Highlights regarding my situation:
* freelance journalist currently writing for a very important magazine
* such magazine has a Japanese spin-off
* I assumed that all I needed to do was asking my boss to send an email to the Japanese fellas, but…
* …from what I read it seems that regardless of a sponsor I need to have a contract, which I definitely do not have being a freelancer
* I’ll be mostly living on my own savings, the magazine cannot guarantee I’ll earn enough money simply writing articles
I read the wiki but this very specific scenario (freelance journalist with someone from Japan who might sponsor me) was not clarified and the Internet did not provide a clear answer about my situation. Before bothering my boss I was wondering if anybody could help me. Thanks in advance!
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1 comment
If the magazine is not giving you enough work for you to survive, you can’t get the journalist visa. You need to provide evidence of contracts with foreign media organizations that will provide you with income to live in Japan. The people here on said visa are almost always working on full-time contracts. Those who are not have enough freelance contracts with enough qualifying organizations to have a stable enough salary.
Just writing an article here or there isn’t enough.
Also, if the magazine has a Japanese subsidiary (ie Vogue, which is still run by Condé Nast in Japan) you’d have to be hired by them and you wouldn’t get the journalist visa, but the general humanities one. Journalist is for foreign media with no Japanese subsidiaries.