Language schools & part-time work?

Less than two years from now I plan to go to Japan and marry my boyfriend, who lives in Tokyo. I want to spend about a year over there first (I'd rather spend the rest of my life with him already but this isn't possible unfortunately, since I really want to get my bachelor first and it seems almost impossible to get it in Japan for me :( ) living with him on a Spouse visa, and take classes at a Japanese language school and learn the language the best I can, with the intention of moving to Japan permanently later on in life. I've wanted to learn Japanese for a long time already, so this is not as much a necessity as it is an interest of mine. :) After a year I'll see what I'll do next, I will either go back to my home country to study for my bachelor, or I'll try to see if I can study in Tokyo. (But this seems a lot more difficult if not impossible money-wise, since in my home-country I'll at least get study finances and loans.) Anyway, the last part depends completely on the circumstances.

Question 1: I'm trying to explore my options as to which language school would be good. I've found quite a few with my good friend Google but I'd like to hear what you guys recommend. :) Nothing too expensive preferably though. I'm looking at WE now for instance and it seems reasonable.

Question 2: Okay so this might be a little more difficult. While I'm there, I'm mainly there to be/live with my boyfriend (then-husband). He has a stable income and would be able to support me (and keeps insisting that he would not mind at all, and when I protest he just goes ''Oh shut up, I want you here!'' :P), although I would not like to be completely dependent on him and his money without making any money of my own. I am saving up a bit in advance for food etc., but that can never be enough for one full year. Also, since Japanese language classes over there might not be enough to keep me occupied, I'm afraid I will get bored while my boyfriend/husband is at work. So... would it be possible for me to work part-time as a waitress for instance, or -anything- really? Something you won't need a degree for, at least. Something to keep me busy and make me a little bit of extra money. I do have a bit of working experience back here in my home country (waitress), but what I'm mostly worried about is the language.

Anyway, any advice would be great. :) Thank you in advance and I'm sorry that this post got so long, lol. I tend to ramble.

Your boyfriend lives in Tokyo but is he Japanese?

I live in Tokyo but I'm not Japanese so there's a distinct difference.

If you marry your boyfriend but he's not Japanese, then the visa status isn't spouse but usually dependent status.
If he is Japanese then your status would then be spouse.

As for work, do you mean you plan to come over after you get married or before you get married?

Oh no my boyfriend is Japanese. Forgot to state that haha, sorry!

As for work, do you mean you plan to come over after you get married or before you get married?

I mean I will fly over there, get married and apply for a spouse visa. Then when I have that, I wanted to see if I could get work etc. :)

...and then after a year I might go back to my home country for school. After I'm done with that and have my degree, I'd move back to Japan.

- I'd say if you attend a language school full-time, I assume that means about four hours each day of class study, and you need to review at home a lot, so if you are serious about the language study, you are unlikely to get bored :) Remember that those who attend full-time courses are most likely those students trying to get into Japanese university in a year or two, so the classes can be demanding (and rewarding).

- About finding part-time jobs. Without the Japanese language, you will probably have to try to find some waitress kind of job in central Tokyo where there are some cafes catering to expats, maybe, where English alone might be OK. But that doesn't really help you with you acquiring the language, so there are some pros and cons about that. Another possibility, if you are a native speaker of English, and are interested at all, would be to teach English - since you will have Spouse visa, you don't have to rely on the employer to sposor you for a visa. But this is another job that does not really help you with your language study.

For a far better job opportunities in the future, yes, getting a degree makes sense :)

Well, English is not my native language, but I do have a Cambridge Proficiency Certificate... which basically means that my English is the same level as a native speaker's. But I have no idea if that would be enough to teach English in Japan. I would certainly be interested though!

And, duh, silly me: Thank you for the information! Where are my manners today? Haha.

Ann, hi there!

Well, I foolowed all the answers so far. Since you are looking for a "cheap" way to learn the language - community centers offer good classes, most of them private (1 hour) and generally they are free or for very little money - something like 500. You should check for that option (or have your boyfriend do that for you).

As for jobs: you mentioned that English is not your native language (is it German???). You can of course go to all those different language schools and ask them whether they would be willing to hire you (part time or whatever). That's what I did when I came over here almost 20 years ago. It takes a lot of running, a lot of patience but might help. Remember, the economy over here is not the way it was 15 or 20 years ago. Competition is "heavy", God and the world wants to come and teach. As for other job opportunities - YES, go to those expat places in Tokyo, they are always looking for people to help! If you have any questions or if there is anything I can help you with, please get with me: klausdorth(at)web.de!