random sample:
| Company | Role | Average Salary |
|---|---|---|
| EIRE Systems KK | IT Support Engineer | 3M – 5M JPY |
| PayPay | Database Administrator | 7M – 12M JPY |
| Kasugai, Inc. | Data Engineer | 3.6M – 5.4M JPY |
Forkwell
Forkwell is a Japanese-language site with a huge amount of salary data, so if you can read Japanese, this is a definite go-to for information on IT salaries in Japan.
It’s another one that requires signing up for an account, but at the time of writing, they have more than 2,000 open jobs, so it’s well worth a look. For example, for IT jobs that pay a minimum of 5.5M JPY annually, there are over 50 pages of jobs alone, totaling over 750 job listings!
Here are the kinds of listings you can find at Forkwell:
| Company | Role | Average Annual Salary |
|---|---|---|
| Timee | Backend Tech Lead | 9M – 14M JPY |
| Persol | SRE | 9M – 12M JPY |
| Ubiregi | iOS Engineer | 9M – 15M JPY |
| Mirrativ | Engineering Manager | 9M – 15M JPY |
| Progate | Front-end Engineer | 7M – 10M JPY |
| Study Plus | Senior Application Engineer | 7M – 9M JPY |
OpenMoney.jp
Another Japanese language site, OpenMoney.jp, is a useful salary aggregator for jobs in Japan. There isn’t a huge focus on software developers, so the average salaries do not indicate only IT sector jobs, but you can still glean some useful information here.
You will need to register an account to see the data. Below are some examples of median annual salaries for jobs for some major multinationals in Japan:
| Company | Average Annual Salary |
|---|---|
| Amazon | 12M JPY |
| Rakuten | 7.7M JPY |
| CyberAgent | 7.8M JPY |
| LINE | 8.3M JPY |
| Softbank | 7M JPY |
So, if you’re interested in getting a macro view of salaries in Japan, Openmoney.jp can be a useful resource for you.
Project COMP
Another one for Japanese speakers and readers, Project COMP is a salary aggregator like Opensalary.jp, geared towards Japanese IT professionals. There is also lots of salary information here, and you have to register an account to see the data, but it’s worth it if you can.
| Company | Average Annual Salary |
|---|---|
| Mercari | 11.4M JPY |
| DeNA | 7.9M JPY |
| LINE | 8.4M JPY |
| Rakuten | 7.4M JPY |
| Google Japan | 21M JPY |
This site and Openmoney.jp can definitely give you good side-by-side comparisons. You’ll see that the salaries in big Japanese companies, such as Rakuten, average about 7.5M JPY.
Of course, there are a lot of variables to consider. Still, if you do your homework, you will begin to see the emerging trends and give yourself a fighting chance of finding the right salary based on your qualifications and experience.
So, we’re recommending sites like Project COMP to help you get a better picture of salaries for software development professionals in Japan. Its data also factors in years of experience.
OpenWork
If you like Glassdoor, you’ll like OpenWork. This Japanese-language site has a huge database encompassing salaries, reviews, etc.
Just like Glassdoor, you have to contribute a review on a company you are working at / worked for to unlock all the info. Or you can pay a monthly fee to join up. It’s definitely another site worth a look to do your research on IT wages in Japan.
Here are the averages for annual salaries at some of the best IT companies to work for in Japan:
| Company | Annual Average Salary |
|---|---|
| 17M JPY | |
| Microsoft | 14M JPY |
| Amazon (AWS) | 13M JPY |
| Mercari | 11M JPY |
| LINE | 8.9M JPY |
| Voyage Group | 10M JPY |
| VMWare | 10M JPY |
| Goldman Sachs | 15M JPY |
Findy
Upload your Github profile to Findy to find your expected salary range. How cool is that? There’s also an option to get job matches based on your score.
“Findy” is a Japanese site, so here are many nikkei (homegrown Japanese companies, as opposed to gaishi-kei ones) companies that you will probably want to know about if you’re looking for a job in a Japanese tech company.
Here are some of the average salaries for software developers from Findy:
| Company | Average Annual Salary |
|---|---|
| Ubie | 6M – 12M JPY |
| Medpeer | 5M – 12M JPY |
| GA technologies | 5M – 9M JPY |
| MUGENUP | 6M – 10M JPY |
| Medley | 6M – 15M JPY |
| SmartHR | 5M – 10M JPY |
| Repro | 5.4M – 12M JPY |
| Open8 | 7M – 12M JPY |
| SmartDrive | 6M – 10M JPY |
| Kokopelli | 7M – 12M JPY |
| MNTSTQ | 6.5M – 10M JPY |
| Freee | 5M – 12M JPY |
You can use your GitHub account to sign up at Findy.
JobDraft.jp
Want to sell your skills to the highest bidder? You can, at Job Draft.jp!
Create an account, upload your profile for companies to see, and compete against others by making offers based on your skills and experience. The site is in Japanese, with a ton of data on technology job salaries in Japan.
