About me:
20 year old male born in Japan with a Japanese mother and a British father so I have both passports at the moment. I currently live in London with my dad and my mum is currently living in Hiroshima. I go to Japan every summer for the full 6 weeks of holiday so therefore I am pretty fluent in Japanese (I haven’t actually done test but looking at the example papers online I believe I am N1 level.) I got a 7 in standard Japanese in the IB (international version of A-Levels) and went on to do a course in Japanese and Economics at Uni, however I dropped out after the foundation year to focus fully on my business (shoe reselling.)
It has gone on to be successful and I have a fair bit saved up now and I made a deal with my parents to move out on my 21st birthday and rather than move out to a different place in the UK I thought why not move to Tokyo as it has always been a dream of mine to live there for at least a year of my life and as I am still young, I believe I can take this risk now and it feels right. I have spent a week in Tokyo when I went this summer to get a feel for it even though it was very short and I very much enjoyed it. When I move there I want to work for a shoe retailer, I already have a weeks work experience in a retailer from when I was in secondary school, and I absolutely love shoes/fashion so while this may sound like a weird dream job, it is mine.
Reasons why I want to move to Tokyo:
1: Change of environment/new start as the accounting side of my business is really stressful and also there is a recession so my business is slowly going down and I would love to experience some job security
2: Safety, I very nearly got my phone robbed a few months ago while out in London and I no longer feel safe going out in nice clothes and shoes which is what I enjoy doing and even without any expensive clothes the fact my phone and wallet could get stolen here makes me violently uncomfortable
3: As I mentioned before I love shoes and in particular this retailer so I have always dreamed of working for them and now feels the right time to go fulfil it (if I do not enjoy it I can always go back to either parent and figure my next step from there)
Reasons not to move to Tokyo:
1: Pay, is dirt cheap compared to what I am earning now but this is exactly what I have been saving up for the past year or so
2: Socialising/lack of friends, I have a few friends in Hiroshima but none in Tokyo so I may be lonely for a while. My friends planned to move out together after Uni but realistically it isn’t going to happen and they are all going to be busy even during holidays so I won’t see them much even if I was in the UK. I will miss my cats dearly though
My questions are:
Is my plan realistic (in my head it is especially compared to the other posts in here but your confirmation would be very much appreciated)
Should I take the N1 test (my mums friend who is a Japanese teacher here in London said I should and that I would pass but I do not see much point taking it as I am working in a shoe shop but maybe you guys think I should)
Thank you for reading up to here and please let me know if I have missed any details out and you would like some clarification
Edit: I am planning on going on my yearly vacation next summer and instead of coming back to the UK after like I would normally, I am planning on moving to Tokyo then so I still have loads of time if you guys think it is a good plan
by repraj