---
title: Career | Nobu Sato
description: What experience is worth, changing jobs, and how work is shifting. What I see from the hiring side.
image: https://nobusato.jp/hubfs/seo/og-en.png
---

[Nobu Sato](https://nobusato.jp/en?hsLang=en)

[Profile](https://nobusato.jp/en/profile?hsLang=en) [Method](https://nobusato.jp/en/blog/method) [Articles](https://nobusato.jp/en/blog) [Glossary](https://nobusato.jp/en/blog/glossary) [Contact](https://nobusato.jp/en/contact?hsLang=en)

[日本語](https://nobusato.jp/ja/blog/tag/キャリア)[English](https://nobusato.jp/en/blog/tag/career)[中文](https://nobusato.jp/zh/blog/tag/职业发展)

1. [Home](https://nobusato.jp/en?hsLang=en)
2. [Articles](https://nobusato.jp/en/blog)
3. Career

# Career

What experience is worth, changing jobs, and how work is shifting. What I see from the hiring side.

1. 01[After Parental Leave in Japan: Keep Your Promotion Track](https://nobusato.jp/en/blog/career-after-parental-leave)7 min
   
   Japanese law protects your job after parental leave, but your rating and promotion track mostly depend on the talk you have with your manager before you return.
2. 02[Changing Jobs After 40 in Japan: You Sell Judgment](https://nobusato.jp/en/blog/changing-jobs-after-40)6 min
   
   About half of Japan's job changers are now 40 or older (MHLW, 2025), so the age-35 limit is outdated. Past 40, employers pay for how you decide. How to show it.
3. 03[Can You Refuse a Transfer in Japan?](https://nobusato.jp/en/blog/can-you-refuse-a-transfer-in-japan)6 min
   
   Without a location limit in your contract, a Japanese transfer order is hard to refuse. Negotiate after the naiji and check your contract's scope of change.
4. 04[When your boss changes: the first 90 days are an interview](https://nobusato.jp/en/blog/when-your-boss-changes)6 min
   
   A new boss swaps your context while you stay the same. What new managers judge in 90 days, and how to make your work legible and re-agree priorities.
5. 05[Layoffs at a Foreign Company in Japan: Your Rights](https://nobusato.jp/en/blog/foreign-company-layoffs-your-rights-in-japan)8 min
   
   In Japan you can refuse a request to resign. What a PIP means, Article 16 dismissal rules, why your separation reason changes benefits, and the labor tribunal.
6. 06[Your First 90 Days in Japan: Check What You Were Promised](https://nobusato.jp/en/blog/first-90-days-verification-list)7 min
   
   Write down what you were promised before day one: scope, budget, headcount, pay review. Check at 30, 60 and 90 days, and speak up early.
7. 07[Run a Five-Level Check on Your Job Offer](https://nobusato.jp/en/blog/five-level-check-on-your-offer)6 min
   
   Score a job offer in Japan the way companies score you: check veto items first, then let the weakest layer decide. Read the scope of change before you sign.
8. 08[Pick your next company with a market map](https://nobusato.jp/en/blog/pick-your-next-company-with-a-market-map)6 min
   
   In Japan, the employer most likely to pay you well hires your function cluster and competes with your current employer. How to map them with public data.
9. 09[After AI, which layer of you loses value first?](https://nobusato.jp/en/blog/which-layer-loses-value-first)6 min
   
   Split a person into four layers and the writable part of your skills loses value first. Stanford found a 13% drop for 22 to 25 year olds in AI-exposed jobs.
10. 10[Telling failure as evidence](https://nobusato.jp/en/blog/telling-failure-as-evidence)4 min
    
    Interviewers ask about failure to see your patterns under pressure. They want what you did at the time, not the lesson you drew afterwards.

[← Newer](https://nobusato.jp/en/blog/tag/career/page/1) 2 / 3 [Older →](https://nobusato.jp/en/blog/tag/career/page/3) 

[← All columns](https://nobusato.jp/en/blog)

## Writing about launching in Japan, in three languages.

[Profile](https://nobusato.jp/en/profile?hsLang=en) [Get in touch](https://nobusato.jp/en/contact?hsLang=en)

Nobu Sato

Writing about launching in Japan, in three languages.

[info@nobusato.jp](mailto:info@nobusato.jp) [Substack](https://nobusato.substack.com)[Newsletter](https://www.linkedin.com/newsletters/the-japan-entry-memo-7519750783555518464/)[Medium](https://medium.com/@nobusato5888)[LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/in/realnobusato/)[X](https://x.com/nobusato5888) [RSS](https://nobusato.jp/en/blog/rss.xml)

[Profile](https://nobusato.jp/en/profile?hsLang=en)[Method](https://nobusato.jp/en/blog/method)[Articles](https://nobusato.jp/en/blog)[Glossary](https://nobusato.jp/en/blog/glossary)[Contact](https://nobusato.jp/en/contact?hsLang=en)

Views here are my own and don’t represent any organization I work or have worked for.

© 2026 Nobu Sato. All rights reserved.·[Privacy and disclaimer](https://nobusato.jp/en/privacy?hsLang=en)

```json
{
  "@context" : "https://schema.org",
  "@type" : "CollectionPage",
  "author" : {
    "@id" : "https://nobusato.jp/#person"
  },
  "description" : "What experience is worth, changing jobs, and how work is shifting. What I see from the hiring side.",
  "inLanguage" : "en",
  "isPartOf" : {
    "@id" : "https://nobusato.jp/#website"
  },
  "name" : "Career | Nobu Sato",
  "url" : "https://nobusato.jp/en/blog/tag/career/page/2"
}
```

```json
{
  "@context" : "https://schema.org",
  "@type" : "BreadcrumbList",
  "itemListElement" : [ {
    "@type" : "ListItem",
    "item" : "https://nobusato.jp/en",
    "name" : "Home",
    "position" : 1
  }, {
    "@type" : "ListItem",
    "item" : "https://nobusato.jp/en/blog",
    "name" : "Articles",
    "position" : 2
  }, {
    "@type" : "ListItem",
    "item" : "https://nobusato.jp/en/blog/tag/career/page/2",
    "name" : "Career",
    "position" : 3
  } ]
}
```