A few questions

Just a few details that have been bugging me.

I'm a little bit of a late bloomer as far deciding what I want to do is concerned. I've found myself in a Community College and such, you know how it goes.

The first question has to do with colleges. Say I wanted to do a year of study in a Japanese undergrad course, what would I need? I'm currently finishing up my STELLAR (sarcasm) freshman year at said Community College, so I know I won't be transferring straight out of here. But I've also heard things about acceptance exams and such. Thus...I'm confused and I need this clarified for my own piece of mind!

The second question I have is to do with ethnic attitudes. It's not a major issue for me really. I'm a black englishman living in america, I'm used to curiousity. I just don't want to experience blatant racism. I can tell a few black jokes, but don't hike up my rent cause I'm a little extra crispy! That's just not fair. Will I experience anything like this?

Lastly...there's the small issue of that darned work visa. Say, hypothetically, I live in Japan and I join this amazing band that gets signed by this amazing company. Will I not be allowed to earn any money because my work visa said "teacher" on it?

If you took the time to read all this...thanks a lot! I hope you can help me too :)

I did a little reading since I wrote that post last night, and I've got a couple more things to inquire about. Sorry!


I read about something called a Working Holiday visa. Apparently, I can use it to stay in Japan for a year or so, while working to finance my trip. Is this so?

If it is, great! It leads into my next question! Do I positively HAVE to have experience as an ESL teacher, or a BA to even be considered for employment by an eikawa school? I'd really love to go next year. Or the year after, if possible. Just not...5 years from now. That's way too long for me to wait :)

- For enrolling in a Japanese university, you will either have to (1) find a college in the US/UK that has a one-year exchange program course and come as a part of it, or (2) enter as any other students would - which requires completion of senior high school equivalent education (which I assume you have) and Japanese Language Proficiency Level 1, which requires on its own a year or two of study on the language alone. People come here for a year or two just attending a Japanese language school in order to qualify to attend a Japanese university.

- People don't tell nationality or race jokes here - but you might face some innocent, born-out-of-curiosity type of questions that might surprise you or annoy you at times. But not blatant racism.

- If you come here to study, you will probably get a student visa (or a pre-college visa if you ever decide to sign up at a language school). On that, you can only do part-time job. If you come here and someone hires you for some special skills you have, then that employer will have to "sponsor" you to obtain a visa for you. If you had a visa that said "teacher" on it (supposed you come here to work as an ENglish language teacher), and you want to work in the music industry instead, you will need to have the type of visa changed, again, with the help of the sponsor who want to hire you. But to become an ENglish language teacher, in the first place, you will need a bachelor's degree, so that's still some time to go.

- About Working Holiday Visa, yes, it is to encourage young people to enjoy traveling in Japan while providing some way to finance themselves. You can find short-term work at resort places, etc., that will help you finance yourselves. You don't have to have ESL experience to be hired at eikaiwa school, but as they normally hire on annual contracts, I do not know. There is a fairly recent thread that talks about Working Holiday Visa, so check out that one :)

I figured I wouldn't experience any blatant racism. Well, I might experience a little, but not on a nationwide scale, so that's alright with me.

What kinds of qualifications do eikawa schools usually look for? I heard about an 18 year old that got hired by one...did he take college level courses in high school to achieve that miraculous feat?

http://www.japan-guide.com/forum/quereadisplay.html?0+48385

I think one of the links given under this thread would be useful.

I saw that topic too, but I couldn't see where in his blog he says what he did to meet the education requierements.

that said, however, I'm not eligible for the working holiday visa. I'm a citizen of England, but I'm not living there right now. That, and I'm also a citizen of the US and of Jamaica...hehe!

I can still get a work visa though, just a regular one. Do Eikawa schools generally employ people and sponsor them so that they can get their work visas?

Oh, as the eligibility for the Working Holiday Visa is determined by your *nationality*, so I thought you might be eligible... but there seem to be some residency requirements, that's true.

I guess the eikaiwa company hired the young guy (in that link) because he was a native speaker of English, and was eligible for the WHV, (education requirements is for the visa, so if he is eligible for the WHV and presents yourself as capable of teaching, companies might hire you).

On the other hand, for you to be eligible for a full-fledged work-permitting visa, unfortunately, you would need either several years of experience in the relevant field (meaning teaching experience if you want to be a teacher), or you would need a bachelor's degree.

I think a lot of finding a job in Japan is who you know rather than what you know, especially without the qualifications or experience.

What about a specified visa? I read on the mofa website that it permits work, and you can get it if a company says they'll employ you already.

I mean, alternatively, I could just go back to England and apply for a working holiday visa from there. But that'd cost a little much...