[Sangetsu]

It's a rare thing for someone who is unhappy in their present situation finds happiness just by moving to a new place. As I've said before, happiness isn't something which exists outside yourself.

The Japan you are dreaming up is very likely to be much different than the real Japan. In real Japan students often attend school 7 days a week (if they want to get into university), retail employees work 6 days a week, and office workers often work 12 or more hours a day. And for all this, the standard of living is still significantly below that which average people in America enjoy.

Without a college degree, you simply will not be able to stay in Japan for more than the 90 days you'll get on your tourist visa. The only other option is to marry a Japanese citizen, and even that is not a sure thing, as the person you marry must be stably employed, and earning enough money to support the 2 of you.

You might be able to find a school in Japan (language school or such) which will sponsor you for a student visa, but you'll be limited to working part-time, and these schools are not cheap. You'll be lucky if you earn enough money to pay your tuition, let alone food and rent. Loans are not available to non-residents (citizens), and even residents find them hard to get.

Moving to another country is not something to be taken lightly. You aren't old enough to have experienced real life in America, how can you expect that life in Japan (or anywhere else) will be better?

When I was in high school I had all kinds of ideas about what the world around me was like, now that I'm older I've found that all of those ideas were not correct. After high school I attended university, and enlisted in the Army, finishing my degree while working as a soldier. During that time I got to see the world, and though my life growing up had been difficult, I realized that my life in America was vastly better than that of the majority of people around the world enjoy.

I'm beginning my third year living in Japan, and I visited Japan several times before moving so I really knew what I was getting into. I planned my move carefully, over a period of a couple of years, studying Japanese and saving money so I would have a head start.

Stop thinking about now and tomorrow and start thinking a few years ahead. What do you want to do with your life? Will being a writer/poet be of any real worth to yourself and others? What can you do to make a better life for yourself where you are? If you can't make a good life for yourself in America (which is the easiest place in the world to succeed), then you probably won't be able to make a good life in Japan either.