Edit: Just moving this to the top as some comments have pointed out it would be more helpful to put first, I am planning to seek a Child of Japanese National visa. That’s my bad.
I’ve had a significant interest over these past few years in going to Japan for more of a long term period. My initial plan was to move over there and try to get a job in my field (IT), but I have some reservations regarding my ability to get hired in Japan due to lacking a degree and not yet having high level Japanese language skills. Due to this, I was thinking maybe I could just move over there for a year or 2, live off of my savings, enjoy myself, do some travel around Japan, and also do some job searching and work on my Japanese skills in case I end up wanting to stay longer than 1 or 2 years. Otherwise if I end up content with my time in Japan after that point, I will depart.
I was wondering how viable of a plan this would be. For example, would I be able to rent an apartment without being employed? Bank account, and other necessities for living in Japan for some time, etc? Would there be any significant difficulties I would face? I would of course have the appropriate amount of living expenses saved up for the duration I intend to stay before trying to make the move.
I should probably mention, just to prevent a bunch of responses asking about how I intend to get a visa, I plan to seek a Child of Japanese National visa. I currently live in the US and have already turned 30 earlier this year so WHV is not an option for me unfortunately. I am currently employed full time in the States, have at least 10 years of experience in my field, and have been saving up. I have been to Japan numerous times to visit family and as a tourist, but I would really like to experience that side of my heritage more in depth than the short vacation every few years can really offer. Any chance I could make this work or am I completely delusional?
3 comments
>I plan to go on a Child of Japanese National visa
You probably should have *led* with this, as a bunch of people are probably going to start mentally composing responses only to get derailed at the end.
Anywho…
Given that you’re on a Child of a National visa, you can do pretty much anything you want. Why live off savings when you can keep working for your company in the US? If they’re ok with making you a contractor and having you work remotely of course.
>would I be able to rent an apartment without being employed?
Probably, but it’ll be complicated. Like anywhere else in the world, landlords tend to prefer employed tenants to assure the tenants ability to pay. If you’re using savings, you will probably need to show *significantly* more savings than you would think. “the appropriate amount of living expenses” won’t be enough. Think 3-4x “the appropriate amount of living expenses” instead.
Bank account won’t be a problem. Nor will a cell phone or any other utilities.
>I should probably mention, just to prevent a bunch of responses asking about how I intend to get a visa, I plan to go on a Child of Japanese National visa.
Kind of buried the lede there. As far as getting housing, bank accounts ect… if you’re in good terms with your Japanese side of the family they can pretty easily help you out with this stuff. If you want to do it yourself it’s a little more difficult but certainly not impossible, even if you have to start in a share house and using the postal service bank.
Honestly, I would be worried about such a decision since there would be a lot of risk involved considering your circumstances. As long as you have everything planned out, then definitely you should take the chance to come here.