Hello! I (22M) have always been interested in exploring my Japanese side (I’m half) since I’ve been raised here in the states. I am dual citizen, somy concerns with living there would mostly be related to my lack of Japanese skills
I am going to take the N3 test this December as I feel that is where I am at. I mostly grew up speaking English with my mom, but for the past few years I have been talking with family in Japanese a lot more. I can hold a daily conversation no problem, but only know 1000 or so kanji
I am going into my senior year of undergrad here in the states. My major is Public Health, but my ultimate goal is to go to Physician Assistant school and work as a PA here in the states. I have been working as an EMT for about a year and absolutely love it. I don’t think I would enjoy my job as much if I had to do it in Japanese. So much of health care is being able to communicate with your patients, and I feel that not being able to do so as well would frustrate me out of the health care field. (Just speculation)
My goals for living in Japan:
– Improve my Japanese! Even though I see myself working and growing old in the states, I also see myself visiting Japan a lot my whole life. I want my future kids to get to enjoy Japan, and it would be great if I can navigate the country without any issues and raise my kids to be more bilingual than me.
– Develop better connection with my family. My moms side of the family is in Nara. I have spent time there, but most of it was when I was a kid. Only last year did I go back as an adult and it made me wish I could spend more time with them before I have to go further into my career/life.
– Explore. I would love to get to see lots of different parts of Japan.
– Preferably work in a health care job while I am there so that my time there is not completely irrelevant from a career standpoint
Some current thoughts/ideas:
Option 1: Add a year onto my undergrad by studying abroad through my school (Fall 2024- Fall 2025) and basically just take Japanese classes and other random classes that wouldn’t contribute to my career goals or major. This would either be in Tokyo or Osaka. I like this idea because I would be able to make japanese friends and get better at japanese that way. Travel when I can. Spend time with family when I can.
I don’t like this idea because it is going to be a lot of classes that I don’t want to or need to take to graduate. It just seems like a bit of a waste of money since I would be going AFTER being almost done with my degree. (I applied for Fall 2024 but couldn’t go because I hadn’t been at my university for a year, which is a requirement to study abroad) that said, I can afford to do this.
Option 2: Do language school and make friends through online meet ups or part time jobs. Travel when I can. Spend time with family when I can. Is it weird to go to language school of my intentions are not to live in Japan for a long term career?
Option 3: Just move there and work for 2 years (doing what I am still figuring out) while making friends and spending time with family on the side.
As far as getting medical work in Japan, I was thinking I could try to get a job on a military base as a civilian EMT. Anybody know anything about lower level medical work I could do in Japan so that I can tell PA schools that I continued my medical work experience? Maybe an ER tech position? Are there English speaking hospitals looking for people that can speak english?
All advice welcome!
5 comments
This is a copy of your post for archive/search purposes.
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**Advice for 22M wanting to live in japan for 1-2 years.**
Hello! I (22M) have always been interested in exploring my Japanese side (I’m half) since I’ve been raised here in the states. I am dual citizen, somy concerns with living there would mostly be related to my lack of Japanese skills
I am going to take the N3 test this December as I feel that is where I am at. I mostly grew up speaking English with my mom, but for the past few years I have been talking with family in Japanese a lot more. I can hold a daily conversation no problem, but only know 1000 or so kanji
I am going into my senior year of undergrad here in the states. My major is Public Health, but my ultimate goal is to go to Physician Assistant school and work as a PA here in the states. I have been working as an EMT for about a year and absolutely love it. I don’t think I would enjoy my job as much if I had to do it in Japanese. So much of health care is being able to communicate with your patients, and I feel that not being able to do so as well would frustrate me out of the health care field. (Just speculation)
My goals for living in Japan:
– Improve my Japanese! Even though I see myself working and growing old in the states, I also see myself visiting Japan a lot my whole life. I want my future kids to get to enjoy Japan, and it would be great if I can navigate the country without any issues and raise my kids to be more bilingual than me.
– Develop better connection with my family. My moms side of the family is in Nara. I have spent time there, but most of it was when I was a kid. Only last year did I go back as an adult and it made me wish I could spend more time with them before I have to go further into my career/life.
– Explore. I would love to get to see lots of different parts of Japan.
– Preferably work in a health care job while I am there so that my time there is not completely irrelevant from a career standpoint
Some current thoughts/ideas:
Option 1: Add a year onto my undergrad by studying abroad through my school (Fall 2024- Fall 2025) and basically just take Japanese classes and other random classes that wouldn’t contribute to my career goals or major. This would either be in Tokyo or Osaka. I like this idea because I would be able to make japanese friends and get better at japanese that way. Travel when I can. Spend time with family when I can.
I don’t like this idea because it is going to be a lot of classes that I don’t want to or need to take to graduate. It just seems like a bit of a waste of money since I would be going AFTER being almost done with my degree. (I applied for Fall 2024 but couldn’t go because I hadn’t been at my university for a year, which is a requirement to study abroad) that said, I can afford to do this.
Option 2: Do language school and make friends through online meet ups or part time jobs. Travel when I can. Spend time with family when I can. Is it weird to go to language school of my intentions are not to live in Japan for a long term career?
Option 3: Just move there and work for 2 years (doing what I am still figuring out) while making friends and spending time with family on the side.
As far as getting medical work in Japan, I was thinking I could try to get a job on a military base as a civilian EMT. Anybody know anything about lower level medical work I could do in Japan so that I can tell PA schools that I continued my medical work experience? Maybe an ER tech position? Are there English speaking hospitals looking for people that can speak english?
All advice welcome!
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Japan doesn’t allow dual citizens. Do you have a Japanese passport?
Ambulances are pretty much exclusively staffed and operated by the various fire departments, so the majority of folks working in those roles have fire fighter backgrounds.
Even at an English speaking hospital like St. Luke’s I’d expect the staff would need to hold Japanese certifications and qualifications.
You could probably find work in care-giver type roles at nursing and convalescence homes though. I’m sure your local Hello Work would have plenty of such postings in their job bank.
I think option one or two are probably best since you will have the best chances of improving your language skill that way.
I’d recommend studying in Kyoto or Osaka to be close to your family, and since there’s also more ‘traditional’ things to do if you want to get in touch with these things. Would your family be able to host you? That way you could also save on expenses.
In both cases you could work part-time which would allow you to interact with people in formal speech.
Definitely go somewhere near your family! You can learn your craft and Japanese anywhere at any time, but that time with your family will be priceless.