It’s well known that Japan is experiencing a labor shortage that includes the tech industry. As a result, Japan needs more international developers. However, most Japanese companies aren’t interested in hiring new graduates from overseas. While it’s easier than in some countries, bringing a developer to Japan still requires some time and financial investment on the company’s side, which they’re unlikely to expend on junior developers. So if you’re a new grad with no experience, can you still find a job in Japan? The answer is yes, but it will take considerable effort, and the opportunities you find may not be what you’re looking for. If you’re determined, it’s best to start preparing while you’re still a student. If you’ve already graduated, then your road is tougher but not impossible, especially if you’re patient, persistent, and willing to go above and beyond. This article will cover: The new graduate hiring system in Japan How international students in Japan can take advantage of the system The steps students and new grads overseas can take to maximize their chances How new grad hiring works in Japan While the primary audience of this article is graduates outside of Japan, understanding how the domestic hiring process works provides necessary context. The Japanese system for hiring new graduates (新卒一括採用, shinsotsu ikkatsu saiyou) operates quite differently from practices in many other countries. It is, however, an effective method: in 2025, 98 percent of Japanese graduates were able to secure employment. What companies are looking for in new graduates To better understand Japan’s methods for hiring new graduates, it helps to know something about Japanese employment philosophy. Traditional Japanese business practices center on the idea of lifetime employment. This approach is currently changing—as of 2023, one in three Japanese employees were no longer committed to lifetime employment, but were open to changing jobs or working independently if the opportunity arose. Nonetheless, decades of conventional wisdom still shape how Japanese companies approach hiring new graduates. Most new graduate hires are considered members of the company on a “comprehensive career track” (総合職採用, sougoushoku saiyou) which means that they aren’t being hired for a specific job, but instead to work for the company in general. In exchange, the business will train them and identify their strengths by assigning them to various departments and roles. Japanese companies therefore typically aren’t as interested in a candidate’s specific experiences and academic achievements, since they’re not certain what position the candidate will eventually occupy in the company. Instead, they prize qualities like good communication skills, independence, and willingness. This is also why Japanese companies often employ Synthetic Personality Inventory (SPI) tests, to attempt to understand if a candidate will be an “objectively” good fit. SPI tests are generally half knowledge-based (often general knowledge), and half MBTI-style personality tests. The job-hunting schedule In Japan, both the school and fiscal year start in April, and so does the job hunt—the year before graduation. If you wait until you’ve graduated to start job-hunting, you’re already a year behind! Study in Japan, a government-approved information site, outlines the following typical schedule for a university student set to graduate the following year: March–May is the entry period. Go to job fairs, seek company introductions, and request entry submission sheets. If your initial application is accepted, begin taking company examinations. In June, the interviews begin. Expect at least three rounds of interviews, of several different types. From June–September is when you may receive a preliminary offer of employment. In October, if you’re successful, you’ll receive the official offer of employment. If you are an international student in Japan, you should change your status of residence. Some companies do continue recruiting in October, but the bulk of the new grad hiring is completed by then. What to expect when applying The new graduate application process also differs widely from standard hiring practices in other countries. Entry sheet If you’re interested in applying to a company, you must first request and complete an entry sheet, which resembles a university application essay more than your average resume. It frequently includes personality-based questions such as “If you had 300 million Japanese yen, what would you do to promote world peace?” and “Describe how you would be indispensable to our company by referring to what you did best during your school life.” Written Examinations If your entry sheet is approved, you can then move on to take the company’s written examinations. Most of these are aptitude tests that evaluate a candidate’s mathematics, language, and writing ability as well as general knowledge. These are typically produced by a third-party company. Interviews It’s customary for companies to conduct at least three rounds of interviews. Some of those interviews are standard single-person interviews. Others are group interviews, in which the interviewer or panel takes turns asking a group of applicants different questions. This method is typically adopted to save time and help winnow down a large applicant pool. You may also be asked to participate in a group discussion interview, in which a gathering of four to six candidates are asked to discuss a given theme, while an interviewer evaluates the group dynamic and individual performance of the applicants. In particular, interviewers are interested in seeing how participants interact in a team situation. Employment offers If a company is interested in hiring you, they may make a preliminary offer of employment (内々定, nai naitei).These types of offers are informal and are not considered binding under law. The more serious step is when a company issues a formal letter of intent to hire (内定, naitei). It is very common for Japanese companies to provide this to show their serious intent of hiring you while they do their due diligence and prepare to issue a formal contract. Under Japanese labor law, the company might be held liable if they subsequently withdraw this offer without cause. If you accept the letter of intent, you are signaling that you will sign a formal employment contract with the company; if you have received preliminary offers from any other companies, you should call them to politely decline. While it is possible to accept and then renege on a formal letter of intent to hire, you should be aware that it is a major faux pas, and you will likely be blacklisted within the company, depending on the circumstances. If this is unavoidable, you should communicate your intentions as quickly and clearly as possible to the company. Japanese companies generally follow the process described here, especially the formal letter of intent to hire. However, these steps are not required by law, so some companies—especially newer or international ones—may not follow this schedule at all! A company following this flow does not indicate that they are reputable or trustworthy, nor does a company not following this flow indicate that they are engaging in deceptive or illegal practices. If you’re an international student in Japan If you’re an international student in Japan, you can join the annual job hunt in April with the rest of your class. Because every step is typically conducted in Japanese, your success in the conventional process will largely depend on how fluent you are. Yet according to a 2024 survey by employment information firm Career-tasu, Inc., most foreign students started job search activities the year they graduated, rather than the year before as their Japanese peers did. This, the staff at Career-tasu believes, puts international students at a serious detriment. International students are also less likely to participate in internship programs or other job experience activities: only 46.1% of international graduates did so, compared to 88.7% of Japanese students surveyed. Nonetheless, The Japan News by The Yomiuri Shimbun reported that some companies are keen to hire international graduates, particularly those who are bilingual or trilingual. In 2022, the percentage of foreign-born graduates finding jobs in Japan exceeded 50% for the