I am an American working as a teacher in Sweden (dual citizen). I did high school and undergrad in the US and my degree of Master in Education here in Sweden. I speak English (natively), as well as French and Swedish fluently. I am licensed to teach English, French, Art, and English as Native Language here in Sweden. Currently, I am teaching English at one of Sweden’s most prestigious high schools. (Not bragging here, just trying to tell you that I got some qualifications to teach, lol).
My Swedish partner is potentially landing an internship at a gaming company in Tokyo in August. We would like to relocate together for the duration of his internship and are trying to figure a way to make this happen. We both will study Japanese.
I would also consider not working and only studying the Japanese language and culture (art, history, religion, etc.) preferably at a University, if possible. Another option is perhaps that I do some type of pedagogical research in Japan.
I am looking for any tips on how we can make this happen! We have never been to Japan.
Thanks for reading!
5 comments
Search up schools on Teach Away and get applying! Once they see your qualifications and the fact that you’ll be in country soon no matter what, you’re in a good spot.
> I am an American working as a teacher in Sweden (dual citizen). I did high school and undergrad in the US and my degree of Master in Education here in Sweden. I speak English (natively), as well as French and Swedish fluently. I am licensed to teach English, French, Art, and English as Native Language here in Sweden. Currently, I am teaching English at one of Sweden’s most prestigious high schools.
You might look at (true) international schools, rather than ESL jobs (this is an ESL board, tho int’l schools are sometimes mentioned). Job boards for international schools are generally separate from ESL job boards. And you look very over-qualified for most of the common ESL jobs.
Of course you need to keep track of requirements for entry (corona) which are just now being relaxed a little. Both language students and prospective teachers have been locked out for a while (even interns), so what will happen in the near future might be anyone’s guess.
First, you have to wait for the borders to open. Japan is not issuing visas to people that just want to visit. They are only issuing visas to people that need to be here. Your company needs to prove they can’t operate without you to get you a visa. Not really going to happen for an intern. If you get a job at an international school as a full time teacher, you have a chance. You can’t sponsor a dependent visa for a “partner”, you have to be legally married in a way Japan recognizes.
Since you are limited to Tokyo and it’s late in the recruiting season, I wouldn’t spend the money to join Search Associates. The free recruiting sites, sure….but just check all the Tokyo (and possibly Yokohama) international school websites and apply directly. For a teacher with your qualifications and experience there are probably less than 10 schools that you would actually want to work for.
>We would like to relocate together for the duration of his internship and are trying to figure a way to make this happen.
For how long will your partner be relocating? If they’ll be here for a year, it’s theoretically possible to apply for a job with an August start and come over that way. The reason why I say “for a year” is because that’s the minimum contract length for which a company, like ECC, will sponsor your visa from outside of Japan. Anything less than that and I don’t think any company would bother with the paperwork. If someone else here knows otherwise, I’d be interested to hear it.
It may also be possible to enroll in a Japanese language school as a student but I’m not familiar with the process or timeline of all that.
As far as taking some classes at a university – the university I previously taught at did offer some night classes for working adults and people outside of the “fresh out of high school” demographic. But those classes were offered entirely in Japanese. If you’ll be in Tokyo you may have some luck with finding such classes taught in English but even then, I can’t imagine there would be much demand for classes about Japanese religion taught in English outside of a mainstream university curriculum, like night classes. And, I highly doubt this could be your way into the country.
>same status as married
I don’t know what this means. Japanese bureaucracy runs on paperwork. If you’re able to produce a certificate of marriage from your home country, you could theoretically use that to apply for a dependent visa if your partner will be coming over under one of the [visa statuses listed on this page](https://www.isa.go.jp/en/applications/procedures/zairyu_nintei10_19.html).
Honestly, this seems like the simplest way to go about it. Applying for jobs means combing through job listings, applying, and interviewing while you’re currently working. Studying at a Japanese language school can be expensive. If you come over as a dependent, you can use your free time to take some Japanese lessons offered at a community center or something.