Hi! My girlfriend and i sorta lived in Japan unexpectedly two years ago as we had to extend our tourists visa due to our airport being closed for COVID and no flights going our way, it was very anxiety inducing, but we actually loved the experience.
I’ve been studying japanese on my own and would like to get there again for the sole purpose of studying japanese, and she’d like to come with me too.
She’s very interested in studying something illustration related, and we’ve found a ton of resources online but everything seems to be related directly to undergrad studies or at least 3 years, which doesn’t really match what my intentions for language studying are (anything from 6m to a year).
I know there are some 3 month language courses i could get for on a tourist visa, but we’re looking for a sweet spot in which she could study illustration, photography, digital arts or something similar while I could do language studies and we could stay there on student visas for a similar time. We’re both in our 30s and not really looking to commit to a heavily demanding study life, sad truth. Studying in Japan sounds amazing but its also a bit scary.
So i guess, the tldr is pretty much: do you know of any non-undergrad graphic design/illustration/photography or language course that would imply us applying for a student visa? We’re looking for anything up to one year.
Thanks so much – really appreciate any input you guys can provide.
2 comments
Language courses range from 3, 6, 9, 12, 18 months. So you can just look for that.
As far as I know there’s no short term design/illustration/photography course. None that would be in English anyway, and none that would also give you a visa.
>do you know of any non-undergrad graphic design/illustration/photography or language course that would imply us applying for a student visa? We’re looking for anything up to one year.
There are plenty of short-term photo/design/whatever courses available. None of them sponsor visas, however.
The only thing that would come close to what you’re looking for would be a senmon gakko. But that’s an actual *school*. Vocational, not university, but still. She would need to speak N2 Japanese at a minimum, and they’re 2-3 year programs. They also cost a fair amount of money.
Speaking of money: Do you have money? Specifically, do you have *savings*? You will still be subject to the financial support requirements of the student visa, so you’ll need ~$15k USD in savings for each of you in order to get a one-year student visa.