Hello! I’m a 26 years old (US) trying to move back to Japan. I used to live there with my family because my dad was in the military. I’ve come to a point in my life where I want a change and I want to go back to the culture I fell in love.
I’m an artist and want to eventually pursue a career in art. I only have an AA, not a BA. So my plan was to potentially get a student visa for a language school and just get to japan that way and learn the language.
But I’d also like to maybe get my BA in japan in art and I’m not sure what the best approach would be.
One idea was I go to language school for a couple years and focus on language learning and get my language to a point where I can understand classes. Then, I apply to universities for art to try and finish my BA. Though idk if they would accept my AA credits or not.
Idk if I should just go with a US school with a campus in japan or try to do a japanese school. I’m not sure.
My end goal is to be able to switch to a work visa while I’m there and continue to live and work in japan while I build a career as an artist.
Any thoughts on how I can accomplish this would be amazing or even recommendations for schools. Thank you so much
3 comments
What do you plan to do with an art degree? Going to school will get you in Japan for the length of your program — but then what? An art degree isn’t really a path for any viable career.
Anyway, if you’re American and already have an AA, it’s much smarter to transfer to a US school and then study abroad for a semester or a year. But don’t major in art unless you want a degree that doesn’t set you up for any sort of real, meaningful job.
Use the movingtojapan’s search box to look at the nearly weekly threads covering studying: [**art**](https://www.reddit.com/r/movingtojapan/search?q=art&restrict_sr=on&include_over_18=on)
>apply to universities for art to try and finish my BA. Though idk if they would accept my AA credits or not.
Getting transfer credits accepted is a “not” except for the couple of terrible US schools in Japan.
>Idk if I should just go with a US school with a campus in japan
Those schools (aka diploma mills) are not known for art education—-in fact they are not known for any education. Yep, they’re that terrible.
There are some international universities that offer classes in English (Sophia, Waseda, ICU) as well as classes for Japanese learning. You could look into the programs for art at one of those, and take classes for your major as well as language classes. It’s easier and more realistic than a Japanese university, because the entrance exams are already difficult for Japanese natives, while these unis tend to accept western style applications as well.