Moving to Japan in ‘09

At least, that's the plan...

Nice to meet y'all. You can call me Keaton or Mike. I'm 20 years old, in college in NC, and the love of my life and I are separated by the Pacific Ocean.

She has been visiting me as often as we can for as long as a tourist visa will hold up, but we're looking for something more permanent. She's looking for options to move here, and I'm looking for options to move there.

I'm getting more familiar with the visa process, but legal mumbo-jumbo can only take me so far. So here's where y'all come in. If anyone has moved to Japan and has success (or failure) stories, I could use them!

- How did you get there?
- Did you get a job? What kind? Is is better to visit and get an interview, or apply online? What are some good companies/jobs? Is a work visa easy(ish) and quick(ish) to get, compared to the next option?
- Did you marry? Marriage is on the horizon, but we don't know much about that process either. It seems like you have to come to the country, get married, go back home, and then wait.

Well, this is all for now. The whole thing is pretty overwhelming. Anyway, thanks so much!

Keaton, I may have experienced something different from everyone else but I did online job hunting for jobs in Japan from my home country for over 1 year. Pretty much every reply I got back was that I was disqualified because I was not already living in Japan. I was told point blank by one recruiter that unless I was located in Japan I would never get an interview.

I could probably go the route of getting a job teaching English over there and looking for a job in my field while there but that would cut my salary by to about 1/3rd of what it is now. Also, there is still no guarantee I would locate a job before my teaching visa expired.

Alright. I'm not too interested in teaching, so if I can, I'd like to take that and make it into something else.

About how long can I expect to wait for Application - Hiring - Visa?

I have a number of friends working in finance and IT, and almost every one of them originally came over as an English teacher and within a few months were able to find jobs in their chosen careers.

The benefits of starting off teaching English here are:a) Visa sponsorship from the school, you can then usually use the same visa for the other job, or apply for a change of status if a different visa is required.

2) As mentioned above, most companies want you to be in Japan for an interview and will not even consider you if you aren't.

3) While you interview for those jobs, teaching English gives you a steady income, helps you make contacts in the country and helps gets you used to the culture.

For someone in your situation, i.e. fresh out of university, teaching English for a few months to get your foot in the door here is really something to consider- don't dismiss it just because you don't want to teach English.



I also started off teaching and now work in a totally different field and really enjoy my life in Japan.

Good luck with your plans.

Thanks for your reply. I kinda felt uneasy about dropping a job so quickly (a conscience thing, also don't look hot on a future resume. assuming I could find another one.) If the visa transfers, great. I can speak japanese (at least, I'm learning), so it might help me get my foot in the door.