I've applied for Japanese, and I've always assumed that a language would be more helpful for a graduate than, say, Philosophy or Classics. Isn't Japan the world's second largest economy? I could be very much wrong, but I thought there'd be a good few opportunities in companies that have operations in Japan and the UK, with translation, or interpretation, or teaching.
And besides, I think that any language degree at a half-decent uni is going to be well respected post-graduation,