To the OP:

Have you even visited Japan?

I suggest you read MMM's "I don't want to live in Japan" thread.

1. Study abroad

2. Sponsored by a company

3. register as a entertainer for a visa

4. get married to a japanese person

5. certain countries have holiday visas, which is good for 6 months

6. stay 3 months at a time on sakura houses 3 month rental plan and fly to guam every 3 months for a day or so and reenter and book the same apartment.

7. Work for some bar for funds and room with a person who has a visa and stay off the radar *not recommended*

8. have a ridiculous amounts of money, they'll issue a visa for millionaires with out question since they'll spend that money in Japan.

9. Go through Jet/esl teaching program

10. be a homeless person stayin off the grid

I know japan is great and is a exciting place to be.

but actually living there and working there is a different story.

You really gotta have a plan and a reason to be there, other then "i love japanese things lol kthxbai!"

comming out of highschool, you will not be able to afford to live in japan unless your out in the boonies some where.

not knowing the language fluently will make things more difficult *im not fluent and manage to live there for year and 1/2 but it made things harder*

right out of college i just decided to go live there.

really hard finding work, and affording every thing. i found my self burning through money on just necessities.

luckily i illegally got a job at night clubs for a short period.

what i did was just stay on a 3 month visa and dip out the country for a few days, it was one of the more expensive routes.

but i had no other choice really.

and my fiance at the time wasn't a japanese citizen, she just had a student Visa and per parents had work visas.

also not to sound like a dick

but if you cant afford school in america, you will not afford life in japan. period.

unless you do with mmm said and become homeless.

Gawd, this may be the reason why I spend time on the internet.

Internet stupidity, and Internet stupidity refuted is by far, the best form of entertainment for the modern generation.

Yes, and if you try to advise these people they get mad because you told them something they didn't want to hear and you are a bad person for telling them.

I know!

Aren't internet tears delicious?

Probably the biggest Necropost I've ever seen.

Ahh It's good to be back.

Talk talk
 

This thread is full of nay-sayers.
I dare say there's more than one route to achieving your goals. I, too, have many questions on this subject. However, I want to travel to Japan as a college student (Having graduated high school a year ago). I recognize that this is not impossible - provided I am well prepared.
Student loans will be a moderate life-saver.

For those of us who are determined to approach this subject in a way other than obtaining a bachelors and getting a job, are there any recommendations for an advisable route? I would prefer not to be referred to "exchange programs", either. Patience is a virtue - but I don't know that it's always necessary to put off our goals in favor of the most obvious responses to situations.
A challenge isn't so bad, after all.

There is no legal way to live in Japan and not be a student or employed for more than 90 days. (Unless your spouse is Japanese, but that is more than a rubber stamp, and is a process on its own, especially if you don't plan on working.)

I understand.
 

I will be in Japan for the purpose of education. I was planning on applying, as an international student, to a university there. I know too little about university in Japan to yet know where I am going.
Do you have any suggestions MMM? For a student. Legalities are the only thing I can not willfully ignore. =) I do know that there are only so many ways to enter and remain in the country until citizenship (very difficult) or long-term residence is approved.

I misread your post. Let's leave answers to this question to your other thread,