Freelancing in Tokyo: Reinventing Yourself

Hello All!

I hope you are doing whatever you can to stay cool in Tokyo's "heat-island" summer.

When I began writing "Freelancing in Tokyo," there were signs that the Japanese economy was "slipping." The bounty of well-paying jobs for native-English speakers in Japan was very slowly becoming a dearth. However, I believed (and still do) that opportunities abound here for freelancers, which is why I decided to finish the book. Even at publication time, the number of foreigners coming to make a go of it in Tokyo was continuing to grow.

That may no longer be the case, according to a July 10, 2010 article in The Japan Times, which says: "The number of foreigners registered with the government at the end of last year showed a decrease for the first time in nearly five decades." 

What does that mean to you, the native English speaker who is living here and/or the native English speaker who is thinking of coming here? 

This is how I see it:  If you are already here and have established a "comfort zone," don't get too comfortable in it. Based on my own experience, rugs can be yanked from under your feet at any given moment. If you are a freelancer, there is no union of any kind to protect you, especially if you work in the entertainment business in Japan. So, do you have other skills to fall back on at a moment's notice? (And yes, that includes "teaching English" -- and I don't mean that sarcastically). If you are not yet here and are still thinking of coming here, you will need to decide what it is that you can bring to the table that is unique, fresh and desirable (and, in some cases, that means you and your personality). 

The point: You may have to "reinvent" yourself, sell yourself from a new angle. As a freelancer in Tokyo I have definitely had more jobs than most people do in a lifetime. A quick rundown of them (in no particular order) would be:

• English teacher
• Editor
• Proofreader
• Copywriter
• Pianist/Accompanist/Singer
• Actor (commercials)
• Voice Actor
• French chef (yes, I was!)
• Event planner
• Director (film)
• Producer (film)
• Magazine model (yes, I was!)
• Tap-dancing priest (yes, I was!)

Now, some of those "jobs" were one-off events -- but I did them, and I learned from them, and they enabled me to broaden my skills on many levels. Did I ever think I would (or could) teach a class on French cuisine? Not in a lifetime; but I did. Did I ever think I would have to drag out my tap shoes after not using them for 25 years? No, but I did, and I got paid for doing so. 

As I stress in my book, each of us has hidden talents. Maybe you took an art class in college; maybe you worked for an attorney drafting contracts; maybe you had to give a speech on-the-fly when a colleague was unable to do so. All of these experiences can be of value in Japan, and I know, because I have drawn on my "hidden talents" so many times that I have come to the conclusion that there is hardly anything I can't do; I mean that. 

So: If you've been chugging along doing your nice little rewriting/proofreading gig, and the company suddenly closes its doors, and/or, if you have just arrived to find out that the company you were about to work for is on the verge of bankruptcy, do not panic. Pull yourself up by your bootstraps and ask yourself, "What else can I do?" Whatever that is, do it. Try it; don't be afraid. As a colleague told me once, "You are who you say you are." 

So, who are you today?