Hello everyone! A little backstory: I want to move to Japan, or at least work towards it as a goal. I’ve already started learning Japanese properly, I have Hiragana memorized, starting to grasp combos like にゃ (I-vowel row+Ya/Yu/Yo) or the Dakuten, got a few Katakana memorized, starting to understand a few of the particles/word types, like wo/o, ni, ka/ga, no, wa etc. Looking into pitch accents for words, vocabulary, and moving past weeb/anime level in the next few months. This is just after 1 month of dedicated practice and I’m starting to feel like learning Japanese is gonna be the fun/easy part compared to the VISA aspect, which is why I’m hear with many open ended questions.
Relevant facts: I’m late 30s, I do NOT have a Bachelors or any type of degree (these facts will wreck me I know), I am from an EFL country (Canada), I have 20 years experience in my field and work in one of the most in-demand locations in my city (private music lessons).
Here’s the questions, and please feel free to point out obvious mistakes or even thoughts or points I haven’t considered.
\- It seems like the easiest way would be to get a COE from an Eikaiwa. I’ve actually looked on job postings and around 80% I’ve seen obviously say Bachelors or 2-year degree required, but some do say No Degree necessary, but must be from EFL country… Which I am… Is that scam type stuff? Is it actually possible to get a work visa without a degree? If so, this seems like the most likely route for me, eh?
\- I haven’t been able to find much about studying in Japan but I have seen some youtubers (obviously taken with a grain of salt) mention scholarships for foreigners? Is that a thing? I wouldn’t be opposed to going to language school or music school, with or without scholarships. This one I really could use some help if anyone can point me to some links.
\- I’m a realistic person, if getting a Bachelors degree is the way to go, is there some way I can do it super fast, or online, super cheap, or basically just in a way that would satisfy the visa requirement? Or study abroad for part of it? This one isn’t ideal for me, as going to school for multiple years just to go to Japan later is kind of a weird route, buuuut if that’s the only way for an over 30 to go I need to think about pursuing it realistically.
\- Another huge question is: Are there 1-on-1 music lessons? Could I work as a musician and get a COE? I noticed there was also like a “notable artist” type visa. Not like I’m world famous, but I have 50,000+ streams, sold Vinyl Records, CDs, Cassettes, been on tour to multiple countries, got radio play, played music festivals, own a recording studio, done sound live (Live House). Does any of that matter or would be in demand? This is something I’ve been able to find ZERO about, but as a career musician, if there was some type of COE/visa I could jump on, be it 1 on 1 lessons, sound guy, recording engineer, or even like, I heard one Eikaiwa teacher would sing English songs on his guitar? Basically, does it matter at all that I’m a somewhat in demand/known musician/teacher/producer, and have 2 decades of experience? Is that enough of a “skilled worker” regarding immigration?
\- In terms of areas to live, I know I’m getting ahead of myself, but I’m thinking of Kansai Prefecture so I could enjoy the food, music, and countryside, or Hokkaido cuz I’m from Canada so it’s fine. I don’t really wanna live in Tokyo TBH. Are any areas notably cooler in the summer? I mean I know it’s Japan, but I’ve heard Tokyo and Osaka are markedly hotter than other areas due to being giant cities lol. Any recommendations?
\- Not placing all my hopes on this but Akiya Bank/Abandoned Houses phenomenon is seeming INSANELY attractive if I can somehow get lucky. Obviously not gonna buy a termite infested house for 2 dollars, but even some of the 40,000 or 50,000 USD houses would be nice enough for me.
\- I also know pretty good French, would that help me at all, or would it mostly just be for French teaching jobs?
IDEAL FANTASY IF POSSIBLE: I learn Japanese within 2 years studying multiple hours daily, get a COE from some music related job part time, also work online doing mixing for Canadian/USA bands making a killing on the conversion(but the visa would have to allow this), and buy an Akiya somewhere half an hour or an hour out of a sweet city.
