How Japan Job Scan collects and classifies jobs
Japan Job Scan tracks job openings at companies hiring in Japan by reading their careers pages directly, once per day, and classifying each role for English-language suitability and visa sponsorship. This page explains how each figure on the site is produced, and where it should not be trusted.
Last updated: Jul 27, 2026
Where the listings come from
Listings are read directly from the recruitment systems companies use to run their own careers pages, spanning both the major international platforms and the Japanese-market systems that most domestic employers rely on. Nothing is bought from or syndicated by another job board, which is why many roles here never appear on LinkedIn, GaijinPot or Wantedly.
Every tracked company is re-read once per day. A role that disappears from the employer's own careers page is marked inactive. Roles that have not been seen for 14 days are removed from the active set.
English-friendliness scoring
Each listing receives a score derived from its title and description. Positive signals include the posting being written in English and phrases indicating an English-speaking environment. Negative signals include stated Japanese requirements such as JLPT N1 or N2, "business-level Japanese", or a title marked as Japanese-speaking. Roles scoring three or higher are labelled English-friendly.
Limitation: this is automated text classification, not a human review. A role written in English may still involve Japanese day to day, and a Japanese-language posting may welcome English speakers. Treat the label as a filter, not a guarantee.
Visa sponsorship signals
Sponsorship is inferred from explicit language in the employer's own posting, such as visa sponsorship available, work permit support, or relocation assistance. Company-level sponsorship indicators are built up from how many of their listings carry that language.
Limitation: absence of a sponsorship label means the language was not found, not that the employer refuses to sponsor. Many companies in Japan sponsor visas routinely without mentioning it in a posting. Sponsorship can also vary by role and seniority within the same company. Always confirm with the employer before making any relocation decision.
Salary data
Two distinct sources feed the salary pages. Advertised salary comes from ranges stated in job postings, parsed into an annual figure. Self-reported salary comes from compensation people report themselves. These measure different things and are shown separately where possible.
Limitation: most listings in Japan do not state pay, so advertised figures cover only the subset that do and skew toward employers willing to publish ranges. Self-reported data carries the usual self-selection bias. Medians from small samples move a lot.
How long roles stay open
Because every tracked careers page is re-read daily, we observe both when a listing appears and when it is taken down. The gap between those two dates is how long a role stayed open. Figures on Market Pulse are calculated across all roles that closed in the previous 60 days.
Limitation: a role removed from a careers page is detected on the next daily read, so closure dates are accurate to about a day. Roles that instead age out through our 14-day staleness sweep can overstate the duration by up to two weeks. Treat published medians as a slight upper bound. Durations over 400 days are excluded as data artefacts.
Corrections
If a listing or classification for your company is wrong, we want to fix it. Employers can ask for a correction or removal, and we act on those requests. Start from the job board to find the listing in question.
Frequently asked questions
Last updated: Jul 27, 2026
Where does Japan Job Scan get its job listings?
Japan Job Scan reads job listings directly from the recruitment systems companies use to run their own careers pages, covering both international and Japanese platforms. Listings are not bought from, scraped from, or syndicated by other job boards.
How often is Japan Job Scan updated?
Japan Job Scan re-reads every tracked company's careers page once per day. New roles usually appear within 24 hours of being posted, and roles removed from a company's own careers page are marked inactive.
How does Japan Job Scan decide a job is English-friendly?
Each listing is scored from its title and description. Signals include the language the posting is written in, explicit Japanese-level requirements such as JLPT levels or business-level Japanese, and phrases like English-speaking environment. Roles scoring three or higher are labelled English-friendly.
How does Japan Job Scan know if a company sponsors visas?
Visa sponsorship is inferred from explicit language in the employer's own job postings, such as visa sponsorship available or relocation support. Absence of a sponsorship label means no such language was found, not that the employer refuses to sponsor.
Where does Japan Job Scan salary data come from?
Salary figures come from two sources: ranges advertised in the job postings themselves, and self-reported compensation data. Advertised and self-reported figures are shown separately where possible, because they measure different things and can diverge.