TokyoDev helps international developers start and grow their careers in Japan.
One way we do this is through conducting an annual survey of international developers already living here, and in this sixth edition, 814 developers told us about their salary, working conditions, and technology used. Based on this, here are some of the most interesting findings:
The median compensation of respondents was ¥8.5 million per year, the same as last year’s survey. This is down from ¥9.5 million in 2022.
The median compensation of male respondents was 46% higher than that of female respondents. Even when accounting for professional experience, male respondents continued to make more, and the disparity in pay actually grew with seniority.
94% of respondents were comfortable using English in a professional setting, and a higher English ability correlated with higher compensation. Conversely, only 40% of respondents were comfortable using Japanese in a professional setting, and Japanese ability had little correlation with compensation.
As in previous years, we observed that those working at internationally-headquartered companies made significantly more than those at Japanese-headquartered companies. Employees of international companies made a median of 47% more than employees of Japanese companies. This gap was larger in 2023, when employees of international companies made 73% more.
The gaming industry had the lowest compensation and highest percentage of respondents who always used Japanese with their colleagues.
While Japan internationally has a reputation for poor work-life balance, that didn’t seem to be the case for most of our respondents. 70% reported enjoying a good work-life balance, 72% worked at most 40 hours in a typical week, and 55% planned to use 80-100% of their paid leave.
Companies are switching from allowing employees to work remotely to a hybrid model requiring them to come into the office at least some of the time. While in 2023 43% of respondents could choose whether or not to come to the office, that number fell to 38% this year, with those subject to a hybrid policy increasing by a corresponding amount.
Employers could improve training and skill development. Only 14% of respondents said that training was a positive aspect of their employer, the lowest among all aspects of the workplace that we surveyed.
Across all measures of satisfaction, personal and professional, the more unhappy someone was, the more likely they were to be looking for a new job.
Respondents who had recently moved to Japan were more likely to rate food or culture as their favourite thing about Japan, while those who had lived in Japan for longer were more likely to rate safety or peacefulness as their favourite thing.