Miki Hotta, 26, works in Jakarta as a reporter for a local Japanese-language newspaper after failing to land a job back in Japan with any of the firms she contacted.
Hotta started job hunting in September 2008 as a Nagoya college junior, and sent employment applications to about 100 companies, ranging from food makers to apparel trading houses.
But none of them offered her a job amid the severe employment conditions and prevailing economic stagnation.