I am imminently moving to Japan as a Japanese language student to the Kansai region for at least one year. My current level of Japanese is still JLPT N5. I’m a 35 year old male, UK citizenship, US permanent residence, $50,000 USD in savings to use on this trip. I have 8 years of experience working as a software analyst (Workday HCM/HRIS) and although I’d take work like that to get by I hate it and am looking to learn something I where I can use my hands, a craft, if you will.
I realize this is a vague question but does anyone have any suggestions/experience with learning a new craft in the Kansai region as part of a more general career shift and how it might be achieved? Anything from approaching a carpenter to a woodblock printer. I’m open to all suggestions 🙂
EDIT: this doesn’t have to be a ‘craft’ which would keep me in Japan on any particular visa. It can even be something I’d learn to bring back to the US or UK. After so much covid turmoil I’m ready for a general life-adjustment so if whatever fruit this ‘plan’ bears keeps me in Japan that’s great, but could just as much be a skill/craft I leave with.
3 comments
Congrats! Kansai is a great place to be, assuming you’re not stuff out in the middle of nowhere. N5 now, what’s your expectation after a year? N3? Have to consider that.
There’s numerous posts about getting into trades as an apprentice and the resounding message is that you need to be more then business fluent to get by.
Otherwise, kansai has numerous factory and shipping / logistics companies. And from what I can tell a good amount of the labor is staffed by foreign labor (usually Korean, Chinese, and Brazilian. ) Levels of Japanese are probably more relaxed… But the main issue will be, aside from your age, getting visa sponsorship after your language school is up..
With you’re background, you’d more easily pick up a project manager role in dev a lot easier..
Good luck.
You’re going to run into two different issues with this “plan”, both of which involve visas. And one additional problem involving language.
#1: Visas for training. While you can *get* a visa to study something like traditional woodblock printing, it’s not a normal student visa. On a regular student visa you can work part time to at least defer some of the costs of your education. On the “Cultural Activities” visa you cannot work *at all*. Which means you will need to fund your *entire* education/apprenticeship out of your savings. And frankly $50k USD isn’t going to be enough.
#2: Visas for work. There’s no “Woodblock Printer” visa. Nor is there a visa for any of the traditional crafts. So even if you spend your entire savings on an apprenticeship, you won’t be able to stay in Japan to work afterwards. There *is* a visa path for something like carpentry. You would need to attend a senmon gakko (vocational school), which would allow you a *very* narrow visa exception allowing you to work ***in your field of study*** and only in your field of study. And they define “field of study” very narrowly.
You would also need to get a full-time salaried position, which as a carpenter is… Highly unlikely. Like in most of the rest of the world, people like carpenters are almost universally contractors, and immigration isn’t going to approve a visa for a contractor.
#3: Language. You’re N5 right now. You’re not going to make N2 in a single year of language school. N2 would be the *bare minimum* language requirement for attending a senmon gakko. N2 is ***not enough*** to do an apprenticeship in a traditional craft. N2 is also not *nearly* enough to actually operate as a functional professional in any sort of craft or trade.
***EDIT:*** Per your edit, it’s possible the #2 may not apply. But #1 & #2 still will, and you’ll have a new issue: Convincing people to train you.
People: While a lot of “artist” craftspeople accept short-term students, most trades/”practical” craftspeople do not. While they *might* be convinced to take on a foreign apprentice who was actually planning on practicing the trade in Japan it’s highly unlikely they would even give you the time of day if they know you’re not planning on sticking around.
Plus the fact that you would be an utter novice at whatever you decide to study. Even the craftspeople who *do* take short term students pretty much universally require said students to have a fair amount of experience in whatever they’re learning. Think “experienced cabinetmaker looking to learn Japanese techniques”, not “How does this saw work?”
If you’re planning on getting a job in some kind of trade you can basically forget about it, you won’t find anything that’ll sponsor your visa, aside from maybe graduating trade school and hoping you get hired in a field directly related to what you studied. Long story short, this road very difficult and few westerners ever do it.
It seems a long way off, but after ten years in Japan you can get permanent residency and then do basically whatever you want for a job. Get a tech job and start using your free time to explore your options for trades. It’ll give you time to find what you want to do and people to teach you, and if it falls through you aren’t going to get deported.