Maybe someone that is desperate to get a US citizenship and move there. Oh wait, so you have to take her to the US :)

Of course, there are always people whose parents are no longer around that you can get married with

Problem is, in this country, money is king. Someone with no degree has little/no chance of making any real money so won't really be a good choice of husband. If he has a wealthy family to fund him then that is a different story of course...

Why would a woman marry a man that can't start a decent career in her home country and make enough money to raise a family?

:vsign:

VICTOLY!

Good job "putting up." If you're in Kyoto-ken, I'll buy you a drink.

Thanks, guys. It certainly made my day... although it was a little nerve wracking, because the Chicago consulate 'delayed' my results. They never specified exactly why, but I was supposed to find out if I was accepted in early April rather than right now. Either way, I'm glad everything turned out alright. As far as placement goes, they say I'll find out after I send back my confirmation of participation, so hopefully it won't be too long.

Congratulations! Here is to hoping you make it back to the Nagoya area. :P I`ll take you out to dinner or something.

Nagoya would be great. That's where I went to school, so I know (and love) the area pretty well. I put down Aichi as my preference on the application, but I'm told you'll be pretty lucky to actually be placed where you want to with JET. I'm just a little nervous about being placed out in the boonies. I actually know a guy who got placed on Sado Island off of Niigata... talk about out there.

There are very few placements on tiny islands, maybe 5-10 in all of JET, I would guess. Chances are you'll be in a small town, but not too far from a larger city.

Exactly! It seems that these kids just chase this "dream" blindly without doing anything to get there. As ALL suggested before, you have to have something to offer in order to get a return. Its a simple way of life....

Exactly! I hate it when people don't know that they have to work toward a goal. I also hate it when people assume everyone with a dream isn't willing to work for it! Aargh...

MMM, I could not have said it better myself. *sigh* back to practicing katakana...

I know! I agree! Some people think sucess will just come up and slap them in the face >.<

There is also the spoiled bunch who doesn't know how harsh reality is. While others think that they can chase their freedom by living a day that is"barely getting by" and continue to have big dreams that is out of their reach..

Ha ha, lol. are you a Samurai, an Alchemist or a Ninja? You can't be all three, you can't be all three, especially when an Alchemist is considered to be peasent class back in the days :)

Anyways, good for you, you are walking down the right path. I mean regardless of which country you see yourself in, the degree is an added insurance, as i mention before, you need to get in the door, and the degree will be one thing that help you get your first step in...

I think if you completely control both english and japanese, and all involving aspects of the languages, you'll get a job in japan in no-time. English teachers are highly wanted there, and only foreigners can complete master the english language (since the "r" isen't used and most people think all l's are r's). Therefor,even if a school that already has an english teacher with even more experience in teaching, chanses are pretty high they will invite you to come work with them. But i guess, he's right for all other jobs that offer job-security (not musicians and other artists).

Nobody THINKS the L sounds like an R... Japanese people have just grown up without any need to pronounce such a sound which causes the problem

I don't think its a "problem", but more so a minor inconvenience....

Yay! Thread is stuck! *dances*

Oh, well. I'm willing to give up the 'l' sound for a language that makes sense. English makes no sense!

A word about online universities. News recently is that many online universities are not being considered as "accredited" in Japan, even if they are accredited in other countries. University of Phoenix is one of those mentioned as not being recognized as accredited by Japan.

I do think this is somewhat a shame, because even online universities are expensive to attend. There are state institutions which have online programs that are truly accredited and recognized as such by Japan, so do some research before enrolling in an online university.

"Mr. Right" is the same type of person in Japan as he is anywhere. Educated, good looking, ambitious, and with a good job. If you have all these traits any woman will marry you, personality counts for little.

That said, if a Japanese woman is still single at or beyond the age of 30, she will probably begin to re-prioritize what she wants in a relationship. In Japan people very often marry for no other reason than the sake of being married.

I don't think thats a Japanese thing, to a lot of ladies, Marriage is a giant milestone in life, regardless of the nationality and culture. You are about right when you said all those "qualities" of MR RIGHT, except GOOD LOOKING, since thats not something you can really measure, its all subjective. But I don't think they are asking for too much for someone with these qualities.

Any idea if University of Liverpool is on their "reject" list? Liverpool is a prestigeous university, they have regular programs too on top of the online education, and the degree from either study method are the same??

If the University of Liverpool has a physical campus then I'm sure it is okay. Many online schools now exist only on the internet, with the only physical address being the place you send the payments for your tuition. Perhaps MOFA are being a little old-fashioned in their thinking, but they make the rules, which as we all know, they may change at any time.

I just found out that my 3 year japanese-chinese course will last 3 years (with japanese) and plus 2 more years (the first spent in China).

