Explore every episode of the podcast Your Next Chapter Japan

When everything crumbles, what is the thing that remains? 

The Marginalian

https://www.themarginalian.org

Keywords

physical well-being, tech professionals, expats, Japan, career success, quality of life, walking habit, resting eyes, ergonomic practices, comfort food, health issues, good sleep

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At Your Next Chapter Japan, I specialize in helping expats and English speakers navigate the Japanese job market, especially in tech. Whether you’re looking to transition into an engineering role or advance your career, our tailored coaching services provide the guidance, tools, and support you need. Book a call today and take the first step toward your career success in Japan.

Keywords

mental health, Japan, tech environment, burnout, well-being, societal pressures, language barriers, cultural differences, boundaries, mindfulness, nature, physical outlets, creative outlets, digital detox, traditional practices, community resources

Chapters

00:00 Introduction: Maintaining Mental Health in Japan's Tech Environment

01:42 Challenges and Support for Mental Health in Japan

03:53 Strategies for Maintaining Mental Health in Japan

06:09 Establishing Boundaries and Practicing Mindfulness

07:11 Engaging in Physical and Creative Outlets

08:12 Leveraging Community Resources for Mental Health

08:22 Fostering a Supportive Community for Mental Health

09:23 Preventing Burnout and Bore Out in Japan's Tech Environment

09:29 Finding a Place Where You Belong in Japan

Summary

This episode focuses on balancing a demanding tech career with parenting in Japan. The language barrier, finding suitable childcare, and maintaining well-being are some of the key challenges discussed.

Keywords

parenting, tech professionals, Japan, language barrier, childcare, well-being, community, shift in focus, meaningful choices

Summary

In this episode, Eri explores the concept of professional wellbeing for foreign tech professionals in Japan. She discusses the factors that influence wellbeing, such as happy relationships, fulfilling careers, and a sense of purpose. Eri emphasizes the importance of growth and meaning in achieving professional wellbeing and provides tips for finding purpose in work. She also highlights the significance of belonging and shares her personal experience of finding belonging in the tech professional community in Japan.

Keywords

professional wellbeing, foreign tech professionals, Japan, growth, meaning, purpose, belonging

Chapters

02:49 Factors Impacting Professional Wellbeing

03:13 The Importance of Growth and Meaning in Work

05:12 Tips for Finding Purpose and Meaning in Work

06:22 Finding Belonging for Professional Wellbeing

07:53 Creating Your Own Path to Professional Wellbeing

Have any feedback or comments? You can find me at https://yournextchapterjapan.com

Summary

In this episode, Eri discusses how to maximize your relationship with recruiters in Japan. She emphasizes the importance of showing empathy towards recruiters and understanding the pressures they face. Eri also advises job seekers to respond promptly to communications and provide updates before and after interviews. Additionally, she suggests taking recruiters' advice with a grain of salt and clarifying your goals when working with them. By focusing on these aspects, job seekers can boost their chances of landing a job in Japan.

Keywords

recruiters, relationship, maximize, empathy, pressure, communication, advice, goals, job seekers, Japan

Chapters

00:00 Introduction

02:37 Empathy and Understanding

04:00 Treating Recruiters with Respect

04:49 Taking Advice with a Grain of Salt

08:21 Maximizing the Relationship with Recruiters

08:45 Conclusion

Summary

In this episode, the host discusses when not to work with recruiters. She emphasizes the importance of knowing what you want in a job and being prepared to introduce yourself effectively. She also advises having a strategic answer ready for salary expectations. The main takeaways are: 1) Know what you want in your next job before working with recruiters, 2) Have a clear salary range in mind, and 3) Prepare an effective self-introduction.

Chapters

00:00 Introduction

02:08 Knowing What You Want in a Job

05:19 Setting Clear Salary Expectations

07:31 Preparing an Effective Self-Introduction

09:58 Recap and Conclusion

Summary

In this episode, Eri discusses the topic of working with recruiters in Japan. She shares her personal experience and insights on finding the right recruitment agency. Eri emphasizes the importance of understanding the different types of recruitment agencies in Japan and provides three indicators to consider when choosing the right agency. These indicators include the type of clients the agency works with, the jobs they advertise, and the agent's communication style and trustworthiness.

