Hi everyone!

First of all, sorry for making another post about this topic. My previous post wasn't very well written, and I forgot to include some important information, so I wanted to make a clearer and better version.

Also, this is my first time using Reddit and my first Reddit account, so I hope I'm posting this correctly!

I'm currently 35 years old and from Portugal. My plan is to move to Japan in October 2027, when I'll be 36, to attend a Japanese language school. I'm already studying Japanese and currently working towards JLPT N4.

I have spent around four and a half years studying during the last six years and completed two technical qualifications in Portugal: a Level 4 course in Multimedia and a Level 5 Higher Technical Qualification in Multimedia/Product Development. They are not university degrees, but the Level 5 is a post-secondary technical qualification.

However, I have almost no professional experience in this field. I only completed a six-month internship in Front-End Programming, which ended around three months ago.

My main work experience is actually in warehouses and factories, where I have around seven years of experience. So, even after studying Multimedia for several years, I would honestly be happy to work in a factory or warehouse in Japan, as that is where most of my professional experience is.

My idea is to first study Japanese in Japan and then hopefully find a way to work and stay there long-term if possible.

So, knowing my age, background, education, work experience, and the fact that I'm Portuguese, what do you honestly think?

Is this a realistic plan? Could someone like me realistically find a path to live and work in Japan after attending language school? Would my age or lack of professional experience in Multimedia be a major problem?

I'd really appreciate honest advice, especially from people who have experience with moving to Japan, language schools, visas, or working there as a foreigner.

Thank you!

[This is the page.](https://imgur.com/a/WqAkGF6)

Just not sure what's expected of me from number 6.

Hi everyone!

I’m (26M) currently an ex-military pilot from Singapore with just under a thousand hours of flying experience. My SO (who is Japanese) has expressed that she would like for us to move to Japan to take care of her aging parents, but I’m concerned about how transferable my experience will be to a civilian aviation career in Japan. If anyone here has gone through something similar, I would really appreciate any advice…

My main questions are:

1. Are there any pathways for military pilots with prior flying experience to obtain Japanese civilian licences or have their military experience recognised? I’m concerned that I may effectively be starting from zero because I technically don’t hold any civilian qualifications issued by my country’s civil aviation authority…

2. How proficient in Japanese would I realistically need to be to complete the relevant licensing exams and training? I currently have N3 and plan to take N2, but at the moment I’m mainly comfortable with everyday conversation.

3. I’m also currently in the process of being medically discharged from the military due to an injury which means I’m no longer eligible to operate high performance military aircraft. How stringent are the medical requirements for civilian pilots in Japan?

One of my biggest worries is that I don’t currently hold a university degree as my country does not require pilots to have one… I was interested in potentially becoming an air traffic controller but was told that all ATCs are Japanese citizens. Are there other career paths that might be realistic for someone with my background if becoming a civilian pilot proves impractical?

I realise there are quite a few variables here, but I’m quite clueless on my next steps in the coming years and would be very grateful for any advice, from anyone familiar with Japanese aviation, foreign pilots (or foreign military pilots) who have gone through the licensing process.🙏🏻

Thank you! Sorry for the repost, weird formatting.

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I am planning on becoming a lawyer in japan ik rough right, but I have been wanting this since I was a child, but enough about me, I was wondering how someone could do that if they were in the US? Is there any programs that could be done online or something to help prepare I really dont know how to get to there and my guidance counselor doesn't get paid enough for me to think I should ask.

Hi everyone, thanks for taking the time to read this. I’m 23M and graduated from college about three months ago, and I honestly feel pretty lost about what direction I want to take my life.

On paper, things are going well. I currently have a remote job that I can do from anywhere in the world, and I also recently signed an offer with an AI startup in the US that pays six figures.

The problem is that there’s another path I’ve wanted to take for a long time: moving to Japan and studying music for two years.

I’ve loved music since middle school and have been playing for 10+ years. In high school, I actually wanted to go to Berklee College of Music, but my parents were worried that making a living through music would be difficult, so I chose a more traditional path instead.

I don’t regret going to college, but the desire to seriously pursue music never really disappeared.
I also miss Japan. I miss the community and school environment there, and I want to experience living there again as an adult. On a personal level, I’d also like to date in Japan and potentially marry a Japanese partner someday.

