[JoeSensei]

I think beginning as a student is a good way to start. You'll get a good feel for the country and life within it without being committed to a job, and you'll be studying with other people in the same boat. I felt seriously alone when I started out in Japan, and that was largely because there was nobody else in the same position as me.

However, you might want to consider a year long course if you can afford it, though. I started in Japan with a lower intermediate level of Japanese and after 8 months I would say I progressed to an upper-intermediate level. I wasn't studying, so being a student of the language will speed things up slightly, but 3 months is still a short amount of time for learning in my opinion. I could be wrong.

Also, getting to grips with some basics before you go out (particularly reading and writing hiragana and katakana) would be priceless.

However long you study for, I wish you the best!