Keywords

working with recruiters, Japan, recruitment agencies, finding the right agency, job search

Chapters

00:00 Introduction: Working with Recruiters in Japan

03:37 Types of Recruitment Agencies in Japan

05:26 Indicators for Choosing the Right Agency

08:03 The Importance of the Agent You Work With

10:10 Preview: When to Work with a Recruiter

Summary

In this episode, Eri discusses four questions to ask yourself to determine if you are ready for a job interview. The questions include: Does your self-introduction match your resume? Can they hear you well? Do you know exactly what job you are interviewing for? Do you know why you want to work there? Eri emphasizes the importance of aligning your self-introduction with your resume, ensuring good audio quality, being knowledgeable about the position, and having a clear answer for why you want to work at the company.

Keywords

job interview, self-introduction, resume, audio quality, position knowledge, company fit

Chapters

00:00 Introduction: Four Questions to Determine Interview Readiness

02:28 Question 1: Self-Introduction and Resume Alignment

05:08 Question 2: Ensuring Good Audio Quality

06:41 Question 3: Understanding the Job Requirements

08:03 Question 4: Having a Clear Reason for Wanting to Work at the Company

09:21 Conclusion and Next Steps

Want to know how I can support you?

Summary

In this episode, Eri discusses the final three factors that influence performance: physical, social, and environmental. She emphasizes the importance of taking care of your physical body through rest, nutrition, and exercise. Eri also explores the impact of social interactions on performance and provides five options for dealing with challenging relationships. Lastly, she highlights the significance of the environment, including factors like climate, noise, distractions, and lighting. By making small adjustments in these areas, listeners can enhance their overall performance at work.

Keywords

performance, factors, physical, social, environmental, well-being, rest, nutrition, exercise, social interactions, relationships, workplace, linguistic ability, surroundings, distractions, lighting

Angelica is a Customer Success Manager living in Aomori, Japan. She helps English speakers find tech jobs in Japan through Japan Dev. In her free time, she enjoys her idyllic countryside life and dabbles in various creative outlets, such as photography, baking, and gardening. 

For the video version of the interview you can watch it at

https://youtu.be/o5zmCfwoKuc

In this episode you can learn how to boost your performance by looking at 3 areas that influence how you show up.

Whether it's about sports or about work, we all aim for moments when we can show up to the best of our abilities. This episode is about a practical step you can take to increase your performance.

Whether you're in a new job or have been in it for a while, this one actionable step will help you make your job and career progression quicker.

In this episode, I share top 4 misconceptions about the job search in Japan and explain how to shift each one to help make progress in the search.

How well are you using LinkedIn? I share 6 ways to use LinkedIn as a tool for professionals in Japan.

Ingrid is a product designer living in Tokyo. She has an insatiable hunger for all creative endeavors and satisfies it through her career, illustration, fiction storytelling and creating music in the local DIY scene.

April is the start of the new year in Japan. Whether you're starting a new job or a new role, or you're thinking ahead about how to get ready for your next performance reviews, I have 3 steps to help you out.

I reflect on the 3 things that I'm appreciative of in the first 3 months of this year.

What does the word 'Career' mean for you? In this episode, I reflect and share how my definition of this word has evolved over time. Why do I still call myself a Career Coach?

Reference

https://www.indeed.com/career-advice/career-development/what-is-a-career

"My name is Bodhi Kenyon.  I love the truth and deep, transformative conversations.  I dedicate my life to discovering keys that open doors to the truth and share them with those who not only want to “know” about their potential but take committed action to “realize” it. I believe in miracles."

Andrea- "I'm a scrum master and agile coach at a cozy startup in Shibuya called yamaneco. When I'm not asking questions and building workshops I play videogames and ttrpgs with friends and family."

Being skeptical about something is normal. What most people don't do is unpack where it's coming from. What is your skepticism protecting you from? I share my own experience and how I've dealt with my own skepticism.

What is your source of distraction? Is it really a distraction? If it's not, what could it be?

What are you being pulled towards?

John Matthews operates a communal ski lodge in Nagano, the latest development in many years of volunteering and attempts at group organizing. He has lived in Japan his entire adult life, active in media, language, and technology. He can be found online at @jonjonjapon across most social media

"I can't find anything that's right for me. Help!" is a comment I get often from job seekers. Does this sound like you? Here's what you can do to fix that.

I use to think a coach was someone like Tony Robbins and very white teeth who told you really cheesy motivational quotes XD

If you have never worked with a coach your idea of what a coach does might come to you as a surprise.

If you want to discuss and get feedback on your situation, you can book a consultation from here ➡️ https://www.yournextchapterjapan.com/appointments

Did you make a career goal this year? My tips and advice for anyone facing challenges in making consistent progress.

Paul is Canadian entrepreneur living in Japan with a software development background. He is the founder of TokyoDev, a dynamic community committed to supporting international software developers in starting and advancing their careers within the Japanese tech industry.