Financially, though, the difference between the two paths is pretty big.

If I stay in the US and continue down the tech path, I’ll be making six figures. If I move to Japan, I can keep my current remote job, but I’d make around $30k/year while attending music school. Obviously the cost of living is different, so the lifestyle difference isn’t quite as extreme as the salary numbers make it sound, but I would still be giving up a lot of earning potential.
My current idea is to work the higher-paying US tech job for a few months, save enough money to pay for the two years of music school, and then move to Japan. I’d keep working remotely while studying music and figure out what I want to do after those two years.

One thing that makes this decision harder is that I don’t really believe “I’ll just do music school later” is realistic for me.

I know 23 is still very young, and obviously people can go back to school at any age. But this particular experience feels time-sensitive to me. Most of the students at the school would be around 18–20, and even at 23 I’d already be slightly older. If I wait until my late 20s or 30s, I know myself well enough to think I’d feel increasingly out of place going back to a school surrounded mostly by 18-year-olds.
More importantly, I’m worried that life will just get in the way. If I stay in the US, build my career, start making good money, take on more responsibilities, and eventually have a serious relationship or family, walking away for two years to attend music school in Japan will probably become harder and harder.
So part of me thinks: If I don’t do this now, there’s a good chance I never will.

And that’s probably what scares me most about choosing the safe path.

At the same time, another part of me is scared that I’m walking away from a really good career opportunity and financial stability just to chase an experience that I’ve romanticized in my head.
I don’t necessarily expect music to become my career. I just know it has consistently been one of the things I’ve enjoyed most for the last decade, and I’m afraid that if I never give it a real shot, I’ll wonder about it for the rest of my life.

For some additional context, I’m a dual Japanese/American citizen and can read, write, and speak Japanese fluently, so visas and the language barrier aren’t really concerns.

I guess my question is: If you were 23 and in my situation, would you take the safe/high-paying career path, or give yourself two years to pursue something you’ve wanted to do for a long time?
And especially for people who chose career first and told themselves they’d pursue something later: did “later” actually happen?

Any advice or perspective would genuinely be appreciated. Thanks for reading.

I've been studying about practical routes towards this for the last few hours, the 2 obvious routes that I have concluded would be, getting a bachelors degree (which would take me 4 years) and applying to be an English teacher, and the other option being applying for a caregiver in a nursing home and acquiring a SSW (Specified Skilled Workers). I'm sure the people on this sub understand the difference between the two options, I'm more so leaning towards the caregiver option and am wondering if it would be a good idea to obtain a Student Visa (to study nursing) or/both a Japan Working Holiday Visa (as a Canadian I believe we can get up to 2 years for a JWHV) The holiday visa would be mostly for gaining work/language experience. I am willing to put any work required for either options going forward. Any advice is welcome. (I have flaired this post under education as I believe to have a basic understanding of how the different visa's work in my country)

I’m planning to go to a language school next year for a 21-month program and work in Japan afterwards.

However, my B.S degree is in Aviation Management. I currently have 2 years experience in my field. Although it’s quite a limited field, and im losing interest in aviation tbh. But I don’t mind working in it. But I feel that since aviation opportunities are limited, I might not have any luck finding a Job post language school.

If I get through N2 or possibly N1, how difficult is it to land any white collar jobs in Japan? Or am I just stuck in my field ?

I’ll be 28 when I finish language school in case this is relavant info.

Thanks.

Hey everyone! How are you all?

For the past year and a half (about that long) I have been independently studying Japanese as well as taken three classes in my local community college. I’m 21F and I just recently passed the JLPT N2 exam, and I have also been consistently saving for the past year to fund a study abroad in Japan. Along with family help, we were able to exceed the financial amount required for a 24 month language school program.

What I want is to complete my two years at language school & then proceed to take the college admissions exam and hopefully get my bachelors in Japan.

The problem, though, is that I only have 11 formal years of grade school completed. I’m from the U.S., but I dropped out just before my senior year a few years ago and ended up getting my GED in 2024.