3 years (japanese/chinese) + 2 years (china/1 year more studing the language in Portugal).

Will this be enough to get me a job in Japan? It's 5 years, in Japan they hire with a minimum of 4 years. Or as to be 4 japanese language learning years?

The ticket isn't how many years you study Japanese, but what kind of a degree you earn. The minimum should be a 4-year degree and any post-graduate degrees are even better.

Oh, thanks.
But what is a post-graduate degree? Is it the master degree or something like it?

Hm.. not to be insulting or anything, but I find it really hard to comprehend why anyone would even consider not going to college. For me college has always seemed like a necessary and uniform part of life, and I can't imagine not going.

My question though is if anyone knows what kinds of jobs are most in demand in Japan or what jobs are they most likely to hire a foreigner for. I automatically think of teaching English, which honestly doesn't sound bad (my aunt teaches English to Japanese people here in America), but I wonder what else there is.

This is why I love people like MMM so much. Realistic, whether we agree or not. (But in this case, it's the former)

As a junior in high school, I'm struggling...not because I'm stupid, but because it's hard to keep me on track, especially with the past few hard years going on. (No excuse, I know. trying to recover)

I'm making plans to go to a community college up north cali, like san jose or san fran...maybe the tokai university in hawaii when possible.

I'm going because in certain classes in high school, I struggled or have no interest, like math. I got a high school on the CAHSEE, but that's easy anyways...however, it seems to go on from community to university.
My main focus however, is languages. I'll inquire more about taking multiple languages at community, for english is just too boring to be my only language ;D

I know enough japanese to keep conversations and get around, but I will go back to very beginning. I'll be taking chinese in senior year, continue on with it, so I'll see if it's possible to take three languages, along with my catching up classes. (Chinese, Korean, and Japanese)

however, if it's possible to do schooling in japan or Korea, I'll jump at the chance.

I used to be against teaching english in japan, however. I LIED and said it was "beneath me", but really, it's prolly above me. I would make a bad teacher, I fear, and if by some chance I did get to be, that job maybe taken over already with the popularity the idea's given. Basically, I'm scared.

I want to give up my USA citizenship and be considered a "Japanese Citizen" if possible by my 50th birthday.
But on the other hand, I'm afraid of the difficulties behind that too, as one way I'm considering to learn languages in a military linguistics school, where you have to serve, and to me, it wouldn't prolly make sense to the japanese government to give one who served another countrie's fighting/protection force citizenship. (Sorry if this made no sense in proper english. My thoughts are a scramble.)

I know japan is not a perfect society. I know it's VERY difficult, and money is indeed "king".
Plus education. And that I'm a easy-come, easy go person, I guess you can say. I don't act ambitious, unlike most of my japanese friends.

However, I do want to be there. If citizenship isn't allowed, I rather live there for a least a decade, then move somewhere back in US or UK, and just go back every year for visits and such.

By the way, I keep hearing of "JET" program, and other stuff.
Could anyone PM me more info on these programs?
Maybe that could help...

Sorry for such a long post MMM, but any comments/advice/etc would be appreciated. ^^;

That's something that worries me too... I think I would really love to teach English in an elementary school in Japan, but I worry that the job is too popular and would be hard to get. Does anyone have opinions on this?

i just had a question after reading this comment - if someone does an apprenticeship (4 years in australia) and get a certificate out of it that makes them qualified in there field of work is that acceptable? or is that still "frowned upon" keep in mind you can leave school usually as early as year 10 (sometimes earlier) to persue a career in a trade whilst undergoing an apprenticeship

this was not reffering to myself by the way.. just a general question

Also, I really can't comprehend why a person would have their heart set on living in ANY country if they haven't even visited it! It could be a casual dream or something but actually really forcing yourself to get into a country that you've never visted sounds a bit strange to me. I'd want to see what being in the country is like before I go making decisions like that.

Most normal people (imo) can't afford to visit another country, and the only option is to go there through a job opportunity or either through a school opportunity for a few months or a year or so.

Why did you say that most "normal people" can't afford to visit another country? Don't we get paid vacation for a reason?

Paid vacation. That sounds awesome.

You know what i mean :P

Though, my 06 trip to Japan was paid for by my employer :)

I do know what you mean. I wish I had paid vacations...

why? i thought you now work in the states?

Hm.. I know that when my dad was working at his old job and had paid vacations, there was no way even one of us in my family could have afforded to go, and now even less so.

I do...but I am self employed.

I have never in my entire working life have had paid vacation time. Besides that, you have to earn enough at your job to go to another country. Something I've never been privileged with, not even through school since my folks couldn't afford it back then.