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I hope that the Year of the Horse has started off nicely for you!

Today's topics:

• 2026 Q1 Job board update
• Trademark news
• Cross-cultural training opportunities

The first two months of 2026 have been busy on the job board. On average, the total number of job ads on Nihongo Jobs was 2,330 at the start of the year and is now 2,731, a positive difference of about 400. The job board gets updated on a daily basis and these numbers fluctuate accordingly.

The 18 Featured ads thus far this year represent standard and unique ways that Japanese language or culture skills can be utilized: sales support, sales engineers, accounting/finance, manufacturing safety, logistics, live-in nannies, production engineering, jewelry brand ambassadors on a cruise ship, gaming industry, beer retail, remote travel, general affairs & HR, airline customer service, and more.

Japanese language requirements for these Featured roles range from unnecessary to advanced/native, and experience levels range from unnecessary to mid-career. Roles that offer US visa support are minimal to none.

If you ever want to see how job ads are promoted on social media, please see all links at the bottom of this newsletter! If you'd like to see the job board itself, please visit https://nihongojobs.com/jobs. If you scroll down to the footer of the job board, you can also see categories such as US state, industry, language level, etc.

As a reminder, Ikigai Connections is not a recruiting company, and the main service is promoting companies' "featured" open roles via automation tools and social media. Please don't hesitate to hit "reply" if you'd like to learn more!

Sincerely,

Kasia （カーシャ）

Founder, Ikigai Connections & Sr. Consultant, Japan Consulting Office (LinkedIn)

PS. The Feb 5th Japanese Job Fair in Novi, Michigan was a huge success! Take a look at our Consulate-General's Facebook posts to see some photos 📷

Trademark news

Ikigai Connections is proud to share that both "Ikigai Connections" and "Nihongo Jobs" have been trademarked 🎉

Ikigai Connections was born in August 2018 as a blog to start sharing the message of how vital kakehashi (“bridge” in Japanese) employees can be to organizations.

The Nihongo Jobs job board was born in May 2019, and it focuses on US-based jobs that require some kind of Japanese language and/or cultural skills.

It feels wonderful to have both of these names officially in the US Patent and Trademark Office ;-)

Thank you to everyone who has supported this mission over the years! (I was also so happy to see the love on LinkedIn!)

Cross-cultural training

JCO celebrates 20 years in 2026! I am happy to provide cross-cultural trainings for Japan Consulting Office because I firmly believe that such knowledge-sharing is important for global business.

If you'd like to get a glimpse into how our trainers work virtually and in-person, consider attending an efficiency-boosting Open Workshop:

• "Working and Communicating with Japanese Colleagues, Clients and HQ" Monthly session information here (in English)
• 「アメリカ人同僚との仕事とコミュニケーション講座」Monthly session information here (in Japanese)

Each virtual seat at an Open Workshop offers the following:
🎯 A pre-course questionnaire so we can learn what matters most to you
📚 1-month access to all JCO E-learning modules (7 engaging topics in English and 8 in Japanese)
🗣️ A live, interactive 2-hour session (11 AM - 1 PM CT) with practical tips you can start using right away
Price per session: $490 USD

𝗛𝗥 𝗼𝗿 𝗟&𝗗 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗳𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗹𝘀: If you're in charge of training at your organization, you can attend for free by agreeing to a follow-up call. It’s a no-risk way to see if the course is right for your organization.

Press "reply" if you are interested in learning more!

About Nihongo Jobs

Thank you for being a part of this community! Learn more about Nihongo Jobs here if you'd like to post a job ad to the Ikigai Connections community of 20,000+ followers who are interested in using their Japanese language and/or cultural skills in a career.

FYI: here are the steps to follow. If you already have a job description created, it should take you 10-15 minutes on average:

1. ​Log in or register on Nihongo Jobs
2. Select the 15-day or 30-day job ad (bulk options also available)
3. Add your job ad details
4. Make your payment
5. Upon submitting, you will receive a confirmation email with links to the social media posts. (This usually takes a few minutes, but please check your spam folder if you don't receive it.)

If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to hit "reply"!

Learn more about the Nihongo Jobs job board here. See how featured job ads are promoted: LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, X/Twitter, Bluesky, Threads, LinkedIn newsletter (Tuesdays), job seeker newsletter (Thursdays).

If you haven't already used coupon code "nihongo" for 25% off a single 15-day or 30-day job ad, login/register to use it now.