I’ve been told that for Japanese Universities, you NEED 12 years of schooling. So my questions are…

1. Could I complete one year‘s worth of community college here in the states to meet that requirement and qualify? If not, then,
2. I have heard about 24 month long language school programs in Japan that ALSO function as a “university-preparatory course” and waive that final year requirement to sit for the EJU and qualify for university admissions. Are these real? I couldn’t find much after researching it. If anybody knows about them, please also let me know if any exist in Sapporo, which is my main target.

Thanks in advance.

Hello guys! I’m currently choosing between Communica Institute in Kobe and ARC Academy in Kyoto for a 12–18 month Japanese course. But I still have doubts about which school and city might be a better fit. I plan to enroll in October 2027, and my goal is to study at a graduate school in Kobe or Kyoto after the language school.

Has anyone studied at these schools or live in Kobe or Kyoto? I would love to hear about your experiences and recommendations. Thanks!

Hi,

I'm a 34-year-old software engineer from Germany. I have a master's degree in CS and I earn about €65,000 a year (JPY 11-12 million). Living in Germany is a bit pricey, but I'm living quite comfortably, even if it's a bit boring.

I've been thinking about taking on a new challenge in Japan.

I'm at N2 level in Japanese and I've lived in Japan before as an exchange student. I also worked for a Japanese company as a web engineer for about half a year.

I know a fair bit about Japanese companies and life in Japan. I really like it and it felt like home. I'm in Germany now and it's all the same old story. I'm bored and feeling pretty down.

I'm in the market for a job now and I've been checking out what's on offer in Japan. I actually got two job offers in the past, but I turned them down.

One of them was in Tokyo, but the salary was just 3.5 million yen. It was an office job, there was no housing support and the monthly transportation allowance was 10,000 yen.

The other one was in Kagoshima, which I thought was pretty nice (Kagoshima is affordable) and cost about 4.5 million JPY. They would pay 70% of the housing fee. 2-3 office.

I turned both down and decided to keep working in Germany.

I recently got another job offer after applying again. All interviews are conducted in Japanese and remotely from overseas.

It's a company in Tokyo that's offering a full remote position for about 6 million yen. I think it's pretty good actually, and I'm seriously considering accepting that offer and moving to Japan. I'm pretty happy with the offer, but I'm still feeling a bit unsure. I'd be leaving my good job here, which has a great work-life balance and 32 paid holidays. I won't have this in Japan, but living there is something I'd really like to do. I won't be able to go back to Germany as often as I do now, but I'll be going to Japan every year as a tourist for months on end.

Should I keep looking for a better job or just try? I feel like time is running and I get older and not attractive in the market..

I am just worried that in the future I won't get any offers at all due to my age and other limitation. It was easier to find a job 3-4 years ago but now I had to apply a lot to get this offer. Lot of rejection because I'm either too old or too expensive? I have the feeling that many companies are looking for new grads from SEA.

Helloo, this is my first ever post but I've been pondering this for a while.

I want to study in Japan next year, but ofcourse, I don't know the language, and so I decided I'd just take a 1 year language course at a language school and then apply for the university I want to go to, but I'm scared I'll be behind my peers by the time I graduate the language school and start university yk. I'm 17 right now, turning 18 soon, and hypothetically Ill start the language school in April. By the time I begin university, I'll be like (I assume) 19 or 20 depending when I enroll into the university.

I wanted to ask, have many international students taken a 1 year or more language course for japanese before enrolling into a Japanese university as an undergraduate?

I'd really like to know others experiences and all since I'm feeling a bit concerned over this.

NOTE: I'm so sorry if I sound stupid and all, really, I'm just curious to know and pretty much lost😓

NOTE: Thank you so so so much to everyone who replied really, I'm grateful for all the advice and tips.

Helloo!

I am a 23M citizen of New Zealand, about to head abroad for the first time in my life. And I’ve stumbled upon the idea of a working holiday in Japan.

I’ll first be setting off on a backpacking trip around (at minimum) Southeast Asia for a good few months starting Feb2027. The exact length of this is unknown, but I’m forecasting between 3-6months backpacking time.

With this in mind, I will be arriving between May and July, bridging it directly from the long backpacking adventure. I’ll likely have few belongings and absolutely no winter or outdoor gear with me on arrival.

