From US Military in Japan to IBD Tokyo
Good evening everyone,
I am an officer in the Marine Corps stationed in Okinawa, Japan. Over this past year I have fallen in love with the culture/language/country, and after my 4-year contract is done I plan on staying in Japan (ideally, to work a finance job in Tokyo).
Some reference: for undergrad I went to a competitive non-Ivy target school (think MIT, Stanford, Duke, UChicago) and completed two ibanking summer internships; I eventually opted to turn down my FT offer and join the military instead.
I am only somewhat conversational in Japanese, but am working hard to reach a level of functional/professional fluency. I might even end up marrying my current Japanese girlfriend.
I was curious about what my chances are of landing a BB IBD job in a Tokyo office (or perhaps at a Japanese company like Mizuho), or if this is too far-fetched a dream considering my lack of true Japanese fluency, my foreigner status and how hard it is apparently to get sponsored for a visa.
Thanks for your time / どうもありがとうございました
-Lieutenant Chimp
Hi there, I am a SA for a BB in Tokyo, but in S&T. I am non-Japanese but have passed N1 and consider myself somewhat fluent (except for keigo and specific finance terms) Contrary to the post above, I would say that your chances now in IBD in Tokyo is quite low. I say this because I know that investment banking in Japan is very domestic, meaning you have mostly have exposure to Japanese clients who you naturally need to interact in Japanese. From how you describe your own Japanese skills, I think you would not have an advantage over a native Japanese applicant who has perfect command of the language, keigo, etc. I know a non-Japanese Tokyo IBD intern at my bank this year, but he went to primary school in Japan so one could say he is native-level... As for me, well, I broke into my Tokyo BB S&T internship by Boston Career Forum or BCF (the link above) last year. Obviously I have to do it remotely in the US, but when I'm done with the internship my managers (from the US team) told me I would receive an offer from another office (think NY/HK) because "my skillsets are more suitable for those offices"... In any case, I think you have better chances if you land IBD in the US for example and after a few years transfer to the Japan office (if there is such opportunity). If you are dead set on staying in Japan after your time in the services, I would encourage you to go to BCF but look for non-IBD roles in investment banks. (I guess you can still try S&T if you want to, but you are probably going to be considered for Equities only since FICC is again so domestic) I say this because you probably don't want to deal with the sad ~240k yen monthly base salary of most Japanese companies at BCF. Do be aware that if you go that way you are going to make sacrifices for the sake of staying in Japan, such as taking a pay cut and probably looking at a less broad career path. But I personally did receive another SA offer in Risk for another top-tier BB in Tokyo at BCF last year, and they made it sound like they don't require too much Japanese. I turned it down in favor of my current bank, so this is purely for your information. I'm posting anonymously because the info I give out makes me really identifiable... but feel free to ask questions below and I'll be happy to answer.