Hi guys, my name is Alvar (27M) and i’m from Spain, i’m planning to move to Japan for a year with the Visa Working Holiday on January, and i have a few questions about moving there, and this place seems like the right place to ask them, so thank you in advance! I’m planning on moving to Tokyo and from there travel to different places with a fix residence.
1. So, i speak Spanish, English, Portuguese and Valenciano (My regional language, not that useful hahaha) and i’m learning Japanese (for now i only know the basics, Hiragana, Katakana, some basic phrases and i’m learning Kanji), and i have a college degree in Journalism/Communication, so taking this into account, is it possible (in terms of easy, normal, hard) to find a job in Tokyo? What kind of jobs normally people with visa working holidays take there?
2. My next question is about living there, i checked a lot of share houses and most of them have mixed opinions, so I’m not sure which one to choose, and what zone of the city will be the best or most foreigner friendly. Any recommendations?
3. About health insurance, there’s this “public” national health insurance that covers 70% of the cost of the visit to the doctor for about 50 euros (the price may vary) so does it mean i don’t need an international health insurance if i take that one?
4. My budget revolves around 800.000-1.000.000 yenes for the first months, but the idea is to find a job there and work my way around. Do you think that is enough for the first months? (Paying first fees of the share house, transportation, food, phone card) I’m making the budget a little negative, so I don’t get any surprises, in case something unexpected happens.
5. (Edit: A dumb question) I wanted to tattoo my arm a long ago, and i was thinking of doing soon, is that that bad being tattoed in Japan? Just wanna know to delay the tattoo for when i come back.
Sorry if they are kinda basic questions, I have done my own research, but I thought that the best information I can get is from people that went through similar situations than me, so thanks in advance and sorry if they are kinda basic! hahaha
3 comments
This is a copy of your post for archive/search purposes.
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**Moving to Japan with Visa Working Holiday for a year**
Hi guys, my name is Alvar (27M) and i’m from Spain, and i’m planning to move to Japan for a year with the Visa Working Holiday on January, and i have a few questions about moving there and this place seems like the right place to ask them, so thank you in advance! I’m planning on moving to Tokyo and from there travel to different places with a fix residence.
1. So, i speak Spanish, English, Portuguese and Valenciano (My regional language, not that useful hahaha) and i’m learning Japanese (for now i only know the basics, Hiragana, Katakana, some basic phrases and i’m learning Kanji), and i have a degree in Journalism/Communication, so taking this into account, is it possible (in terms of easy, normal, hard) to find a job in Tokyo? What kind of jobs normally people with visa working holidays take there?
2. My next question is about living there, i checked a lot of share houses and most of them have mixed opinions, so I’m not sure which one to choose, and what zone of the city will be the best or most foreigner friendly. Any recommendations?
3. About health insurance, there’s this “public” national health insurance that covers 70% of the cost of the visit to the doctor for about 50 euros (the price may vary) so does it mean i don’t need an international health insurance if i take that one?
4. My budget revolves around 800.000-1.000.000 yenes for the first months, but the idea is to find a job there and work my way around. Do you think that is enough for the first months? (Paying first fees of the share house, transportation, food, phone card) I’m making the budget a little negative, so I don’t get any surprises, in case something unexpected happens.
Sorry if they are kinda basic questions, I have done my own research, but I thought that the best information I can get is from people that went through similar situations than me, so thanks in advance and sorry if they are kinda basic! hahaha
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Find an apartment – the first month plus deposit plus any other fees will set you back by a lot (unless you find a guarantor)
If I remember correctly, they recommend you have at least 5,000,000 yen to cover basics for the first few months.
Hi, I did Working Holiday many years back, so take it with a grain of salt, but anyways:
1. I worked at a restaurant and at a hotel (cleaning rooms). Hospitality in general seems to be a big one.
2. The areas that are more foreigner friendly to English-speakers are also the areas that are pretty much unaffordable. Using English comes at a premium. Try finding a sharehouse that is near to a station, ideally JR or Metro.
3. I don’t even pay 50 EUR most of the time, a normal doctor’s appointment will run you around 15 EUR. You don’t need international health insurance if you’re covered by Japanese insurance.
4. Yes, definitely. A sharehouse is not going to have huge up-front fees, phones have gotten a lot cheaper than when I first came, should be fine.
5. Personally I would wait.