Being a vet tech in japan

Hey there. So I always been fantasizing about living in japan someday. I'm currently starting to practice the language using various apps during my free time (and considering trying one of those abroad Japanese language courses) and am on my way to finish my vet tech associates program in 2 years here in the states. I noticed that Japan requires you to have a bachelors in the field you want to work in but I do also have another associates degree as an animal care specialist which is in a similar field. I'm guessing the answer would be no but would having both of these be enough to count as a bachelors or at the very least go into the 10 years of experience?

I don't think those two degrees add up to a bachelor's degree.

What does a "vet tech" do? In Japan there is a national qualification for a vet, for which you study six years in a college, and then private qualification for an animal nurse, for which you take two-year training course, study animal nurse course at a fou-year college, or study through correspondence course.

But in any case you will need to be completely fluent in the local language to be able to communicate with the pet owners and the vet.

A vet tech is pretty much the nurse in the vet hospital with the hierarchy usually being vet, vet tech, animal care staff. Here in the states, there are three level although 2 of them are pretty much the same. The first level is the vet tech(nician) which is usually only available in 2-2.5 year associates programs. The second level is called a vet technologist which is pretty much the 4 year bachelors version of the vet technician although most people only go that route if they want to continue on to be the actual vet which is the third level which requires another 4 years of vet school.

Figured it wouldn't worked though but would being in school for both programs count into the 10 year experience? A follow up question would be that should I decide to try going to school there to be able to work in an animal hospital (after being fluent in Japanese of course) is it possible for the vet tech associates degree to lessen the amount of schooling I would need?

You'd need to talk to the university/college/etc. offering the program to see if they would offer course credit.

I think you're underestimating how hard it will be to become fluent in Japanese. You will need to speak it like a local to be able to converse appropriately in a vet tech sphere, plus know all the appropriate animal and vet vocabulary. You'll need to know all three writing systems. It will take a long, long time.

I'd suggest doing some research into how to job itself operates in Japan, and whether there is any chance of a foreigner entering it. What is the education required for the job in Japan? Is there a demand for foreign vet techs? If there isn't, you're unlikely to get a company to sponsor you for a work visa.

If you want to be qualified under the Japanese system, you would probably need to go through the whole (at least) 2 year program. You would need to ask the specific college.
But before you get there, you'd probably have to enroll in a Japanese language school full time to bring your language proficiency to a level where you can follow classes in Japanese. Foreign students starting from zero usually require 1.5 - 2 years to get "accepted" into a college/vocational school. Then you have the two years (you will bump into a whole lot of new terminology in Japanese there - so I recommend taking the full 2 years).

Is Japan unique in its capacity to inspire embarrassingly unrealistic fantasies about working here...??

I think there is no national license system for vet nurse (assistant) in Japan.

I never said that there was any national license, I mentioned a private qualification for animal nurses. So whether a college (or an employer) would consider an overseas training/diploma as equivalent is up to the individual college (/employer). That is why the OP needs to ask.

Thanks for the responses. Yes I will definitely ask some of these schools. I have looked into their programs and they happen to be similar to what we have here so perhaps getting a degree would at least partially cover their program. I have sent them emails to see what they will say. I definitely wouldn't mind having to take classes when it comes to the medical terminology and medications since I'm sure it will be different. As for learning Japanese, I have plenty of time before this can happen so while it's true learning the language is not easy, I will try to get as much down as I can before going to a language school. If I do a little every day, I'm sure I could get a lot done when it comes to reading and writing. I may even consider looking into any local classes to practice even more.

Sorry for the bump but I thought I should share some information on the subject.

If you wish to work as a veterinary nurse in Japan,
The jobs in the field are open to foreigners if they have enough Japanese skill.
There is a registered veterinary nurse license in Japan, but it is not a national license yet.
Currently, you don�ft have to graduate from a Japanese school.
When you can engage in any type of work legally in Japan, you can work as a veterinary nurse if the hospital director employed you.
Japanese conversation skill is important because most Japanese do not speak English.
Moreover, job duties of veterinary nurses are very different among hospitals depending on the medical levels, for example, VNs do blood sampling, clinical tests and work as operation assistants in some hospitals, but only hold animals in other ones. You have to find a hospital which meets your requirements.
A very limited number of hospitals hope to employ foreigners because they have foreign clients.

Hope this is helpful for anyone interested in this field.