Online Japanese courses for work with keigo, JLPT and BJT

Japanese matters at work in two settings. Outside Japan, people at Japanese companies and their partners deal with colleagues, customers and suppliers in Japan. Inside Japan, foreign workers need Japanese for their visa and for daily work, and employers in Japan often ask for N2 or N1 of the JLPT, the Japanese-Language Proficiency Test.

Japan recruits foreign workers through two routes with fixed language rules. The Specified Skilled Worker programme fills sectors with labour shortages, such as nursing care and accommodation. The points system for highly skilled professionals rewards researchers, engineers and managers, and Japanese skills add points there.

The language rules for working in Japan are published by the authorities and differ by route.

The JFT-Basic is the Japan Foundation's computer-based test of everyday Japanese. It usually runs every month and shows the result immediately. In the points system of the Immigration Services Agency, applicants need 70 points in total from education, career, salary, age and bonus items. A graduate of a foreign university who majored in Japanese also receives the 15 points of the N1 item, and a degree from a Japanese university adds 10 bonus points of its own.

Business Japanese courses focus on keigo, the respectful and humble forms of Japanese. Respectful forms raise the action of the other person, humble forms lower your own. The verb to go becomes irasshaimasu for a customer and mairimasu for yourself. Keigo is expected with customers and in business correspondence. Like business courses in other languages, business Japanese courses usually expect level B1 of the CEFR, the level at which you manage everyday life without help.

Business emails in Japanese follow fixed opening and closing phrases. Many begin with osewa ni natte orimasu, a set phrase that thanks the other side for the ongoing relationship. Specialised courses prepare for care work, hospitality or technical jobs in Japan, often for people who plan to work there on a work visa.

A certificate makes your Japanese comparable for employers and immigration authorities.

The BJT, the Business Japanese Proficiency Test, has no pass mark. Your score places you in one of six levels, from J5 (0 to 199 points) to J1+ (600 to 800 points). You take it on computer at a test centre, in about 21 cities in Japan and about 20 countries or regions abroad, and you must wait three months before a retake. It covers listening, listening and reading, and reading.

The JLPT runs in many countries in July and December, and its certificate does not expire. Since December 2025 the score report of candidates who pass also shows a level of the CEFR, the European scale from A1 to C2, which helps employers outside Japan to place the result.

A business Japanese course should practise the situations you face at work.

1. A needs analysis at the start records your tasks, contacts and difficulties. A needs analysis is a short interview or questionnaire about your working day.
2. You use keigo in phone calls, meetings and customer contact.
3. You write business emails with fixed opening and closing phrases.
4. You practise self-introductions and the exchange of business cards, which follows set phrases in Japan.
5. You read the kanji in offers, specifications and internal documents.
6. You follow meetings, phone calls and video conferences at natural speed.

1. Does the course start with a needs analysis of your work tasks?
2. Does the teacher have experience with business Japanese or your industry?
3. Does the course practise keigo in role plays based on real situations from your job?
4. Do lesson times work across the time difference? Japan is UTC+9 all year, 13 to 17 hours ahead of most of North America and 7 to 8 hours ahead of central Europe.
5. Does the provider name a target, such as a JLPT level or a BJT score, and test it at the end?