I have a few questions ^^, if that's okay. And i'm sorry if someone else asked them before, and i just didn't see them or something. Anyway!

I'm not sure if you can answer the first set of questions, since you had already finished high school when you went to Japan. I'm in grade 11 and would like to apply for a semester in Japan next year, probably the last semester, since i haven't applied yet and i'd have to wait for at least a year to be accepted. I know basic Japanese, but i've never taken any formal courses, so technically there's no school records saying i've taken it. Would that be a problem? I'll probably use the Rotary program, I'm Canadian. Also, what city would you suggest trying to find a school in? I'm interested in Tokyo of course, but are there any other places you'd suggest ^^? And I don't have the best grades...would they still accept me? I know the answer is probably no ^^;;, but just curious what kind of grades you'd have to have...and is it true the Japanese school curriculum is more difficult?

I'm sorry, I'm being yelled at to log off the computer >.< i'll post my other questions about actually living in japan later. But i'll just end with what other kinds of jobs can someone who speaks fluent english get in japan, besides english teacher? Or would getting to japan as an english teacher, and then taking a university course to get a different job that doesn't require speaking english be an okay path to go?

Some good information in here :)
I have always been interested in moving to Japan, but not until recently have i been seriously considering it. I am a computer expert with a work history of over 10 years in the US and would really like to move to Japan and possibly get a job there in the same field.

I was really suprised when i read the post from Nyor about being able to get an apartment for 30,000 yen, thats only like $250/month! theres no way i could get a place for that cheap in the states!

I didnt know about the work Visa, i dont have a bachelors degree so would that shut me out? I do have college experience, but just specific classes to learn areas i needed for work and multiple computer certifications. Think they would let me use one of those degrees you can get from a non-accredited university?

I guess im looking for information on what i should do if i want to come visit for a few months. I would have already gone there if i wasnt trapped in this mindset that if i flew over there, i would have no idea where to start.
Are there resources available for someone like myself to find an apartment (before getting there), some simple job to make ends meet and start learning japanese?:o

Thanks :ywave:

Holy cow :eek: ... it looks to me like ill need some upper thigh weight training to get used to squatting/hovering above the toilets! ive never seen anything like that before.
Maybe some aircraft bombing training and a parascope would help make sure your on target? course its so big you could almost fall in.

http://www.thejapanfaq.com/toilet.jpg

Any secrets to this or what :coldbear:

I was in China for three months and have been here for five, I've never used a squatter. There are western style ones in apartments, a lot of restaurants and so on. The really cool ones have motion sensors that lift the lid and preheat the seat when you walk in, flush and close the lid on the way out.

Phew, I take a bit of time off from answering replies, and there is a flood of them. ^^;

I don`t actually live in Nagoya, but had might as well. We live across the river, I could easily walk into the city.
And... I know you certainly don`t mean any harm, but my son has a developmental delay, has been diagnosed with mild autism, and has enough health problems to fill a book. He has yet to speak a single word yet.

So... Bragging really does not impress me. The opposite in fact.

I don`t really know about the difficulty of being a single mother in Japan. I know there are a ton of services for Japanese single mothers, including free housing, etc - but I doubt you`d be eligible. If your working hours coincided with the normal preschool hours, then you shouldn`t have too much trouble.
I really don`t think there would be too much trouble with race - he probably would be assumed to be half Japanese.

My son is 2 and a half. I don`t really know if they would do well playing together. I`m 26, but I understand how those years can sort of creep up on you - So I don`t worry too much about age.

Good luck - I hope you can find something that suits you. :)

I`m not 100% sure, but I believe it is 20%...
However, I don`t believe that the US considers that under the foreign tax credit, so they may choose to tax you above and beyond that.

Here is the Japanese Tax information page relating to it.

I was able to manage life after around 2 or 3 months, but it took me around 6 months to reach reasonable *fluency*. I didn`t actually take any exams in Japanese until much later, but I would guess that I could have passed the JLPT 2 after around 9 months or so, and the JLPT 1 after a little over a year... However, I never actually studied, so I`m sure it could be done in a shorter time period if you`re actually working toward a goal.

