Originally Posted by Unregistered

While your financial situation is good, I suspect your success is more because you probably had some strong & advantageous capabilities and your Japan adventure likely had very little to do with where you are now.

The OP is kind of different. His career so far has been mediocre below average and he is actively trying to pursue careers in retail shops that have opportunity to talk to Japanese customers. That means so far he hasn't been that great from a career perspective and secondly he is pitching himself too low in a low paying industry with jobs that are more catered for non-tertiary workers.

If he is really serious about wanting to make 3k in his next job, he will need to rethink and re-position this whole Japan love affair. I doubt there are many good companies that will be impressed with the 'bravery' of a FASS grad with a poor career record just because he went on a 1 year Japan learning adventure.