How to get a part-time job (baito) in Japan

If you come to Japan as a student, something that may be surprising to you is the number of students who have part-time jobs, known as "arubaito" or simply "baito". Of course, in other countries some percentage of university students will be working on the side, but in Japan it seems like almost everyone works part-time at a shop or restaurant. So perhaps it was just me and my stubbornness in wanting the “genuine” student experience, but I became a little bit obsessed with the idea of getting a waitress job. It was also an opportunity to interact with a wider variety of Japanese people and improve my Japanese through practical experience.

Here I explain about getting the kind of part-time job most Asian students have in Japan i.e. as a shop assistant or restaurant staff.





FIRST OF ALL if you have “student” residence status, make sure you get the part-time work permission stamp on the back of your residence card, otherwise you cannot work legally! You can get this without having a job lined up. You can legally work 28 hours per week and more during school holidays, which is quite generous I think. If you have a different status, check the rules first.


- How good does my Japanese need to be?

For the application, good enough to read the job descriptions and either write a rirekisho or complete a form with your personal details. Obviously the exact level required for the job will vary, but with many part-time jobs such as working at a conbini you will mostly be reciting a script when talking to customers. The more demanding part is to be able to communicate with other staff and understand the job training, but that's a low-pressure situation compared to dealing with customers.

Something I struggled with was writing the menu items on the ticket by hand, but the menu wasn't that long so I got used to it.


- How do I find a job?

There are print magazines with job listings, but the quickest and easiest way is to search online with job sites such as AN or Townwork. You can search by location, hourly pay, job type etc. You don't have to sign up or create an account to apply.


- How do I apply?

Unless the ad specifies otherwise, you'll need to prepare a rirekisho beforehand. This is similar to the kind you need for a full-time job, although you can be a bit more lax about the “motivation” and “special skills” sections and your clothing in the photo. There are many blog posts out there in English about how to write a rirekisho so I won't go into that here. If you want to save a few hundred yen on the photo, you can download various free apps to take the photo on your phone and print at the combini (it cost me 30 yen for 4 photos). Search for "履歴書写真" or something like that on the app store.

If the job ad says 履歴書不要, they will probably ask you to fill in a form with name, address, desired working hours etc. when you attend the interview. The basic process is:

1. find an ad you like the look of
2. fill in your name/email address/phone number on the website
3. wait for the company to contact you by phone or email, should be within a week
4. go to the interview and hand them your rirekisho
5. wait for them to contact you again (or they may well hire you on the spot)

The interview itself might seem intimidating, but they are unlikely to ask you any challenging questions. It's more like a discussion about the kind of hours you'd like to work etc. If it's not written on the ad I suggest checking at the interview about

a) whether they refund travel expenses. Most companies do to some extent.
b) the length of the training period (研修) and whether it has a lower hourly wage
c) whether you can get a free or cheap meal (賄い) at your restaurant. With the money you save it's like getting paid an extra few hundred yen every shift!
d) whether you have to buy your own uniform. Usually they'll lend you most of it, but when I was a waitress I had to use my own black shoes and trousers which luckily I already had.


- Is it easy to find a job?

Most of my foreign friends, Asian or otherwise, applied to a few jobs before getting hired. Especially if you live in an area with a lot of students it can be tough, and why would they choose a non-native when they could hire someone who speaks perfect Japanese?

I settled for a waitress job in a fairly touristy area where my English skills were useful to them. Even in such a restaurant there will be some Japanese customers for you to serve, and you will have to communicate with other staff members and translate what the tourists are saying, so it's still valuable experience in my opinion. Also the pay is often slightly better if both Japanese and English (or Chinese) are required.

A non-Asian friend of mine got a job in a conbini in an area with very few foreigners, so I know it is possible to get a baito where you don't use English even if you're not Asian or a native speaker. However, it may require more persistence.



- How do I get paid?

You will normally get paid monthly, although some companies will pay more often if requested. They may ask you to open a bank account with a specific bank to avoid transfer fees. Small companies will be more willing to pay in cash.

Your normal hourly wage should go up by 25% after 10pm and again after 2am. This is the law in Japan. Also, my company forgot to take me off the “training period” wage. Make sure to check your payslip each month for any errors in their favour.


- How do customers react to non-Asian service staff?

I don't know many people in this situation so I'll just give my experience. Because the restaurant was small, it was quite easy for customers to strike up conversations with me beyond just ordering if they felt like it.

Japanese people sometimes assumed that I was just there to serve the tourists and couldn't speak Japanese. They wouldn't call me over if there was a Japanese waiter around, and sometimes I could see them discussing amongst themselves whether it was okay to call me over. Occasionally someone would talk about me even though I was obviously in earshot (“is that girl here to serve the foreigners in English?”). However, once I had said anything more complicated than “shitsurei shimasu” to them, 95% of Japanese people would treat me like any other staff member, perhaps being more forgiving of my wobbly keigo. The other 5% might speak to me in English unnecessarily or ask me slightly presumptuous questions like “when will you go back to your country?”. In other words, the experience is pretty much like any other situation in Japan as a non-Asian resident.

In my opinion it's a bit silly to assume someone working in a restaurant doesn't speak the local language, but actually the foreign tourists were much worse for this than the Japanese customers. Once or twice foreign tourists did ask me “Are you Japanese/born in Japan?” which was a little heartwarming compared to the usual comments I got (“You're not Japanese”, “Is this a foreign restaurant?”, “Didn't expect to see YOU here”,“You're obviously not Japanese, where are you from?”etc.). Foreigners were also much more likely to ask if I was just here for one year or when I was going home. Especially foreigners from relatively diverse countries like America, the UK or Hong Kong.

The prize for the rudest comment probably goes to the Japanese-American woman who was talking in Japanese to the chef but when I came over went “oh, I SUPPOSE we'd better order in English then” (flips menu to English section). Me: *speaking Japanese with obligatory smile etched on* “Of course, I can speak both, whichever you prefer”. Woman proceeds to order in Japanese but direct it at the chef...


- How do other staff treat non-Asian staff members?

I didn't feel that other staff treated me significantly differently from other baito staff, who were all Japanese. At first they were perhaps surprised or didn't quite know how to deal with me, but given the low number of non-Asians working these kinds of jobs I can understand why. But soon they seemed to accept me just like the others and by the end we got on well. Mostly I got the impression that they were grateful I was there, since most of the staff really couldn't speak English at all.


- Is it worth the hassle?

At first it will probably be pretty tough. Like any new job there will be a lot to learn with the added difficulty of being taught in a foreign language. You may have to withstand being corrected over and over. I thought about quitting a couple of weeks in because of a disagreement over my job description as well as my boss's general attitude and the stressful nature of the job. But I stuck with it and overall I think it really helped my Japanese, especially my listening abilities and keigo. I think it's good for Japanese people (not to mention those foreign tourists) to see non-Asians working jobs other than English teacher, so they can see we exist outside of their stereotypes. And of course, the extra cash is always handy too.