first time. Those numbers may improve still further as the labor shortage in Japan worsens. Only around 36% of companies in 2024 were able to meet their recruiting goals. In 2025, 80% of third-year students undergoing the new graduate hiring process already had job offers before June. Companies are already adapting by focusing on mid-career recruitment and introducing fast-tracked interviews, so they may also be more willing to accommodate international student candidates. Certain cities, prefectural governments, and universities have also committed to supporting international students’ job-hunting, and they can help match you with Japanese companies. Ritsumeikan University, for example, not only offers its own job search engine in Japanese, but also lists a number of English-language job boards. New graduates in Japan can take advantage of these school and government resources, as well as being already in the country and available for interviews, examinations, and more. In addition, changing from a Student visa to one of the work-related visas is relatively simple and doesn’t require getting a Certificate of Eligibility or leaving the country. If you’re a student or new grad overseas New graduates from other countries are at a significant disadvantage. First, you’re not available to interview or take examinations in person, which will disqualify you from most companies’ usual hiring procedures. Second, unlike in most countries, the Japanese school year ends in late March. Even if a Japanese company is willing to accept your application via its normal new-grad hiring program, the mismatch in school schedules means you’d need to wait months before you could start work. There are several ways to overcome these difficulties, though, which we’ll explore below. Japanese language skills It’s not absolutely necessary to learn Japanese to get a developer job in Japan. In fact, many Japanese tech companies are creating multinational, English-speaking development teams, or even adopting English as the company language. There’s a catch, however. As mentioned above, those companies who are willing to hire English-speaking developers from overseas are typically searching for senior developers. If you are a junior developer, or a new graduate without experience, you’re far less likely to find an English-speaking position in Japan. That’s the trade-off: you can get a job with work experience and no Japanese ability, but if you don’t have the work experience, you’d better speak Japanese! If the prospect of learning Japanese just to get a job seems daunting, be aware that not every position requires full Japanese fluency. If you’re studying hard and demonstrate enthusiasm in interviews, then conversational-level Japanese might be enough to persuade a company to take a chance on you. Training and recruitment programs Given the high demand in Japan for new tech talents that also speak Japanese, some recruiting companies are offering fast-tracked training programs for students overseas. FAST OFFER, for example, has relationships with over 50 universities worldwide, primarily in Asia. It provides free Japanese classes, which are worth college credits at some participating universities, for students majoring in select fields. These classes are specifically designed to help candidates pass interviews with Japanese companies, as well as acquire the general language skills needed to work in Japan. Candidates who reach a specified level of proficiency—JLPT N4 for most IT roles—will be assigned a mentor, coached on the interview process, and matched with Japanese companies. If the applicant passes the initial screening, they will even be flown to Japan for in-person interviews, all for free. Another example is xseeds Hub, a recruitment platform that developed its own curriculum to prepare students for employment in Japan. As of now, xseeds Hub runs these programs at four Vietnamese universities, as well as one in Indonesia and one in Malaysia. The curriculum includes lessons on different scripting languages, as well as Japanese classes intended to help students achieve at least a JLPT N3 level of speaking. Students gain practical experience via mock experiment lessons and internships in Japan, which run for a minimum of three months. University collaborations with Japanese companies While you’re still a student, you should also find out if your university offers events or programs with Japanese companies. Mercari and Rakuten have particularly targeted the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) for recruitment events. But interest in Indian graduates isn’t limited to those companies; when the Indian Embassy hosted a seminar on the subject in Tokyo, over 100 Japanese firms attended. I spoke with Victoria Astingo, who works in Senior Talent Acquisition for Mercari. Mercari has been visiting IITs since 2018, interviewing and hiring soon-to-be graduates on the spot, and they’ve recently started similar campus recruitment drives in Indonesia. These rapid-hire events only take place at universities in Asia for now, but Astingo is expanding Mercari’s internship program outreach to European universities. Her first event in Europe took place at three universities in France, including EPITA, a top-level French institution specializing in Computer Science and Software Engineering. “The reception was way better than we expected,” she said. “At first we were like, ‘Yeah, nobody [here] knows Mercari. Maybe there will be five people coming to our seminar, five anime fans that want to make it to Japan.’ But then actually for EPITA, we had more than 120 attendees.” Other Japanese companies have also started directly partnering with universities abroad. For example, I-Shou University in Taiwan is setting up internships and hiring channels for students in cooperation with Japanese company Nisso Kogyo Co, Ltd., to help supply new talent for the semiconductor industry in Kumamoto. In Vietnam, Ho Chi Minh Open University cooperated with 22 Japanese companies for its 2024 Japan Job Fair, and HUTECH University of Technology hosted 40 Japanese companies at its event. Even if your university doesn’t have preestablished relationships with Japanese companies, you should still check in with your university’s Japanese or East Asian Studies department. The professors there may have personal connections to Japan, or be able to suggest helpful programs, scholarships, or internships. You could also explore your alumni network, and see if you can make contact with any who are currently working in Japan. Internships at TokyoDev companies “Internship” in Japan doesn’t always mean what you think it means—as TokyoDev contributor Lai Huynh Binh Minh discovered, the average “internship” in Japan only lasts one day! That’s not an especially convenient or helpful timeframe for anyone who is overseas. Luckily, TokyoDev works with several companies that offer longer internships with visa support. Not only can you gain valuable work experience, but you also have the opportunity to live in Japan for a few months and discover if it’s really for you. Mercari An internship at Mercari is only available to current university students. It lasts for two months, is paid hourly, and comes with full visa and financial support. Job offers on completion of the internship are considered to be nearly guaranteed. “Most of the time,” said Victoria Astingo, “students apply while they’re second-year students and do their internships before or during their third year. Then, once they graduate, they join us as full-time employees.” This intern-to-FTE pipeline helps explain why Astingo’s new recruitment drive focuses on Europe rather than Singapore or the US, where new graduates are typically offered higher salaries or better compensation packages. Still, Astingo clarified, students from any country are welcome to apply. “I would say the people who we hire as interns usually have previous internship experience as a software engineer,” she said. “[And] if I’m hiring for frontend or backend, I will always check to see if the candidate shares our tech stack—for example, if the candidate has experience working with React or Golang. They don’t really need to master those, but should at least have a basic understanding or interest.” Team experience, such as participating in a hackathon or some other type of group