Quote:
Originally Posted by 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.
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Well I'm still working on my college degree. I'm taking summer classes so I can graduate in the fall of '10. So that's in the works. As for my passport all I need to do is just renew so that isn't a problem. So the only thing I need to worry about is the sponsorship from the company.
It kind of stinks though that the work visa will only let you work part-time. But I think I'll try and manage. 250,000 per month isn't that bad for a single person. Although I might want to save money for the future of course. At least the companies help out with apartments. I heard that landlords would rather not deal with foreigners due to the language barrier. Airfare is no problem either. I have enough air miles to go to Japan and back without paying the airlines.
Does the rent include ultilities as well?
My Japanese teacher mostly taught the class about informal Japanese. Like "suru" instead of "shimasu" and stuff like that. But I understand what you mean. I'm sure if I go that I will learn so much more than what the textbook shows.
What was it like for you when you came to Japan? Did you adjust easily over time?