Not that long ago, I've heard that any English speaker could take a flight to Tokyo and find a high-paying gig in Japan within mere hours of touching down. I know several that originally moved here during the Golden Age, and they tell me it was truly a wondrous period.

Even when I took my first few visits to Japan almost 15 years ago, it was great to be a gaijin in Japan (despite the fact that there was still only one Starbucks in Shinjuku). Even in Tokyo, the locals went out of their way to show me a good time. I was treated like a celebrity wherever I went. Families invited me to stay at their homes within minutes of meeting me. I scored a lot of dates.

Sometime around the G.W. Bush Administration, something began to change for those thinking about moving to Japan.

For one thing, there were a lot more of us. I don't have any statistics handy, but when I relocated here in 2003, there were other foreigners everywhere I went in Tokyo. And Starbucks too. There were places in the smaller cities and the countryside where non-Japanese were still rare, but you could no longer expect celebrity status by virtue of your birth.

Another change was that a lot of Japanese municipalities were in financial trouble. The economic downturn that had hit Japan hard at the end of the 90s didn't seem to effect the government very much in the beginning, but when it came, it came down hard. Many towns went bankrupt and had to negotiate to be bailed out by neighboring cities. These cities were often a lot tighter about spending and didn't see the wisdom of paying full-time wages and benefits to recent college grads with no job experience. Private dispatch companies began to pop up everywhere.

Meanwhile, the English conversation industry was booming. Anyone and everyone with native-level English was finding employment with companies like NOVA teaching ineffective lessons to Japanese customers who paid exorbitant prices on long-term contracts. It sounds like a recipe for massive profit in the near view, but eventually, people came to notice what a bad system it was, and NOVA shifted right into bankruptcy in 2007.

Exactly when I was thinking about returning to Japan after a few months back home, the market was inundated with thousands of newly-laid-off ex-NOVA teachers willing to work for peanuts so they could afford to get back home. Let me tell you, it was a tough job market to be competing in.

To land a good job in Japan today is much tougher than it was back in the day. Hell, even just a few years ago. There is a lot more competition, starting salaries are much lower, and being foreign is just not all that special anymore.

So how can you increase your chance of finding work? Simple: you have to prepare.

Before long, English will be a required subject for primary 5th and 6th grade students. Conversation schools have learned from NOVA's example and are adjusting their services and more flexible contracts. They're also being more discerning with their hiring.

Thanks to the worldwide economic uncertainty and the incredible rise of some of Japan's Asian neighbors, Japanese businesses are placing a premium on language skills. Television programs often feature visits to Chinese and Korean schools full of happy students speaking English at a much higher level than their Japanese counterparts. Japan is a nation that prides itself on its business savvy, and they do not want to lose to China.

Also, you may think this is news, but there's this thing called the World Wide Web now. Yes, I know it's been around a while, but for much of the world, instant global communication is a very new invention, and most people in Japan are still getting used to it. The cool thing about the internet is that it's helping English become the de facto lingua franca of the 21st century (wow, two Latin phrases in one sentence). Japanese people, especially younger ones, want to understand English so they can communicate online and learn about what's going on in places they find more exciting than where they are.

On the subject of excitement, tons of Japanese are interested in travel, especially young women. Sometimes it feels as if more than half of the English students I meet in Japan are young women who want to visit places like Hawaii and New Zealand. There is a huge demand for people to teach English conversation while skipping all the confusing grammar everybody hates learning in junior high school.

Not everyone is an aspiring English teacher. The world is full of different kinds of people with different talents and skills and likes and dislikes. Unfortunately, most Japanese people have the image that all non-Japanese people are white Americans who exist for the sole purpose of teaching English. It is wrong, and it isn't fair, but there's a reason that the vast majority of non-asian foreign residents of Japan are English teachers. It's an easy job to get.

Even if you aren't interested in teaching for very long, I suggest you try it out, either as a stepping stone to something else, or for additional income. Japanese people will tend to assume that you are an English teacher anyway, so you might at least profit from it.

Still, I understand that many people have higher aspirations for their careers than to be a foreign language teacher. I certainly do. The good news is that there are all kinds of possible ways to make a living here. The not-as-good news is that some of them are more difficult to even find than the ubiquitous teaching jobs.

Finding a job in Japan is different from finding employment where you are now. In addition to the difficulties resulting from issues with international communication, relocation, and etc., you also have to deal with Japanese people and their culture (and their stereotypes of your culture).

I'm going to go ahead and let you in on the bad news first, because it may save you from making a mistake if you can't deal with it. The bad news is: you will probably be unable to land your dream job in Japan if you haven't already spent some time here.

I'm not telling you that you can't get the job you want, but you can't expect to send a resume overseas with no experience and no Japanese ability and get offered a great job with great pay and benefits in an area you want to live in. You can't expect such a deal at home, so you'd be silly to expect it in Japan, wouldn't you? I knew you'd agree. Which is why I know you want to come up with the best possible strategy to get yourself to Japan so you can start looking for the job you really want.

Things aren't how they used to be, and it's no longer enough to just show up and begin living the good life right away, but don't think it isn't possible to live a wonderful life doing what you truly love in Japan. It is possible, and with the right preparation, it's very probable.