I think it really all depends on what you choose to do once you`re here. If you avoid Japanese-only situations because they`re stressful (which they are if you don`t understand what`s going on) then it may take a very very long time. I`ve seen exchange students, who were relatively immersed in Japanese high schools, who were still only at a very basic level when they went home a year later - mainly because they used English whenever they had the chance.

So, it really depends upon you yourself. If you teach English and hang out with the fellow English teachers, you may still have trouble putting together 2 words after a whole year.

In high school, the language requirement isn`t really there, that`s a university level thing.
I`ve known a couple Canadians who came to Japan with the Rotary program - (Including one who hated me, and did her best to make my life miserable....) So it`s not uncommon.

My recommendation for a city? Anywhere other than Tokyo or Osaka... If you actually want to learn Japanese. If you`d prefer to stay in an exchange student bubble, have fun in Tokyo.
If you`d be going through the Rotary program, I don`t think that Japanese school requirements have anything to do with it - exchange programs have their own requirements.

Of course anyone can take any path they like with employment. Having taught English will not block you from getting a different job later. Either way, you`re not going to get any job straight out of high school - you`ll need a university degree in order to get a visa. So, unless you`re planning to enroll into a Japanese university as soon as you graduate, you`ll almost definitely have to go home and get a degree before you spend longer time in Japan.

Waiting for any other questions! :ywave:

It would be a one room, shared toilet in the hall, no bath or shower, and likely in a very old run down building. Not exactly the best... Sort of like a very bad dorm room. BUT if you just need somewhere to sleep, it would work.

You would need a real degree from an accredited university. And yes, they do check. You would also need to have found a job willing to sponsor you prior to applying for the work visa. The type of degree doesn`t matter, but to work in Japan you do need one.

Well, as Japan doesn`t exactly have a huge influx of unemployed immigrants, there aren`t really that many resources.
Finding an apartment isn`t really a problem, there are huge online databases of available apartments. The thing is, any job is going to require you to have a proper visa, which is something you can`t get without a job already lined up - and a university degree.
If you did have the degree, I would recommend coming over with a student visa (by enrolling in a Japanese language school) that allows part time employment - you could look for a job in your free time.

But without a degree, even if you found one that would be willing to hire you with little or no Japanese skills.... They couldn`t because of the visa problem.

Thanks a lot for the information and that link. I would never have found that on my own since I didn't know what to search for.

I'd really like to spend some time in Japan and 20% isn't so I think I'll go ahead with it. I'll probably spend 6 months on a tourist visa while I see if I like it so tax won't be an issue for a while.

I think I'll learn Japanese to a proficient level before I consider going. I spent a year in Eastern Europe, which I thought would be fun but nobody spoke English so small things like identifying and paying the electricity bill became big problems, especially since they never used the standard Roman alphabet. I wouldn't like the same problems in Japan so I'll intensify my studying of Japanese. I've been learning at a slow pace for a while now but have only learned a little over 600 kanji and my skills with the language are rather lacking. I'll have to put more effort into it.

Anyway, thanks again for the help.

Thanks alot for your reply. I agree with what you say. I've read at other places as well that foreigners living in Japan say it's alot easier to learn Japanese if you use it as much as possible, and avoid using English. One of my main goals in coming to Japan is to learn the language fluently, so if I came over I would do that.
Just one thing. I haven't started my degree yet. I am planning on doing a degree in computer science. But if I came over to Japan, say for 1-2 years, to study the language at a university or college, without a degree, what kind of visa would I need for that? I have been saving up money for the past 2 years, so if I came over I could probarly survive a month or 2 without working, but I would have to get a job. But if I am on a student visa and I can't speak Japanese yet and I don't have a degree yet, what kind of job would I be able to get?
And do you think if I somehow managed to come over to Japan, learn the language for a year or two and become almost fluent. Would I be able to get into a Japanese university and do a degree in Japanese?
Thanks again for your replies, you have been very helpful.

