[WingsToDiscovery]

This is the biggest piece of advice I can give, and I can't stress it enough. The end of this summer will round out my first year living in Japan, and if there was one thing I wish I would have done, it was to learn more Japanese before I went. My Japanese wasn't horrible, but it wasn't good either. I was able to survive, but I wasn't able to live. Now, this summer, I'm spending the entire time playing catch up with my Japanese language and having friends tutor me so I can start off the new school year with a much more solid foundation. But if I'd only done this before leaving Japan, I'd have had a much more fulfilling experience. There were many times where I would get frustrated or depressed simply because it bothered me that either I couldn't understand what was being said, or if I could, I couldn't express my own opinions coherently.
There are so many benefits to knowing Japanese before going, such as:
-Making friends
-Startin a relationship
-Getting a job
-Interacting with people
-Being able to do legal and other work
-And more.
(Of course you can "gaijin smash" your way through this stuff, but that's not the point of this thread)
I have two friends who are "para para" and both came to Japan at relatively the same time as me; one is a girl who's been able to land multiple part time jobs, make tons of Japanese friends, do all of her own work, etc. And the other guy has reaped all of the same benefits. I've been able to do most of this, but it's been a much more uphill battle than what they faced when establishing themselves. Now, these people wouldn't necessarily stick out back home, but they're able to accomplish so much in Japan because of language ability. So that's my advice, as obvious as it is. Learn Japanese if you want to live in Japan.