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I plan on moving to Japan soon, what are my options?

 
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ManlySpirit



Joined: 05 May 2010
Posts: 10

PostPosted: Sat Nov 24, 2018 3:46 pm    Post subject: I plan on moving to Japan soon, what are my options? Reply with quote

I've been doing a lot of research the past couple days, I just wanted some pointers from people already over there in order to weigh my options.

Just a bit of background: I'm 28, have been teaching ESL (mostly in Spain) for 8 years now, I have a bachelors in computer science, and I have a CELTA. I speak English and Spanish fluently, and I'm currently a year into self-learning Japanese (know 2000 Kanji, all the basic grammar, and should be able to pass the N2 within a year for sure, possibly N1 if I'm living over there). The only thing that makes me question my options is that while I was raised in the US, and have been a native English speaker since I was 5, I don't actually have US citizenship or anything like that. My citizenship is in fact, Spanish as is my current passport. I know it's possible to work in Japan if you're a non-native speaker (even though for all intents and purposes I am - at least that's how it was seen here in Spain) I'm not too sure on how employers in Japan might see my situation given that my legal papers aren't American, but European instead.

My goal is essentially to live in Japan for the long term. I've always been fascinated by Japan and its culture, and I fell in love with Tokyo when I took a trip over there 3 years ago. I'm very tired of Spain, and the glass ceiling in the industry here (average pay for ESL here is about 1100EU a month for 20 work hours a week, the conditions are awful too, with a lot of travel time in between classes - and I'm still living in a rinky-dink shared flat that costs 700EU a month), and I just need a change of scene. I would like to better my conditions to what they are here (I doubt that'd be hard), and just have the capacity to save some money, while living in a nice country.

One final caveat, I'm single, and very flexible on where I'm willing to live, the only thing, however, me and my brother would like to do this together. We'd like to share a flat in Japan (anywhere is fine) to cut living costs down, and just have some company. My brother is 21, has a bachelors as well, and 3 years teaching experience. He also has a CELTA.

What would be the best options available to us? I've been poking around and found some interesting jobs, including some Uni ones. Would it be possible for both my brother and I to live together? And when's the best time to make a move over there/start applying? Personally, the sooner the better, as early as March/April is fine with me, but I'm also willing to wait a bit longer if it means a better situation.

Thanks in advance for all your help.
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taikibansei



Joined: 14 Sep 2004
Posts: 811
Location: Japan

PostPosted: Sun Nov 25, 2018 1:21 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

As Spanish citizens, I would try for a working holiday visa first. Information here:

https://www.mofa.go.jp/j_info/visit/w_holiday/index.html

Assuming you both have sufficient money to support your stay, you and your brother could then search for jobs here at your leisure. And as long as you're both fluent in English, capable in Japanese, presentable, and flexible about where you will work/what you will do, you both should eventually find employment somewhere.
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GambateBingBangBOOM



Joined: 04 Nov 2003
Posts: 2021
Location: Japan

PostPosted: Fri Nov 30, 2018 9:23 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

If you had an MA in TESOL or Applied Linguistics (plus several English language publications in language teaching / applied linguistics areas) then universities might be possible.

With a CELTA and an undergrad (in an unrelated area), you will be looking at entry-level, where the flag on your passport is a deal-breaking issue for quite a lot of employers (Canadian versus American is an issue with some employers claiming a different 'atmosphere' between these two nationalities- not two individual people, two nationalities).
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taikibansei



Joined: 14 Sep 2004
Posts: 811
Location: Japan

PostPosted: Sat Dec 01, 2018 11:20 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Assuming he's being truthful about his qualifications and abilities, Gaba would readily hire him, and both Heart and Interac would too in a pinch. Visas would not be a problem the first year (WHV), and with 10+ years of English-language schooling and 8+ years of direct work experience, he could then be sponsored for a Humanities visa. And that's just if he's interested in teaching: with Japanese N2, plus English fluency plus Spanish fluency, the OP can find jobs in other industries (e.g., hotel reception/customer service) as well. His brother may struggle initially, but should eventually find work also.