hi, firstly i would like to say i am really inspired by your story!!! youve definatley got gutts!
it is my dream to live in japan, i guess i cant say my life long dream since i am only 17 and have yet to experiance the majority of my life. however to me it feels like a life time of wishing. i am part way through my JLPT 1 but this is only a small step in the right direction. since my parents divorced recently i have had a stronger desire to get away from the tension between my split family.
i dont know where to begin!!!! i know that its something i really want to achive and as soon as possible but there are so many things that i dont know enough about!
did you find it hard to get a job when you first moved there? especially because your japanese wont have been as good then!
i dont wish to use english once i am settled there because thats part of what i am leaving behind so i dont want that to be incorporated in my job. my wish is to be an illustrator would this be difficult in japan do you know?
also you were very lucky to find a place to stay so easily, do you think i would find it difficult? i have friends over there but i dont know them well enough to ask them to stay with them for a while.
i dont know what do do to get started! if you could help me at all by answering some of those questions i would be extremely grateful!! sorry for wasting sooo much of you time x

First, sorry for my bad english/grammar.
I'm very interested in living in Japan.
My dreams are to learn the culture and live there a few months first.
I think the Japan school style/life is great. I read and watch
many mangas and animes, the most of them are about old culture
and schoollife. I want more informations about the reality in Japan.
Such things like the subject (maybe more about the clubactivitis)
what the pupils have and the schoolhours. I'm very much interested in it.
Could someone say how it is, i hope like in Mangas :P I love if pupils are allowed to
stay on the roof of the school while the break or something like that.
I know, I'm maybe to much into it >.< but i cant be helped :P
I'm born in Kazakhstan (<3 Asia, very near to China) and my grandfather
is a German and married a Russian woman. The child of them both
is my father who married my Kazakhst (dunno how to write
it right in Enlish) mother. Now i live in Germany. I'm mixed up with
different languages and I'm now 17th years old.
Do u know if some firms in Japan need peoples who are able to speak fluent Russian,
speak and read fluent German and are not bad in English? (I'm learning. I read and
hear English so much I can, but it's quitedifficult in Germany...).
I aim my dreamjob as a Gamedesinger. I practice the scriptinglangues every day,
i want to be a part of a team wich create awesome games (daydream?).

Hmmm.. i think i talk to much about me.

Could someone tell me about the schoolife so much as u can please :D?

The JET Programme will hire native speakers of German, Russian, French, Spanish and so on. They hire mostly English teachers, but they do look for other languages too. However you will need to have a four year degree from a university to work for the JET programme. Go to jetsetjapan.com and browse through the site. You can find the sites for the JET programme and ministry of education. I will get back to on the school situation, but I would say unless they are the rebel kids they are not hanging out on the rooftops.

Thanks for the site, i will read it carefully. *.*
but do u know how old I will be when the time comes there I will
be allowed to go to a university in Germany?
I dont want to think about it xD Aww q_q
Back to my main question.

rebels? q.q, i hate that so much, i have enough of it in Germany...
now Japan too? Or was it always so?
Please don't destroy my dreams about Japan schools.
(Maybe i read to much Mangas xD, please dont take it all so serious)
Ah, and how are the festival and the shrines there?
So many what i want to know and see with my own eyes >.<
I hope I'm able to visit Japan soon :D (maybe so in 6 years -_-)

I know many countrys but Japan fascinates me the most.
Have u maybe some photos (or better links, cuz the photos what I found
in this forum are not realy expression-fully, maybe I didn't search
good enough. my first day here in this forum ._.)?

And sorry if I'm annoying.

I think trip reports is full of threads with good pics. I don't go to many shrines and that sort of thing right now. Most of the time I am at work and on the weekends I am snowboarding which consumes the majority of my income.

What I mean by rebels is not really comparative to rebelious kids in the US or Europe. They just don't go to classes and when they do are disruptive. At some schools the kids will get out of control because the discipline in a lot of schools has become more light. They have really moved from one extreme to the other. From being too harsh to not harsh enough at times but you have to understand the stress that a lot of them are under.

