Hello,
I am a 39 year old Canadian adult male with an honurs degree and would like to know how to get a visa and relocate to Japan to teach english. Should I apply to a language school? What about getting a visa and simply going there to find work? I have travelled in Japan before and would like to get on with a good organization and make decent money with god working conditions. What should I do?
James
I have a degree but don't know how to get a visa for Japan
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the prophet
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fluffyhamster
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You should browse through the Japan forum. The same sorts of questions (albeit sometimes with slight personal twists and variations) regularly get asked (and invariably answered) again and again. I guess you posted here because it's easier to ask a question than to hunt for answers (and it's certainly easier to join the Teacher forums than the International ones). Anyway, I'll try to answer your query here as best I can. 
Your age may be a bit against you (the chain language schools generally prefer to recruit fresh graduates in large drives), but you might be able to land a job with a smaller independent language school (perhaps those that are or seem to be owned/run by a foreigner rather than a Japanese person - see recent 'Middle age teachers in Japan' thread on the Japan forum), or a dispatch company (the latter send native speakers to public high and elementary schools). Your chances really depend on if you have experience of living and/or teaching overseas (that is, just having experience of teaching e.g. multilingual adult classes in your home country only may not count for much - you won't be regarded as having demonstrated adaptability to foreign cultures, nor will you know what Japanese students are like); so, if you really are just a graduate seeking to try a different "career" a bit later in life than usual, schools may be wary of hiring you sight unseen, at a distance - you'll be a bit of an unknown quantity to them. But by all means scan through job postings on Dave's, Ohayo Sensei, JobsinJapan.com etc (jobs usually clearly state if they will consider applicants from overseas/outside of Japan. Don't expect airfares to be paid, though!).
If a school that you've applied to decides to hire you, they will ask for various documents so that they can secure a Certificate of Eligibility for you: this is what you take to your nearest embassy or consulate to get a visa entered into your passport (do NOT fly out to Japan without going through these procedures! They should be completed BEFORE you even consider stepping onto a plane; that way, if there isn't actually a job waiting for you, you'll be able to look for a new employer since you already have a work visa - future employers find it easier/quicker to employ somebody already with a work visa.* A new employer will usually become your new visa sponsor when the current visa is due to expire).
The above sounds complex, but it is actually quite straightforward and probably easier/more recommendable than coming to Japan without a job and visa already lined up (the immigration regulations are a bit murky on whether you'd actually need to leave Japan and apply thru a foreign consulate to get a work visa entered into your passport); furthermore, it is technically illegal to enter Japan as a tourist with the intention of even looking for, let alone doing any work (without a visa yet), so don't mention 'Looking for work' as a reason to Immigration if you do decide to come to Japan to look for work!
I was on JET for 3 years but foolishly (in retrospect) decided to take the paid return flight home and give up my visa. It took me almost a year to find a new sponsor, and the main reason I got another job was that a colleague I'd known in China turned out to have worked before at the school that I applied to.
Pay and conditions haven't exactly been improving in recent years (and ELT has never been that rewarding a profession anyway), but there are still jobs here in Japan where the pay is reasonable (at least for young and/or inexperienced e.g. arts graduates); where an apartment is already set up and waiting; and where the teaching hours all fall within a reasonable block of time (e.g. mainly in the afternoons and evenings). You might even get lucky and find an employer willing to pay their part of the national health insurance! The school I mentioned just now was good in all of these respects.
I don't know if you'd be offered work that would involve teaching children (employers seem to prefer young buxom females for this); your age if not your gender could be a blessing in disguise in this regard LOL.
Anyway, it may require a lot of perseverance and dozens of applications on your part before you get any promising responses. Good luck, and see about joining the International/Job Discussion forums!
*There was a guy called Keith something on the Japan forum in the last few months or so who flew to Japan without getting a COE sent to him, or thus a work visa (having been assured it could be sorted out after he'd arrived). To cut a long story short, he got burnt badly when the school decided they didn't like him and fired him after only a few days (he told a class about a case of mistaken identity - the police had thought he was a bank robber or something - and the students and then the boss got hold of the wrong end of the stick rather!), leaving him needing to find a sponsor before he could work legally. I don't know if he's still in Japan, but obviously things will have been tough for him. Basically, a COE pretty much guarantees a work visa, which in turn pretty much guarantees that a job will be waiting (and if not, that you'll be able to start working immediately for any other employer you might find and switch to - the visa remains yours, not the employers, so you are free to change jobs, provided of course that you give the required/legal notice (failing which, employers might not issue you with a "Letter of release", which can result in questions being asked when renewing your visa)). BTW, the visa is stamped and cancelled when you land in Japan, whereupon a "Period of Stay" stamp takes over (the Period of Stay is then what is actually extended from year to year). One last thing: the initial work visa will be a single entry only and stamped "USED" once you've landed, so don't leave Japan on a holiday or anything without getting a (multiple) re-entry permit first!
