Hey everyone,
So a bit of a background story –
I’m at my mid 20s, I’ve been in Japan about 2 years ago and ever since then I pretty much felt in love with the place and I would really like to go there, stay & travel as long as my visa allows me.
Now regardless of the covid situation or not (speaking theoretically when they will open their gates again), I only have two options for a visa (unfortunately holiday visa does not apply to me) – so a student or a tourist visa (3 months max).
I’m really interested in experiencing Japan as much as I can (my ideal time would be between 1-2 years) and I don’t really think that the tourist visa would be enough for me so the other option is the student visa –
I’m not really sure if I should go to a language school (in a case that I would be accepted of course) solely as an “enter ticket”, now of course that I would like to learn some Japanese for the basics & fun of it but I don’t really see myself studying hard all day every day.
And from what I understand in most language schools you don’t have much free time during the week and you most of your focus does go to studying of course.
Anyway I would be glad to hear some advice from anyone that has any experience with studying there.
Many thanks!
17 comments
If you don’t see yourself studying hard everyday, I don’t think it will be worth the 1M yen a year tuition + other living expenses you have to pay.
Can you try English teaching?
You definitely wouldn’t be the first person to use language school as a glorified vacation, in fact I think it’s admirable of you to be upfront about it instead of pretending it’s to advance some bs “life goal”. There’s class attendance requirements for staying in school, so you’re definitely not going to be able skip out once you’re here.
My understanding is that your student visa will be predicated on your attending classes at a certain percentage (like you need to go to 90% of your classes or whatever), so if you skip out on them, your visa could be revoked. So if you do go on a student visa, be prepared to go to the classes, as someone else said. That said, I suppose you *could* just go to the classes and slack off and not study a lot, but that seems like kind of a waste of everyone’s time, including yours, you know?
I would say that when I was looking at schools, some of them market themselves as slower-paced (gogonihon has a “star” rating for how intense they are), so you could always look at one of those.
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If you have a lot of money you could apply for an extended tourist visa.
Another option is to plan a tour of Asia, rather than just Japan or even just 3 months in Japan, then go to one other country like Korea or Thailand for a couple of months and then go back to Japan for another 3 months. Be careful because Japan doesn’t like people doing the Visa hop (3 months in Japan, a week in Korea and then back to Japan). It’s possible they could deny you entry. That’s why I suggested you stay in another country for a couple of months.
You could go to language school. Typically classes are 5 days a week for 3-4 hours a day with homework and study. Some schools have breaks between terms. This give you about half a day to explore, which is good in the bigger cities. However it will limit your options to travel further. Some schools are strict and some are more laid back and less intense. Some schools offer additional “fun options” like excursions or activities. Many students do take classes and then have a part time job (less than 28 hours a week).
You could potentially study abroad in a university, but you would need to be accept into a school to study abroad. I imagine you would be spending the same amount of time in school as you would for language school, but your schedule might be more flexible so that you can load up on classes certain days so you have more full days to have longer exploring sessions.
If you’re qualified you could work in Japan. You would need a 4 year degree. You will be working 35+ hours a week, so it won’t give you as much time to explore Japan.
I looked at diffrent schools (but i am already past n5. I do want to study the language) and it seems like some of them are more study seriuse and some are more casual. 4 hours a day 6 days a week. That is a lot of free time even with a bit of working time. Some schools are much more study heavy. Check gogonihon
Or gaijinpot study websites
You could look into doing the JET Program which is a one year contract renewable yearly up to three years. At least that’s how it was when I did it back in the 90’s and I believe that part has remained the same. Good luck!
I am currently doing just this. I’m in Utsunomiya. My classes are from 9:00-12:45, Mon-Fri so there is lots of time off. I can also work part-time. (Had to ask for this when I got my visa).
One of the challenges I am facing is with COVID the class sizes are small. There are only two of us in the class. My fellow student is Brazilian and doesn’t speak any English so communicating is done through Japanese.
Also because of social distancing I don’t get to meet very many people so I don’t really practice. My reading and writing is far better than my speaking and listening Japanese.
