About us
Why GaijinPot
More than 2.6 million foreigners — and counting — have made a life here in Japan.
Back in the 1990s, our founders, Peter and Erik, were teachers living and working in Nagoya, Aichi Prefecture. Shocked by the lack of information available for English-speaking foreigners, they decided to compile and source this much-requested info into an accessible resource. On Feb. 12, 1999, the GaijinPot web page and forum was launched.
The term gaijin in our name is a familiar, shortened form of the word gaikokujin, or “foreigner,” in Japanese. Erik and Peter wanted to represent the foreign population who come to Japan — a “melting pot” of nationals from different countries. Thus, GaijinPot was born.
The first version of GaijinPot was a simple website — self-coded on a shoestring budget — containing job listings and classified ads. It was one of the first English-language job boards in Japan.
In 2001, GaijinPot moved its headquarters to Tokyo. As of 2020, the site has more than 6 million users across the globe and is the No. 1 job board for foreigners in Japan.
While we continue to innovate (recently adding housing and Japanese language learning services) GaijinPot's core mission remains unchanged: to be the essential guide for those who want to live, work and travel in Japan.
What we do
GaijinPot is based around the five pillars we think every newcomer needs to build on in order to have a successful life in Japan:
- Find jobs in Japan - jobs.gaijinpot.com
- Study Japanese - study.gaijinpot.com
- Live in Japan - apartments.gaijinpot.com
- Travel in Japan - travel.gaijinpot.com
- Understand Japan - blog.gaijinpot.com