[steven]

Jordanfuller, I'm sure whatever path you take you will come to this realization some day, but I think the first step in your "journey to Japan" you would find it worthwhile to get your bearigns in your own homeland.

Other people have already said it, but I'll reiterate to really drive this one home: learn Japanese. If you haven't already started, I'd say now's a good time. Believe it or not, many people lose interest in "Japan" by about their second year of Japanese study (at the college level). So consider that like your first rite of passage (I'd put that in short term goals).

I don't know if it has been established yet, but what country are you in? I came from America and majoring in Japanese at my college seemed quite easy compared to other majors (paper wise and logistically speaking... fewer essays and not a whole lotta flaming hoops at the end). It was, however, difficult in that learning Japanese is not the easiest thing to stick to. So whether or not you decide to major in Japanese, you should definitely finish college. That should be another goal and step.

Another thing you might consider is a trip to Japan. Here are some options: Maybe you can take a trip with your high school (or a related or nearby high school). Maybe you could take a trip as some kind of graduation present. Maybe you could study abroad in Japan while you're in college. Maybe you could travel to Japan as a graduation present (for college this time). Or, maybe you could travel to Japan by getting a temporary teaching job (such as JET).

Living here for a period of time will be the real test. I believe the more language you know, the better time you will have. It also depends on how open minded you are. There are major cultural differences between your home country and Japan, I'm sure. That includes food, manners, traditions, work mentality, weather, household items, and way beyond. I think what you might find is that there will be positive things and negative things (from your perspective)... and I think it won't be too different from your own country when you really start to weigh things out. In this case getting a citizenship usually means getting rid of a citizenship, so you really have a lot of thinking to do. Getting to that point where you can make a choice will take years (probably something I'd put at about 10 years from now for you). It's a choice that you're making for life, so you have to do some serious thinking about it, and to be frank, I think you're a bit young to be making decisions on that level. I think it's a good idea to plan things out, and there's no harm in starting early. I think RickOShay pointed out a good alternate option that you can choose other than a Japanese Citizenship.