Quote:
Originally Posted by Revy
Yeah I did a year of college back in 2006/2007 but there were no exchange programs sadly. Chances of me going out there to study are looking bleak huh?  |
I wouldn't say it looks bleak at all. You've got at least a year and a half until you were planning on getting here. All you need is some planning, preparation, and resources.
Plus being from England, you've got some advantages that I as an American don't have.
1) With the Working Holiday Visa, you can get here without having to show such a hefty amount in your bank account as I did. $6,000 beats $20,000 any day. With the added bonus that you can work here in Japan (provided you can find someone to hire you).
2) The English can get a visitor's status for a period of a 6 month stay. It's only 90 days for Americans then we have to leave the country. On a visitor's status, you don't have a requirement to show funds in your bank account as far as I know. Of course, you can't work with visitor's status either.
Also, some of the ward offices here offer free or inexpensive Japanese lessons so you don't absolutely have to fork over a ton of money for tuition to a private language school. However, I can't vouch for the quality of the lessons. If your main goal is language acquisition, then I'd spring for a private language school.
As for me, I decided to come to Japan last November. I already missed the deadline to apply for a student visa to start school in January and I didn't want to wait 6 months before starting language classes in Japan so I came over on visitor's status. I studied for nearly 3 months, then had to go back to the U.S. in March. I came back a week later with visitor's status once again. Over the spring, I submitted my application for a student visa while in Japan. I received my student visa 1 month ago. My student visa is now good for a year (although I will run out of savings fairly soon).
However, I certainly wouldn't suggest taking the hurried route I took. Take your time, plan your move. And do whatever it is you need to do in preparation for it.