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This being my first time at one of these fairs, I didn’t really know what to expect. Looking at the statistics from previous years on their website didn’t really help either. I actually needed to be there to figure out what kind of beast this is and how to tame it. Let me give you the run down.

There were probably 50 or so companies that set up cubicle-like booths in a huge room that apparently doubles as a convention center. Cubicle decorations were quite lavish for the larger companies (Reuters, Dell, Armani, and a few of the recruiting companies) and quite sparse for most of the other small-medium sized businesses. The whole thing was from 2-8pm on a Friday, I’m assuming running so long as to give the mid-career change people a chance to catch action on the back-end after work. My ladyfriend and I attended together, she getting a head start with job hunting (Japanese students start this typically mid-3rd year of university), and I…well, I’m trying to do this all before my 90 day visitor visa runs out. Dressed to the nines in our business suits, we registered at the door and were given nice, bright yellow ¿·Â´ (new graduate) badges to hang around our necks. I thought it clashed with my steely-grey tie, but who am I to judge true fashion?

We were pretty much free to wander from booth to booth, hang out uncomfortably in front of those that interested us waiting for the representatives to free up, or be ninja-ed by representatives that would just materialize out of the shadows. Most of the representatives were really nice and helpful, and it was interesting to see the wide-array of companies that came. I was initially surprised at how many people like me there were. Just graduated, came to Japan to find a job, can speak Japanese on a conversational/business level, etc. I mean, I should have expected it being a bilingual fair, but foreigners always have that ¡Èsuperstar¡É syndrome when in Japan.

I mean, I’m still struggling to get over it myself. People who are white should especially know what I’m talking about it. You’re the only white guy around and everyone’s looking at you as if you’re some mythical animal who’s mistakingly wandered onto the train platform. You go up to the dude working behind the desk on the side of the ticket gate and speak some fluent Japanese asking directions, almost as if to confirm your own existence and legitimacy. You smile inwardly. You are special. An island of blonde in a sea of black. Ok, maybe I’m taking this example a bit too far (or maybe I just take it a bit too far), but you get what I mean. Then, you spot another foreigner from across the way and scrawl. This should be opposite to general reasoning, right? I mean, shouldn’t you be happy to see another fellow from the west? No, no indeed, he’s stolen your thunder. He’s just divided your specialness in half by being forced to share it with him, even more if he speaks better Japanese than you. (Please tell me other people feel like this sometimes and I’m not the only crazy one).

Anywho, like I said, I’m still getting over it. I saw a lot of different people at the bilingual fair. To be fair, it was actually probably half and half, half foreigners looking to get jobs that deal with Japanese and half Japanese looking to get jobs that deal with English. Or, at least I’m assuming. I stopped by one of the hotel booths and one the reps actually recognized me. I mentioned that in my last post I’ve been emailing hotels in order to get interviews. Apparently not too many people do this, as the rep immediately recognized my name and then promised to get back to me next week. I guess following up in person is better than following up by phone. Tends to put on the pressure.

There were seminars there too, but I didn’t go to any of them. They didn’t really apply to me anyways, with titles like ¡ÈHow to start your own business in Japan,¡É and ¡ÈHow to work the relations between Japan and South Korea.¡É I just mostly wandered from booth to booth until I had covered all the ones that weren’t too busy or looking specifically for engineers (another high demand, besides the bilingual thing), then I went back and hit the rest. They didn’t do interviews or anything like that at the fair, so nothing is decided yet, but there were some companies that seemed pretty cool. I even found a cool English-teaching company (if it comes down to that) where they have you do one-on-one lessons in a coffee shop, which is perfect considering my coffee addiction.

Tomorrow I’m going over to Lalaport in Toyosu to check out their Ukiyo-e exhibition with my ladyfriend. As luck would have it, it’s the last day they’re doing it so if any of the readers are in the area and interested, you should come check it out too.