I applied online. I interviewed at Rakuten in Mar 2018
Interview
Rakuten's HR is quite organized and professional. After filling a pre-interview questionnaire, i had two interviews and one english test (automated - this is called the Versant test, which is quite accurate). People were quite nice and knowledgeable. It took a week and a half for them to give me their decision. Total process, starting with my online application, took about 1.5 month.
I applied through an employee referral. The process took 2 months. I interviewed at Rakuten (Tokio)
Interview
One interview through online tool like skype. the interview was conducted by two person for around slightly less than an hour. mainly situation questions. iSince i do not speak much japanese, i feel they are relatively flexible on the language.
Mismatch on the job I was applying for and the job interview I got, which apparently was for a "Product Operations Manager".
So it all went downhill from there.