My wife and I are in our early 30s and planning on taking some time in Japan to study in a language school next year.
My work has a benefit that allows 3 months protected leave of absence in which we are planning to leverage to take an intensive language course in either Nagoya/Kyoto.
Currently, the both of us are around N4 level of listening proficiency and plan on continuing self-studying until we go to school out there to make the best use of the limited time.
My wife has previously studied in Japan, but does not work in a field that can get her a visa easily.
Conversely, I've been working in IT Consulting and Management roles for some years now, but I'm not a coder and I don't speak Japanese which makes it more difficult for me to apply for work out there.
Our hope is that I could work on learning the language/network as much as I can to potentially seek employment while I'm out there. Otherwise I can fallback on my employment when I return home.
We have the savings to do this, but my wife will likely need to quit her job. and we're locked to the 3 months because it seems more financially responsible to keep my employment just in case upon our return.
My main thoughts/questions would be:
1) Is 3 months a viable enough for the language school plan or is there something I could do better with the time while out there?
2) Anyone in IT Consulting/Management roles that have found success moving with limited Japanese proficiency? I know some colleagues in the industry who have done this, but made their lives there due to marrying Japanese nationals.
by No_Implement7124