Studying Japanese while travelling on a Working Holiday Visa

4 comments

1. This is a copy of your post for archive/search purposes.

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   **Studying Japanese while travelling on a Working Holiday Visa**

   Hi,

   I’m planning to go to Japan for a working holiday in 2024. I’ve been to Japan a few times before, doing the major cities in Honshu. I would like to spend much of the year wandering around.

   I’d like to also improve my Japanese while I’m there – my level of Japanese very basic i.e. below N5; I’m studying where I live and trying to get it as good as I can before I go. I would like to tie up the wandering with studying Japanese at language schools because

   a) I want to continue studying Japanese
   b) being there, immersed seems to be the best recipe for progress
   c) studying is a good way to meet people

   In addition, I’ve heard from Japanese and non-Japanese friends in Japan that it’s hard for a foreigner to rent, so staying in share houses or hotels is the only option, but many language schools offer accommodation so I’m hoping I can benefit from that.

   I’ve been researching language schools and think I want to start in Fukuoka – it seems to have good culture, weather, and language schools. I’ve also never been to Kyushu and it seems to be a tech city (I’m a programmer). Other options I’ve explored are Sapporo, Osaka, Kyoto, and specific schools e.g. Yamasa in Okazaki (near Nagoya). I haven’t looked at Tokyo much, because I’ve already spent a lot of time there and I’d like to be somewhere less English speaking to better develop my Japanese. Also, cost of living.

   A lot of the schools I’ve seen have programmes that are 1 year to 3 months minimum length but I want to move around more frequently than that so I was hoping to do a sequence of 1 month courses in various places.

   Questions:

   * Has anyone done this kind of “language school hopping”? What was your experience?
   * Alternatively, anyone done general backpacking-style extended wandering in Japan? What was your experience?
   * What are the options for foreigners e.g. on a working holiday visa to find short-term (up to 1 month) accommodation cheaper than paying for hotels?
   * Any language school recommendations? Here are the ones I have looked up so far:
   * Japanese Language Institute, Sapporo
   * Hokkaido Japanese Language Academy, Sapporo
   * JALS Hokkaido, Sapporo
   * Intercultural Institute of Japan, Tokyo
   * InterUniversity Center, Yokohama
   * Arc, Kyoto
   * Yamasa, Okazaki
   * Wahaha, Fukuoka
   * GenkiJACS, Fukuoka
   * NILS, Fukuoka

   Any comments or questions welcome. Thanks for reading to the end!

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2. >I want to move around more frequently than that so I was hoping to do a sequence of 1 month courses in various places.

   It is *highly* unlikely that you will find a reputable language school (Or *any* language school, really) that will sign you up for a one-month program. That’s frankly not enough time to make a meaningful difference in your language skills. You’ll spend more time getting settled and adapting to the new school’s teaching methods than you will actually learning.

   That second part (Teaching methods) is really the big thing. Every school is different, so even if you *could* put this plan into action you’d be shooting yourself in the foot. By the time you’ve adapted yourself to the new school’s methods it will be time to leave and move on to the next one.

   Some schools do three month programs, but a single month? Not gonna happen.

   You need to decide which is more important: Learning the language or traveling around, because you’re not going to be able to do both.

   >What are the options for foreigners e.g. on a working holiday visa to find short-term (up to 1 month) accommodation cheaper than paying for hotels?

   If you’re planning on moving every month there aren’t many options beyond hotels. Hostels, maybe. Even sharehouses are going to be hard to manage with such a short stay in any given location.

   >Folks who have stayed with host families

   It’s unlikely that you would be able to arrange a host family with your plan to move around so much.

   >Can anyone confirm whether or not it is possible to travel to Japan without “activating” the WH visa?

   Technically? Yes. You’re allowed to enter the country as a tourist even with the visa in your passport. You would need to fly to Korea or somewhere and then return in order to activate the WHV.

   Realistically, however… You’re going to have a hard time. Immigration officers don’t necessarily speak very good English, and you don’t speak very good Japanese. You need to be able to actually communicate with them to explain that you’re not using your WHV for the first entry rather than just handing them your passport and them seeing the visa.

3. Being honest and talking from experience. Having an N5 level barely even qualifies you to get into a language school, in fact, the ones I visited asked for at least an N4 and actually examined you before even taking you in. This is for longer terms of study though, so maybe for yours it doesn’t play out exactly the same.

   Keep in mind that most schools give all education in actual Japanese with 0 support for English or other languages (At least during class, unless the teacher happens to know the language). This will likely vary from school to school, but unless its changed a lot in the last year, I think its the norm.

   >c) studying is a good way to meet people

   I mean, yes, you are not wrong, but if learning Japanese is your goal… You will meet plenty of other people that… suck as much as yourself in Japanese.

   >Has anyone done this kind of “language school hopping”? What was your experience?

   Having gone to a language school for 2 years… language hopping sounds HORRIBLE if I’m being honest… But I don’t know anyone doing it either so… maybe it isn’t awful? :S

   >What are the options for foreigners e.g. on a working holiday visa to find short-term (up to 1 month) accommodation cheaper than paying for hotels?

   I would say no difference whatsoever to a regular tourist, especially so if you are hopping cities constantly.

   >Can anyone confirm whether or not it is possible to travel to Japan without “activating” the WH visa? My passport lets me visit for a few months as a tourist, and I would like to have as much time there as possible, so ideally spend my first 3 months as a tourist, then return and start the working holiday.

   Not sure, but definitely DON’T try to play the system. Immigration hates that. Most likely your best shot is just going in with your WHV and do exactly everything you said you were going to do when they made you deliver your plan for the whole year.

4. You can take language courses at Lexis for as short as a week on a tourist visa. I attended their branch in Korea for literally one week a few years ago. The one in Japan is in Kobe. https://lexisjapan.com