project, is also something Astingo looks for. The name of the applicant’s university doesn’t carry much weight, but majoring in computer science or a related field does. However, even if a candidate doesn’t meet every requirement, she’ll most likely still send the initial skill assessment and give them the opportunity to prove their abilities. Japanese language skills, on the other hand, are not a requirement. “Most of the people I hired for Mercari Marketplace were not Japanese speakers,” Astingo affirmed. HENNGE Like Mercari’s internship program, HENNGE’s Global Internship Program accepts applicants year-round from all over the world. Also like Mercari, it is considered part of the company’s pre-hiring process, so those applicants who are interested in working at HENNGE after graduation will have an advantage. One difference is that the HENNGE internship is unpaid, though participants do receive a monthly stipend, round-trip airfare, and other benefits. Also, the HENNGE program is intended for third-year university students or those who have newly graduated, and so will accommodate slightly older/more advanced candidates. The internships fall into two distinct categories: the Full Stack Engineering Pathway, and the Frontend Engineering Pathway. Each pathway has its own tech stack and experience requirements. It’s possible to apply for both at the same time, but not to change between them mid-internship. As with Mercari, Japanese language ability is not required, but candidates must be fluent in English. HENNGE’s is one of the few global internship programs offered in Japan, so it’s quite competitive, and applicants should be prepared for a selective process with minimal communication. Working Holiday and J-Find visas If you’ve already graduated, then you still have other avenues to come to Japan to look for work: a Working Holiday visa or J-Find visa. These visas both permit the holder to travel, work, and job-hunt in Japan for up to a year. By giving you one year in Japan to network and interview, these visas significantly increase your odds of landing a permanent position, as many roles will not accept overseas applicants. In fact, that’s how TokyoDev founder Paul McMahon got his first job in Japan, and it’s also worked for other TokyoDev contributors as well. However, both visas have specific requirements, so be sure to check whether you qualify. International job fairs If you’re not eligible for a Working Holiday or J-Find visa, try visiting an international job fair instead. Participating businesses have already expressed their willingness to hire overseas candidates, and you’ll be able to personally meet with—and hopefully impress—company representatives. At least some Japanese ability will be required, however, to take advantage of these opportunities. One of the best-known Japanese career fair organizations is Career Forum, which hosts fairs in Boston, Los Angeles, London, Tokyo, and Osaka. The largest overseas event is in Boston, with over 100 companies slated to participate in 2025. Career Forum’s target audience is candidates who speak both Japanese and English to at least a beginner’s level. While their offerings are aimed at current students or recent graduates, they also are interested in candidates who have lived or studied abroad, even if that was not in Japan. On the other side of the globe, Mynavi is holding fairs in Taiwan, Korea, and Australia, as well as online. Though labeled as “career fairs” on their website, these events are actually described as group interviews, and Japanese language skills are a requirement. The Australian event is tightly restricted to current students and new graduates, but the Taiwan fair is open to all those seeking employment in Japanese companies. In Singapore, Asean Career Fair in Singapore will feature 20 Japanese companies in their 2026 event, though it is unclear at the time of writing which companies those will be. Conclusion If you’re a university student or new graduate who wants to find work in Japan, these are your best options: While you’re a student, study Japanese and apply for internships in Japan. If you’re already studying in Japan, you can use university and government resources to help you succeed in the local new graduate hiring process. If you’re overseas, check to see if your university hosts recruitment events or has other connections with Japanese companies and universities. Students in Asia, particularly, may qualify to join a recruiting company’s training program. Working adults may be able to use a Working Holiday or J-Find visa to come to Japan to job-hunt. Visiting an international job fair outside of Japan could get you an interview with an international-friendly company. Good luck and good hunting! Don’t forget to read TokyoDev’s other articles on software developer salaries in Japan, finding a developer job, passing the resume screening process, etc. You can also connect with other developers by joining the TokyoDev Discord, which has channels for resume review, relocating to Japan, and more.

Thinking about moving to Japan? You’re not alone—Japan is a popular destination for those hoping to move abroad. What’s more, Japan actually needs more international developers. But how easy is it to immigrate to and work in Japan? Scores of videos on social media warn that living in Japan is quite different from holidaying here, and graphic descriptions of exploitative companies also create doubt. The truth is that Japan is not the easiest country to immigrate to, nor is it the hardest. Some Japanese tech companies and developer roles offer great work-life balance and good compensation; others do not. Based on other developers’ experiences, you’ll thrive here if you: Are an experienced developer Value safety, good food, and convenience over a high salary Are willing to invest time and effort into learning Japanese over the long term Read on to discover if Japan is a good fit for you, and the best ways to get a visa and begin your life here. What is it like working as a developer in Japan? TokyoDev conducts an annual survey of international developers living in Japan. Many of the questions in TokyoDev’s 2024 survey specifically addressed respondents’ work environments. Compensation When TokyoDev asked about “workplace difficulties” in the 2024 survey, 45% of respondents said that “compensation” was their number one problem at work. Overall, compensation for developers in Japan is far lower than the US developer median salary of 120,000 USD (currently 17.5 million yen), but higher than the Indian developer median salary of 640,000 rupees (currently around 1.1 million yen). Yet evaluating compensation for international developers in Japan, specifically, is trickier than you might expect. It’s hard to define an expected salary range because international developers tend to work in different companies and roles than the average Japanese developer. According to a 2024 survey conducted by the Japanese Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare, the average annual salary of software engineers in Japan was 5.69 million yen. In a survey conducted that same year by TokyoDev, though, English-speaking international software developers in Japan enjoyed a median salary of 8.5 million yen. Of those international developers who responded, only 71% of them worked at a company headquartered in Japan, and almost 80% of them used English always or frequently, with 79% belonging to an engineering team with many other non-Japanese members. Wages, then, are heavily influenced by a range of factors, but particularly by whether you’re working for a Japanese or international company. In general, 75% of the international developers surveyed made 6 million yen or more. The real question is, is that enough for you to be comfortable in Japan? The answer is likely to be yes, if you don’t have overseas financial obligations or dependents. If you do, you’ll want to look carefully at rent, grocery, and education prices in your area of choice to guesstimate the expense of your Japanese lifestyle. Work-life balance Japan has a tradition of long hours and overtime. The Financial Times reports that the Japanese government has taken many measures to reduce the phenomenon of death from overwork (過労死, karoushi), from capping overtime to 100 hours a month, to setting up a national hotline for