I don’t speak any Japanese, and feel inspired to spend less time in the cities, and more in the rural, mountainous or coastal areas, that offer an outdoor’s orientated lifestyle (hiking, biking, climbing, oceans, mountains). After this, I plan to transition into a ski resort job for the winter.

Quite frankly, I’m terrified. I keep going around and around in my head about it all. My current goal is to figure out the logistical reality and implications of entering the country off the back of a backpacking trip, and further the transition into the summer and winter period’s with lack of gear.

Questions:
1. Summer job market with zero Japanese: how realistic is it to find rural, outdoor, or hospitality work between May and July if I don’t speak the language? Are there specific outdoor hubs that tend to hire English-speaking staff for the summer?

1. The gear dilemma: since I am backpacking beforehand, I really am not going to have many possessions. How feasible/affordable is it to source secondhand outdoor and ski gear once I’m in rural Japan?

2. Regional recommendations: do you have any recommendations on areas that match the ‘vibe’ I’ve described that could be viable to settle in?

3. Bonus question - ski recruitment timelines: would I be better off applying in-person, or online for a ski resort job? Further, any recommendations on the best timeframes to apply?

Thanks for any insights or reality checks!

Any other general advice I’d love to also hear. Cheers :))

I'm an engineer currently based outside Japan, looking at a couple of engineering/semiconductor roles in the Sapporo-Chitose area. Japanese isn't an issue for me, so the language barrier isn't my concern. What I'm trying to figure out is whether the area is somewhere I could actually settle, or whether I'd be better off holding out for something elsewhere, like Tokyo or the Kumamoto cluster.

I’ve spent a fair amount of time in Hokkaido before, so I know the basics, such as the winter, needing a car, the Sapporo commute. What I can’t judge from a distance is the stuff below: what Chitose is like once you get past the obvious (airport, Lake Shikotsu, the Fighters' ballpark), whether there's any kind of engineer/expat community outside work or everyone keeps to themselves, and for those at the new fabs, how the people who relocated are doing (e.g. settling in, or counting the days). And could you see yourself staying long-term, say more than 5 years, with a family?

Honest takes welcome, including the negative ones. I'd rather hear the complaints now than after signing. Thanks!

I have had the wish to move to Japan for a few years now, after being there at a language school and living with a host family for a few weeks and then travelling. Ever since I wanted to actually do it, and make the jump so to speak. Everyone I know kept discouraging me, but I still do want to move. I have finished my university about three years ago and was working as a video journalist for two years. I will need to switch careers, since journalism isn't what I want to do. Is there a possibility to work as a video editor in Japan? I am learning Japanese for a few years (6 or longer, with breaks) and am currently getting toward N3, mostly having problems with kanji and some grammar due to not that much time due to working a lot.

So I thought that I would give myself about five years, to get my finances in order, get more experience in my work and get toward N2 in Japanese. Any ideas, or also experiences would be appreciated! :) And thank you for reading!

Hello! I know this gets asked a lot, but I’m looking for real advice on our situation instead of relying on unreliable AI answers. I want to explain our situation since it’s a bit confusing :

- My boyfriend and I (both 20) want to move to Japan in 3–4 years around age 23–24, save up funds, and hopefully find a pathway to stay long-term and eventually get PR.
- I am Slovak (EU passport) and he is Ukrainian, so our visa options differ (I qualify for Working Holiday, he doesn't).
- He is studying for a CS Bachelor’s. It won't be a completely straightforward path into Japan, but having the BA makes getting an employer to sponsor his work visa a bit easier to get.
- I am getting a higher vocational degree in interactive graphics because the animation Bachelor’s program here is insanely competitive (only 5 accepted out of 120+ applicants). I have ~6 years of animation experience (school + paid freelance work), but no uni degree.
- We are both starting to learn Japanese so language won't be as big of an obstacle.
- Our initial idea was going on a language school (study visa) or WHV to job hunt locally, but I know Japan strictly requires a Bachelor’s degree or 10 years of experience for standard work visas. ( plus you can’t change the residence status from WHV to work visa, I’d have to return back )
- The HSP points system won't help us fast-track PR since our local universities aren't globally ranked and I don’t think we’d have enough points either way

What are the most realistic pathways for us to make this work long-term? Is there any advice on what we should focus on right now while we're 20? If anyone has even a bit of advice, I’d be really thankful!

