2026 has brought many changes for international developers in Japan. AI is changing the nature of software development, the government is tightening immigration policy, and the yen's value has decreased significantly.
We’ve been running the TokyoDev Developer Survey for close to a decade now, and this year's edition feels more important than ever.
The survey is anonymous, and we’ll only share aggregated results, never individual responses.
Last year, over 900 developers took part. The more answers we have, the clearer a picture we can build for international developers in Japan, so please share the survey with your friends, colleagues, and workplaces!
FAQ
- Who is behind this survey?
- This survey is run by TokyoDev, a site that helps international software developers grow their career in Japan through a job board, community, and articles.
- What are the survey's goals?
The survey's goals are to track the working conditions of international developers in Japan (see previous editions).
- How will this data be used?
All data collected will be kept strictly private and only be used in aggregate to publish the survey results.
- Who should take this survey?
- This is an open survey for any developer living in Japan.
- How long will answering the survey take?
Depending on how many questions you answer (all questions are optional), filling out the survey should take around 5-10 minutes.
- When will the results be released?
- We will open the survey from September 1 to September 30. After closing the survey, we will analyze the results and release them with a write-up.
Contributors
Special thanks to the following people for helping us design the survey.
TokyoDev Founder Paul McMahon
About TokyoDev
TokyoDev started off with me writing about my own experiences being a developer in Tokyo. As other international developers asked me questions about working here, I wrote articles to answer them. Now TokyoDev has evolved into a site dedicated to helping international developers start and grow their career in Japan.