I became interested in moving to Japan when I was young because my grandmother lived there for over half of her life and, but she died before we were able to ever visit together. I have now visited Japan twice, once for a two week trip where I visited Tokyo and Kyoto (where I got to see her old house <3) and one 5 week trip where I stayed in Okinawa, Osaka, Fukuoka, and Tokyo again.
I have a degree in computer science and have worked in the field for about 2 years. I would try to work in this field here in the US for about 2 more years to get really high-quality experience, especially because at my company I work with the engineering team and have my name on pending patents. My current plan for moving to Japan is to enroll in a language school (I have talked to one in Tokyo and one in Kyoto) and plan to do that for 2 years, hopefully testing N2 or N1. I barely have conversational Japanese so language school would be a must for me to be able to live and work the way I want to.
I would treat this like a ‘trial’ period to make sure I actually like living in the country long term before trying to job hunt there. The university I got my BS from also has a completely online Master’s degree in business computer science, and I already confirmed with them that I could complete that program living internationally as well, so I would potentially try to earn that degree while also attending language school in Japan. Between my BS in computer science, work experience, Japanese ability, and potentially a masters degree, at that point if I have enjoyed my last two years living in Japan I would start looking for a job and trying to convert my student visa to a workers visa. I am currently living incredibly frugally and taking advantage of making a good income to save up as much money as possible to cover expenses for language school and living for those two years.
Appreciation in advance for anyone who has insight or critique on my plan! I am still in the early planning stages but figured this was the place to ask to make sure I am at least on a roughly good track!
by posspalace