Is moving to Tokyo aged 54 possible?

My daughter has lived in Japan for many years. Due to my parents no longer being here shefs now my only family and wants me to go to Japan to be with her. So, I am wanting to go to language school in Japan and then to get a job in Japan. But Ifm 54! Is that going to be an issue for working visa and finding a job? Ifm a British female with a BSc degree. I have visited many times over the last few years and have some Japanese friends over there and love Japan so therefs no issues with the culture etc. I have conversational /basic Japanese language hence why I think language school is the best option (to get a better job you have to get fluent right)?
Thanks in advance.

Anything is possible. Thought about teaching english?

Getting a visa as a student shouldnft be a problem. There are t any age restrictions. Finding a job might obviously be more difficult, but as t depends on what is your profession and as what you want to work.
I think the student visa gives you a great way in, time to study the language and time to search for a job. Worst thing that could happen is you donft find a job. But at least you tried and would be fluent in Japanese by then and had some great time in Japan and with your daughter.

Thank you for this- how long would it take to get to N2/N1 level? Obviously the sooner I get to this level the sooner I can seek employment.

Assuming that you do not speak (and write/read) Chinese and are a reasonably dedicated student, I would say that N2 takes at least 1.5 years and N1 at least 2 years of dedicated studying. Obviously this varies from person to person, but most schools seem also to plan approximately in these timelines.

I studied in Tokyo at Naganuma schoon and their general plan was 2 years from 0 to hero. But we needed to pass a test every 6 weeks, and if you didn't pass you were send back to redo the last 6 weeks. With that system, the general level was quite similar among the students. The biggest difference was with all the Taiwanese students, who obviously didn't need to learn the kanjis... which is a BIG help.

Some people (e.g. my husband, who isn't stupid or anything - actually he is a astrophysic) that with age learning a new language becomes more difficult. I am not in agreement. I learned Japanese at 43 and was definitely not the worst student in class (I passed all 6 weekly exams). I personally think it depends a lot on your learning style, knowledge of other languages, general grammar understanding and dedication, dedication and dedication. And just start using the language. The good thing about Japan is that not many Japanese speak English, so you have a lot of opportunities to speak the language (not like here in the Netherlands, where I start speaking Dutch and people answer in English or German). But you obviously need to make the step to speak. Accept that your sentences will be full of errors, that you will only understand half (best case) of the answers. But only if you do get started, you will see improvements. Use every minute outside of school as free of charge conversation class. Shop in small stores instead of supermarkets, ask clerks a lot of questions... And don't just rely on other people. I have seen with classmates who where living with their Japanese spouse, that either they learned Japanese very quickly, because they really used it day-to-day, or they didn't advance at all, because everything that needed to be done in Japanese was done by the spouse and at home they would speak English. Obviously it is a personal choice. And I know a good number of foreigners (mostly US Americans) in Tokyo who even after 10+ years speak a deplorable Japanese. They get along just fine, because they have Japanese spouses or just live in a foreigner bubble. But the ones who do want to get the knack of it, get it. I think that your attitude and the first few months in Japan are the most important for that. If you see quickly that every new word you learn, is actually a useful word, you have a lot of great experiences in the first months.

I dont know if you have already learned some Japanese. In my experience learning multiple languages, Japanese has a great advantage for beginners. It is really easy at the beginning. Probably not a lot of people will agree, so let me explain:
- There is no conjugation
- no declination
- no plural
- 2 verb tenses with which you can say everything in the present, future and past
- only 2 irregular verbs, which you will learn very quickly, because they are used in nearly 50% of all sentences
- no complicated pronunciations
- no grammatical gender
...

Yes, obviously Japanese gets more complicated as you go along, that's why you need about 2 years to mastery. But specially at the beginning with a few words you learn and a few grammar points, you can already start forming sentences, which are grammarly sound. In a language as Russian or German, if you get the conjugation or declination wrong, you have a hard time. You need to learn a lot of grammar before you can start making some simply sentences. In French, Spanish or Italian, you'll struggle for months on end with all the verb tenses and irregular verbs.

