Part-time work (arubaito) is paid by the hour, floored by your prefecture's minimum wage — in practice ¥1,100–1,500 in the big cities, more after 10 p.m. For students and dependents the hard constraint is not the wage but the 28-hour weekly cap, which is counted across all jobs combined and enforced at visa renewal.
Key facts
- Urban hourly (typical)
- ¥1,100–1,500
- Legal floor
- Prefecture minimum (Tokyo ¥1,226)
- Night premium
- +25% after 10 p.m.
- Student/dependent cap
- 28 h/week, all jobs combined
- Best-paying niches
- Language work, night shifts
What the hour actually pays
Your floor is the prefecture minimum wage — ¥1,226 in Tokyo, ¥1,020–1,100 in most regions since October 2025 — and the market pays a little above it:
| Job type | Urban hourly (typical) |
|---|---|
| Convenience store | ¥1,150–1,300 |
| Restaurant / café floor | ¥1,150–1,400 |
| Izakaya (evening–night) | ¥1,250–1,500 |
| Hotel housekeeping | ¥1,150–1,300 |
| Warehouse / sorting | ¥1,200–1,500 |
| Tourist retail / front desk (multilingual) | ¥1,300–1,600 |
| Language tutoring | ¥1,500–3,000 |
Two multipliers matter more than the base rate: the legal +25% after 10 p.m., and your languages — a bilingual student behind a hotel desk out-earns a monolingual one washing dishes by ¥300+ an hour at the same visa cost.
The same hour in eight cities
| City | Legal floor (FY2025) | Typical baito hourly | Month at the 28-h cap |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tokyo | ¥1,226 | ¥1,250–1,450 | ~¥150,000–175,000 |
| Yokohama | ¥1,225 | ¥1,230–1,400 | ~¥150,000–170,000 |
| Osaka | ¥1,177 | ¥1,200–1,400 | ~¥145,000–170,000 |
| Nagoya | ¥1,140 | ¥1,150–1,350 | ~¥140,000–165,000 |
| Kyoto | ¥1,122 | ¥1,150–1,350 | ~¥140,000–165,000 |
| Kobe | ¥1,116 | ¥1,130–1,300 | ~¥135,000–160,000 |
| Sapporo | ¥1,075 | ¥1,080–1,250 | ~¥130,000–150,000 |
| Fukuoka | ¥1,057 | ¥1,070–1,250 | ~¥130,000–150,000 |
Cap month ≈ hourly × ~121 hours (28 × 4.33 weeks). The column that decides is what is left after rent: Tokyo’s ¥170/h edge over Fukuoka is worth about ¥20,000 a month at the cap, while the rent gap runs ¥30,000–50,000 the other way — which is why students in Kyoto, Fukuoka or Sapporo often bank more than in Tokyo despite the lower wage. Tourist-heavy cities also hire multilingual staff hardest. Every floor revises again in October 2026.
The 28-hour rule is the real employer
On a student or dependent status, part-time work runs on the shikakugai katsudō permission, capped at 28 hours a week across all jobs combined. Three mechanics people miss: the count includes every workplace at once; the paper trail (payroll, tax records) reaches immigration at renewal; and long-vacation periods raise the student cap to 8 hours/day only within the school’s official calendar. The math this implies: at Tokyo rates the cap earns roughly ¥130,000–160,000 a month — enough to carry a student budget outside Tokyo, a meaningful supplement inside it.
Reading a baito offer like a contract
The habits from the employment-contract guide scale down to hourly work: get the rate, shift pattern and night/overtime treatment in writing; check the first payslip against hours actually worked; and treat any employer who pays cash without records as pricing in your inability to complain. Deductions for a uniform or “register shortages” that drag the effective rate below minimum are violations — the labor office takes those reports in multiple languages, and your visa status does not weaken the claim.
Common mistakes & warnings
- The 28-hour cap is a visa matter, not a workplace rule — immigration counts hours across every job you hold, and violations surface at renewal through tax and payroll records. Exceeding it risks non-renewal for you and trouble for your school or sponsor.
- Cash-in-hand jobs with no payslip leave you unable to prove income or hours — that hurts you at visa renewal and makes wage theft unprovable. Always get payslips.
- "Trial period" pay below minimum wage is legal only within narrow, formally approved limits — an open-ended cheap "training rate" is a violation, not a custom.
Frequently asked questions
Which part-time jobs pay best?
Anything using your languages — tutoring, tourist-facing retail, hotel front desk — tops the table (¥1,300–3,000). Izakaya and late-night convenience shifts beat daytime equivalents via the 25% night premium. Housekeeping and kitchen work hire easiest but sit nearest the minimum.
Do students get any exception to the 28 hours?
During officially designated long school vacations the cap rises to 8 hours a day (roughly 40 a week). The school's calendar defines the vacation — confirm dates in writing before adding shifts.
Will taxes be taken from part-time pay?
Yes — income tax is withheld from payslips, and a resident who earned above the threshold owes resident tax the following June. Keep your gensen-chōshūhyō (withholding slip); you need it for renewals and year-end filing.
Official sources
This page provides general information only and is not legal advice. Immigration rules change; always confirm details with the official sources listed above before making decisions.