A new wave of opportunity is breaking on Japan's shores, and for savvy global talent, the tide is high. The long-held narrative of a "cash-loving" Japan is being rapidly rewritten, not by gradual evolution, but by a seismic, government-backed shift towards a digital economy. This transformation has hit a critical tipping point. In 2024, Japan’s cashless payment ratio surged to 42.8%, decisively smashing the government's 2025 target of 40% a full year ahead of schedule *10 . T

This edition spotlights Anton, a Munich‑born polymath whose path has already zig‑zagged from competitive table‑tennis courts in Germany to the lecture halls of Harvard. Along the way he has juggled sleight‑of‑hand magic, late‑night philosophy debates, and a growing fascination with Japanese Zen. Today, he is carving out a niche at the intersection of financial economics, public policy, and cross‑cultural understanding. A journey in which Jelper Club has become both a compass

This installment spotlights Kanon Asari from Sendai, Japan, who completed a bilingual Japanese‑English International Baccalaureate program in high school before heading to Vermont. Now a sophomore at Middlebury College  double‑majoring in Economics  and Sociology , she dissects educational inequality while carving fresh powder on the college’s own ski slopes. Kanon explains how a liberal‑arts setting, first‑hand exposure to social gaps, and a growing network through Jelper Cl

What happens when a quietly hyper-connected economy opens its doors, underprices its cost of living, and still invents the batteries that power your phone? For top-tier graduates, it looks like the biggest career mispricing on the planet. A visa that behaves like an option contract Forget the old chicken-and-egg dilemma of needing a sponsor before you can hunt for a job. The J-Find visa  lets recent grads of two-table-top-100 universities land in Japan with a two-year runway,

Around the world, governments are scrambling to attract highly-skilled new graduates . Five leading economies—Japan, the United Kingdom, the United States, Germany and China—now offer post-graduation routes that let top graduates live and work (or at least look for work) without employer sponsorship. Yet the ease of entry and the depth of the underlying job market vary dramatically. The analysis below distills each scheme’s headline rules, then sizes up the real hiring landsc

This time, we had the pleasure of speaking with Aditya Mishra , a Canadian-born, Japan-raised student who is now in his second year of the Business of Cinematic Arts  program at the University of Southern California (Class of 2027). With a mixed Indian-Japanese heritage and a lifetime spent in international schools, Aditya blends creative storytelling with the rigour of finance and accounting, aiming to make films that resonate across cultures. In this interview, he reflects

You attend a world-class university, your GPA sparkles, and you’ve already ticked off several brand-name internships. Surely the job market—Japan’s included—will roll out a red carpet. Yet every year even “elite” students stumble: first-round rejections, mismatched roles, or culture shock that slows promotions. Why? Below are five recurring—and avoidable—pitfalls  we see among high-achieving Jelper Club members, plus concrete tactics to stay ahead of the curve. 1. Prestige ≠

In this edition we sit down with Federico Gruson , a native New Yorker whose Colombian roots, quarter-Japanese heritage, and curiosity about Japan’s “economic puzzle” have taken him from the skyscrapers of Manhattan to the heart of Tokyo’s venture ecosystem. After a year abroad at International Christian University (ICU) ignited his passion for Japan, Federico doubled down on language study, joined a fast-growing tech start-up, and now spearheads global product launches that