Is it hard living in Japan?

First, I would like to say sorry for my bad english knowledge :)

My plans for the future is, that I would like to move to Japan after university and spend the two last year of my studies in Japan as exchange student. And im intrested in , is that hard to find a apartament , pay taxes and getting started in Japan?
And how are Japanese peopels with foreigns? Are they friendly with them ? My mate told me that if I cann't speak japanese they nearly so evil with foreigns as french peopels 0.o

Funny that you should mention the French! my best travel buddy is Japanese and go to France quite often, with me or on his own. He only speaks a bit of French ( Bonjour, comment allez vous? merci beaucoup..that sort of thing) and has always been treated nicely by French people in Paris and other places in France.

He is not the only one according to Americans in the TripAdvisor forum on Paris the French are quite nice to tourists as long as one start a conversation with a few words of French...

We both live in Canada and whenever I travel to Japan I am treated very nicely by Japanese people. I don' t speak Japanese much so I mostly communicate in English or in French as there are quite a few Japanese that speak either language or both.

I think your mate is completely wrong- has he/she actually been to Japan?

Japanese people are almost always extremely tolerant and patient with people who don't speak Japanese well or at all, and will often go out of their way to be helpful. Any attempts to speak Japanese will usually be met with lots of praise, so it's ridiculous to say that Japanese are ''evil with foreigners''.

As for whether it's hard to live here, that depends on the person and their situation. If you don't have enough money to live on or suffer from claustrophobia or anxiety in crowded places, I would say it could be hard to live here.

I have lived here for 12 years and while at times there are challenges, I don't think it could be described as hard.

As a student you won't have many taxes to pay and any that you do will almost certainly be deducted by your employer, so I don't think that needs to be a concern.

For info on apartments, try looking through this site or elsewhere on the internet- loads of info out there.

If you go on crairslist http://geo.craigslist.org/iso/jp
pick a city it will have jobs, housing,and so on. If you go to e bay or amazon http://www.amazon.com/ they will have books on japan. Here are some books that may help.

Everyday Japanese Schwarz/Ezawa
Culture Shock Rex Shelley
See if there are any Japanese clubs in your city.
You may also want to try to find a friend in Japan before you go, I can tell you how. E mail me if you need anything or if I can help or call me 636 456 5502 leave your number and I will return your call over the weekend.

I'm glad that i recived so much answers ! I didn't wanted to say that japanese are eveil with foreigns. sry for misunderstanding :) Bob, these are just plans , I didn't started university yet but thanks for help ! I will contact you in email!

if you appear to be making an effort at speaking japanese, the majority of people will be very happy with you. you will find some people annoyed at you, but the majority of people will be accepting of you learning to speak japanese.

i went to korea for a week vacation, and i dont speak A SINGLE WORD of korea. i remember speaking japanese EVERYWHERE i went (i cant speak korean), and taxi drivers were annoyed at me, as were just everyone. there was a very accomodating and helpful person in the korea family mart store though. so i guess i have learned if you make an effort to speak the language, it really goes far.

Living in Japan is probably easier as a foreigner than other countries.

Language: Knowing it is great but not essential, since there are many people who have lived in Japan for years without knowing much Japanese.

Food: Getting used to pricey food and groceries will take some time - frugal dining and living on a budget is important especially if you're a student.

Culture: Japanese people are very accepting of other cultures and you won't stick out like sore thumb or be the subject of racism - but they do tend to racially profile and I have heard of foreigners being stopped by the police for no apparent reason.

Living: Finding an apartment is not hard but there are some things you need to know before you begin. Japan-Guide has some useful info, or you could visit http://apartment-japan.com for a more informal side to it.

Taxes and legal stuff: Even if you don't plan to stay in JPN for definite, you should brush up on the local policies, especially those that target foreigners. Local ward offices' website usually have an English version for non-Japanese denizens.

I think that the more you know now,the better off you'll be when you arrive. Don't rely on manga, anime, tv or even text books. Spend some time at sites like this and you'll be an expert on modern Japan in no time.

Have you looked at the section called A-Z at the very top of the forum pages??? read it and you will know quite a lot about Japan