So there are bright sides to learning Japanese.

The downside is though that it doesn't stay easy. While other languages (in my experience) get easier to learn over time, because you can start reading and the words you read you can directly use for talking. (In Japanese at least for me that doesn't work so well. I might know what a kanji means and might be able to read a text and understand it, but if I have no idea how to pronounce the kanji, then if I hear the word, I will not be able to make the connection with the kanji and the concept I already learned when reading). Plus among most European languages words for more complicated concepts (e.g. philosophy, ...) all have common roots. So if you know how to say "philosophy" in English, with a little bit of Italian knowledge, it's easy to form the word "filosofia" or a little bit of German, you get to "Philosophie"... and you have learned a new word. Well, with Japanese that doesn't work. The more complicated it gets the more words you need to learn. I think that if you know Chinese it does get easier over time, as most of the more complicated words were borrowed from Chinese many centuries ago (like we Europeans borrowed from Latin and Ancient Greek). But as I assume that you are not fluent in Chinese, this is not going to help you.

So, happy studying!

Like bike- thank you for this detailed explanation. Youfve explained it really well and I really appreciate it.
I am at the stage in understanding the Japanese language where I know the basic hiragana and katakana symbols and can read some kanji and understand them.
Ifm getting to grips with the fact the sentence structure is different than English too and the present/past tense.
The fact I could be fluent (or almost fluent) in 1.5 to 2 years is great.
I also appreciate you speaking about the class exams every 6 weeks as it would mean I would be studying at the same pace as my clasmates if they put learners back who donft pass the exams. One of the worries I had was gwhat happens if I fall behindh.
So, the language school appears to be achievable.

Then the next hurdle would be how difficult or easy getting a job would be afterwards given my age.

Don't get hung up on getting N1/N2 - it really doesn't measure your proficiency to communicate. I live here pretty happily without it, but it does make some things more challenging.
The main obstacle you will face, and this is the practical consideration for your situation is remaining working life. Yes, you can come at 54 for school and then get a job and then work. But, that is the kicker, you need to do that in order to have a valid status of residence. Your plan would need to include working/living ten years in order to qualify for a PR application (for me, that will occur when I'm almost 60, another five years away). That also assumes the Government of Japan chooses to renew your residence status each time (not guaranteed).
Then, you might consider what your retirement would be like. Paying into the national pension system for 10 years will entitle you to 25% of not very much. The full pension is pretty low (survivable if you own your own property ) and how much you get is based on the proportion of the assumed 40-year time-frame for a full payment. (As an example, by the time I get to 65 (15 years of contributions) I might be entitled to around 37% of not very much, I think I would get about 40,000 yen per month, maybe a bit more, but certainly not enough to cover my expenses even living frugally.)
So, if you have your PR, and a tiny pension, then you can stay. If you do not get PR and stop working at say 65, then you lose your status of residence, and go back to your home country.

I might just add to what LikeBike says about the language – my (continental European) husband came to Japan pretty young, struggled at Naganuma language school among all the Asian students who knew kanji characters, (then went back to his country to finish up his uni studies), later in his early 30s (when I met him in Japan) he was simply reading Japanese newspapers every day and working in an office in Japan, speaking Japanese.

Now decades later, he does read the local newspapers every day, but still he is reviewing his kanji book every day, and if he reads some non-business materials (like novels) there might be new words and kanji hefd be discovering. So learning the language is doable, though not easy. And it requires dedication.

And this is where it also relates to what JapanCustomTours said:
While language is doable, finding work would be a challenge. Unless you have some very specialized skills/experiences, for people starting completely anew at a new work, employers would find younger (= employable for longer years) people preferable. (I might just add that my husband was in the finance sector until age 40, after which, when he was made redundant due to restructuring, his luck with employment dropped significantly, even with his near-fluent Japanese.)

Once and if you find an employer who is interested in your skills enough to sponsor you for a work visa, thatfs where the g10 yearsh counted toward eligibility for PR (permanent resident) status starts. Your time in Japan as a student does not count toward that. So youfd need to be lucky to find someone who employs you now, and youfd need to find an employer till you are 65, 66, to be eligible to apply.