Your age may be a bit against you (the chain language schools generally prefer to recruit fresh graduates in large drives), but you might be able to land a job with a smaller independent language school (perhaps those that are or seem to be owned/run by a foreigner rather than a Japanese person - see recent 'Middle age teachers in Japan' thread on the Japan forum), or a dispatch company (the latter send native speakers to public high and elementary schools). Your chances really depend on if you have experience of living and/or teaching overseas (that is, just having experience of teaching e.g. multilingual adult classes in your home country only may not count for much - you won't be regarded as having demonstrated adaptability to foreign cultures, nor will you know what Japanese students are like); so, if you really are just a graduate seeking to try a different "career" a bit later in life than usual, schools may be wary of hiring you sight unseen, at a distance - you'll be a bit of an unknown quantity to them. But by all means scan through job postings on Dave's, Ohayo Sensei, JobsinJapan.com etc (jobs usually clearly state if they will consider applicants from overseas/outside of Japan. Don't expect airfares to be paid, though!).
If a school that you've applied to decides to hire you, they will ask for various documents so that they can secure a Certificate of Eligibility for you: this is what you take to your nearest embassy or consulate to get a visa entered into your passport (do NOT fly out to Japan without going through these procedures! They should be completed BEFORE you even consider stepping onto a plane; that way, if there isn't actually a job waiting for you, you'll be able to look for a new employer since you already have a work visa - future employers find it easier/quicker to employ somebody already with a work visa.* A new employer will usually become your new visa sponsor when the current visa is due to expire).
The above sounds complex, but it is actually quite straightforward and probably easier/more recommendable than coming to Japan without a job and visa already lined up (the immigration regulations are a bit murky on whether you'd actually need to leave Japan and apply thru a foreign consulate to get a work visa entered into your passport); furthermore, it is technically illegal to enter Japan as a tourist with the intention of even looking for, let alone doing any work (without a visa yet), so don't mention 'Looking for work' as a reason to Immigration if you do decide to come to Japan to look for work!
I was on JET for 3 years but foolishly (in retrospect) decided to take the paid return flight home and give up my visa. It took me almost a year to find a new sponsor, and the main reason I got another job was that a colleague I'd known in China turned out to have worked before at the school that I applied to.
Pay and conditions haven't exactly been improving in recent years (and ELT has never been that rewarding a profession anyway), but there are still jobs here in Japan where the pay is reasonable (at least for young and/or inexperienced e.g. arts graduates); where an apartment is already set up and waiting; and where the teaching hours all fall within a reasonable block of time (e.g. mainly in the afternoons and evenings). You might even get lucky and find an employer willing to pay their part of the national health insurance! The school I mentioned just now was good in all of these respects.
I don't know if you'd be offered work that would involve teaching children (employers seem to prefer young buxom females for this); your age if not your gender could be a blessing in disguise in this regard LOL.
Anyway, it may require a lot of perseverance and dozens of applications on your part before you get any promising responses. Good luck, and see about joining the International/Job Discussion forums!
*There was a guy called Keith something on the Japan forum in the last few months or so who flew to Japan without getting a COE sent to him, or thus a work visa (having been assured it could be sorted out after he'd arrived). To cut a long story short, he got burnt badly when the school decided they didn't like him and fired him after only a few days (he told a class about a case of mistaken identity - the police had thought he was a bank robber or something - and the students and then the boss got hold of the wrong end of the stick rather!), leaving him needing to find a sponsor before he could work legally. I don't know if he's still in Japan, but obviously things will have been tough for him. Basically, a COE pretty much guarantees a work visa, which in turn pretty much guarantees that a job will be waiting (and if not, that you'll be able to start working immediately for any other employer you might find and switch to - the visa remains yours, not the employers, so you are free to change jobs, provided of course that you give the required/legal notice (failing which, employers might not issue you with a "Letter of release", which can result in questions being asked when renewing your visa)). BTW, the visa is stamped and cancelled when you land in Japan, whereupon a "Period of Stay" stamp takes over (the Period of Stay is then what is actually extended from year to year). One last thing: the initial work visa will be a single entry only and stamped "USED" once you've landed, so don't leave Japan on a holiday or anything without getting a (multiple) re-entry permit first!