Thank you very much for reading if you got this far, it was helpful to sound it all out. Let me know any thoughts on all this. Thanks again 🙂
3 comments
This is a copy of your post for archive/search purposes.
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**Done some research and have various open ended questions. Please assist you’d like :)**
Hello everyone! A little backstory: I want to move to Japan, or at least work towards it as a goal. I’ve already started learning Japanese properly, I have Hiragana memorized, starting to grasp combos like にゃ (I-vowel row+Ya/Yu/Yo) or the Dakuten, got a few Katakana memorized, starting to understand a few of the particles/word types, like wo/o, ni, ka/ga, no, wa etc. Looking into pitch accents for words, vocabulary, and moving past weeb/anime level in the next few months. This is just after 1 month of dedicated practice and I’m starting to feel like learning Japanese is gonna be the fun/easy part compared to the VISA aspect, which is why I’m hear with many open ended questions.
Relevant facts: I’m late 30s, I do NOT have a Bachelors or any type of degree (these facts will wreck me I know), I am from an EFL country (Canada), I have 20 years experience in my field and work in one of the most in-demand locations in my city (private music lessons).
Here’s the questions, and please feel free to point out obvious mistakes or even thoughts or points I haven’t considered.
– It seems like the easiest way would be to get a COE from an Eikaiwa. I’ve actually looked on job postings and around 80% I’ve seen obviously say Bachelors or 2-year degree required, but some do say No Degree necessary, but must be from EFL country… Which I am… Is that scam type stuff? Is it actually possible to get a work visa without a degree? If so, this seems like the most likely route for me, eh?
– I haven’t been able to find much about studying in Japan but I have seen some youtubers (obviously taken with a grain of salt) mention scholarships for foreigners? Is that a thing? I wouldn’t be opposed to going to language school or music school, with or without scholarships. This one I really could use some help if anyone can point me to some links.
– I’m a realistic person, if getting a Bachelors degree is the way to go, is there some way I can do it super fast, or online, super cheap, or basically just in a way that would satisfy the visa requirement? Or study abroad for part of it? This one isn’t ideal for me, as going to school for multiple years just to go to Japan later is kind of a weird route, buuuut if that’s the only way for an over 30 to go I need to think about pursuing it realistically.
– Another huge question is: Are there 1-on-1 music lessons? Could I work as a musician and get a COE? I noticed there was also like a “notable artist” type visa. Not like I’m world famous, but I have 50,000+ streams, sold Vinyl Records, CDs, Cassettes, been on tour to multiple countries, got radio play, played music festivals, own a recording studio, done sound live (Live House). Does any of that matter or would be in demand? This is something I’ve been able to find ZERO about, but as a career musician, if there was some type of COE/visa I could jump on, be it 1 on 1 lessons, sound guy, recording engineer, or even like, I heard one Eikaiwa teacher would sing English songs on his guitar? Basically, does it matter at all that I’m a somewhat in demand/known musician/teacher/producer, and have 2 decades of experience? Is that enough of a “skilled worker” regarding immigration?
– In terms of areas to live, I know I’m getting ahead of myself, but I’m thinking of Kansai Prefecture so I could enjoy the food, music, and countryside, or Hokkaido cuz I’m from Canada so it’s fine. I don’t really wanna live in Tokyo TBH. Are any areas notably cooler in the summer? I mean I know it’s Japan, but I’ve heard Tokyo and Osaka are markedly hotter than other areas due to being giant cities lol. Any recommendations?
– Not placing all my hopes on this but Akiya Bank/Abandoned Houses phenomenon is seeming INSANELY attractive if I can somehow get lucky. Obviously not gonna buy a termite infested house for 2 dollars, but even some of the 40,000 or 50,000 USD houses would be nice enough for me.
– I also know pretty good French, would that help me at all, or would it mostly just be for French teaching jobs?
IDEAL FANTASY IF POSSIBLE: I learn Japanese within 2 years studying multiple hours daily, get a COE from some music related job part time, also work online doing mixing for Canadian/USA bands making a killing on the conversion(but the visa would have to allow this), and buy an Akiya somewhere half an hour or an hour out of a sweet city.