Just going back to what my husband did – wefd been married for over 20 years already (myself being Japanese, so he was on gspouseh visa for some years) by now so he has been eligible for PR status already many years ago, but somehow it took us until several years ago to apply for it, before he was 60. The reason he wanted to do it then was because back then his freelance work was blossoming so he had a good income, which meant good income tax (ugh), which we could show as proof that he was making contribution to the society here. (Yes, immigration authorities want to check that.) Since then, the environment surround his work hasn't been easy, and with the COVID adding to the situation his freelance work has been declining, so it was good we applied for it at the time. Still his pension is very low (because of the limited number of years hefs contributed to the local pension system here). I am before 60 and still working, so we can somehow stay afloat, but itfs not easy.

I donft know what you do for living right now, and I donft know how big the circle of your acquaintances and friends is where you are. I suppose it will also be a question of whether you want to really move to Japan, leaving all your current environment and friends you have, or not. And what youfd want to do for work (and beyond).

Certainly your daughter may be able to support you financially, but just wanted to let you know of what you might consider for the future. Sure you might have enough pension from your home country, I donft know. But visa would be a major issue.

Oh, also I donft know what your daughter does in life either – if she is of a visa/resident status category where bringing in a parent/parents might be possible depending on the conditions – like highly skilled foreign professionals – that might make at least the visa hurdle a bit lower. Please talk with her to see what she is thinking when she said she wants you to come live with her in Japan. Best wishes.

AK. Thank you for the replies. I didnft realise the student visa doesnft count towards PR. I do have a good network of friends in the UK but, given this current pandemic situation, itfs been well over a year since Ifve seen my daughter and we are both struggling with this. My friends are supportive and understand why I would want to go.
For me the fear stems from not knowing how easily I could get a job and if that job is secure enough to keep me employed until my UK pension can be drawn. I donft mind what job I do. I even thought about doing teaching English as a foreign language but heard that job can be unstable re: job security.

Tia Rose,

As far as I can tell, your biggest issue will be the visa, first of all.

You can stay with a student visa (1, 2 years, I assume), but anyways that gets you to age 56, and from there you need to be employed for 4 full years at least (age 60) before you can draw on UK pension (financially), but even after that, though you might be able to get pension, without a visa/resident status (= based on a reason to have to be in Japan), you will not be able to legally stay here.

If it is the sense of missing your daughter – once the pandemic situation gets better, you can come for a visit, 3 months (temporary visitor status) during which you cannot work but stay here. But that is different from really completely moving over. There is a max a year-long extended holidaymakerfs visa (with savings requirement). Anyways during the time as a student you will be able to stay with her, and youfll get a sense for living in Japan too.

About work: please donft say geven doing English teachingh – because it is a good gentryh job into Japan. The qualifications needed are often that you are a native (or native-level) speaker of the English language, and that you have at least a bachelorfs degree. No need for the Japanese language.
They tend to want younger people though, because some schools have quite pre-set curriculum and class materials that they simply want you to follow, without doubting them. And it is true that some schools give you one-year contracts, you might think it is not gstable,h but if you stick to it and they like you, they renew the contract and you should be able to continue that at least for a few/several years.

When you say gyou donft mind what job,h please keep in mind that there are only a certain range of occupations/jobs for which employer-sponsored visas are available. Jobs that require certain skills (e. g. chefs, financial analysts, etc.), certain sense of international perspective (e. g. designs, marketing, etc.), knowledge not widely available in Japan (e. g. foreign language teaching), etc.

That is part of the reason why I say please discuss with your daughter, who IS in Tokyo so knows about the city/country better than you now, to see how she sees your life in Japan. Best wishes.

AK. Thank you for this response. Therefs definitely a lot to think about. I already have a TEFL qualification and have been a teacher (not in schools but with my employer where I mentor and teach new staff) here for several years now. I actually really enjoy teaching new skills and I appreciate you saying that a teaching job can actually be for longer than just one year if the company is happy with the work people do. So much to think about.
Thank you for taking the time to reply. Itfs been really helpful.