Your First Job Interview in Japan: What Happens in the Room

Quick answer

Hi, I'm Miya, and I help newcomers settle into life in Japan. If you have an interview coming up and you're quietly worried that the manners will count for more than your answers, I understand that feeling. The room does have a rhythm, and nobody hands you the sheet music in advance. The reassuring part is that it's short, it repeats, and you can learn it in an afternoon.

So here's the short version. Knock, say "shitsurei shimasu" as you step in, wait until you're offered a seat, and keep your bag on the floor beside you. Two questions come almost every time: a self-introduction (jiko-shoukai) and why this company (shibou douki). Hiring usually runs over two or three rounds, and at the end you'll be asked whether you have any questions, so have two ready. The rest of this is the detail behind that summary, and since practice varies between companies, check anything specific with the people who invited you.

The first ninety seconds at the door

Aim to reach the building about fifteen minutes early and present yourself at reception around five to ten minutes before the appointment. Earlier than that and you're standing in someone's lobby with nothing to do; later and you're apologising before you've said hello. Take your coat off and fold it over one arm before you go in, and put your phone on silent while you're still on the street.

At the interview room door, knock two or three times and wait for a response before opening. Step in, say "shitsurei shimasu", bow, then close the door quietly while facing it rather than pushing it shut behind you. Walk to the chair you're shown, stand beside it, say your name clearly, and sit only after you're invited to. It sounds like a lot written down, but it takes about twenty seconds in real life.

Your bag goes on the floor beside your chair, standing upright if it will, with your folded coat on top of it. Sit toward the front of the seat with your back straight and your hands on your lap. On the way out, thank them from where you're standing, then say "shitsurei shimasu" once more at the door. And if the flow goes differently from what you rehearsed, follow the interviewer's lead — nobody in that room is scoring the choreography as harshly as you're imagining.

Jiko-shoukai and shibou douki: the two you will always get

The self-introduction usually comes first, and it's often asked for "briefly", which in practice means about a minute. Four pieces are enough: your name, what you've been doing recently, one concrete thing you did and what came of it, and a closing sentence about why you're sitting in that chair today. It is not your life story, and it shouldn't be a memorised paragraph that collapses when someone interrupts.

Shibou douki — your motivation — is the one people underprepare. It lands best when it connects something specific about this company or role to something specific you have actually done or want to build on. "I love Japan" on its own doesn't answer the question, because it's equally true of every other company you applied to. Two sentences of genuine reasoning beat a paragraph of enthusiasm.

After those, expect some mix of strengths and weaknesses, what you'd like to be doing in a few years, and plain factual questions about your visa status, your earliest start date and your Japanese level. Answer those factually; if your Japanese is a work in progress, say so and say what you're doing about it. Prepare bullet points rather than sentences, because bullet points survive follow-up questions and scripts don't.

How the rounds usually run

It's rare for one conversation to decide everything. A common shape is a first round with a recruiter or HR covering your background and the basics, a second with the hiring manager or team going deeper into the actual work, and sometimes a shorter final one with a senior person that's more about fit. The number of rounds varies a lot, so it's completely fine to ask the recruiter how many are planned and roughly how long the process takes.

Panel interviews usually mean two to four people, with one leading the questions and the others listening and writing. A pause while someone takes notes is not disapproval, and you don't need to fill the silence. Answer mainly to whoever asked, with a natural glance at the others, and if you didn't catch a question, ask them to say it once more. Asking is always better than answering a question nobody asked.

The gap between rounds can be a few days or a few weeks. Some companies want your rirekisho and shokumu keirekisho submitted in advance, others ask you to bring printed copies on the day, and some add a short written test or a small task. None of that is standard, so confirm what to bring when the interview is being scheduled rather than guessing.

The web interview version

Plenty of first rounds now happen online, and it's the same interview with different logistics. Find a quiet room where nobody will walk in, test the meeting link the day before if you can, and join a few minutes early with your display name exactly as it appears on your application. Close other tabs and notifications, because a notification sound at the wrong moment is distracting for both of you.

For the shot itself: get the camera to roughly eye level, stacking books under a laptop if you need to, so you're not filming the ceiling or your chin. Put your light in front of you rather than behind — a window you face is ideal, a window behind you turns you into a silhouette. Keep the background plain, frame yourself head and shoulders, and wear what you'd wear in person, including the bottom half, because you will stand up at some point.

The greetings still apply in a lighter form: a small bow and a "shitsurei shimasu" when you join and when you leave reads perfectly well on camera. Write the contact number from the invitation on paper next to you, so that if the connection drops you can reach them immediately instead of vanishing. A dropped call handled calmly is a footnote; a candidate who disappears for ten minutes is the awkward version.

Your questions at the end, and the message afterwards

Almost every interview closes by asking whether you have questions, and answering "no, nothing in particular" tends to read as low interest even when you're just being polite. Bring two or three, and make at least one of them about the work: what the first three months in the role typically look like, or how someone in this position spends a normal week. If your best question was already answered during the conversation, say so and ask your second one.

Questions about hours, pay and remote working aren't forbidden, but they usually land better with the recruiter or at a later stage than in a first meeting with the team. That doesn't mean swallowing them — anything that genuinely affects whether you'd accept should be asked before you accept. It's a question of timing, not permission.

Afterwards, a short thank-you email the same day or the next morning is common and costs you nothing: thank them for their time, add one line about something you actually discussed, and say you're still interested. If they told you when you'd hear back, wait until that date has passed before following up, then follow up politely once. Timelines vary enormously between companies, so the most useful thing you can do at the end of an interview is ask when you'll hear from them.

One practical thing to sort out early: your phone

Here's the piece that catches people out: the interview process almost entirely runs on your phone. The invitation, the "could we move you to two o'clock instead", the verification code for the meeting platform, the recruiter calling back with a result — these arrive by call and SMS, often at short notice during working hours. Plenty of companies still reach for the phone before email, and a candidate who can't be reached quickly is one whose slot moves to someone else.

So if you've just arrived, getting a Japanese number and a data plan sorted is worth doing in your first week rather than your first month. Your residence card is the document that unlocks the process, so keep it with you. Signing up online with an eSIM often means you're active the same day — usually around fifteen minutes from finishing the application. Data matters too, since a web interview runs entirely on your connection.

If you'd like the step-by-step, we have a setup guide here on the site that walks through what you need and the order to do it in. Conditions do change, so please confirm the current terms on the official campaign page before you apply rather than trusting any summary, including mine. Get that out of the way and the rest of your job search gets to be about the interview, which is where your attention belongs. Good luck — I'll be cheering for you.