Please note that it is illegal for any student in Japan on a short stay (tourist) visa to seek or accept part-time work. The only students who may work part-time are those whose visa status allows them to.

Usually this includes only the following 2 categories:

1. Working Holiday Program participants
2. Student Visa ("Shugakusei") holders.

Please note that even if you have a student visa, you will require one additional document before you can start looking for work. Since foreign students are given permission to stay in Japan for study purposes only, they are basically not allowed to seek or accept employment unless they have official permission to do so from a regional immigration bureau. In the case of Yamasa students this is the bureau at Nagoya. Once you receive permissions, this part-time work is defined and referred to as an extra activity.

Unless any problem arises, permission to engage in an extra activity is granted uniformly and comprehensively, although it entails certain conditions. (The part-time job must not exceed four hours a day and must not involve work in an amusement business establishment.) If the application for permission to work is made jointly with other applications (for example an extension of period of stay) then the applicant usually isn't required to submit any additional documents. Please note that your student visa at Yamasa will be for 12 months. If you decide to extend your visa, you also need to renew the document granting you permission to work part-time, although this is fairly easy.

The only document required for submission at the time of application is the official "Application for permission to engage in an extra activity". However, you will also be asked to submit other papers, such as a student identity card, an attendance certificate, or a document clarifying the specific content of the extra activity. All of these are available from Yamasa.

After the application has been approved, you will be issued with a "Certificate of permission to engage in an extra activity". This will show your identification, the content of the job that has been newly approved, the term of validity of the permission, and so on. Permission to engage in an extra activity (part-time work) is only granted to students who are attending a school, permission automatically becomes invalid if you leave the school.

In summary permission to engage in an extra activity can be obtained simply and without any charge. However, please remember that if you engage in part-time work without receiving permission before and or engage in part-time beyond the limits of the permission, you will become liable for punishment as an illegal worker and may be subject to deportation. Furthermore, any persons who are caught employing foreign students or introducing part-time work to foreign students while knowing that they have not received permission will be subject to punishment on a charge of promoting illegal labor.

(Note: The permission for students to engage in an extra activity concerns part-time work that continues for a short period as a sideline to study. If you decide to seek full-time employment, you will be required to change your status of residence. If a foreign student is discovered working full-time without obtaining permission for a change in status of residence, he or she will be liable for deportation as an illegal worker even if his or her existing visa is still valid.)

Now for the other rules.

Foreign students cannot engage in part-time work at an entertainment or entertainment-related establishment. If a foreign student is discovered working in such a place, he or she will be punished for engaging in an illegal extra activity and will be liable for deportation.

Places classified as such are as follows:

1.Cabarets, nightclubs, dance halls, bars that require staff to entertain customers and eat and drink with them, pachinko parlors, mahjong parlors, game centers, private-room bathhouses, strip clubs, peep shows, love hotels, pornographic bookstores, private room massage parlors.

2.Foreign students are not permitted to work in places that (a) require staff, such as hostesses, to entertain customers, (b) are dark (with an illumination of less than 10 lux), and (c) are narrow (less than 5 square meters per customer seat) or otherwise difficult to see.

(provided by the Association for the Promotion of Japanese Language Education)

Illegal Workers and Illegal Stays

(The following information is provided by the Association for the Promotion of Japanese Language Education)

The number of Shugakusei status students illegally working and overstaying their visas increased tremendously from 1990 to 1994 and led to a major crackdown. The crackdown was undertaken with the full support of the higher quality institutes such as Yamasa.

Number of Illegal Stays (Total and number of Chinese citizens)

Year	1992	1993	1993	1994	1994	1995	1995	1996
Month	Nov.	May	Nov	May	Nov	May	Nov.	May
Total	18112	20095	22122	23995	23493	22623	21166	19906
Chinese	15094	16773	18810	20567	20163	19318	17993	16673

In November 1994, The Immigration Bureau of the Ministry of Justice announced a new policy regarding students with student visa status in order to stop the increases in the number of illegal overstays by students.

The points of the new policy were:

(1) to enhance the inspection of the application of eligibility and
(2) to enhance administration of the students by Japanese Language Institutes.

 As a result, the number of new students entering Japan dropped, especially from certain countries.

Note: KO = Korea, CH = China, TAI = Taiwan

This drop in the number of new students entering Japan gradually forced many of the commercial education institutes (whose primary interest is profit) to close down their schools.

Number of Japanese Education Institutes:

*First year of statistics.

(Figures provided by the Association of Japanese Language Education Promotion)

The figures above extend only as far as 1995. However at the moment there are less than 280 accredited institutes approved by the Association of Japanese Language Education Promotion. An overall result of the introduction of the above policy has been to improve the standard of Japanese language institutes within Japan. While there is still a large differentiation between approved Institutes and those that have received the special authorizations, the fact is that the standard has improved considerably. As a founding member of the Association this improvement is something the Yamasa Institute regards as highly desirable and encourages further. Also as Yamasa has always operated a stricter admissions policy and has maintained a far greater amount of diversity in its student body than the other schools, Yamasa was unaffected.
Since 1995, there has been continued consolidation and closure of language institutes and university programs. While Yamasa has continued to increase enrolments throughout this period, we know of a large of number of schools have either suffered reductions in their enrolments or have closed their doors.

Please go to the Visa Information Index.