[Sangetsu]

Your work visa will more or less require that you work part-time, and earn a minimum of about 200,000 yen per month. To get the visa you need a few things, such as a college diploma, a valid passport, and a sponsorship form filled out by a company willing to hire you.

The level of pay offered by the chain schools (and Interac) is about 250,000 per month. All will offer housing subsidies/assistance of one form or another. If you are interviewed/hired, you will be responsible for airfare to wherever it is you will be trained, as well as airfare to Japan. You should budget at least $2000 to get you by in Japan after paying for airfare, etc.

If you have to rent your own apartment, you'll probably be looking spending that $2000 in rent and deposits (assuming your rent is between $400 and $700 a month). The more money you can save before you move, the better.

Once you arrive, it doesn't take long to settle in. Once the paychecks start arriving you should have no problems.

As for language study, the more you know before you arrive, the easier time you will have adjusting. Regardless of how much you know when you get here, you'll probably find that the people don't speak in the polite/correct forms you learned in textbooks. But you'll pick up on spoken Japanese quickly enough.

I'm in my second year here in Japan, and I'm loving it.