Here are some of the salary data for IT Engineers in Japan from Job Draft.jp:
| Company | Average Annual Salary |
|---|---|
| Merpay | 5.5M – 11.3M JPY |
| LINE | 6.5M – 13M JPY |
| Recruit Lifestyle | 6M – 10M JPY |
| Speee | 5M – 15M JPY |
| DMM.com | 6M – 12M JPY |
| LayerX | 6M – 10M JPY |
| Works Applications | 6M – 9M JPY |
| FreakOut | 5M – 10M JPY |
Green Japan
If you are an IT engineer, designer, or marketer in Japan, Green Japan has tons of data on salary ranges from startups and venture companies to public-listed and foreign-affiliated companies.
You can use different parameters to search for jobs, from entry-level to workplaces with less overtime or workplaces with an average age of 20.
A quick search for jobs with over 8M JPY salaries yielded thousands of results. So be sure you check out “Green Japan”:
| Company | Role | Average Annual Salary |
|---|---|---|
| Uzabase | Internal System Engineer | 6M – 12M JPY |
| Style Free | Front End Engineer | 4M – 12M JPY |
| Spice Factory | Rails Engineer | 6M – 8M JPY |
| Trustdock | Server-side Engineer | 6M – 9M JPY |
As we are beginning to see, thousands of IT companies in Japan are paying average annual salaries of between 5M to 10M JPY, so we’re starting to get the ballpark figures!
StudentSalary.com
If you’re looking at paid internships in Japan, StudentSalary.com is a great resource. It provides an overview of minimum, maximum, and average hourly internship rates based on experience at some of the top IT companies in Japan.
Hence, this guide is useful for students looking to gain real-world IT industry experience.
Here are some samples of the data points available at StudentSalary.com:
| Company | Average Hourly Salary |
|---|---|
| Apple | 10000 JPY/hr |
| DeNa | 3750 JPY/hr |
| 3000 JPY/hr | |
| LINE | 2000 – 2667 JPY/hr |
| Autoscale | 1300 JPY/hr |
| CyberAgent | 1250 – 1500 JPY/hr |
Jobtalk.jp
Jobtalk.jp is another Japanese-language site that is useful for checking out salary ranges for IT companies.
They ask current and former employees to post reviews about working at these companies, average annual salaries, annual income, interview strategies, and more. You need to register an account to see all the data, but even without signing up, you can see salaries for some companies.
They have a job list of nearly 8,000 companies, so be sure to check Jobtalk.jp out! Here is a sample:
| Company | Average Annual Pay |
|---|---|
| SmartNews | 9M JPY |
Coding Bootcamps
You can get a foot in the door to an IT career in Japan via coding boot camps, mostly located in Tokyo. Japan has lots of openings for software developers, and this is definitely a route to consider.
Coding/tech schools such as TokyoStack.com offer boot camps for full-stack web development, data science, and custom projects, with interesting options such as income share agreements and tuition installments.
According to the team at TokyoStack.com, the IT industry is one of the best-paying jobs in Japan. Entry-level salaries for both foreigners and Japanese are the highest, averaging around 4.4M JPY annually.
Company Website Career Pages
It used to be rare for Japanese IT companies to disclose salaries on their career pages, but this practice has become more acceptable in recent years.
It will be helpful to check out the websites for IT companies in Japan, where some of them have salaries listed on their career pages, which can also give you an idea of what these companies can offer regarding your IT earning potential in Japan.
| Company | Roles Available |
|---|---|
| Fast Retailing | Data Scientist |
| Wovn Technologies | Backend Engineer |
| Japan Computer Vision | Senior Quality Engineer |
| dely | Backend Engineer |
Forums & Blog Posts
If you do a search for “salaries in Japan,” don’t scroll past the results listing blogs, such as this one on average salaries in Japan, in English. They can be another valuable source of info for your research.
Reddit is another good source of information where you can get a lowdown on working for companies in Japan.
For example, this thread discusses working at Rakuten, a major Japanese company that many foreigners use as a stepping stone into working in Japan.
The Quora forums are also another great source of unedited info that gives a realistic picture of working for particular companies in Japan. This thread discusses working at Amazon in Japan.
Glassdoor
Glassdoor is the granddaddy of user-populated salary ranges for employees!
You can check out salaries for IT jobs in Japan to narrow down your parameters. Beware that some of the information needs updating, but overall, it is a good macro view.
Salary Data from Recruiting Companies
Recruiting firms usually publish annual salary guides, and these are definitely useful to look at.
According to the Michael Page Japan Salary Guide for 2023, there is currently a huge demand for IT skills and roles in Japan, such as programming in Java and Python, and roles for software engineers, consultants, and application managers.
Here are some samples of salary ranges for IT jobs in Japan:
| Salary Information Source | Role | Average Salary |
|---|---|---|
| Morgan Mckinley 2023 Japan Salary Guide | Software Development Manager | 12M JPY |
| Michael Page Salary Guide 2023 | Network Engineer | 11M JPY |
| Robert Walters Japan Salary Survey 2023 | * | * |
You can also look at websites for tech recruiting firms in Japan specializing in matching job seekers with employers. They can also be a valuable resource in helping you learn more about salary details from an insider’s point of view.
