TOKYO - Foreign students in Japan are taking on demanding part-time jobs to cover rising living costs and finance their education, with convenience stores emerging as one of the most desirable workplaces because they offer valuable language training, exposure to Japanese culture and experience that could lead to future business opportunities.
The number of international students seeking education and employment in Japan has continued to grow, but many find that savings alone are not enough to support their lives. They often work between classes, sometimes through the night, while remaining subject to a legal limit of 28 working hours a week during academic terms.
A Nepalese woman looking for full-time employment said she was working at a yakitori pub while facing monthly living expenses of about 160,000 yen. Her monthly earnings were around 170,000 yen, leaving almost no financial margin.
A man in his third year in Japan, who attends a Japanese-language school, works twice a week in mobile sales, selling frozen cakes, frozen fish and other products. Each shift lasts about nine hours, and he earns roughly 120,000 yen a month.
An Italian man encountered in Tokyo's Nishi-Kasai district works at Bakery & Grill Sawamura in Toranomon, where he handles the register and works on the sales floor. He said he deliberately chose a workplace with many tourists because he speaks English and Spanish as well as Italian, allowing him to make use of his language skills.
For others, wages take priority over personal preference. A Nepalese student at a vocational school works overnight cleaning rooms at a hotel because the pay is relatively high. He earns about 180,000 yen a month but works from 10 p.m. until 6 a.m. before attending school.
Many foreign students choose overnight shifts because their permitted working hours are limited. One said he would like to work more but could not exceed 28 hours a week, making higher-paid nighttime work one of the few ways to increase his income.
Among the jobs discussed by foreign residents, convenience store work stood out as especially popular. A Pakistani man who has worked at a convenience store for more than a year said his friends regularly told him that he had a good job and expressed envy.
A Bangladeshi man who moved from restaurant work to a convenience store said he preferred the convenience store even though its hourly wage of about 1,300 yen was slightly lower than the roughly 1,340 yen he had earned at the restaurant.
The appeal was evident at Lawson's Gate City Osaki Atrium store, part of a chain with more than 14,000 locations nationwide. The store employs 13 foreign part-time workers, who were seen serving customers fluently in Japanese, asking whether they needed bags or chopsticks and providing careful assistance at the register.
Workers said convenience store jobs helped them improve both everyday Japanese and formal polite expressions. Because employees interact directly with customers throughout their shifts, stores generally require a higher level of Japanese ability than many other part-time workplaces.
One worker said the experience had helped strengthen not only his Japanese vocabulary but also his ability to use honorific and customer-service language. The constant interaction allows employees to practice expressions that may be difficult to learn in the classroom.
Convenience stores also offer foreign employees a close look at seasonal customs. A Myanmar worker who began the job three months earlier was learning about Japan's traditional midyear gift-giving custom. By handling seasonal products and promotional campaigns, workers said they gained a deeper understanding of Japanese culture.
The Myanmar employee said his long-term goal was to use the experience gained in Japan to open and operate a convenience store himself. "It is difficult, but I will do my best," he said.
Other international students are working under even harsher schedules to pursue academic ambitions. A 24-year-old man from Myanmar, now in his second year in Japan, attends Japanese-language school while saving for university admission through newspaper delivery work.
Japan's newspaper scholarship system is also open to foreign students. Under the program, tuition and other educational costs can be covered in exchange for working as a newspaper delivery employee.
His day follows an unusual cycle. He wakes around 8 p.m. to study, begins delivering newspapers at about 1 a.m. and finishes around 3:30 a.m. He studies again before attending school from 9 a.m. to 12:15 p.m., works another delivery shift from around 1 p.m., and sleeps from about 4 p.m. until 8 p.m.
Although the delivery work itself totals only about three and a half hours, his schedule alternates continuously between study, work, school and short periods of sleep.
Of his monthly income of about 160,000 yen, he saves roughly 80,000 yen for university entrance fees. He lives in a one-room apartment costing 45,000 yen a month, including utilities, and prepares nearly all his meals himself.
On one visit, he cooked traditional Myanmar chicken curry using spices brought from home. By keeping each meal below 300 yen, he limits monthly food spending to about 30,000 yen.
He also avoids buying clothes and other nonessential items. The last personal item he purchased was a small houseplant costing 250 yen three months earlier. Through this strict lifestyle, he has saved about 500,000 yen and hopes to reach at least 600,000 yen.
His determination is rooted in conditions in Myanmar, where political and economic instability has made it difficult for his family to support him. He said he saw little opportunity for further education or a secure future in his home country.
Japan, by contrast, appeared to offer greater possibilities to people willing to work hard. He hopes eventually to become someone capable of helping people living in countries affected by war and other serious problems.
Finding employment, however, can be difficult for newcomers whose Japanese remains limited. Rafael, a French student who had been in Japan for three months, applied for about 40 part-time positions over two months without receiving a single offer.
He said his greatest obstacle was Japanese. Although he was studying intensively at language school, he still struggled to explain basic subjects during conversation exercises and could not always understand questions from prospective employers.
His savings, accumulated before coming to Japan, were expected to last only another three or four months. Without a job, he feared he would be unable to continue living in the country.
Rafael lives in a share house costing 55,000 yen a month and owns little beyond the clothes he brought from France. With no income, he said he had to reduce spending as much as possible.
He continued applying for jobs advertised as suitable for people without perfect Japanese, including positions at restaurants, a secondhand book retailer and a major chain employing many foreign workers. He said he was willing to accept almost any work and earn only the minimum necessary because his situation had become urgent.
Of six applications submitted in one round, three employers invited him to interviews. The first, a major secondhand book retailer, rejected him after saying his Japanese needed to improve.
The second interview included a written test, where unfamiliar kanji caused him difficulty. That application was also rejected.
For the third interview, Rafael needed to prepare a Japanese resume. He searched unfamiliar characters on his smartphone and used ChatGPT to identify grammatical errors in the section explaining his motivation for applying.
After revising the text, he entered the interview feeling more confident and believed he had made a favorable impression. The employer nevertheless rejected him, bringing his losing streak to 43 applications.
Despite the setbacks, Rafael said he remained determined to stay in Japan because he hoped to become a kindergarten teacher. He became interested in Japanese early-childhood education after seeing a documentary showing how teachers maintained close communication with children and their parents.
He said he admired the strong relationships of trust built between schools and families in Japan, which he felt were less common in France. His goal is to work as a childcare professional using the Japanese approach.
For foreign students in Japan, part-time work is often essential for survival, requiring long hours, severe spending restraint and repeated efforts to overcome language barriers. Yet behind the difficult schedules are ambitions ranging from entering university and building businesses to pursuing careers that could help others.