Have you researched language schools in Japan? They’re super expensive. And on top of that, you’d have to pay for your living expenses, food, utilities, travel, etc. If you think you could afford it with no problem, I don’t see why it wouldn’t work out for you. 🙂
I will also say that coming to Japan as an English teacher is the easiest way to get in, and the cheapest (since the company usually pays for all the costs to come here, depending on what company you work for). It wouldn’t give you the same amount of freedom as a student (or maybe it would, depending on your course load), but you’d be making money and could save up. I know of some English teachers who saved up enough, and then ended up becoming students at a language school.
Just make sure you think about what option is best/most feasible for you. Good luck!
As someone who has done this, I totally recommend it.
You’ll have time to travel around on weekend and vacations, and if you go to to a good school, they’ll have trips planned for the students that might get you to places that public transport won’t (or won’t get you there easily).
The secret bonus though, is that as your Japanese improves, your enjoyment will increase. You’ll be able to understand more placards at museums, castles, etc. You’ll be less restricted in what you’re comfortable ordering in restaurants. If you have a school sponsored apartment, you’ll be able to play in the kitchen with Japanese ingredients and you’ll understand more food packages.
So, don’t slack off on your classes.
A few things I recommend for getting the most out of your travel time:
* [Hypderdia.](https://www.hyperdia.com) Enter the station you are starting at and the station you’d like to end up at, when you’d like to leave or when you want to arrive and you’ll be presented with several options along with cost.
* Get an IC card for trains and buses. You can even load Shinkansen tickets on them.
I plan to do just that once they reopen.
Keep in mind you are not going to need a student visa if you’re staying for less than a certain period of time (I believe 90 days). In that case you can go as a regular tourist.
Learning the language is a good gateway to enjoying to japan. The difficulty also depends on the school and program you’re going to be in. Checkout GoGoNihon. They list their schools by level and you could probably check out an easier one.
When I graduate from college I plan to study and work in Japan. To get my foot in the door I’m gonna go to a Japanese Language School for the first 2 years and hopefully pass the N2 JLPT exam. Just think about it though, knowing the language will really open up a lot of opportunities for you if you want to stay in japan or make multiple trips in the future.
Yes but say goodbye to 50 grand.
Source: I did all the budgeting because this was almost me and plans only didn’t work due to boarder closure.
I would start with a tourist visa. 3 months is enough time to decide if you want to actually live there to Pursue school and work. Because yes you won’t have much free time.
Just enjoy the vacation without strings attached. You can always leave and come back on another tourist visa.
Many people visit korea for a day as it’s close and they can renew their tourist visa that way.
Do what you gotta do buddy, but stay away from NILS Annex in Fukuoka. Def. go to a school in Tokyo.
Well damn
Thank you everyone for the advices, I would definitely check some of them
I Appreciate it! & hopefully will keep you updated soon 😀
Language schools are not “entry tickets”. They are required as a condition of visa issuance to take attendance and report poor attendance to immigration. You also need to maintain a certain grade point average. If you treat the school just as an entry ticket, you are very likely to your visa revoked.
That said, language schools are a fantastic way to experience the country. And if you look outside of Tokyo, you can find some schools with reasonable tuition and very low housing costs.
My recommendation to you would be to do a 3 month course. At the end of the 3 months you’ll know if it’s something you want to do for another 9 to 21 months and it shouldn’t be hard to get the school to sponsor you for a student visa if you showed a bit of enthusiasm. If it’s not for you, well then you don’t get the indignity of having your visa revoked and you haven’t wasted the school’s time and another student’s slot, for an actual student visa.
You have a great idea. I did language school first to see if I would enjoy living in Japan as I did not have a degree just yet.
There are different types of teaching intensity. I went to [Yoshida Institute of Language](https://yosida.com/). They were a medium type school but the beginner classes (Groups A, B & C) went in the afternoon 1pm-5pm Monday – Friday.
They required an attendance of 90%, now you wouldn’t be kicked out if you were at an 80% but if you wanted to stay the full 2 years there may be a chance that your visa wouldn’t be renewed for the 2nd year. Also you do have to put in a bit of effort with the classes but it pretty much takes a 60% to pass to the next class.
You will definitely have time after class and on weekends to see the sights as well as class breaks in between the terms and in term breaks. You do have to remember though you are there to learn Japanese. I did enjoy the teachers at the school and spent a year there before finding a job in Japan.