Here is a list of some of Japan’s most dependable tech recruiting firms.
- ReachExt
- RGF
- Robert Walters
- Hays
- Robert Half
- Morgan Mckinley
- Michael Page
- Randstad
- Computer Futures
- Specialized Group
Recruiting companies’ websites are another goldmine of valuable insights into working in Japan, such as in the article “How To Get A Visa As An Engineer in Japan.”
You can also see available listings and salaries on these websites. These are not recommendations; they are just a list for your reference.
Software Engineering Salaries in Smaller Japanese Cities
The cost of living in Japan can vary greatly depending on the city you are moving to, and so are the salaries. As mentioned above, the software engineers’ average salary data in this guide is closer to the average salaries in Tokyo.
However, finding a job in any other Japanese city is always possible, so here are a few tips.
Every company has a range of salaries for each grade. While it is always possible that you are offered the lower end of the range, even in Tokyo, it will undoubtedly be the case if your job base is a low-cost city.
If you are already in Japan, the salary offered for the next job will certainly be more than your previous job. Hence, you do not have to worry if you already work in Japan.
However, if you are moving to Japan for a software engineering job in a city other than Tokyo, it’s best to use tools like “Numbeo” to understand the cost of living and compare it with Tokyo’s.
You can always negotiate your salary to the Tokyo level if the cost of living is not drastically different than in Tokyo. However, prefectures like Okinawa and Fukuoka are much cheaper than Tokyo, and the salaries for software developers in these cities and prefectures are also lower than in Tokyo.
For example, you can have the same life standard in Okinawa as in Tokyo, even with a 30% lower salary than in Tokyo. Similarly, with a 28% lower salary than in Tokyo, you can have the same, or even more comfortable, life in Fukuoka.
Factors that influence software / IT salary ranges in Japan
What steps can you take to earn a competitive salary working in the Japanese tech industry? Here is a breakdown of the main factors that influence your salary.
Experience
As we have previously seen, your experience level can be a big factor in your expected salary for an IT job in Japan.
A junior developer with 1-2 years of experience can earn between 5M – 7M JPY annually, while senior developers with more than 6 years of experience can expect between 8M – 15M JPY. If you have standout tech skills, you can ask even more.
Location
Another factor is where you come from—if you are already in the country, your options can be better as you will find more employers who want to talk. So maybe consider getting a “stepping stone” job like teaching English and then looking around for other opportunities after you are in Japan.
The location of your workplace in Japan will also affect your salaries. For example, the cost of living in Tokyo is much higher than in any other city in Japan, and so are the salaries. Salaries in low-cost cities like Okinawa, Fukuoka, etc., will be lower because of the low cost of living.
Japanese Proficiency
The next factor affecting the salaries is your Japanese fluency and skill level. If you want to work in Japan, it helps you communicate at least at a basic level in Japanese.
The Japanese Language Proficiency Test (JLPT) certification is the gold standard for employers who want to gauge your Japanese proficiency level. This article is a great source of information on preparing for JLPT.
Educational Qualifications
As mentioned, many Japanese IT engineers get most of their experience after joining the workforce. If you already have an IT-related degree, you are already at an advantage if you’re considering applying for a tech job in Japan.
Rising Demand for Tech Professionals in Japan
With the rapid digitalization of Japan and the world, the reliance on IT professionals who can create, build, and maintain our systems is increasing demand each year. Some of the most in-demand IT roles in Japan include (in no particular order):
- Full Stack Developers
- Software Developers
- Data Scientists
- Cybersecurity Specialists
- Cloud Solutions Specialists
According to this article, the top three hiring challenges for employers in Japan are as follows:
- A lack of industry experience (52%)
- A lack of technical qualifications (41%)
- A lack of applicants (27%).
So, if you are a skilled IT professional, you should feel confident about finding a tech job in Japan. Check out the job listings for IT roles in Japan on EJable.com to begin your journey today!
Conclusion
In summary, while the raw figures may suggest that software developer salaries in Japan might not match the peaks seen in some other developed nations, it’s essential to view these numbers in the broader context of Japan’s unique working culture and environment.
Averages “Googled” or “heard of“, as discussed, only provide a general perspective and should not be the sole decision-making criteria when considering career decisions.
The allure of Japan’s tech industry extends beyond mere monetary compensation. The unparalleled job stability, renowned safety standards, and the inherent societal values that emphasize respect and harmony often outweigh the initial apprehensions related to salary.
For many, the holistic experience of working in Japan’s technological ecosystem presents a great opportunity for professional growth and personal fulfillment that may be more than the paycheck you get as a software developer or IT professional in Japan.
Note: You may also like to read the guide about year-end tax adjustments in Japan. You may also check a detailed article with a net income calculator and taxes in Japan.
A long-term ex-pat in Japan, Himanshu comes with an IT background in SAP consulting, IT Business Development, and then running the country operations of an IT consulting multinational. Himanshu is the co-founder and Managing Director of ReachExt K.K. and EJable.com. He is also an Advisory Board Member of a Silicon Valley AI/IoT startup.