As a 16y-old American Highschool Student how can I prepare myself and increase you chances into gaining citizenship?

10 comments

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

   —

   **As a 16y-old American Highschool Student how can I prepare myself and increase you chances into gaining citizenship?**

   I’m a 11th grade (16y-old) american highschool student and I’ve finally found my purpose, passion, and dream I want to chase. That being to become a Japanese Citizen, enjoy and understand the culture, nature, language, media, history and everything amazes me. I have some idea on what I want todo but I’m not entirely sure what ways are the best, fastest, or increases my chances.

   Right now I have 3 basic ideas:

   1. Apply for a Research MEXT Scholarship (hope I get it). This will allow me to get 2 years in Japan in which I can find a language school to work on my actual skill in the language. While in school look for a job in which I can get a work visa to stay longer. Then hopefully nuetralize after 5 years.

   2. This is that I don’t get the scholarship, I plan to while I’m young save money in order to afford tuition for a study abroad program and apply in hopes I get in being able to study, and ect

   3. Bachelor in ESL, gain a TEFOL certificate, apply to work abroad as an English Teacher and work on trying to gain Highly Skilled Professional points and nuetralize faster or after 5 years try to nuetralize.

   I know I may seem not that enthusiastic but really I’m so obsessed over japan and its atmosphere, no matter the work hours I’ll have togo through, no matter how much studying. I really want to live and work in a place like that.

   *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/movingtojapan) if you have any questions or concerns.*

2. You’re putting the cart so infinitely before the horse that they are not even in the same star system anymore. You don’t decide to become a Japanese citizen from across the globe just because you like some aspects of Japanese media/culture. Have you ever even been to Japan before? You aren’t obsessed with Japan and its atmosphere – you’re obsessed with whatever form of media you’ve watched. That isn’t the real Japan. Japan is just another country.

   Don’t major in ESL/TESOL. It’s low paying, you’ll almost certainly not be able to get HSP points in that field (you’d need a PhD and multiple publications and N1 level Japanese to overcome the low pay, and even that might not give you the points).

3. You don’t have to wait and shouldn’t. Start studying Japanese now.

4. Make sure you understand that Japan isn’t a career. Getting to Japan is something you do once you’ve got an idea of what you want to do for a career. You can get to Japan in any number of different career paths, so focus on that first.

   And like has been said, experience Japan before you aim for any lifelong commitments to it. Naturalization and citizenship is further than many many people go. Aim to try living and working here and eventually you can get permanent residency, and if you’d really like at that point then citizenship if it’s available to you.

5. >I’ve finally found my purpose, passion, and dream I want to chase. That being to become a Japanese Citizen

   That is not something you should be building your life goals/plans around. Citizenship (or even just living in Japan) is not an ***end*** goal.

   You should not be planning your immediate future around something that is at best an intermediate step in the rest of your life. Everything you’ve listed here only serves your goal of “In Japan”, not your entire life.

   You need to plan for ***your life***, not Japan. If Japan happens: Great. But don’t plan your education/near future around getting to Japan, because once you do you’ll realize you’re at a dead end because you didn’t look farther down the line.

   >Apply for a Research MEXT Scholarship (hope I get it).

   MEXT is *highly* competitive. How are your grades?

   >This will allow me to get 2 years in Japan in which I can find a language school to work on my actual skill in the language.

   MEXT is for *actual university studies*, not language school.

   >I plan to while I’m young save money in order to afford tuition for a study abroad program

   This is what you need to be doing.

   Again, for emphasis: ***THIS IS WHAT YOU NEED TO BE DOING***. Don’t pin your entire future on a wild-ass dream. Get a degree in something useful, spend a semester or two in Japan, and *then* start thinking about long term plans.

   >Bachelor in ESL, gain a TEFOL certificate, apply to work abroad as an English Teacher

   English teaching is not a career, and is not something you should be planning your future around.

   > and work on trying to gain Highly Skilled Professional points and nuetralize faster or after 5 years try to nuetralize.

   First off: *Naturalize*. Not Neutralize.

   Second: Like u/ApprenticePantyThief mentioned you won’t qualify for any HSFP enhancements while working as an English teacher.

   Third: HSFP accelerates *permanent residency*. There is no acceleration for naturalization.

6. I may get heat for this but I think it’s a freakin’ amazing dream/goal. It’s fantastic that you have this passion. Are your parents aware and supportive of this?

7. [removed]

8. I’ll preface this by saying: I can understand how you feel. I had the same “I want to go back to Japan” dream after going there on a study abroad program for one year when I was 18-19.

   I am also now a Japanese citizen 🙂

   Firstly, listen to what /u/ApprenticePantyThief and /u/dalkyr82 are saying. “Getting into Japan” or “gaining citizenship” or what have you should not be your goal. It’s only a means to an end, which is: what do you want to do for the rest of your life? What excites you to get out of bed every morning? How does Japan fit into all of that?

   It seems you have had experience living in Japan, but being in Japan as an elementary or middle school student is vastly different from being here as a university student or worker. It’s easy to say “I’m so obsessed over japan and its atmosphere, no matter the work hours I’ll have togo through”, but if you actually experience working 12-hour days 6 days a week, with no time to enjoy the Japan that you oh so love, your opinion might differ.

   But don’t misunderstand — I’m not trying to scare you away from your dream. I just want you to think things thoroughly, and understand what you’re getting yourself into, before you make a decision you might regret for the rest of your life.

   For what it’s worth, if I were you, I would get a degree in the US in a field that you enjoy, study Japanese on the side, get maybe 2-3 years of work experience, then apply for jobs in Japan.

9. honestly, I **understand** your passion.

   I will say, however, *listen to the adults on here* who are warning you about doing so, even if it seems abrasive in content. Basically take everything you see with a grain of salt, and first dip your toes in to see if you really want what you think you want, before diving completely into that pool. I lived there for 3 years and still think it’s the best experience in my life- but I also learned a lot of not so great things. but yeah biggest takeaway is don’t make huge experiences in your life with a no way out type of situation. Or do it, it’s your life and no one can stop you. Up to you to listen to said advice, or not, I won’t judge either way.

10. Get a job in a career you enjoy, get job experience, achieve skills that make you better than a local hire in Japan which is the only reason a company there would go through the extra effort of hiring a foreigner and deal with their work visa, and then apply for jobs there. In the mean time, visit there and start learning the language.

    Though I hope you start looking at Japan as a country full of human beings, and not some rose tinted utopia, sooner rather than later. It’s full of the same kinds of human weaknesses and drawbacks as other countries full of humans. Be careful that this isn’t just fetishization of exoticness, as “being at GPS location (x,y) that happens to be within a different national border” is neither a career nor a life. And never forget that it will be an impediment at every step – moving there will entail throwing away a lot of support systems that you might be taking for granted at home. Not just friends and family, but also an expectation of being understood in a native tongue, and major culture shock and the social impact of contending with it on a daily basis.