I feel a deep desire to move to Japan and build a family, but I have spent the last 20 years in a dead-end retail job and only a high school education, never been anywhere past 200 miles from where I’ve lived most of my life, working low hours and terrible shifts, no social life, spinning my wheels on a personal video game project that has gone literally nowhere, and helping my care for my Mom before she passed away, and now that she’s gone with no chance to even meet a grandchild, I feel the clock ticking. I feel I’m extremely ill-suited for life in the US, I can’t stand the thought of driving, don’t feel like I can date anyone here.
At minimum thinking about making a 3 month trip to one of the Meiji Academies just to polish off my language and exploring dating life. I know around high N3-low N2 vocab already, but only around 600-700 kanji and little speaking experience. However, the main point I’m asking about is if it’s any way possible without a degree to, instead of (or after) the learning trip, to apply for an internship (assuming unpaid) or some other kind of training opportunities that would, however slim, potentially network into a job visa sponsorship?
I know visa rules are extremely rough in my position and I wouldn’t be very good at most physical labor SSW jobs, but would take one as a last resort. Retail experience doesn’t seem to count for anything, which is unfortunate.
I would like to somehow still get a job in an art/entertainment/computer industry (games, mobile, anime, graphic design, just general weeb things, I have a discerning eye for artistic things, but can’t draw to save my life), but at this point I’m not that picky to what it is as long as I can be trained for it and do it proficiently, and make enough money to support an eventual family.
Sorry this was so long for anyone who stuck around, open to any suggestions, if anyone has any, and thank you.
7 comments
This is a copy of your post for archive/search purposes.
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**Exploring options for someone older with no college or experience in fields outside of retail**
I feel a deep desire to move to Japan and build a family, but I have spent the last 20 years in a dead-end retail job and only a high school education, never been anywhere past 200 miles from where I’ve lived most of my life, working low hours and terrible shifts, no social life, spinning my wheels on a personal video game project that has gone literally nowhere, and helping my care for my Mom before she passed away, and now that she’s gone with no chance to even meet a grandchild, I feel the clock ticking. I feel I’m extremely ill-suited for life in the US, I can’t stand the thought of driving, don’t feel like I can date anyone here.
At minimum thinking about making a 3 month trip to one of the Meiji Academies just to polish off my language and exploring dating life. I know around high N3-low N2 vocab already, but only around 600-700 kanji and little speaking experience. However, the main point I’m asking about is if it’s any way possible without a degree to, instead of (or after) the learning trip, to apply for an internship (assuming unpaid) or some other kind of training opportunities that would, however slim, potentially network into a job visa sponsorship?
I know visa rules are extremely rough in my position and I wouldn’t be very good at most physical labor SSW jobs, but would take one as a last resort. Retail experience doesn’t seem to count for anything, which is unfortunate.
I would like to somehow still get a job in an art/entertainment/computer industry (games, mobile, anime, graphic design, just general weeb things, I have a discerning eye for artistic things, but can’t draw to save my life), but at this point I’m not that picky to what it is as long as I can be trained for it and do it proficiently, and make enough money to support an eventual family.
Sorry this was so long for anyone who stuck around, open to any suggestions, if anyone has any, and thank you.
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>I feel I’m extremely ill-suited for life in the US
From what you shared, you didn’t make yourself sound like you’re well suited for life in Japan either… Why not improve your life where you are? Unfortunately you can’t get a work visa without either a degree or ten years of relevant work experience.
> exploring dating life.
Unfortunately, there is a certain expectation for income stability for a serious relationship after a certain age here.
A visa requires a bachelor degree or 10 years experience in a relevant field to your job that is able to issue a visa. There is no retail visa. SSW is also not aimed at Americans. So.. no, not really.
To put it bluntly, Japan is also not an escape. If you don’t feel like you can date ANYONE where you are, it’s not going to be easy at all to find a meaningful relationship here, either. I would especially read some uh divorce threads on japanlife as it is… well, quite a common occurrence…
Personally, I would look at WHAT you want to do, not WHERE you want to do it. Go back to school and study, upskill yourself, get a more interesting job to keep you engaged. And if it takes you to Japan, great! If not, hopefully you are doing things you enjoy where you are!
Ooooh boy. So I’m going to try to be gentle here, but there’s a lot to unpack.
As it stands right now you have effectively ***zero*** options.
You have no degree, no professional experience, and very limited language abilities. You’re going to need to solve the degree problem at the very least before you’ll qualify for any sort of working visa.
Let’s break down some key points:
>I have spent the last 20 years in a dead-end retail job
There’s no visa for retail work, so that experience doesn’t help.
>only a high school education
This is the biggest issue. A bachelor’s degree is the baseline requirement for all of the normal working visas.
***Get a degree***. Everything else is dead in the water until you do so.
>thinking about making a 3 month trip to one of the Meiji Academies just to polish off my language
>
>I know around high N3-low N2 vocab already, but only around 600-700 kanji and little speaking experience.
Three months isn’t enough to get you up to a reasonable level of fluency. From self-assessed N3 to actually functional N2 you’re looking at 6 months to a year, *minimum*. Possibly more, depending on how accurate your self-assessment is.
>exploring dating life
“Dating” is not a good reason to move to Japan.
>However, the main point I’m asking about is if it’s any way possible without a degree to, instead of (or after) the learning trip, to apply for an internship (assuming unpaid) or some other kind of training opportunities that would, however slim, potentially network into a job visa sponsorship?
No. See above. A degree is required for a visa.
>I wouldn’t be very good at most physical labor SSW jobs, but would take one as a last resort
Based on your profile you’re in the US. The SSW *is not for you*. You need to take a skills test to get the visa, and those tests are only offered in the target Asian countries. The only place it’s offered in English is the Philippines, and you need to be a citizen.
>I would like to somehow still get a job in an art/entertainment/computer industry
Without a degree this is a complete non-starter.
Sorry, friend, but right now you don’t have any options. Go back to school, get a degree in a marketable skill and *then* think about Japan.
There’s not a whole lot of exploration to be done here unfortunately. I won’t go and repeat what all the others said but they’re all right. You’ll need to put in a lot of work back home first before even thinking about Japan.
Alright, thank you all for being honest with me, I’ve been mulling over the idea of going to an online school for an IT degree, so this blunt rejection pushes me back in that direction. I’d still very much like the take the language learning trip as an vacation/experience, maybe get general education online credits through Study/Straighterline in the meantime. Does anyone have experience with Meiji Academy, or have a similar program?
The only possible option is getting married to a Japanese citizen living in the USA and moving to Japan as a spouse.
I recommend you to replace “Japan” with “USA” in your post.
If someone said “I don’t have a uni degree, don’t speak English, and haven’t worked in IT/game industries but I want to immigrate and work in the field in the USA” , what would you tell him?
You have American citizenship and English is your mother tongue but your life is ill suited. What would happen when you came to the country where you don’t have citizenship?
You only know 600 – 700 Kanji, which means you never have N2 level vocabulary. I’ve seen some people who insist that their Japanese level is like N 1 – 5. This is kinda ridiculous. It’s not expensive to take the test.