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Study/Living -
07-30-2008, 03:33 PM
Hey there I'm new to the forum but have been looking around the site for the last couple of days trying to find out what I would need to either study or learn the language out in Japan.
My status: 19 Male England Finished School got my GCSE's + did one year at college Plan: money isn't really an issue because I'm planning on heading out there for 2010 which should give me plenty enough time to get a decent sum of money to stay out there, I would love to try and learn the language out there from scratch + learn the history or the culture of Japan out there. My main question is would I need certain qualifications or certain well certain anything to do such things? I would love to try and stay out there for a year maybe even more  hope you can help me  Dean  
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07-30-2008, 05:59 PM
You could come over on a pre-college student visa and enroll at a Japanese Language School. That's what I'm doing now. Don't be confused by the "pre-college" title. I've long since finished university...it's just a name they give to the visa status. The biggest hurdle to getting the pre-college student visa is having enough money in the bank. Immigration wants to see you have about $20,000 USD in the bank to grant you a Certificate of Eligibility for obtaining your visa. They want to make sure you have enough money in the bank to cover your living expenses for a year without working. Whatever language school you apply to will handle the visa application and details for you. But keep in mind, you need to apply 6 months before you plan to attend language school. It takes a few months (3 or 4) for the Certificate of Eligibility to process and about a month for the actual visa application to process. Also, there are certain deadlines by which schools must submit their applications to the government.
Other than money and bank statements, all you really need is your high school diploma and transcripts (originals, they don't like copies), passport, and some 3 X 4 cm ID photos for your visa application. When you get to Japan, they'll give you an interview at your language school to assess your current language ability and put you in the appropriate level class. If I may make a suggestion, learn to read and write hiragana and katakana before you start language school. It'll help you progress a lot faster.
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07-31-2008, 01:16 AM
You can work 20 hours a week on a pre-college student visa, but you still have to have the $20,000USD in the bank before they'll issue you the visa.
A cheaper option would be to study on a Working Holiday Visa. For that one you only have to show $2,000USD in the bank. The working holiday visa is issued initially for a 6 month term which can be renewed for another 6 months. I've never done an exchange program so I don't know what the requirements are for it. I've also never done WHV (American's can't do WHV), but I have several friends who are here studying on WHV right now. Here is official information on the Working Holiday Visa along with requirements: MOFA: The Working Holiday Programmes in Japan Also keep in mind how much it costs to live in Japan. I live in Tokyo and it costs me about $1,500 a month just to live (rent, food, train pass, but not including tuition costs). Many part time jobs pay something in the area of $10 an hour. That's about $800 a month. If you can find a teaching job, you might be able to make more money. But realistically, you need to be able to cover atleast half of your living expenses without relying on work income. Which means you need about $8,000 or more in the bank for living expenses.
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07-31-2008, 06:55 AM
I didn't have to have 20,000 USD in the bank to apply for my student visa (doing exchange year at Waseda Univ.). I believe the amount they specified for me was 1,000,000 Yen (around 9.2k USD). But I don't have that in my account, so instead I could specify my student loan funds or/and a person who could help me financially and whatever I had in my account.
I believe only specifying the student loan approval message, and the amounts provided was enough though, as I know others did that. I just got paranoid over getting accepted so I put down something in everything. Also, doing an exchange you don't pay tuition.
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07-31-2008, 04:14 PM
Quote:
Quote:
 , just wanted to go over there and study either the language or the history / culture of Japan. is that possible to do so under the exchange system in my situation?.
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07-31-2008, 11:39 PM
Quote:
They send students to your university, your university sends students to their. In my Univ. you have to study for one year before it's possible to do an exchange, but you have better chances of getting accepted after 2-3 years (I've studied 3).Where are you from anyways? Because I can't really say all this is exactly the same for every country (I'm from Sweden).
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08-01-2008, 01:20 AM
I'm from England....but getting fed up with it
and nice Sweden. My whole plan is to get back into Education...something I thought Id never say, but the catch is I don't want to get back into it over here id rather start a fresh in Japan
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