No degree, no experience

I am 18 years old, fresh out of high school. Willing to teach English at a lower salary, although I have no university degree and no experience. What should I do?

Lari,

You should read the page below...
http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2231.html
I also recommend reading through the forum archives, as this is a pretty common question.

Basicaly, if you are not from a country that participates in the Working Holiday Visa scheme, your options are pretty limited, well, actually closer to zero.

Oh no. I'm not from any of those countries. Which is quite unfair really because English is all I know.

you're going to need a degree.

at best you can stay here 3 months and teach english lessons in cafes for cash, which is illegal but no one will ever find out. you will not make much if any money doing that, you need a LOT of students to make private lessons profitable.

other than that, i would just recommend becoming a university student here if possible. since you're young you are eligible for a ton of scholarships. i'd give it a try.

if your interest in japan is in any way related to anime or cosplay do not put that on a scholarship application, it will be rejected flat out..!

good luck!

Even with a working holiday visa, not many schools will take on an 18 year-old as a teacher because you aren't an adult in Japan until you are 20. If you want to live in Japan then you will need that degree. Once you have it your options will expand quite a lot.

perhaps u could go to japan as a student instead?

learn japanese, or go on exchange. This will work unless you are out of finance, in which case you should save first.

Do you know of any exchange programs I could go on? Or any Japanese schools willing to take on someone like me? I'm not a current student of any school and I have considered the JET program (but the app process takes too long!!).

Unfortunately Lari you can't even consider the Jet programme at the moment as one of the requirements to apply is a university degree. As others have written, the only choices you have if you really want to live in Japan or stay there long term and work, are to go to university in either your own country, or in Japan. Since you have no experience and are still 18 there isn't really another way. I can feel from your writing that it's something that you really want (like many of us here :P) but patience is the key. Besides, doing a degree would give you the time you need to become good at japanese and therefore enjoy life in Japan more when you get there, so there is an upside! :-) Best of luck.

try

http://www.afs.org/

honestly i dont even know which country youre from, so ud best search it yourself. Google " (your country) student exchange organizations. "

There should be a few gap year organizations too that can cater for your situation.

for JET you need a university degree. i think your best bet to work in japan is to go to school first and then look.

you could marry a japanese girl, if you already have a japanese girlfriend. not necessarily the best idea but it's one option. you'd be able to get a spousal visa that way and then work here, plus you get the benefit of marrying your girlfriend..! (i probably should have worded that the other way around....! hah)

That is assuming "Lari" is a guy, right? Substitute "boyfriend" in winterwolf's post above if you are in fact female, Lari.