CJ Hostetter is a designer, researcher and independent game developer. They are experienced in facilitating workshops, user research and design from startup-level to Enterprise B2B. They regularly teach classes on storyboarding and prototyping and have spoken in Finland, Russia, the U.S. and Japan. When not researching or designing, they can be found creating their own video games and organizing game hackathons like Global Game Jam or sketchnoting talks.

Matt Kaemmerer works for Peerdom as a web programmer with a focus on high-performance, interactive data visualization. He has been living in Tokyo and tele-working since 2017 for companies in Japan, America, and Switzerland. Apart from work, Matt enjoys traveling, SCUBA diving, and making video games. He and his partner CJ released their first major game project, Terranova in April 2022.

Founder & CEO & CTO @ Dreamly - a startup providing the latest tech consult consultancy services to other startups and innovation departments of larger enterprises, doing everything from smartphone apps to IoT, Blockchain and ML/AI.
Lars has a solid background in computer science, and was before Dreamly honing his skills as a Software Engineer in the startup scene in Japan and Sweden. He passionately challenged himself as a Generalist in Software Development, engaging in all aspects - smartphone & web application development, designing & implementing web apis, architecting & maintaining data processing pipelines and evaluating user experience of implemented customer journeys.
Areas of responsibility are management, technology development, business development and sales.
◆株式会社ドリームリーCEO.スウェーデン出身.
スウェーデン王立工科大学卒フルスタックエンジニア.
英語・日本語・スウェーデン語のマルチリンガル.
◆Stockholm・東京でのエンジニア経験を経て、2019年香川にて起業（2017年日本移住).
日本のパブリックサービスIT化の遅れを大問題だと感じ、業務プロセスの効率化をミッションに掲げ活動中.また、県内民間初のインキュベーション構想にも参画.
KTH Royal Institute of Technology卒業.

Does this sound like you? Here’s what to do!

If you’re looking for a job or have any goal you’re working towards, you may experience some difficulties along the way. I share with you an actionable tip on what to do to keep going. (Also as a reminder for myself!)

Today I sat down with Guillaume, who is the Japan Country Manager of Keywords Studios and Founder, CEO of Wizcorp.

You can get in touch with him on LinkedIn

https://www.linkedin.com/in/ghansali

In this episode, I interviewed Ryohei Watanabe, who grew up in Vancouver but was born in Tokyo. Ryohei shares his journey and experiences of living in different parts of the world. I asked Ryohei what kind of title he would give to his book if his life were a metaphor for a book. Listen more to find out what it is and why.

Ryohei Watanabe is the Founder & CEO of Eight Values, a tech job board in Japan for software engineers that prioritizes values and culture fit.

Get in touch with him:

Eight Values: https://www.eightvalues.com/
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@ryoheiwatanabe
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryoheiw/

Books he mentioned:

The Mom Test by Rob Fitzpatrick

Founding Sales by Peter R Kazanjy

Would you do it? Would you go door to door like I did? I share my lesson from this experience how that’s improved the way I deal with rejections.

Do you get that feeling often when you have so much to do but you have limited time? I've noticed some thoughts coming up recently on this topic. This is for you if you're like me and think, "Ahhh how am I going to do all this!".

https://instagram.com/eri.yournextchapterjapan?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=

今週私は久しぶりに元気がなくなってしまうことがありました。気分が落ちることって何歳になってもどこにいてもありますよね。あなたは上手に対処していますか？私はここ数年でやっとコツを掴めて来たのでどうしているか話しました。少しでも参考になると嬉しいです。

In this episode I look back on the years I lived in Italy and share with you the 3 lessons I learned about living as an expat. This one is for you, if you are trying to reflect on your journey as an expat.

I spoke with Teresa who is a Senior Product Designer at Skydea, an agency in Tokyo. As a designer, she builds apps and websites. But she most enjoys building community. She manages Creative Tokyo, a community with over 3,000 members connecting and finding friends with similar interests. ・https://teresafong.com/about ・Creative Tokyo's Slack community: https://join.slack.com/t/creativetokyo/shared_invite/zt-1f4e10mfr-L8oqEVoZb2RTrvlAbdhhVQ

This advice may be different from what you’ve heard from other job hunt gurus say.

This one is for you, if you’re feeling like life is…okay. What can you do to get unstuck?

In this episode I share 3 leanings from a recent book I read. 付加価値のつくりかた https://amzn.asia/d/1Q53iuR

最近読んだ田尻望著「付加価値のつくりかた」について

A quick episode that came from a conversation I had today.