Becoming resident?

Hey all! Im a highschool student in the u.s. I decided I would like to (if my mind doesnt change) become a resident of japan when I'm older! I plan to persue a art career, if that's important. I have many online friends there, and I'm working on learning the language by taking lessons :) it sounds like a nice place I would enjoy to live! I plan to visit it once to see what I would be like before any final plans, haha. What I need help with is planning my future for this. As soon as I get out of highschool, what should I do to help me start going there? Of course I want to go to college, but Immigration seems like a long process, and I would rather not wait years to be able to live there. Sorry if anything about this is wrong or dumb! Thanks for any help ! ^^

Best would be to visit before making any real life choices.

I think you biggest issue will be your career choice. Normally if you come into the country, you have to prove you have skill Japan wants and/or you can only do you line of work in Japan. I doubt arts fits into those categories sorry.

Maybe do an school exchange program so you know what it is like to live in Japan.

Well , probably the quickest way for you to get to Japan is:
- come on a tourist visa for 2 - 3 months to see the country
- search during this time for a language school of your liking and then apply for a student visa. This will take anywhere between 3 - 6 months to get, then you can enroll in language school and study Japanese. Learning Japanese to N1 level likely takes somewhere around 2 years. On your student visa you will be allowed to do part time jobs, which will give you some (meager) income.
- then progress to university in Japan (or vocational school), still on a student visa
- then find a job in Japan, change to work visa and live happy ever after

There are obviously a number of turns where this plan can go wrong.

An other alternative is to come to Japan on a student visa and study in an English university course, graduate and then find work in Japan, bypassing the Japanese language school, and thus shortening your overall study duration by about 2 years. HOWEVER, this means that your Japanese likely will be rather poor by the time you will search for a job, which will make it harder to find one and harder to live in Japan. This obviously depends on how easy it is for you to learn languages. If you are specially gifted in this field and (!) very determined, you can learn Japanese on your own or with only a few hours of language class every week, while attending your English speaking university in Japan. But Japanese is hard to learn and takes much more dedication than other languages. So while studying e.g. Spanish you can achieve within about 8 - 12 weeks of intensive language course already quite a good intermediate level, in Japanese it will more like take 9 months to get to a comparable level, studying in the same intensity as studying Spanish. Just as a rule of thumb.

But first of all come to Japan for some months to just see the country. It is not like living in a manga or a documentary film about Japan. During these months, don`t hang out with foreigners too much, and visit different parts of the country, to try to get a real hang on the country. Maybe even enroll directly at a language class just for 3 months, which you can do without a student visa (assuming your are US citizen).

Enjoy exploring Japan!

Thank you all for the responses!
I do understand living there isnt like a manga or movie, I have done research, haha.
I think I need to explain a bit more because i'm still a tad confused ^^"
I'm spending lots of free time studying japanese, so hopefully I plan on having a good understanding when I get there. As for the university, can I apply on only a student visa? Seems like uni takes a few years and I would think universitys would be skeptical to allow students there only for about 6 months...
If I do go to uni, and leave and I'm able to become a artist, can I apply for a work visa? Most artists are self employed, so unless I'm working for a company or something helping japan (which I hope not too) can I not get work visa? Thanks for help ♡

Please do a long-term planning. And also please read up on visas and resident status; your questions show that you don't know much about it.

You cannot just come, attend university for 6 months, and leave and work as an artist.

If you apply for Student visa, you get that visa for studying. If you quit school, both you and school report to immigration authorities that you quit, and your student resident status might be revoked.

Work visa is granted so that you can come to or stay in Japan to work for a company in Japan, who sponsors you for the visa. If you are a freelance of some kind, an artist let's say, you aren't eligible for a work visa.

I would consider attending (and finishing) a degree in your country (costs less), and consider your career, decide your next move. You might decide you might want to continue as an artist in your country, or might want to come to Japan just for a year or so teaching English, for which you need a bachelor's degree.

I understand about not quitting school ^^"
I was meaning I assumed universities in japan would be somewhat reluctant to foriengers. I'm trying to do long term planning, but it's good to have a idea of where I want to be and how I'll get there, so I can start working on it now. Even if things change..
I have researched visas.... but in all honesty I find them sort of confusing? Ive heard of self sponsered visas, work, student, ect... Maybe they are not as confusing as I think because I havent applied to one, haha.
I would like to attend college in my home country, and then maybe thinking about living there, but with being a artist it seems like it would be nearly impossible for me to live there...

If you are hell bent on being an artist. Get a university degree and whatever you need to qualify to be a teacher of English in Japan. Then do your artist work in you free time.

I was meaning I assumed universities in japan would be somewhat reluctant to foriengers.
Why should they, if the applicants meet the entrance requirements to study there?

About visas, please read the section on different kinds of visa on this website we are on.

I am just going to re-echo the previous responses. I would focus on getting your qualifications first such as a degree. You never know when you apply for a course and half way through it you might not want to become an artist anymore.

I would definitely visit the country first if you planning to go work their on your on accord. I am visiting Japan for a second time this year as I really enjoyed the first time round.

I would like to live and work in Japan and would be eligible for a work visa, but saying that there needs to be a demand in an industry for a company to hire you from outside. And im sure the company in Japan need to prove they have attempted to hire local talent before bringing you in.

For me to feel confident enough to move to Japan for a long period of time and work I would;

- Visit multiple times (Greater than 3 different trips)
- Explore as many regions of the country as you can.
- Learn the language and culture. ( Like any place in the world to meet anyone or make your stay smoother learning Japanese and having understanding of culture would go a long way)

I don't want to be negative and repeat myself but if your still in school/college i would get that out of the way first. You are probably thinking "This is all I want to do right now, i want to live and work in Japan" but in 12 months time you circumstances may change, you might of visited Japan and hated it, chose a different path of career other than art.

Good luck I hope my waffling has made some sense but just take your time, research cost of living, laws, hobbies you enjoy etc what you can offer Japan and what they can offer you.


regards,

R

Thank you all again! I understand now, and I'll probably do some more research on all of these topics on my own.
I understand things can change at anytime, I just wanted to be a bit more educated on this so if this DO happen to go this way, I'll be prepared.

Thank you all ^^