Thinking of moving to Japan in the future

I’m currently 16 yrs old and living in Australia, I’ve been taking Japanese as a subject in school for a few years now and am currently studying for the HSC (My subjects are Japanese, Enviromental science, Geography, Math, Advanced English and Religion(Compulsory)) and have recently traveled there for two weeks and had a great time. I’ve just been thinking of career paths to go down and am passionate about my scuba diving, I plan to gain all the qualifications for dive master and take Japanese in University, possibly study abroad as well. My other career plan is go down the English teacher route which I’m not sure what it entails but I’ll research further. I plan to live rurally rather than in urban places, I thought that Okinawa might be the best candidate for my interests.

Any and all help is appreciated also if my scuba diving dream seems too unrealistic please give me a reality check

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

    **Thinking of moving to Japan in the future**

    I’m currently 16 yrs old and living in Australia, I’ve been taking Japanese as a subject in school for a few years now and am currently studying for the HSC (My subjects are Japanese, Enviromental science, Geography, Math, Advanced English and Religion(Compulsory)) and have recently traveled there for two weeks and had a great time. I’ve just been thinking of career paths to go down and am passionate about my scuba diving, I plan to gain all the qualifications for dive master and take Japanese in University, possibly study abroad as well. My other career plan is go down the English teacher route which I’m not sure what it entails but I’ll research further. I plan to live rurally rather than in urban places, I thought that Okinawa might be the best candidate for my interests.

    Any and all help is appreciated also if my scuba diving dream seems too unrealistic please give me a reality check

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  2. Search for a university with an exchange program with a Japanese university. Experience a semester or two of life in Japan, and if you still want to live in Japan, go back to your home university, get the degree, and find a job in Japan.

    Going to a university in Japan means you need to stay for at least 4 years to graduate, and 4 years is a long time especially if you find out that you don’t actually want to live in Japan after the first year or two. Don’t take the English teacher route because that isn’t good for your career.

    Also making scuba diving a job right out of university is nearly impossible visa wise if that’s what you want to do. You can find a job or go to a university in Okinawa as an exchange student and do it as a hobby and think about making it a job after that as a long term plan.

  3. You’ll need that degree for the visa, that’s not negotiable so make sure that is part of your plan.

  4. Other have had good advice, I would also recommend doing a second major or something else in Uni as well, Japanese alone is not a very useful degree.
    A lot of unis in AU have exchange programs with Japan you could easily do for 6-12 months to see how you like it.

  5. I studied abroad as an exchange student in Japan for one year during university and then continued on to do my graduate school in Japan after graduating undergrad and haven’t left since. I will say I don’t regret my choices.

    The two best routes to trying out and considering moving to Japan is either do a year study abroad (either via university as an exchange student or via language school before/after university) or enter a program like JET post graduation as an English teacher. Why I say this is both aren’t choices that fully commit you to beyond one year. If you live here for a year and realize you hate it, you can easily go back. But if you realize you love it, you can easily stay.

    Entering university in Japan is an option for sure, but doing a year in language school both helps you learn Japanese before going to college and decide if you like it first. You’ll need time to prepare for entrance exams before uni as well which is also to do if you can actually visit the university beforehand and access entrance exam study books and guides.

    Also it’s easier to get jobs or apply to college if you’re in the country as opposed to over seas. Jobs often require residency beforehand and universities require you to physically mail in applicants which is really hard and expensive if you live internationally, so that’s why I recommend language school first if you are thinking of doing the university route.

    As for a career in scuba diving, I don’t know much about it. I know there are diving schools in Osaka (I live in Kyoto hence why I say that) and Okinawa is an insanely popular place for diving, but beyond that I know very little.

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