employees to report abusive companies. The results seem mixed. The Financial Times article adds that in 2024, employees at 26,000 organizations reported working illegal overtime at 44.5% of those businesses. On the other hand, average working hours for men fell to below 45 hours per week, and for women to below 35, which is similar to average working hours in the US. Still, 72% of the developers surveyed by TokyoDev worked for less than 40 hours a week. In addition, 70% of TokyoDev respondents cited work-life balance as their top workplace perk. The number of respondents happy with their working conditions came in just below that, at 69%. There was some correlation between hours worked and the type of employer, though. Employees at international subsidiaries were slightly more likely to enjoy shorter work weeks than those at Japanese companies. Remote work Remote work is still relatively new in Japan. Although more offices adopted the practice during Covid, many of them are now backtracking and requiring employees to return to the office, often with a hybrid schedule. While only 9% of TokyoDev respondents weren’t allowed any remote work, 76% of those required to work in-office were employed by Japan-headquartered companies. By contrast, of the 16% who worked fully remotely, only 57% worked for a Japanese company. Those with the option to work remotely really enjoy it. When asked what their most important workplace benefit was, 49% of respondents answered “remote work,” outstripping every other answer by far. Job security A major plus of working in Japan is job security—which, given the waves of layoffs at American tech companies, may now seem extra appealing. It’s overwhelmingly difficult to fire or lay off an employee with a permanent contract (正社員, seishain) in Japan, due to labor laws designed to protect the individual. This may be why 54% of TokyoDev survey respondents named “job security” as their most important workplace perk. Not every company will adhere to labor protection laws, and sometimes businesses pressure employees to “voluntarily” resign. Nonetheless, employees have significant legal recourse when companies attempt to fire them, change their contracts, or alter the current workplace conditions (sometimes, even if those conditions were never stated in writing). Developer stories TokyoDev regularly interviews developers working at our client companies, for information on both their specific positions and their general work environment. Our interviewees work with a variety of technology in many different roles, and at companies ranging from fintech enterprises like PayPay to game companies like Wizcorp. Why do developers choose Japan? In 2024 TokyoDev also asked developers, “What’s your favorite thing about Japan?” The results were: Safety: 21% Food: 13% Convenience: 11% Culture: 8% Peacefulness: 7% Nature: 5% Interestingly, there was a strong correlation between the amount of time someone had lived in Japan and their answer. Those who had been in Japan three years or less more frequently chose “food” or “culture.” Those who’d lived in Japan for four or more years were significantly more likely to answer “safety” or “peacefulness.” Safety It’s true that Japan enjoys a lower crime rate than many developed nations. The Security Journal UK ranked it ninth in a list of the world’s twenty safest countries. In 2024, World Population Review selected Tokyo as the safest city in the world. The homicide rate in 2023 was only 0.23 per 100,000 people, and has been steadily declining since the nineties. There are a few women-specific concerns, such as sexual violence. Nonetheless, the subjective experience of many women in the TokyoDev audience is that Japan feels safe; for example, they experience no trepidation walking around late at night. Of course, crime statistics don’t take into account natural disasters, of which Japan has more than its fair share. Thanks to being located on the Ring of Fire, Japan regularly copes with earthquakes and volcanic activity, and its location in the Pacific means that it is also affected by typhoons and tsunamis. To compensate, Japan also takes natural disaster countermeasures extremely seriously. It’s certainly the only country I’ve been to that posts large-scale evacuation maps on the side of the street, stores emergency supply stockpiles in public parks, and often requires schoolchildren to keep earthquake safety headgear at their desks. Food Food is another major draw. Many respondents simply wrote that “food” or “fresh, affordable food” was their favorite thing about Japan, but a few listed specific dishes. Favorite Japanese foods of the TokyoDev audience include: Yakiniku (self-grilled meat) Ramen Peaches Sushi Hiroshima-style okonomiyaki (savory pancake) Curry rice Onigiri (rice balls) Of those, sushi was mentioned most often. One respondent also answered the question with “drinking,” if you think that should count! Personal experiences Our contributors have also shared their personal experiences of moving to and working in Japan. We’ve got articles from Filipino, Indonesian, Australian, Vietnamese, and Mongolian developers, as well as others sharing what it’s like to work as a female software developer in Japan, or to live in Japan with a disability. Why shouldn’t you live in Japan? Safety, food, convenience, and culture are the most commonly-cited upsides of living in Japan. The downsides are the necessity of learning the language and some strict, yet often-unspoken, cultural expectations. Language Fluency in Japanese is not strictly necessary to live or work in Japan. Access to government services for you and your family, such as Japanese public school, is possible even if you speak little Japanese. (That doesn’t mean that most city hall clerks speak English; usually they’ll either locate a translator, or work with you via a translation app.) Nonetheless, TokyoDev’s 2024 survey showed that language ability was highly correlated to social success in Japan. In particular, 56% of all respondents were happy or very happy with their adjustment to Japanese culture. Breaking down that number, though, 76% of those with fluent or native Japanese ability reported being happy with their cultural adjustment, while only 34% of those with little or no Japanese ability were similarly happy. The same held true for social life satisfaction: 59% of those with fluent or native Japanese ability were happy or very happy with their social life, compared to 42% of those who don’t speak much Japanese. While English study is compulsory in Japan and starts in elementary school, as of 2025, only 28% of Japanese people speak English, and most of them can’t converse with high fluency. Living and working in Japan is possible without Japanese, but it’s hard to integrate, make friends, and participate in cultural activities if you can’t communicate with the locals. Cultural expectations As mentioned above, fluency in Japanese is closely allied to fluency in Japanese culture. At the same time, one does not necessarily imply the other. It’s possible to be fluent in Japanese, but still not grasp many of the unspoken rules your Japanese friends, neighbors, and coworkers operate by. Japan’s culture is both high-context and specifically averse to confrontation and outspokenness; if you get it “wrong,” people aren’t likely to tell you so. Japanese culture also values conformity: as the saying goes, “the nail that sticks up, gets hammered down.” While there are hints of things changing, with many Japanese companies saying support for greater diversity is necessary, minorities or those who are different may experience pressure to fit in. Introspection is required: are you the kind of person who’s adept at “reading the room,” a highly-valued quality in Japan? Conversely, are you self-confident enough to not sweat the small stuff? Either of these personality types may do well in Japan, but if social acceptance is very important to you, and you’re also uncomfortable with feeling occasionally awkward or uncertain, then you may struggle more to adjust. I want to go! How can I get there? If you’ve decided to immigrate to Japan, there are a number of ways to acquire a work visa. The simplest way is to get hired by a company operating in Japan. Alternatively, you can start your own business in Japan, come over on a Working Holiday, or