Thinking of Living and Working in Japan
 

I am graduating this june from university, where i studied History. I am seriously thinking of living and working in Japan. I was hoping you guys/gals could give me some help in making this big decision. Any help you can give would be most welcome. thanks :)

Your best bet is going to be an English teaching job. I think it's too late to apply to the JET program for fall, but you can look there.

Positions starting in August/September usually begin appearing in May. You should start applying then. Look at Teaching in the JP 2.0 if you want to teach and the links provided there in.

Why do you want to live/work in Japan? Knowing exact reasons might help with jobs... also, what other skills/experience do you have?

Thinking and Living in Japan
 

Thank you all for your comments and advice, I havent posted here sooner because I went away and thought very carefully about this decision and I still believe it is the right decision for me. As for other skills I have; Radio Breakfast Show Presenter, Various University Committee Places, Former concessions manager for a suit company. Any other advice please feel free to post. Where would I start to make this happen.

Out of curiosity, how much Japanese do you know?

You should really do some extensive research before making such a big decision in your life. Be sure you really want to do something because you really want to and not just because the opportunity is there. Are you ready to leave your family and friends to go to a foreign land that is much different than your own for at least one year? How much do you know about the Japanese culture that is outside their entertainment exports? What are the reasons you're interested in moving to Japan? I don't know if you're positive on your decision yet and it seems like you're just weighing the options right now. Be sure it's something you really want to do before making this decision.

Omaesan(i hope i spell this right)
In june i'm finishing high school and thinking,very seriously to leave my country,go to Japan and study drawing for Anime.
Since i'm big Anime fan and i like to draw them since i was a kid,but in my country we don't have proper school for this,so i have no choice but to do this,and it's now my big wish.
Mostly i live on japanese style of life,i love Japan,their culture,religion,mostly everything,so i could use some extra help in this,but i don't know how to learn japanese,usually i use internet dictionary,but i think i won't learn japanese on this way.

Arigatou

The ONLY way to learn any language is in a school, or with a private tutor... self-teaching will never be anywhere near as effective and will take a LOT longer


Good luck with your dream though!

You will not be able to entre any of the good schools without being well versed in the Japanese language. they are incredibly competitive. I know this because my friend who i studied with at a Japanese university (and italian girl) was a very good drawer and was not able to get into the good drawing schools. you might like drawing but to get in on you skill (if you have language ability by then) you are going to need to be great, not just good.

to be honest...i live in middle of nowhere...here whoever says wants to learn japanese...you got laughed into face.happen to me so many times,that i stopped counting.
one friend is helping me with grammar,but mostly i'm using online dictionary,so far it helps though.
i'm practicing my drawing skills,cause it's been a long time when i stopped drawing,but i finally decided to go back to it,cause it is something i want.
with years,my drawing skills,are bit different,but i go to drawing junior school,here you can learn basics with drawing easy shapes,so my friend gave me all drawing manual handbook,so i'm learning on myself way.

here is the same i say i want to learn japanese and people look at me like im retarded or something

tell me about it...i hear these comments thousand times per day...
what is so bad in learning japanese?
yet in my country it's almost mission impossible to learn it at all...believe me if i have chance to learn it in school i'd go and that's for sure,but no...here's impossible,so that's why i'm using hard way of learning....heh...
better somehow than nohow...

It may be because of all the countries nearby that someone might travel to, Japan seems far down on the list of likely destinations? In the US, learning French (to go to Canada or France) or Spanish (to go to Mexico, South America, or Spain) are commonly regarded as the "best" languages to learn. Many schools don't teach anything other than those 2 foreign languages.

And local people were shocked when I told them I was moving to Japan to teach English. Saying "I'm going to Mexico for Spring Break" or "I'm going to visit Canada" gets very little reaction typically, but saying I'm going halfway around the world to a very different, some might say exotic, country gets amazed reactions. I don't know where you live, but that is probably the same cause in your case.