The OP hasn't been back, so it's hard to say whether this was a serious post. (E.g., 2000 kanji mastered in just one year is, um, quite a bit--it takes Japanese studying in Japan nine years to do this.) Still, somebody under 30 with this background should be able to find employment somewhere.
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ManlySpirit



Joined: 05 May 2010
Posts: 10

PostPosted: Thu Dec 06, 2018 12:42 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

taikibansei wrote:
Assuming he's being truthful about his qualifications and abilities, Gaba would readily hire him, and both Heart and Interac would too in a pinch. Visas would not be a problem the first year (WHV), and with 10+ years of English-language schooling and 8+ years of direct work experience, he could then be sponsored for a Humanities visa. And that's just if he's interested in teaching: with Japanese N2, plus English fluency plus Spanish fluency, the OP can find jobs in other industries (e.g., hotel reception/customer service) as well. His brother may struggle initially, but should eventually find work also.

The OP hasn't been back, so it's hard to say whether this was a serious post. (E.g., 2000 kanji mastered in just one year is, um, quite a bit--it takes Japanese studying in Japan nine years to do this.) Still, somebody under 30 with this background should be able to find employment somewhere.


It's definitely a serious post, I was just looking around at options while I let this sit for a bit. I've been finding tons of different opportunities on Gaijinpot, so I'm gonna start applying for them all.

In terms of savings, we've got around $4000 saved up so far. Talking it over with my brother and some friends, we've settled on departing in August, as that lets us wrap up some things here before setting out.

Anyway, if you look at my profile, you'll see that I've made very few posts in this forum, with my first ones dating back to nearly a decade ago before I moved to Spain, so yeah, hahaha, I've been doing this for that long. I'm not kidding when I say nearly 10 years of exp. And I've been wanting to move to Japan for a very long time, life's just been getting in the way, but now it's finally time to make a move.

As for the Kanji, I used the RTK method, it's not hard. I managed to memorize 1000 in about 2 months using Anki (25 new kanji a day, every day), and the remaining 1200 in about 2 months more after a bit of a break. Kana took me just two weeks, Grammar I used the Tae Kim Guide. And then I frontloaded a solid 1500 vocab words with Anki in order to gain cultural access, and just did the rest of the learning through constant immersion and exposure. Just tons of reading and listening. A solid... 3-4 hours a day. Once you know the tricks, language learning really isn't very hard. Japanese is exceptionally difficult cause of the Kanji, but once you've memorized the meanings for the core 2000, the rest just comes and sticks to you through constant exposure and experience, like with any other language. At my current level, I can read newspapers and manga in Japanese and get about 80% of what I read. And with listening, I can understand a solid 60% of J-Drama, Anime and etc... Took me about... a yearish to get to this level more or less. Though I'm not confident I could pass the N2 just yet if I were to take it right now right now, I'm sure that with a year more of doing what I'm doing, I could pass the N1.

Anyway, thanks for all the pointers. I'm gonna keep poking around, and applying to offers on Gaijin Pot to see what I can get. As far as I see it, seems the most important thing is to get the work visa first, and then just take it from there.

Cheers.
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taikibansei



Joined: 14 Sep 2004
Posts: 811
Location: Japan

PostPosted: Thu Dec 06, 2018 9:19 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Well, you're obviously a lot smarter than me. It took me four years of self-study while working in the States to reach Japanese N2, then an additional year of self-study in Japan to pass N1...and then another full year before I felt comfortable reading Japanese newspapers. It sounds like you've managed to do almost all that in just one year!

While applying to jobs is never a bad thing, most entry-level positions listed as open to overseas applicants stipulate that you be a native English speaker. In my experience, they will not budge on this requirement. Furthermore, you mentioned seeing adverts for university positions--as GambateBingBangBOOM also points out, your qualifications will not get you a university position. (The required qualifications should be listed clearly in the adverts as well--again in my experience, they will not budge on them.) Again, this is why the Working Holiday Visa would be ideal for you guys, as it gets you to Japan and enables you to work here for a year without having to be sponsored for a work visa. And again assuming your qualifications and experience are as stated, you will find it far easier getting full-time work when applying from within Japan.

Did you check that link I included above? If you do, you'll find that you'll need to complete your WHV application pretty darn soon, as the cut-off age is 30.

Finally, as has been noted by numerous posters on this board over the years, an August start to your Japan experience is not a very good idea. (I think only December would be worse.) But then, as you've researched this extensively, you probably already know all that.

Good luck to you!
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