even—if you’re very determined—arrive first as an English teacher. Let’s begin with the most straightforward route: getting hired as a developer. Getting a developer job in Japan As mentioned before, Japan needs more international developers. Some types of developers, though, will find it easier to get a job in Japan. In particular, companies in Japan are looking for the following: Senior developers. Companies are particularly interested in those with management experience and soft skills such as communication and leadership. Backend developers. This is one of the most widely-available roles for those who don’t speak Japanese. Developers who know Python. Python is one of Japan’s top in-demand languages. AI and Machine Learning Specialists. Japan is leaning hard on AI to help cope with demographic changes. Those who already know, or are willing to learn, Japanese. Combining those criteria, an experienced developer who speaks Japanese should have little difficulty finding a job! If you’re none of these things, you don’t need to give up—you just need to be patient, flexible, and willing to think outside the box. As Mercari Senior Technical Recruiter Clement Chidiac told me, “I know a bunch of people that managed to land a job because they’ve tried harder, going to meetups, reaching out to people, networking, that kind of thing.” Edmund Ho, Principal Consultant at Talisman Corporation, agreed that overseas candidates hoping to work in Japan for the first time face a tough road. He believes candidates should maintain a realistic, but optimistic, view of the process. “Keep a longer mindset,” he suggested. “Maybe you don’t get an offer the first year, but you do the second year.” “Stepping-stone” jobs Candidates from overseas do face a severe disadvantage: many companies, even those founded by non-Japanese people, are only open to developers who already live in Japan. Although getting a work visa for an overseas employee is cheaper and easier in Japan than in many countries, it still presents a barrier some organizations are reluctant to overcome. By contrast, once you’re already on the ground, more companies will be interested in your skills. This is why some developers settle on a “stepping-stone” position—in other words, a job that may not be all you hoped for, but that is willing to sponsor your visa and bring you into the country. Here’s where some important clarification on Japanese work visas is required. Work visas The most common visa for developers is the Engineer/Specialist in Humanities/International Services visa, a broad-category visa for foreign workers in those fields. To qualify, a developer must have a college degree, or have ten years of work experience, or have passed an approved IT exam. Another relatively common visa for high-level developers is the Highly-Skilled Professional (HSP) visa. To acquire it, applicants must score at least 70 points on an assessment scale that addresses age, education level, Japanese level, income, and more. The HSP visa has many advantages, but there is one important difference between it, and the more standard Engineer visa. The Engineer/Specialist in Humanities/International Services visa is not tied to a specific company. It grants you the legal right to work within those fields for a specific period of time in Japan. The Highly-Skilled Foreign Professional visa, on the other hand, is tied to a specific employer. If you want to change jobs, you’ll need to update your residency status with immigration. Some unscrupulous companies will try to claim that because they sponsored your Engineer/Specialist in Humanities/International Servicesvisa, you are obligated to remain with their company or risk being deported. This is not the case. If you do leave your job without another one lined up, you have three months to find another before you may be at risk for deportation. In addition, the fields of work covered by the Engineer/Specialist in Humanities/International Services visa are incredibly broad, and include everything from sales to product development to language instruction. As TokyoDev specifically confirmed with immigration, you can even come to Japan as an English instructor, then later work as a developer, without needing to alter your visa. Those with the HSP visa will need to go to immigration and alter their residency status each time they change roles. However, if you have the points and qualifications for an HSP visa, that means you’re also eligible for Permanent Residency within one to three years. Once you’ve obtained Permanent Residency, you’re free to pursue whatever sort of employment you like. International or Japanese company? As you begin your job hunt, you’ll hopefully receive responses from several sorts of companies: Japanese companies that also primarily hire Japanese people, Japanese companies with designated multinational developer teams, companies that were founded in Japan but nonetheless hire international developers for a variety of positions, and international subsidiaries. There are advantages and disadvantages to working with mostly-Japanese or mostly-international companies. Japanese companies The more Japanese a company is—both in philosophy and personnel—the more you’ll need Japanese language skills to thrive there. It’s true that a number of well-established Japanese tech companies are now creating developer teams designed to be multinational from the outset: typically, these are very English-language friendly. Some organizations, such as Money Forward, have even adopted English as the official company language. However, this often results in an institutional language barrier between development teams and the rest of the company, which is usually staffed by Japanese speakers. Developers are still encouraged to learn Japanese, particularly as they climb the promotional ladder, to help facilitate interdepartmental communication. Some companies, such as DeepX and Beatrust, either offer language classes themselves or provide a stipend for language learning. In addition to the language, you’ll also need to become “fluent” in Japanese business norms, which can be much more rigid and hierarchical than American or European company cultures. For example, at introductory drinking parties (themselves a potential surprise for many!), it is customary for new employees or women employees to go around with a bottle of beer and pour glasses for their managers and the company’s senior management. As mentioned in the cultural expectations section, most Japanese people won’t correct you even if you’re doing it all wrong, which leaves foreigners to discover their gaffes via trial-and-error. The advantage here is that you’ll be pressured, hopefully in a good way, to adapt swiftly to the Japanese language and business culture. There’s a sink-or-swim element to this approach, but if you’re serious about settling in Japan, then this “downside” could benefit you in the long run. Finally, there is the above-mentioned issue of compensation. On average, international companies pay more than Japanese ones; the median salary difference is around three million yen per year. Specific roles may be paid at higher rates, though, and most Japanese companies do offer bonuses. Many Japanese companies also offer other perks, such as housing stipends, spouse and child allowances, etc. If you receive an offer, it’s worth examining the whole compensation package before you make a decision. International companies The advantages of working either for an international company, or for a Japanese company that already employs many non-Japanese people, are straightforward: you can usually communicate in English, you already understand most of the business norms, and such companies typically pay developers more. You do run the risk of getting stuck in a rut, though. As mentioned earlier, TokyoDev found in its own survey that the correlation between Japanese language skills and social life satisfaction is high. You can of course study Japanese in your free time—and many do—but the more your work environment and social life revolve around English, the more difficult acquiring Japanese becomes. Want a job? Start here! If you’re ready to begin your job hunt, you can start with the TokyoDev job board. TokyoDev only works with companies we feel good about sending applicants to, and the job board includes