I recently applied for working holiday visa dropped off all my documents and they gave me a card saying when to book at appointment for collection because they kept my passport, and when I collect it I'll get my visa if accepted. But they told me, and the note they gave, has collection listed from the 21st of August but I assume this was the soonest possible date and it was kinda confusing at the initial meeting I thought the interviewer meant they'd email me to say, my application process is completed. It's been a week past now 28th and still no email, will they email me to say it's done regardless if it's a yes or no, or what? I'm honestly really confused and it's not exactly an easy trip to make to the embassy for me it'll require an 8 hour bus ride just to get there so I'd like to be certain. I will reach out to the embassy in some way but I'll ask here also. I just really thought they'd let me know first because on the note it says "this date above us an estimate" so seems like a time waste if they expect people to come on their initial date just to tell them "no it'll be longer" hopefully this makes sense. Thanks in advance

Hi all,
My partner is a teacher and is looking at doing a 12 month exchange in Himeji in 2027 to teach English.

At first I was open to the idea and thought it could be a great opportunity to live overseas (we are from Australia). However, we’ve now had a baby and Im off work for the 12 months, potentially 24 months if we go ahead with the move.

Baby is currently 6 months. After experiencing parenting life, I’ve come to realise how much of a challenge this could be especially without family support around. Im already not super confident as a mum but moving to a foreign country with a baby where English is not the main language will be even more challenging, not to mention the isolation with being a stay at home parent while my partner works.

I’d love any thoughts, suggestions or ideas about this and would appreciate any insights as I get anxious thinking about what it would be like. My postpartum anxiety always has me focus on the potential negatives. What are the potential positives? Is there any support for new parents? Is daycare relatively cheap? Are nannies or au pairs affordable? How would I fill my days alone with my baby daughter while her dad is at work (baby will be 12 months old by then).

Hey guys, I could really use some advice!

I recently finished my exchange at a Japanese university about three weeks ago. I was on a Student visa, which is actually still valid until April next year. However, since I’m no longer enrolled at the Japanese university, I understand that I can’t simply continue staying/working in Japan under my Student status.

The good news is that I’ve found an internship in Japan. A company is willing to take me on as an intern because I’m required to complete an internship as part of my bachelor’s degree at my home university . The internship can be anywhere in the world, so I found a company in Japan that is willing to host me.

I have documentation from my home university confirming that the internship is a mandatory part of my degree, as well as the documents from the company confirming that they want to take me on.

My main question is: what status of residence should I apply for in this situation? The internship is in marketing, will be more than 32 hours per week, and is unpaid.

It is a business administration internship since I am officially a business student. 

I would like to submit the application online/as soon as possible so I can hopefully start the internship as soon as possible. I understand that I cannot legally start working until I have the appropriate status/permission, which is obviously pretty disappointing because I had already told the company I could start soon.

Has anyone been in a similar situation , specifically, graduating from a Japanese university and then doing an unpaid internship in Japan as part of a degree at a university overseas?

What status did you apply for, and what was the process like? Any advice would be hugely appreciated!

In a few weeks I will be moving to Japan (as a student if that means anything), I've got the apartment contract signed and everything but there's a few things I need delivered day 1, mainly a mattress because while the place is furnished, it specified that no mattress is included.

I decided that Amazon will probably be my best bet because it doesn't require a phone number to register an account with, however it does need one for the delivery address. How important is said phone number in this scenario?

I've checked the property, it uses an auto lock system and I will definitely make sure to be present at home during the delivery window that I'll select.

Or do you guys have any other suggestions as to how I can get a mattress delivered to my place day one, considering I do not have a Japanese phone number and will not have one until Monday (I arrive on Saturday and since city offices are closed on weekends I can't get my residence card registered until then, which I need to sign up for a phone number from what I've looked at so far) at the soonest.

