Steps needed to take to study in Japan?

To start off I'm a 19 year old high school graduate that has been out of school for a year now, I have yet to go to college, I've also never had a job I've been lucky to be supported by my family even though I don't deserve it.I currently have no direction in life and no clue what to do with my life, so I figured the best thing right now would be to force myself out of my comfort zone and immerse myself in a completely different culture for a while, just to open my eyes and hopefully inspire myself a little. I've always been greatly interested in Japanese culture and I love Japanese people as well. So I figured why not go to Japan since I've desperately wanted to go since I was a child. So basically what I need to know is in my situation with no job or anything, what can I do to get there? Are there scholarships I can get for short term study or even long term study? What information do I need to know and how should I prepare myself? I'll do whatever it takes to get there, I just need help getting started, so I'd really appreciate it if you guys could answer these questions and give me some advice.

Based on -my- experience, it'll be in your best interest to do two things first: learn Japanese and turn off the television/DVD player/internet and spend a couple of weeks there to get a feel for things.

In my limited observation, I've noticed that far too many gaijin go to Japan with preconceived notions, only to come away disillusioned when reality doesn't live up to anime/Hollywood/fantasy. Many refuse to speak the language and complain when they have trouble communicating. You may not be one of the aforementioned, but a basic search will turn up hundreds of complaintive blogs about the hostility of Japan.

I loved Japan and I'll return in a heartbeat. You might be like me. I urge you to begin studying Japanese (which will help you scope out scholarships on your own AND make things easier for you in your classes), make a few penpals/conversation friends (Skype, MyLanguageExchange.com, etc) and ask them questions about their culture and etiquette, and to try to carve out two weeks touring.

One woman I know imposed on her penpal's home for a month, wore shoes IN his house, refused to follow proper toilet etiquette, and a slew of other things. He was so traumatized he didn't speak to another gaijin for six months (including me). I warned her the same way I'm warning you, and her response was, "Well, if they truly like me, they'll accept me as I am and adjust."

Wrong. Do your research first and make an effort to understand their language and culture before you go, and I promise you, it will be so much more a rewarding experience.

Again, this is based on -my- experience and I, by no means, speak for any other gaijin. My experience was positive and rewarding, and I made a ton of friends because I was willing to do those things. I hope you're as lucky as I was. The Japanese I met were so warm and kind, and the country left me speechless. Truly an amazing experience.

Good luck.

Hey thanks for replying and sharing your experiences.

I've been studying Japanese for two years now, and I've mananged to learn quite a bit on my own, I can hold basic conversations quite easily so language won't be a barrier when I go there. I have some friends in Japan that I regularly talk to online, and through skype, so I've touched up on my language speaking skills quite a bit with them. In fact they are a big part of my reason for wanting to go.

I definitely appreciate all your advice though, but I'm not quite as ignorant about Japan as you seem to think, I've heard about the daily lives of the Japanese through my friends there, and through the countless documentaries that I've watched, which depict how the Japanese live there everyday lives. I've studied their customs and culture quite a bit as well, which is the polite and most common sense thing to do if you respect and want to visit a country.

I understand and agree most people or "Gaijin" wanting to go to Japan have these wild fantasies they've got imprinted in their head through whatever things they've seen on television about what Japan is. So I understand if you thought I was another one of these simple minded people, but that is not the case. I'm well prepared to go, my purpose in creating this topic was more to find out how I should go about getting there. I should have made this more clear though so I apologize.

Anyways thanks again for sharing your experience and advice, it's appreciated.

Surely in order to get a scholarship to study in Japan you need to be in a college or university in your home country? (are you from the US?)

Quite a few universities have 6 months long "study abroad programs" that are a perfect introduction to another country culture.. I stumbled on one such program on the internet, by the way, and was amazed by all the weird stereotypes that this US university had about Japan, France, even the UK... the warnings they gave to their students were both sad and hilarious...

When I was in college I had a chance to go for a whole summer in Finland and it was an amazing experience..not to mention cheaper than if I had gone there as a plain tourist.

So your first goal would be to study Japanese and some other subjects full time in a college or university in your country that had links with schools in Japan. You are under 20 and while you may think that time is running out..you have still lots of time.
By the way when you say that you like Japanese culture and Japanese people, are you actually familiar with both?? far too many people think sushi, anime, samourai.. etc. but don't have quite a clue about the realities of life Japan.. ..

there are several universities in Japan with English curriculums. (if you want to go there for several years, that is): Waseda SILS, Meiji University, ICU, TUJ, Sophia U, and Ritsumeikan APU.

If you have any more Q's, ask =]