positions that don’t require Japanese and that accept candidates from abroad. Other alternatives These visas don’t lead directly to working as a software developer in Japan, but can still help you get your foot in the door. DIY options If you prefer to be your own boss, there are several visas that allow you to set up a business in Japan. The Business Manager visa is typically good for one year, although repeated applicants may get longer terms. Applicants should have five million yen in a bank account when they apply, and there are some complicated requirements for getting and keeping the visa, such as maintaining an office, paying yourself a minimum salary, following proper accounting procedures, etc. The Startup visa is another option if the Business Manager visa appeals to you, but you don’t yet have the funds or connections to make it happen. You’ll be granted the equivalent of a Business Manager visa for up to one year so that you can launch your business in Japan. Working Holiday visa This is the path our own founder Paul McMahon took to get his first developer job in Japan. If you meet various qualifications, and you belong to a country that has a Working Holiday visa agreement with Japan, you can come to Japan for a period of one year and do work that is “incidental” to your holiday. In practice, this means you can work almost any job except for those that are considered “immoral” (bars, clubs, gambling, etc.). The Working Holiday visa is a great opportunity for those who have the option. It allows you to experience living and working in Japan without any long-term commitments, and also permits you to job-hunt freely without time or other visa constraints. J-Find visa The J-Find visa is a one-year visa, intended to let graduates of top universities job-hunt or prepare to found a start-up in Japan. To qualify, applicants should have: A degree from a university ranked in the top 100 by at least two world university rankings, or completed a graduate course there Graduated within five years of the application date At least 200,000 yen for initial living expenses TokyoDev contributor Oguzhan Karagözoglu received a J-Find visa, though he did run into some difficulties, particularly given immigration’s unfamiliarity with this relatively new type of visa. Digital Nomad visa This is another new visa category that allows foreigners from specific countries, who must make over 10 million yen or more a year, to work remotely from Japan for six months. Given that the application process alone can take months, the visa isn’t extendable or renewable, and you’re not granted residency, it’s questionable whether the pay-off is worth the effort. Still, if you have the option to work remotely and want to test out living in Japan before committing long-term, this is one way to do that. TokyoDev contributor Christian Mack was not only one of the first to acquire the Digital Nomad visa, but has since opened a consultancy to help others through the process. Conclusion If your takeaway from this article is, “Japan, here I come!” then there are more TokyoDev articles that can help you on your way. For example, if you want to bring your pets with you, you should know that you need to start preparing the import paperwork up to seven months in advance. If you’re ready now to start applying for jobs, check out the TokyoDev job board. You’ll also want to look at how to write a resume for a job in Japan, and our industry insider advice on passing the resume screening process. These tips for interviewing at Japanese tech companies would be useful, and when you’re ready for it, see this guide to salary negotiations. Once you’ve landed that job, we’ve got articles on everything from bringing your family with you, to getting your first bank account and apartment. In addition, the TokyoDev Discord hosts regular discussions on all these topics and more. It’s a great chance to make developer friends in Japan before you ever set foot in the country. Once you are here, you can join some of Japan’s top tech meetups, including many organized by TokyoDev itself. We look forward to seeing you soon!

When interviewing with a Japanese company, you’ll naturally want to know: “Is this a good place to work?” And while Glassdoor is the standard in English-speaking countries for employees leaving online reviews, the site is only rarely used in Japan, and then primarily by non-Japanese workers. Many countries have a culture that endorses directly reviewing employers in an open, public environment—Japan does not. However, there are still sites where you can find important information on your potential employer. What to watch out for In particular, you want to avoid signing on with a company that engages in exploitative practices—or as they’re known in Japan, a “black company” (ブラック企業, burakku kigyou). The Ministry of Health, Labor, and Welfare has a FAQ describing what defines these companies: Imposing extremely long working hours with high quotas. Recognition of workers’ rights is low throughout the company; unpaid overtime and/or workplace bullying (パワハラ, pawahara) are common. The company assigns shifts to workers without consent. The company discriminates among workers in the above circumstances. In a 2023 survey, those who had worked for such toxic companies listed high turnover rates as the most common sign that something was wrong, followed by long working hours and unpaid overtime. As you examine online review sites and other sources, look for clues such as: Turnover rate: how long do employees typically stay? Internal promotion: can you see employees rising in the ranks? Upper management: are there any non-Japanese employees in management positions? Recent company announcements: do they often make sudden pivots in their business policies? If you discover, for example, that the company can’t retain employees, shows no history of internal promotions, and has just issued a return-to-office order out of the blue, it’s safe to assume you don’t want to work there. OpenWork OpenWork, also known as Vorkers, hosts over 19 million company reviews. The reviews are represented in a radar chart for easy visual reference, and are also broken down into different categories, such as work-life balance, the ease of working for women, and reasons for considering quitting. In addition, applicants can post questions for employees to answer. If you don’t speak Japanese, the site is still readable with Google Translate. You’ll need to make a free account to see all of the information, but much of it is accessible even without an account. Other Japanese sites JobTalk and Engage Hyouban are other Japanese-language review sites. JobTalk contains 4.4 million reviews of around 230,000 different companies, and Engage Hyouban boasts 30 million reviews for 220,000 companies. Neither of these sites offer as much information on tech companies in Japan as OpenWork does. If you’re applying to a large company such as Rakuten, you may find some additional reviews there, but many of TokyoDev’s clients are smaller companies that aren’t listed at all. Google Maps Reviews An unusual but occasionally helpful place to find company reviews is on Google Maps. If you search for a business’s main corporate office location—usually in Tokyo—you will sometimes find reviews written by current or former employees. Whether these reviews are high-quality or trustworthy is another matter. Rakuten, for example, has reviews with a range of opinions. Cybozu, by contrast, mostly has reviews from those who would like to work for the company but currently don’t. Still, the reviews of its corporate office are consistently positive, so you can at least get an impression of the physical environment. LinkedIn “If you’re worried that a company might be a poor place to work, try contacting current or past employees via LinkedIn,” suggested Paul McMahon, founder of TokyoDev. “This probably works best if you’re late in the hiring process.” You can send a connect request saying, ‘I’ve received an offer from company X, and want to confirm what it’s really like to work there as an engineer. Mind if I ask you a couple of questions?’ Whether or not they respond, you can still glean good information from the profiles of past and current employees. Check to see if developers tend to leave the company quickly, for example, or how long the average employee goes before being promoted. You should keep in mind though that LinkedIn is not popular in Japan, for several good reasons. If you are applying to a primarily Japanese company, many of your future coworkers won’t be active there, which means you still may not be getting a complete picture. TokyoDev In 2020, TokyoDev began interviewing developers in order to provide a more complete, boots-on-the-ground picture of daily life at specific companies. Our Developer Stories feature interviews with developers at top Japanese tech companies, who share details about both their specific jobs and the general work environment. The goal is to give applicants a good sense of how a company operates on a day-to-day basis, from the perspective of those on the inside. So far, TokyoDev has interviewed developers from Mercari, PayPay, Givery, HENNGE, KOMOJU, and more. In addition, TokyoDev’s job board is a selective one, listing only companies that we feel good about sending applicants to. In the rare event that employees later reach out with poor reviews of a business, if those reports can be confirmed, then TokyoDev will end its relationship with that company. Conclusion In short, the answer to the question “Is there a Japanese equivalent to Glassdoor?” is, “Not really.” However, by combining some of the alternatives—OpenWork, LinkedIn, TokyoDev, and perhaps even Google Maps—you can gather enough information to decide whether you want to work with a particular Japanese company. You could also ask fellow developers in our Discord. Curious about working in Japan in general? See our articles on the subject, as well as moving to Japan, living in Japan, starting a business in Japan, and more.

In 2023 I attended RubyKaigi for the first time and also wrote my first recap, which I’m pleased to say was well-received! This was my third time attending RubyKaigi, and I was once again really impressed with the event. I’m eternally grateful to the conference organizers, local organizers (organizers recruited each year who live/lived in the area RubyKaigi is held), designers, NOC team, helpers, sponsors, speakers, and other attendees for helping create such a memorable experience, not just during the three day conference, but over my entire time in Matsuyama. What is RubyKaigi? RubyKaigi is a three-day technology conference focused on the Ruby programming language, held annually “somewhere in Japan.” It attracts a global audience and this year welcomed over 1500 attendees to Matsuyama, Ehime. The traveling nature of the conference means that for the majority of the attendees (not just the international ones), it’s a chance to take a trip—and the days leading up to and following the event are full of fun encounters with other Rubyists as we wander around town. Checking social media a few days before the conference, I saw posts tagged with “RubyKaigi Day –3” and started getting FOMO! Talks RubyKaigi featured 3 keynotes, 51 talks, 11 Lightning talks, the TRICK showcase, and Ruby Committers and the World. There were talks in the Main Hall, Sub Hall, and Pearls Room, so you frequently had 3 options to choose from at any given time. Despite being held in Japan, RubyKaigi is an international conference that welcomes English speakers; all talks in the Sub Hall are in English, for example, and all the Japanese talks also have real-time translation and subtitles. Organizers put a great deal of thought into crafting the schedule to maximize everyone’s chances of seeing the talks they’re interested in. For example, every time slot has at least one English and one Japanese talk, and colleagues are scheduled to speak at different times so their work friends don’t have to split their support. The power of pre-study One great feature of RubyKaigi is its esoteric talks, delivered by speakers who are enthusiastic experts in their domains. I’m more of a Ruby user than a Ruby committer (the core team who have merge access to the Ruby repository), so every year there are talks during which I understand nothing—and I know I’m not alone in that. One of the topics I struggle with is parsers, so before the conference I created these sketch notes covering “How Do Computers Understand Ruby?”. Then, as I was listening to previously incomprehensible talks I found myself thinking, “I know this concept! I can understand! Wow, that’s cool!” Sketch notes on "How do Computers Understand Ruby" My plan for next year is to organize my schedule as soon as RubyKaigi’s talks are announced, and create a pre-conference study plan based on the talks I’m going to see. Just when I thought I’d leveled up, I attended Ryo Kajiwara’s talk “You Can Save Lives with End-to-End Encryption in Ruby,” where he talked about the importance of end-to-end encryption and told us all to stop using SMTP. It was a humbling experience because, after the first few slides, I couldn’t understand anything. Ruby taught me about encoding under the hood This year’s opening keynote was delivered by Mari Imaizumi, who took us on the journey of how converting the information you want to convey into symbols has been a thing since basically forever, as well as how she originally got interested in encoding. She talked about the competing standards for character encoding, and her experience with Mojibake. It made me think about how lucky I am, that the internet heavily favours English speakers. Even when I was exploring the Web in the 2000s, it was rare for me to come across content scrambled by encoding. TRICK 2025: Episode I There was a point at which it seemed like the awards were going to be a one-man-show, as Pen-san took the fifth, fourth, and third places, but the first-place winner was Don Yang, who until then hadn’t received any awards. The moment that stood out for me, though, was when Pen-san was talking about his work that won “Best ASMR”: code in the shape of bubbles that produces the sound of ocean waves when run. Pen-san explained how the sound was made and said something like, “Once you know this, anyone can write this code.” To his right you could see Matz waving his arm like, “No, no!” which captured my own feelings perfectly. Drawing of Pen san and Matz ZJIT: building a next-generation Ruby JIT Maxime Chevalier-Boisvert started her talk by apologising for YJIT not being fast enough. Because YJIT is hitting a plateau, she is now working on ZJIT. While YJIT uses a technique called Lazy Basic Block Versioning, ZJIT is method-based JIT. It will be able to “see” more chunks of code and thus be able to optimize more than YJIT. Ruby committers and the world There were humorous moments, like when the panel was asked, “What do you want to depreciate in Ruby 4.0?” Matz answered, “I don’t want to depreciate anything. If stuff breaks people will complain to me!” Also, when the question was, “If you didn’t have to think about compatibility, what would you change?” the committers started debating the compatibility of a suggested change, leading the moderator to say committers are always thinking about compatibility. Matz ended this segment with the comment that it might seem like there’s a big gap between those on stage and those in the audience, but it’s not that big—it’s something that you can definitely cross. Sketch notes for Ruby Committers and The World Eliminating unnecessary implicit allocations Despite this being an unfamiliar topic for me, Jeremy Evans explained things so well even I could follow along. I really liked how approachable this talk was! Jeremy shared about how he’d made a bug fix that resulted in Ruby allocating an object where it hadn’t allocated one before. Turns out, even when you’re known for fixing bugs, you can still cause bugs. And as he fixed this case, more cases were added to the code through new commits. To prevent new code changes from adding unnecessary allocations, he wrote the “Allocation Test Suite,” which was included in the Ruby 3.4 release. Optimizing JRuby 10 JRuby 10 is Ruby 3.4 compatible! What stood out to me the most was the slide showing a long list of CRuby committers, and then three committers on the JRuby side: Charles Nutter (the speaker), his friend, and his son. This was one of those talks where the pre-study really helped—I could better understand just what sort of work goes into JRuby. Itandi’s sponsor lightning talk Usually sponsors use their time to talk about their