Edit: my place includes a bedframe which is why I'm avoiding buying a futon

Edit 2: I will just buy what I need at nitori thanks for all your advice

My wife applied ofr HSP COE and along with her my dependent COE was applied on 1st July. She received hers on 16th August, but I'm still waiting on mine. She works for a European MNC, and Deloitte handled our application.

Since we want to move together, we can't finalise our plans until my COE comes through. Is this normal? Is it common for the dependent's COE to lag behind the primary applicant's? Has anyone faced a similar situation? Would really appreciate hearing your experiences.

I’m planning on moving back to Japan in April on a Working Holiday Visa. Me and my boyfriend want to move in together, but I understand that WHV holders struggle to get an apartment due to the standard lease being 2 years and the Visa being 1 year long. I do intend on extending the visa to two years.

Would it be possible to get an apartment with these conditions:
- Japanese boyfriend, lease could be in his name but he’s still a student so will only have part time income
- British me, WHV visa, 2 years of rent saved

Apart from the visa lease issues, I understand us getting an apartment will be made more difficult by me being foreign. If it helps, I’ll speak N2 Japanese by then, I already lived in Japan for a year, I attended an excellent university here, we can pretend to be engaged, and maybe his parents could be our guarantors. He will only be a student for a couple of months into the lease, and he’s doing very well at internships for top companies atm so hopefully he will get a good job offer. If anyone has any advice on if this is a completely unrealistic goal, I’d love any advice

Hi guys.

My name is Shein and I'm a Myanmar student who recently got rewarded MEXT Scholarship (Embassy Recommendation) for Research Students and I have chosen two universities, namely Kobe University and Saitama University to pursue my postgraduate studies in Economics so that I can specialize in Environmental Economics for my further studies and jobs.

Now, I have difficulty choosing between these two universities although the choice should obviously be Kobe since it is renowned for its economic program. However, my Supervisor Professor at Saitama University seems to be a lot more active than the Professor at Kobe University as he contacted me even before the University did when I sent an email saying that I had passed the first screening. Moreover, I had a chance to briefly meet with him online.

On the other hand, I am aware that Saitama University ranks lower and probably has less facilities than Kobe (e.g. I found out that the Saitama University International House is not only in poor sanitary condition but also allows students and teachers to only stay there for a maximum of one year).

Finally, I'm not only going to stop at Master but continue to pursue a PhD and in terms of career, I do wish to work inside Japan (and thus, I do plan to study Japanese Language at either of the University).

Thus, I would greatly appreciate it if you could provide me with suggestions and insights.

Thank you. 🙏

I'm moving to Japan in the next couple weeks and from a country where on the passport there is no clear separation between family name and given name (it's all one long name field), and my name (First Last) would be in the "wrong" order on the zairyu card.

Interestingly, the visa application does ask for family name and given name, so on my visa the name would be in the Japanese reversed order (Last First). My COE, however, follows my passport ordering.

I've seen lots of posts in the past on this with people having issues with applications to banks etc not matching the zairyu card and I'm trying to see if I can get ahead and save myself some headache and see if anyone else has faced similar and has advice on what to do.

The way I see it the options are:

1. Accept that the Zairyu card follows visual passport name ordering, and if I run into issues with applications, accept that I might have to reverse my order (key in my family name as my given name and vice versa). Maybe not such a big deal in the long run.

2. Try to get it changed so that my Zairyu card would say "Last First" to be as consistent as possible. I'm not sure where I'd do this - ideally I'd ask the immigration officer at the airport to change it then and there but I'm not sure if they could, if not then after that speak to immigration to try to change it. Maybe use the visa name ordering to convince them, or get a document from my local embassy to certify my name order.

I'm not convinced which ordering is "better" yet for a smooth life in Japan long term, and I'm not even sure if I'd be able to convince them to change it anyway.

The other wrinkle is I've lived in Japan as a student before and so I already have "history" with the passport name ordering (old zairyu card, My Number card). So it might actually cause more issues to try to change the Zairyu card to a new ordering.

Has anyone else faced this, changed their name ordering or has advice on whether it's even necessary at all? I'd love to know if this is not such a big deal and I should just go with whatever immigration gives me or if it's worth trying to get fixed for the long term.

Thanks!