[Nyororin]

Originally Posted by Daniel

Hi Nyororin I have a couple of questions for you if you don't mind.

I don`t mind at all. I`ll try to pull your questions out and answer them one by one.

I live in England, so how hard will it be for me to get a visa, for one years work or permanent living?

As far as I know, Japan offers a "working holiday visa" to those in the UK. It is usually a one year visa, allowing limited employment. I`m not from the UK so I can`t be sure, but I don`t believe there are any strict requirements for it.

So if I get a one year working visa and I like it there, how would I go about living there for longer, hopefully permanently?

That really depends on you, what you do, and what you prefer. If you enjoy your job, then continue on with it until you have enough time under your belt to apply for permanent residency. Or get married to someone Japanese. Or eventually apply for Japanese citizenship.

What is the best way to learn Japanese reading and writing?

My opinion on this is to learn it in the same way a child would learn it in normal life - by observation and attempted communication. I`m very much against textbooks until you are skilled enough to read them in Japanese. If you have to learn that, say, inu=dog=that 4 legged animal over there, then you have an extra step that actually makes it harder to remember. You should never learn a language through the word=word method. That just makes it that much harder to speak it fluently - everytime you speak, you end up having to translate it in your head. You should try to put yourself in a situation where you don`t check definitions. When you learn a word, it should be learned in direct connection to an object, not to an English word. (Very hard to explain, but a very simple concept.)

It seems it is alot easier to learn to speak Japanese than to read and write it.

That is true. But you should never even really learn to write anything if you don`t understand it to begin with. If you begin learning to read and write after you have a firm grasp on what you are reading, then it becomes a lot easier.

Will it be hard for me to find work there if I have a degree, but I don't want to teach English i.e not be a teacher but work in a place where I will have to speak Japanese most of the time?

Yes - if you don`t speak Japanese. If you *do* speak Japanese, then it may not be too difficult. I know a couple people who work normal jobs, and had no problems finding them - but they spoke very good Japanese by the time they started job hunting. Being as any normal company isn`t going to be speaking English, it would be very hard to work for them. You wouldn`t understand the work, and they wouldn`t understand the work you did.

How are "westerners" treated over there? I have heard that the Japanese people see some of them as "uncivilized". I know this is generalizing, but I want to know if Japanese people are accepting towards foreigners.

In my personal experience, I have had no problems - no blatant discrimination, no mistreatment, etc. I know there are some people out there who experience things like that, but I have to wonder if some of it isn`t because of their own behavior. I`ve never seen anything that would lead me to believe that anyone Japanese thinks of "westerners" as uncivilized. Quite the contrary, in fact. Japan has a severe inferiority complex. "The west" seems to be the epitome of civilization and culture.

You say you are married to a Japanese man.

I`m not just saying it. I really am. :P

Basically I'll put it like this: I think Japanese women are very beautiful, and if I ever live there permanently, I will probarly get married. Do the Japanese find the foreigners attractive?

That really depends upon the person, just as any other sort of tastes in love do.

Do the Japanese and the foreigners mix (as friends and as spouses).

This bit depends more upon the behavior of the foreigner than anything else. If you don`t speak Japanese, naturally the mixing will be cut down. It`s a bit hard to mix with people you don`t understand. If you hang out with foreigners all the time, then your chances to meet Japanese people will be few and far between. In my experience, I had no problems, but I was also not around any other foreigners.

This is one thing that concerns me alot, that if I manage to move to Japan, that I will not be accepted by the Japanese.

If your Japanese is good enough, you will be treated pretty much normally. If you choose to wander around, shouting English at people because Japanese is too much trouble... You will be avoided like the plague.