Skip to content
Work Ready Japanese
All modules
Japanese Job Interviews

Rehearse a Japanese interview before it counts

Answer 自己紹介, 志望動機, and the awkward follow-ups out loud—then get feedback on your register, structure, and length, and run it again.

Get early access

What you’ll practise

Introduce yourself in 60 seconds

Name, current role, and the one thread that connects your experience to this job. Short, and finished on purpose.

Thank you for your time today. My name is Tanaka. I currently work in corporate sales.

Explain why this company

Connect something specific about their business to something you’ve actually done. Note it’s 御社 when speaking, 貴社 when writing.

I was drawn to your overseas expansion, and I believe I can bring my experience to bear on it.

Walk through your experience

Scope, your role in it, and the outcome—in that order, so the interviewer never has to ask “and what did you do?”

In my previous role I led a team of five and was responsible for new client acquisition.

Explain why you’re moving

Frame it forward—what you want to do next, not what went wrong at the last place.

I decided to move because I want to be involved from an earlier stage of the process.

Handle strengths and weaknesses

A real weakness plus what you do about it. The follow-up question is always “それで、どう対処していますか”.

I can be overly cautious, so I make a point of setting a deadline before I start.

Ask your own questions

「特にありません」 ends an interview badly. Bring two questions that show you already pictured yourself in the role.

What would you expect of me in the first three months after joining?

How the voice practice works

  1. 01

    Choose the interview

    Pick the round and the industry—a first-round HR screen and a final interview with a 部長 ask for different things.

  2. 02

    Answer out loud, under time

    Questions come one at a time, with follow-ups. You speak your answer instead of reading one, which is the whole difficulty on the day.

  3. 03

    Review, tighten, repeat

    Feedback on register, structure, filler, and how long you spoke—plus a model answer to compare against. Then take the same question again.

A scenario, start to finish

First round: “Tell us about yourself”

Sample

A mid-career interview at a Japanese company. The clock is running.

They say

“So, could you give us a brief self-introduction?”

You say

“I’m called Tanaka. At my company I do marketing. At university I studied economics…”

Recorded · 0:07
Feedback
  • Good: Leading with your name and current work is the right order—don’t start with your studies.

  • Try: Interview register: 「田中と申します」 and 「担当しております」 rather than 「言います」 and 「やっています」.

  • Watch: 「私の会社」 sounds like you own it. Say 現職 or 前職. Also: 95 seconds—cut the university line and land it under 60.

Get early access to Japanese Job Interviews

We’ll email you when interview practice opens, plus a free question bank of the 20 questions Japanese interviewers actually ask.

One email when it launches. No spam, unsubscribe any time — see how we handle your address.