Thank you very much for reading if you got this far, it was helpful to sound it all out. Let me know any thoughts on all this. Thanks again 🙂
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It’s possible to get a visa without a degree, but only _in your field_. You’re not going to get a work visa for English teaching without a Bachelor’s degree. That field you have 20 years of documentable experience in is the one you’d be eligible for.
However, you’re not going to get a visa for giving private music lessons, either. There’s a million Japanese people who can give private music lessons; there’s no incentive for them to hire a foreigner with no language skills.
Regarding scholarships, see /r/mext – it’s for university study though, not language study. If you just want to go to language school, that’s going to be self-funded. But MEXT is very competitive, you’ll want to read up on it.
As for just getting a Bachelor’s first, yes it takes a few years. But many people who plan to move overseas take a few years to make plans anyway. It doesn’t have to be your only option – language school would be much faster – but it’s not at all unusual to get a degree to make oneself more attractive to international employers. Get something in IT though, teaching English forever is not a great plan.
I’m not an expert on the artist visa (we have folks who are, they’ll be along) so no idea if you’re eligible for that or not. But the skilled worker visa doesn’t cover music teachers, as noted above.
As for the rest – regions, akiya, etc – yes, that all has to be after the visa part.
>It seems like the easiest way would be to get a COE from an Eikaiwa.
That is ***a*** way, but not necessarily the easiest way. And you still need a degree to get a visa. The places that don’t list a degree as a requirement are aiming at people who are already in Japan on one of the various visa types that allow you to work (Spouse visas, etc)
>I have seen some youtubers (obviously taken with a grain of salt) mention scholarships for foreigners?
There is, for all intents and purposes ***one*** scholarship for foreigners: MEXT. As u/woofiegrrl mentioned: It’s only for universities, and it’s hella competitive.
>is there some way I can do it super fast, or online, super cheap, or basically just in a way that would satisfy the visa requirement?
As long as it is a legitimate, accredited degree, sure. Many of the “fast, online, and cheap” options have very sketchy accreditation, so be careful.
>Are there 1-on-1 music lessons?
Of course there are. Are they hiring foreigners? Not really, no.
>Artist visa
Unfortunately the artist visa is in the “If you have to ask you probably aren’t getting it” category. It’s not for “working” artists, like most of the options/examples you listed.
>Not placing all my hopes on this but Akiya Bank/Abandoned Houses phenomenon is seeming INSANELY attractive if I can somehow get lucky.
Most of the akiya programs have requirements that effectively bar foreigners from using the program. Things like committing to live in the house for 10 years, which you can’t commit to if you’re on rolling 1-year visas.
>I learn Japanese within 2 years studying multiple hours daily
Good plan. You’re probably not going to learn enough Japanese in two years to teach music lessons, but learning the language is *always* a good idea.
>get a COE from some music related job part time
First problem: Part time jobs cannot sponsor a visa. Immigration requires a minimum salary before they’ll issue a visa, so unless a part time job pays *stupidly* well it’s not going to qualify.
>also work online doing mixing for Canadian/USA bands making a killing on the conversion(but the visa would have to allow this)
Second problem: The visa probably *won’t* allow this. It’s complicated, but you need to apply for permission from immigration to work outside the limits of your status of residence (aka: visa) and, IIRC you need to apply for permission for *all* work outside Japan.
Especially combined with the “part time job” part above this would never be approved. If you’re making more from your second job they’re going to require you to change your status of residence to line up with your new “primary” job, and there’s no remote work visa.
>and buy an Akiya somewhere half an hour or an hour out of a sweet city.
Third problem: There are no akiya “half an hour out of a sweet city”. People don’t abandon houses that are within easy commuting distance of a city. And if there *was* an abandoned house that close to a city it has absolutely already been purchased.
Akiya are abandoned because they are *in the middle of nowhere*. They are pretty much exclusively the domain of small countryside villages.