Hi,
*I hope I’m in the correct subreddit here, I’ve not posted this in* r/JapanTravel*, because I’m technically “moving” to Japan for a year…*
I’m currently planning a work and travel holiday for next year and I’ve got some questions that hopefully maybe someone has experiences with and/or can help me out with.
Little details about myself:
\> I’m 24 (25 by the time I go there)
\> I’m from Europe, Austria
\> I’m…ambiverted? I can make friends easy and talk to people very easily, but they have to start the conversation with me…actually, I’m just shy probably.
\> I’m half Japanese/Filipino, but I’m adopted to my Austrian Father and French mother, so everytime I went to Japan, I’ve just blended in – at least I assumed so, I could tell that non-asian people definitely got stared at more than me…not sure if that changes anything, but just wanted to throw this out…
To start off, I’ll lay out what I have planned so far and some specific details that may or may not help with answering:
\- I’ll be in Japan for a whole year, it’s not 100% going to be exactly a year, but my plan roughly is: March 2025 – End of February/Mid March 2026.
\- I’m staying majority of the time in Sendai, Miyagi prefecture.
\- My main goal is to learn the language to the best of my abilities for the first couple months (while also learning by myself for now), then, once I hopefully reach a certain level, maybe work at a 7/11 or something where I get to interact with people? Lastly, visit places I’ve not been to yet.
\- I’ve been to Japan twice, majority of the time in Tokyo and Sendai, I’m very good at navigating my way through and I’ve mostly done the “hotspots” for now. So timing is not an issue, if I “miss” the cherry blossoms in Kyoto or Tokyo, no problem, I’ve already seen them last year 🙂
\- Lastly, and this may be vary, I’m looking for budgets. I’ll be staying at a friend’s parents home (both do not speak English, nor do they speak German and both are Japanese teachers, hence why I’m confident that at some point, I’ll just pick up the language, provided I do study by myself and in a language school too of course), which I’m eternally grateful for.
Now that the basis is set, here are my questions:
# Q1: I plan on visiting a language school, are there any recommendations for Sendai?
I did google and my friend helped me out and we came to the conclusion, that the following school is the one I should go to:
**Miyagi International Association**
Has anyone been to a language school in Sendai, maybe even that one and knows whether or not this is a good one?
I’ve also looked at 2 others, one being SLS (Sendai Language School) and Sendai Internation School of Japanese, both also look very promising, but I they seem more catered towards actual students, who want to go on to University in Japan, so I’m not sure if I’d 1. fit in and 2. have an easy time learning, as I’m quite frankly, a full on beginner.
# Q2: Tied to the last point of details, how much money would I need to “survive” at least 6 months in Sendai?
At the moment, the cost of rent would be 120.000 Yen for 6 months, 240.000 for the entire year (although, I’m not sure, I’ll negotiate that with my friend’s parents, as in my opinion, that is not enough, I’ve heard that majority of people who do that, plan out triple, if not quadruple that)
# Q3: I’m a highschool dropout, I’ve been working full-time in the same company for 4 years (5 years by the time I leave), how does that translate in finding a job?
I plan on not working too much, because mind you, the working holiday visa is primarily there to learn the culture, language and generally speaking, just experience Japan without any pressure of “How am I gonna fit this in a 2-3 week vacation??” – That said, I’m not sure if I can get by without working at all, I think working should be something I do, not only for money, but also to just get used to talking to people. So, what jobs *can* I do or am I basically screwed?
I should be good for 6 months easily in terms of money, but no idea if that covers my (more or less) planned trips to: Hokkaido, Aomori, Okinawa, Fukuoka, Osaka, and probably many more.
This is all for now, I know this is very long (probably even too long), but my overthinking \*ss likes to be overprepared, or at least, prepared enough to ease my anxiousness a bit.
Not sure if I can make a TL;DR for that tbh? I hope someone has some answers to these questions, maybe even experiences themselves.
Thank you for your patience, thank you for reading, I’m looking forward to your answers/comments!
by OfficialDeKadey