You’re working as a software engineer in your home country and suddenly you realize, you want to work in Japan; the country of polite people, efficient transportation system, safe communities, anime and long work hours.
But before you go looking for job post and doing interviews, I recommend you check your potential salary range working in Japan. One of the many things to consider when thinking of living in Japan is the salary gain or loss you will get once you start working here. For me, since I came from the Philippines, the salary increase was very good when I moved here back 2013.
Average Salary
According to the latest survey, the average annual salary for a software engineer in Japan is 4,146,000 yen.
Average Male Salary: 4,250,000 yen
Average Female Salary: 3,720,000 yen
Source: https://www.creativevillage.ne.jp/27962
Average Salary by Programming Language
| Language | Average Salary | Top Salary |
| Python | 6.51 million yen | 16 million yen |
| Perl | 6.33 million yen | 19 million yen |
| Ruby | 6.06 million yen | 16 million yen |
| C | 5.97 million yen | 19 million yen |
| JavaScript | 5.55 million yen | 16 million yen |
| PHP | 5.38 million yen | 19 million yen |
| Scala | 5.3 million yen | 11 million yen |
| Java | 4.99 million yen | 19 million yen |
| Swift | 4.83 million yen | 12 million yen |
| Objective-C | 4.75 million yen | 15 million yen |
| COBOL | 4.46 million yen | 12 million yen |
| Assembly | 4.41 million yen | 8.4 million yen |
Source: https://jp.stanby.com/media/programming_ranking/
Salary Range per Age Group
| Age | Salary in Yen |
| 20～24 | 3.059 million yen |
| 25～29 | 3.89 million yen |
| 30～34 | 4.225 million yen |
| 35～39 | 4.554 million yen |
| 40～44 | 4.754 million yen |
| 45～49 | 5.159 million yen |
| 50～54 | 5.205 million yen |
| 55～59 | 5.403 million yen |
Source: https://www.creativevillage.ne.jp/27962
There you go. If you are a Python programmer, you are more likely to be compensated generously. I know these numbers are way lower than software engineering salaries in Europe and USA (specially in Silicon Valley). So if you came from these places, give it a couple of thoughts before moving here for an IT position.
If you love Japan and it’s culture, come here and enjoy. I wish you find a good company to work here.
Read my posts about my working experience here in Japan and my monthly cost of living in Tokyo this 2019 if you want to know more about the working condition here in Japan.
Cheers and good luck. 😀
If the information you provided is correct, then the salary is just ridiculously low
I think it still depends on the offer you will get and if you will work in a bigger company. I just got a pretty decent offer from a big company called R and it was a pretty decent offer, which I accepted, considering I was on my mid-career and I came from a start-up company in the Philippines which is unknown to anyone.
Hi! Very informative post. If I have JLPT N2 with 2 yrs of Java exp. How much do you think I can negotiate?
A lot of Filipinos are aiming to fly out of the country to work abroad, especially in Japan.Probably, the main reason is to get a higher salary than their current job.
Maybe many of you are asking how much money does an OFW in Japan can make. Well, it will be contingent upon in so many factors.