In order to get into a good high school, you have to perform very well from age 12 to 15 in junior high school. The schools, in my opinion, work the kids too hard and really expect too much of them. They come to school at 7:30 if they are in a sports club for practice and running. Then have classes from 9 to 3:30, clean the school and then have club activities again. Most clubs have activities on Saturdays too for half the day. After their club activities they get home around 6 and eat dinner before they go to juku (cram school) where they study more. By their last year the kids are completely exhausted and some of them end up giving up on the hope that they will get into high school. They pretty much know whether or not they will make it by then, so a lot of them will just stop going to school.

The atmosphere that is portrayed in animes seems more similar to high schools. When they move on to high schools they usually are studying just as hard if not harder. A lot of them have to ride their bikes for an hour to get to school and some ride the trains. You can see the high schoolers on their way to school seven days a week. They are always wearing their uniforms or carrying their sports gear. Often you see them passing out on the trains on their way back from juku or hanging out in groups of six or seven noisily chatting on the trains.

The students are in both schools a lot more independent. The teachers in the morning and afternoons hang out in the teacher's office while all the students are coming into school. Their is a lot less supervision and a lot more responsibility placed on the older students to set an example for the younger ones.

Anyways, check the requirements for obtaining a work visa for your nationality. Different countries have different policies such as Australia where you can do a working holiday visa that does not require a degree.

0_0 thats awful !! i think the japanese education system is to strict even though it has good results its to much pressure for young people.

aww?? Every morning sport?
The schoolife sounds realy difficult o.o I realy want to try it one week.
Ah, and how is / do u like the traditionally Japan food? I want to try
some Ramen (i hope i wrote it right).
ah and thank you jason for the insight. I hope i will see it soon myself.
I did nothing found for German people at jetsetjapan.com
I dont think that Japan people need German language xD

Of course I ment no harm. I didn't know about your son's health problems. But I have a lot of experience caring for and teaching children with special challenges of all sorts, including autism. And I can tell you, though I'm sure you're the one person who doesn't need telling, that your son is still as wonderful as any other and his life is still very worth living, for both him and all the people he blesses. Your son has things to offer that most people never will. Peace.

The food is good, as long as it is not school food.

Here is the JET program link for Germany, Botschaft von Japan in Deutschland
Can't tell you what it says though, I failed German.

Hi Nyororin. I have been looking around a bit lately, and it looks like if I come over I will probarly be living in Kyoto, Osaka or Nagoya (I'm a bit weary of Tokyo). I want to study Japanese for 2 years, and if I am fluent enough, I want to do a degree in Japanese.
Can you give me more info about studying Japanese at a university or which universities offer Japanese courses to foreigners?
How much does it cost to do a Japanese course at a university?
And lastly, I will be coming over on a student visa, so what kind of part-time work will I be able to do?

Well, if you`re not fluent enough to study normally after 2 years... There is something seriously wrong.

Really though, 2 years is way more than enough if you`re living in Japan. If not... Well... a 3 month course in Japan is probably close to 2 years of normal "Japanese classes" elsewhere.

If you were fluent enough (ie. JLPT 1) then the university itself doesn`t really matter. You`d be studying as a regular student and not really as a "foreigner". Most universities accept international students, but the bigger the university the more common it is.

Just to list a few in my immediate vicinity that have English pages:
Meijo University
Nagoya University
Nanzan University
Nagoya Institute of Technology
Nagoya City University

There are tons more, these are just a few I can think of off the top of my head. Most places will accept you if you know enough Japanese, even if they don`t have a big official international program - You just have to ask.

As for cost, that really depends completely upon the university itself. It ranges anywhere from really cheap to ungodly expensive.

On a student visa, you`re generally allowed 20 hours of work a week - with sponsor/school approval. Basically you`re free to work anywhere as long as it doesn`t interfere with your schooling.
Part time English teaching in the evenings is probably best in terms of money, but I`ve known people who`ve done all sorts of jobs. If your Japanese level is high enough to take a regular university course, then you shouldn`t have too much trouble.

You need a few phrases to survive anywhere in the world.
1) How to count
2) How to ask how much something costs
3) Where is________?
4) Where is the toilet?
5) I'm sorry and thank you

If you know these, you will be fine anywhere in the world. Help is a good one too if you get yourself in trouble. Check out japanesepod.com for free Japanese podcasts on iTunes.

