Hi all. I’m going to be moving to Japan sometime in March, as I was accepted into a master’s degree program at Waseda. So that’s three-ish months away, and frankly my head hurts a bit thinking of everything I have to do to prepare to move to another country for two years.
Is there anything you wish you had done/done differently before moving to Japan?
I’m just a bit stressed about the prospect of picking my whole life up at the age of 24 lol. I’ve thought of some of the more obvious stuff, like the CoE and thought about my phone situation, but I’m curious if anybody has any hindsight wisdom.
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**What do you wish you had done before moving?**
Hi all. I’m going to be moving to Japan sometime in March, as I was accepted into a master’s degree program at Waseda. So that’s three-ish months away, and frankly my head hurts a bit thinking of everything I have to do to prepare to move to another country for two years.
Is there anything you wish you had done/done differently before moving to Japan?
I’m just a bit stressed about the prospect of picking my whole life up at the age of 24 lol. I’ve thought of some of the more obvious stuff, like the CoE and thought about my phone situation, but I’m curious if anybody has any hindsight wisdom.
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I wish I had opened a better credit card with no foreign transaction fees and good rewards.
I’d recommend you park your number on Google Voice if you’re able, so you can still receive calls and texts there. It costs money but it’s way cheaper than trying to park on any mainline provider plan.
Transliterate your name into katakana, make sure you are satisfied with it, and stick to it for all of your paper works.
If you live more than a 8 hour flight away, budget out how often you want to go home and prepare accordingly. Twice a year? ¥400-700k, during holidays? Add another ¥100k. Don’t want to go home? Nice, save some money for domestic transpo.
Look up restaurants you want to try out.
Get a pocket wifi at the airport to ride you over til you have your residence card.
Second the credit card with no foreign transaction fees.
Won the lottery.
Bringing more specialized products, like certain toothpaste (I use non-fluoride toothpaste that also has no added components and it’s way cheaper back in my country), more deodorant and more money in cash, there are very good exchange rates near tourist areas and saved on withdrawal fees until my first salary.
One thing I’m glad I did, pay for a 3rd piece of luggage on the plane. It was a pain in the ass to carry though (thankfully a friend lent me a hand).
Two years will fly by! Trust me, it’s gone in the blink of an eye.
Get your phone and bank/credit cards taken care of. Cancel all subscriptions and whatnot that don’t make sense for living abroad. Figure out how you’re handling the snail mail situation (especially for taxes, etc). Go through your belongings and downsize what you can.
I wish I had hugged my cats harder and for longer.
We recently came to the exceedingly difficult decision to leave them with our good friend who’s been taking care of them. It’s the best for them – surviving a 13 hour flight for an 11 and 14 year old cat just isn’t in the books.
Yeah, in hindsight I should probably have transferred ownership of the house that my parents are living in to my brother back then.
As for yourself, bring a good supply of your favourite deodorant and makeup. About 5 years worth to begin with.
Secured my N3 atleast
Get an international drivers permit. So easy to do and so worth it.
Learned more Japanese lol
I wish I’d gotten a credit card before I came here. Would’ve been real useful considering all the hassle I’ve gone through with trying to move money around or take cash out for purchases