I was doing some research about moving to Japan and a frequent thing I encountered was how difficult it is for a foreigner to live in Japan without a college degree. I was wondering, even if I were to get passable Japanese language skills at N4 or N3, how difficult would it for me to live and work in Japan?
I’m currently 28, a self employed tattoo artist with 3 years of experience. My work is relatively niche, yes I can fulfill most comissions, but I mostly do a sort of medieval engraving style, which may seem even more foreign to an Eastern audience. I’m aware tattooing isn’t super socially acceptable so standards for tattoos are higher and there’s less work for tattoo artists. I was wondering how difficult it may be for me to work in the field there, even part-time. Perhaps studying traditional Japanese tattoos would be a good idea?
I was talking to my friend who works cleaning up munitions for the military – he makes anywhere from $6,000 to $10,000 a month if he’s found a good contract , and if he lives frugally, can afford to work only 3-4 months a year. I was debating doing this job for a year or two and saving up money to learn Japanese in Japan – I found a program that helps coordinate everything and a year of tuition including dorm fees can be reduced to about $6000 if granted a work visa. Additionally I was thinking perhaps if I moved to Japan, if I would be allowed to fly to the United States to do this munitions job for a couple months out of the year and then fly back to Japan and work either as a tattoo artist or part time at some other job.
I thought it might be interesting to study another field in Japan, but I’m not sure what, I’m not a very bookish person and learn best with my hands. I’d see myself learning how to do something like nail-free carpentry before learning how to do IT.
by [deleted]