Yes but not because you are biracial. It isn't really staring and has nothing to do with racism. Rather people are just curious to see what the foreigner is doing. It's like, "Hmm, gaijin, wonder where he is going?" or at a restaurant they may be curious to see what you eat. "Whoa, he likes Japanese food. I wonder if he eats natto..." It is just basic curiosity. But yeah, get used to being watched. I know people are watching me all the time so now I rarely notice it. At least it is not like living in Beijing where they see foreigners and immediately try to sell you anything and everything under the sun and feel slightly offended if you don't know how to respond politely. You don't say, "I don't want it" but rather "I don't need it."

:o
 

Nyororin your 'story' sounds pretty sad.. :'/ - But also happy.. :)
- Did you live in USA before you moved to Japan? :D

Thanks a lot for your reply Nyororin. Yeah I guess you're right, it would be easier to learn Japanese if you are actually learning it in Japan. I have been trying to teach myself Japanese for a couple of years on and off, and I haven't realy made that much progress. So yeah, if I come over I'll work hard on my Japanese to get into a Japanese university (that's my main goal). Also just one more thing. You say you know people who did all kinds of jobs. I was just wandering what other type of part time job (except for part time English teaching, which seems the easiest/most obvious) I would be able to do in the beginning, when I can't speak Japanese that well yet.

I know you`ve already gotten an answer to some of this, but here is mine. :)

A basic day... Hmm... I could tell you about my basic day, but that would be really incredibly boring. But do let me know if you want to hear it. :P

Yes, everyone speaks Japanese. I`d say that you definitely, without exception, need to know at least basic Japanese to survive here. Most people do not speak English.

Thank you for your kind words regarding my son. We too hope he is okay.

Yes, I did. I lived in Columbus, Ohio.

Well, without Japanese skills, you`ll probably only be able to teach English. When I said I knew people who did other jobs, I was referring to students who were already at a high enough level that they could take normal university classes.
Convenience store clerks, grocery store stockers, assembly line workers, clothing shop workers... umm... That`s all I can personally think of.

The second most popular job for English speakers in Japan is corporate recruiters that hire Japanese to work in foreign firms in Japan. But it isn't really a career that can be started when you are fresh off the boat.

Wow
 

This is amazing.... you had a hard life ut you still made it through.... I guess you were determined..... I've always wanted to go to Japan.... but I have no way of getting there.... I also want to learn the culture...do you have any advice for me

Thanks for the replies guys. I was just wondering because I will have to work part time while I am studying Japanese. So after a little while, as my Japanese gets better, I will probarly try get a normal part time Japanese job. Also Nyororin, I just want to know if you knew about student loans. If I start studying for a degree at a Japanese university, I will probarly need a loan. So would it be best to get a loan here in the UK and use it to study in Japan later on, or should I get a loan in Japan. This will only be later on when my Japanese is fluent and all, so it's still a couple of years away. I'm just gathering as much info as I can.

Forgot to share this one, boobooSKI - Ski Jobs in Japan

For actually learning the language and culture, there is nothing better than being in Japan.

So, basically, decide what it is you want to do, make a realistic plan to do it, and work toward that goal. If you`re incapable of following the plan you made yourself, then you should wait a few more years.

To be quite honest, I don`t know all that much about student loans in Japan... Actually, I`ve never even really heard of them here.
But even if they are offered, unless you have permanent residency, no bank will loan to you. (Too much risk of you running off before paying) You`d also have no cosigner.

So I would suggest getting a loan before you come to Japan.

Right now, my main concern is, how exactly do you move to japan? I mean, marriage is one, but how do you permanently live there otherwise? Thanks for the help.(Yes, I plan on moving there someday. I'd like to move there early twenties...I'll be saving up my extra money until then...plus I want to get at least one manga published before I leave)

@offtopic

wich genre? let me read *-*


@ontopic
thank you jason for the german link, but i dont think that i will
join this programm, its to high for me D: