[Sangetsu]

Life experience is a big part of what makes a person, it's long been said that "experience is the best teacher". Education is very important, but how we apply our education to our chosen profession is equally important. Universities are a little bit removed from reality, and though they are good places to acquire knowledge, they are often terribly short on teaching common sense.

I went to university while serving full-time in the Army. Personally, the Army taught me much more about the world, and life in general. Most of those I served with were not university-educated, but I would consider them well-prepared for nearly any profession they decided to enter.

The basic requirement to get a work visa in Japan is a university degree, or three year's consecutive experience in a particular profession (such as teaching, IT, etc.). Service industry jobs are not considered "professions". I don't know where the "10 year" story came from. I know a few teachers who qualified for visas with 3 years teaching experience in their home countries. This experience must be verified with work contracts or tax records.