The Atarashift Blog
Insights for working in Japan
Guides, interviews, and honest advice for international talent building a career in Japan.
The Atarashift Blog
Guides, interviews, and honest advice for international talent building a career in Japan.
Your Japanese job offer comes with a written notice of working conditions. How to read it: contract type, probation, scope of change, fixed overtime, red flags.
When a Japanese company hires you, it must give you a written notice of your working conditions before you start. The rōdō jōken tsūchisho is that written notice (労働条件通知書 in Japanese). Japan's Labour Standards Act lists what it has to cover: contract length, workplace, duties, hours, days off, pay, and how the job can end.
Read it for five things. Check the contract type, the probation period, and the "scope of change" for your workplace and duties. Then check how overtime is paid and whether the base pay holds up. Since April 2024, every notice must also show how far your workplace and duties can change later.
This guide explains each part and the red flags to look for. It also covers how to ask questions before you sign.
Most offers arrive as a short set of papers. They do different jobs, so it helps to know which is which.
The notice matters beyond the job itself. If you need a work visa, the employer submits it with your application. The Immigration Services Agency lists it among the documents for a Certificate of Eligibility.
Article 15 of the Labour Standards Act makes the employer state your working conditions. The Act's ministry rules set the items that must be in writing. MHLW lists them on its working conditions page:
| Item | What to look for |
|---|---|
| Contract period | No end date, or a fixed term with start and end dates |
| Renewal (fixed-term only) | Whether it renews, how that is decided, and any cap on renewals |
| Workplace and duties | Where you start, what you do, and the scope of change |
| Working hours | Start and end times, overtime yes or no, breaks, days off, leave, shifts |
| Pay | How it is set and calculated, how it is paid, cut-off date and payday, raises |
| Leaving the job | Resignation rules and the grounds for dismissal |
Raises are the only item the employer can explain verbally. Everything else in the table must be in writing. If the company has rules on retirement pay, bonuses, costs you pay (meals, equipment), training or leave of absence, those must be stated too.
Two protections back this up. If the real conditions differ from the notice, you can end the contract at once. If you moved for the job and go home within 14 days, the employer pays your travel. An employer that skips the written notice faces a fine of up to ¥300,000.
The contract period line tells you which kind of job this is. Japanese job ads use three common labels.
Open-ended (seishain, 正社員). There is no end date. This is the standard "regular employee" contract. Ending it requires the same reasons as any dismissal.
Fixed-term (keiyaku shain, 契約社員). The contract has an end date. In most cases, one contract can last up to three years, or five for some high-level experts and workers aged 60 and over. Look closely at three lines:
Fixed-term work also has a five-year rule. Article 18 of the Labour Contract Act covers this. Once your contracts with one employer pass five years in total, you can ask for an open-ended contract. The employer is treated as accepting. At the renewal where that right appears, the notice must tell you so and state your conditions after conversion.
Dispatch (haken, 派遣). A staffing agency employs you and sends you to work at a client company. The agency, not the client, gives you the notice and pays you.
Most offers include a probation period (shiyō kikan, 試用期間). The Labour Standards Act does not set a length, so read the number in your notice. The recruitment rules also require job ads to state the probation period.
Two rules matter here:
Check whether your pay or conditions change when probation ends. If they do, both versions should be in writing.
This is the newest part of the notice. Since April 1, 2024, every contract must state your workplace and duties right after hiring. It must also state their scope of change (henkō no han'i, 変更の範囲). That is the range they could change to through future transfers.
MHLW's 2024 leaflet gives this format:
A narrow scope means the company has limited its right to move you. A wide one, such as "all company locations" or "all company duties," keeps every option open. That includes a transfer to another city.
There is a visa angle as well. Your status of residence covers certain kinds of work. For example, Engineer/Specialist in Humanities covers work that needs specialist knowledge, not simple manual tasks. If the scope of change includes work outside your visa, ask how the company would handle it.
The notice must say whether the job involves overtime. Many offers also use fixed overtime pay (kotei zangyōdai, 固定残業代), sometimes called minashi zangyō. It is a set monthly amount that covers a set number of overtime hours.
Fixed overtime is legal, but MHLW requires the job ad to show three things:
If an offer shows only a total "including overtime," ask for the split. Our guide to overtime in Japan covers how overtime is calculated.
Then check the base pay against the minimum wage. Fixed overtime does not count toward it. Neither do commuting, family and perfect-attendance allowances, or bonuses. MHLW lists these exclusions. Divide the remaining monthly pay by your scheduled monthly hours. For fiscal 2026, Tokyo's minimum wage is ¥1,280 an hour.
Here is an example. An offer pays ¥250,000 a month, including ¥50,000 of fixed overtime for 30 hours. The base is ¥200,000. Over 160 scheduled hours, that is ¥1,250 an hour, below Tokyo's minimum. The headline number looks fine, but the base pay does not.
Most offers are fine. These signs are worth a question before you sign:
Not always, but you can ask. MHLW's guideline for employers of foreign workers asks companies to state the main conditions in a way you understand. That can mean your own language or plain Japanese. It is a duty to try, not a strict requirement.
MHLW also publishes model notices. The English version puts English and Japanese side by side. Its March 2024 edition includes the new scope-of-change and renewal-cap lines. Versions exist in Chinese and other languages too. If you get both an English and a Japanese version, ask which one applies if they differ.
If you are negotiating at this stage, see our guide to salary negotiation in Japan. For allowances on your payslip, our explainer on Japanese salary allowances breaks down the common types.
Is a Japanese job offer (naitei) legally binding?
Usually, yes. Once you accept, the offer generally forms a labour contract that starts on your start date. A company can withdraw it only for an objectively reasonable cause it could not have known at the time of the offer.
Can a Japanese company fire me during probation?
Only with an objectively reasonable reason. During the first 14 days, the 30-day notice rule does not apply. After that, it does.
What is a 労働条件通知書?
It is the written notice of working conditions. The Labour Standards Act requires employers to give it when they hire you. It covers contract period, workplace, duties, hours, pay and dismissal grounds.
What happens when a fixed-term contract passes five years?
You can apply to convert to an open-ended contract, and the employer is treated as accepting. This comes from Article 18 of the Labour Contract Act.
Is fixed overtime pay legal in Japan?
Yes, if the employer states the base pay without it and the hours it covers. It must also pay extra for overtime beyond those hours.
Does Immigration see my employment contract?
Yes. Work visa applications include the notice of working conditions, so the duties and pay must fit your status of residence.
Want offers that state the visa, language and pay terms up front? Upload your profile once. Let Japan's top companies come to you.
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