company, but the speaker for Itandi spent most of his time introducing his favorite manga, Shoujiki Fudousan. He encouraged us to come visit the Itandi booth, where they had set up a game in which you could win a copy of the manga. Sponsors This year there were a total of 102 sponsors, with so many gold and platinum-level sponsors the organizers held a lottery for the booths. To encourage attendees to visit each booth, there was once again a stamp rally with spaces for all 46 booths, although you could reach the pin-badge goal with just 35 stamps. It also helped keep track of where you had/hadn’t been. Since sponsors are an invaluable part of the conference, and they put so much effort into their booths, I always want to be able to show my appreciation and hear what each of them have to say. With 46 to visit, though, it was somewhat difficult! Each booth had plenty of novelties to hand out and also fun activities, such as lotteries, games, surveys and quizzes, and coding challenges. By day three, though, the warm weather had me apologetically skipping all coding challenges and quizzes, as my brain had melted. For me, the most memorable novelty was SmartHR’s acrylic charm collection! Since they missed out on a booth this year, they instead created 24 different acrylic charms. To collect them, you had to talk to people wearing SmartHR hoodies. I felt that was a unique solution and a great icebreaker. Collection of SmartHR acrylic charms I actually sent out a plea on X (Twitter) because I was missing just a few charms—and some SmartHR employees gave me charms from their own collection so I could complete the set! (Although it turns out I’m still missing the table-flipping charm, so if anyone wants to help out here . . . ) Hallway track (Events) Every year RubyKaigi has various official events scheduled before and after the conference. It’s not just one official after party—this year there were lunches, meetups, drinkups, board games, karaoke, live acts until three a.m., morning group exercises (there’s photographic proof of people running), and even an 18-hour ferry ride. I need sleep to understand the talks, and I need to wake up early because the conference is starting, and I need to stay up late to connect with other attendees! The official events I attended this year were SmartHR’s pre-event study session, the Women and Non-binary Dinner, the RubyKaigi Official Party, the STORES CAFE for Women, the Leaner Board Game Night, RubyKaraoke, RubyMusicMixin 2025 and the codeTakt Drinkup. I got to chat with so many people, including: Udzura-san, who inspired my Ruby study notes; Naoko-san, one of STORES’s founders; and Elle, a fellow Australian who traveled to Japan for RubyKaigi! The venues were also amazing. The official party was in a huge park next to Matsuyama Castle, and the board game event took place in what seemed to be a wedding reception hall. Compared to the conference, where you are usually racing to visit booths or heading to your next talk, it’s at these events you can really get to know your fellow Rubyists. But it’s not just about the official events; my time was also full of random, valuable catch ups and meetings. For lunch, I went out to eat tai meshi (sea bream rice) with some of the ladies I met at the dinner. I was staying at emorihouse, so following the after party we continued drinking and chatting in our rooms. After RubyMusicMixin, I didn’t want the night to end and bumped into a crew headed towards the river. And on day four, the cafe I wanted to go to was full, but I got in by joining Eririn-san who was already seated. That night I ended up singing karaoke with a couple of international speakers after running into them near Dogo Onsen earlier that day. Part of the joy of RubyKaigi is the impromptu events, the ones that you join because the town is so full of Rubyists you can’t help but run into them. I organised an event! This year I organised the Day 0 Women and Non-binary Dinner&DrinkUp. We were sponsored by TokyoDev, and we had a 100 percent turnout! I’m grateful to everyone who came, especially Emori-san who helped me with taking orders and on-the-day Japanese communications. With this event, I wanted to create a space where women and non-binary people–whether from Japan or overseas, RubyKaigi veterans or first-timers—could connect with each other before the conference started, while enjoying Matsuyama’s local specialities. We’re still a minority among developers, so it was exciting for me to see so many of us together in one place! Group photo from Women & Non-binary Dinner and DrinkUp! I’d love to host a similar event next year, so if you or your company is interested in sponsoring, please reach out! Matz-yama (Matsuyama) Last year’s RubyKaigi closed with the announcement that “We’ve taken Matz to the ocean [Okinawa], so now it’s time to take him to the mountains.” (Yama means “mountain” in Japanese.) Matsuyama city is located in Ehime, Shikoku, and its famous tourist attractions include Matsuyama Castle and Dogo Onsen, which is said to have inspired the bathhouse in Spirited Away. RubyKaigi banner on display at Okaido Shipping Street Ehime is renowned for mikan (蜜柑, mandarin oranges), and everywhere you go there is mikan and Mikyan, Ehime’s adorable mascot character. Before arriving, everyone told me, “In Ehime, mikan juice comes out of the tap,” which I thought meant there were literally pipes with mikan juice flowing through them all over Ehime! However, reality is not so exciting: yes, mikan juice does flow from taps, but there’s clearly a container behind the tap! There’s no underground mikan juice pipe network. 😢 RubyKaigi also highlighted Ehime’s specialties. This year’s theme color was red-orange, break-time snacks were mikan and mikan jelly, the logo paid homage to the cut fruit, and one of the sponsors even had a mikan juice tap at their booth! Also, included among this year’s official novelties was a RubyKaigi imabari towel, since Imabari city in Ehime is world famous for their towels. I’m an absolute fan of how RubyKaigi highlights the local region and encourages attendees to explore the area. Not only does this introduce international attendees to parts of Japan they might otherwise not visit, it’s a chance for local attendees to play tourist as well. Community In Matz’s closing keynote, Programming Language for AI Age, he touched on how it’s odd to delegate the fun tasks to an AI. After all, if AI does all the fun things and we do all the hard things, where’s the joy for us in that? To me, creating software is a collaborative activity—through collaboration we produce better software. Writing code is fun! Being able to connect with others is fun! Talking to new people is fun! I’ve met so many amazing people through the Ruby community, and RubyKaigi has played an important role in that. Through the community I’ve gotten advice, learned new things, and shared resources. My sketch-notes have been appreciated by others, and as I walk around there are #rubyfriends everywhere who all make me feel so welcomed. RubyKaigi attracts a variety of attendees: developers and non-developers, Ruby experts and Ruby beginners. It’s a fun conference with a wonderful community, and even though it’s a technical conference, non-technical people can enjoy participating as well. Community growth comes with its own issues, but I think attracting newcomers is an important aspect of RubyKaigi. As someone who first came as a developer completely new to Ruby, every year I learn more and am inspired to give back to the Ruby community. I hope that RubyKaigi continues to inspire participants to love Ruby, and encourages them to understand and improve it. By growing the Ruby community, we ensure Ruby will continue on as a Programming Language for the AI Age. Looking forward to Hakodate next year, and to seeing you all there! PS: Surprise, Detective Conan? I really love the Detective Conan series. This year RubyKaigi Day Three and the 2025 Detective Conan movie premiere were on the same day . . . so as soon as Matsuda-san said, “It’s over!” I ran out of the hall to go watch the movie at Cinema Sunshine Kinuyama. And next year’s RubyKaigi location, Hakodate, was the setting for the 2024 Detective Conan movie. What a deep connection RubyKaigi and Detective Conan have! Detective Conan decorations set up at the cinema in Kinuyama