hi guys,
I have been researching how I can study Japanese in Japan, and I came across GO GO Nihon!, a company that offers student visas and is partnered with many Japanese language schools. it also offers accommodation options and (might) help with job hunting.
my plan is to learn Japanese in japan for around 6 months, but I was wondering if I was financially capable of doing that. I do have around $9500 CAD saved up, but a lot of it will go to application fees, tuition fees, plane ticket, and other unexpected fees, so I really am hoping to find a job as soon as I get there.
however, since I would be studying full time, I can only work 28 hours max, but I don’t want to pressure myself too much with school, so 20 hours per week would be enough. after some research, most jobs that I am allowed to work for give an average salary of 1k yen/hr, but teaching jobs have higher salaries (up to 4k yen/hr).
if I do end up with a teaching job, I’m sure it would be enough to cover my spending. on the other hand, 1k yen/hour will make things a lot harder.. especially if the sharehouses that go go nihon offers are between 50k-70k yen per month (for rent).
I really want to figure out a way to make this work. I know there is also the Working Holiday visa, but I seriously want to learn Japanese instead of just work in japan. are there ways that help me land a job in teaching so I can end up with a better salary?
if anyone has experience in this area, please give me your advice! any insight is greatly appreciated. thank u!
3 comments
> I was wondering if I was financially capable of doing that. I do have around $9500 CAD saved up
Immigration does not publish hard numbers, but anecdotally for a student visa you’d need to be able to show immigration that you’ve got around USD$15K available, or a financial sponsor who can demonstrate that they’d have a similar amount available.
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>I know there is also the Working Holiday visa, but I seriously want to learn Japanese instead of just work in japan.
You don’t *HAVE TO* work on a working holiday visa. The emphasis on holiday, not work. You *could* work as much as you wanted to on a working holiday though.
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>my plan is to learn Japanese in japan for around 6 months
Make sure you insist on getting a student visa. No idea how common it is now, but it used to be that for a 6 month program schools would ask you to use tourist visa waivers instead (and take a short trip to Korea/Taiwan at the half-way mark). Of course, if you’re here on tourist waivers you can’t work at all. So make sure you push back on any such requests.
I would say anything is possible if you’re budgeting but that’s a pretty low rate besides the low hours you are working. I’d consider self-studying and getting into a full-time position. You could also just commit to language school but have a side hustle on the side. It’s difficult IMO to be working a job and doing language school at the same time unless you’ve got a pretty good handle on the Japanese language. Best of luck
>I do have around $9500 CAD saved up
That won’t be enough to get the visa. For a language school student immigration requires you to show between 1.5 and 2 million yen in savings. (~$15,000 to $20,000 CAD)
Without that savings you’re not going to get a visa.
As to the actual question:
20 hours at 1000 yen an hour is 80,000 yen a month. That’s… Not a lot. That won’t cover the entirety of your living expenses, much less expenses *and* tuition.
Teaching jobs won’t change the math very much. The teaching jobs available part-time on evenings and weekends (Because you’ll be in school during the day) aren’t going to pay ***that*** much more than 1000/hour.