I live in Japan!

[Lonewolf]

Thanks alot for your reply. I agree with what you say. I've read at other places as well that foreigners living in Japan say it's alot easier to learn Japanese if you use it as much as possible, and avoid using English. One of my main goals in coming to Japan is to learn the language fluently, so if I came over I would do that.
Just one thing. I haven't started my degree yet. I am planning on doing a degree in computer science. But if I came over to Japan, say for 1-2 years, to study the language at a university or college, without a degree, what kind of visa would I need for that? I have been saving up money for the past 2 years, so if I came over I could probarly survive a month or 2 without working, but I would have to get a job. But if I am on a student visa and I can't speak Japanese yet and I don't have a degree yet, what kind of job would I be able to get?
And do you think if I somehow managed to come over to Japan, learn the language for a year or two and become almost fluent. Would I be able to get into a Japanese university and do a degree in Japanese?
Thanks again for your replies, you have been very helpful.

[deadthinker]

hi, firstly i would like to say i am really inspired by your story!!! youve definatley got gutts!
it is my dream to live in japan, i guess i cant say my life long dream since i am only 17 and have yet to experiance the majority of my life. however to me it feels like a life time of wishing. i am part way through my JLPT 1 but this is only a small step in the right direction. since my parents divorced recently i have had a stronger desire to get away from the tension between my split family.
i dont know where to begin!!!! i know that its something i really want to achive and as soon as possible but there are so many things that i dont know enough about!
did you find it hard to get a job when you first moved there? especially because your japanese wont have been as good then!
i dont wish to use english once i am settled there because thats part of what i am leaving behind so i dont want that to be incorporated in my job. my wish is to be an illustrator would this be difficult in japan do you know?
also you were very lucky to find a place to stay so easily, do you think i would find it difficult? i have friends over there but i dont know them well enough to ask them to stay with them for a while.
i dont know what do do to get started! if you could help me at all by answering some of those questions i would be extremely grateful!! sorry for wasting sooo much of you time x

[Van]

First, sorry for my bad english/grammar.
I'm very interested in living in Japan.
My dreams are to learn the culture and live there a few months first.
I think the Japan school style/life is great. I read and watch
many mangas and animes, the most of them are about old culture
and schoollife. I want more informations about the reality in Japan.
Such things like the subject (maybe more about the clubactivitis)
what the pupils have and the schoolhours. I'm very much interested in it.
Could someone say how it is, i hope like in Mangas :P I love if pupils are allowed to
stay on the roof of the school while the break or something like that.
I know, I'm maybe to much into it >.< but i cant be helped :P
I'm born in Kazakhstan (<3 Asia, very near to China) and my grandfather
is a German and married a Russian woman. The child of them both
is my father who married my Kazakhst (dunno how to write
it right in Enlish) mother. Now i live in Germany. I'm mixed up with
different languages and I'm now 17th years old.
Do u know if some firms in Japan need peoples who are able to speak fluent Russian,
speak and read fluent German and are not bad in English? (I'm learning. I read and
hear English so much I can, but it's quitedifficult in Germany...).
I aim my dreamjob as a Gamedesinger. I practice the scriptinglangues every day,
i want to be a part of a team wich create awesome games (daydream?).

Hmmm.. i think i talk to much about me.

Could someone tell me about the schoolife so much as u can please ?

[jasonbvr]

The JET Programme will hire native speakers of German, Russian, French, Spanish and so on. They hire mostly English teachers, but they do look for other languages too. However you will need to have a four year degree from a university to work for the JET programme. Go to jetsetjapan.com and browse through the site. You can find the sites for the JET programme and ministry of education. I will get back to on the school situation, but I would say unless they are the rebel kids they are not hanging out on the rooftops.

[Van]

Thanks for the site, i will read it carefully. *.*
but do u know how old I will be when the time comes there I will
be allowed to go to a university in Germany?
I dont want to think about it xD Aww q_q
Back to my main question.

I will get back to on the school situation, but I would say unless they are the rebel kids they are not hanging out on the rooftops.

rebels? q.q, i hate that so much, i have enough of it in Germany...
now Japan too? Or was it always so?
Please don't destroy my dreams about Japan schools.
(Maybe i read to much Mangas xD, please dont take it all so serious)
Ah, and how are the festival and the shrines there?
So many what i want to know and see with my own eyes >.<
I hope I'm able to visit Japan soon (maybe so in 6 years -_-)

I know many countrys but Japan fascinates me the most.
Have u maybe some photos (or better links, cuz the photos what I found
in this forum are not realy expression-fully, maybe I didn't search
good enough. my first day here in this forum ._.)?

And sorry if I'm annoying.

[jasonbvr]

I think trip reports is full of threads with good pics. I don't go to many shrines and that sort of thing right now. Most of the time I am at work and on the weekends I am snowboarding which consumes the majority of my income.

What I mean by rebels is not really comparative to rebelious kids in the US or Europe. They just don't go to classes and when they do are disruptive. At some schools the kids will get out of control because the discipline in a lot of schools has become more light. They have really moved from one extreme to the other. From being too harsh to not harsh enough at times but you have to understand the stress that a lot of them are under.

In order to get into a good high school, you have to perform very well from age 12 to 15 in junior high school. The schools, in my opinion, work the kids too hard and really expect too much of them. They come to school at 7:30 if they are in a sports club for practice and running. Then have classes from 9 to 3:30, clean the school and then have club activities again. Most clubs have activities on Saturdays too for half the day. After their club activities they get home around 6 and eat dinner before they go to juku (cram school) where they study more. By their last year the kids are completely exhausted and some of them end up giving up on the hope that they will get into high school. They pretty much know whether or not they will make it by then, so a lot of them will just stop going to school.

The atmosphere that is portrayed in animes seems more similar to high schools. When they move on to high schools they usually are studying just as hard if not harder. A lot of them have to ride their bikes for an hour to get to school and some ride the trains. You can see the high schoolers on their way to school seven days a week. They are always wearing their uniforms or carrying their sports gear. Often you see them passing out on the trains on their way back from juku or hanging out in groups of six or seven noisily chatting on the trains.

The students are in both schools a lot more independent. The teachers in the morning and afternoons hang out in the teacher's office while all the students are coming into school. Their is a lot less supervision and a lot more responsibility placed on the older students to set an example for the younger ones.

Anyways, check the requirements for obtaining a work visa for your nationality. Different countries have different policies such as Australia where you can do a working holiday visa that does not require a degree.

[deadthinker]

Originally Posted by jasonbvr

Often you see them passing out on the trains on their way back from juku.

0_0 thats awful !! i think the japanese education system is to strict even though it has good results its to much pressure for young people.

[Van]

They come to school at 7:30 if they are in a sports club for practice and running. Then have classes from 9 to 3:30, clean the school and then have club activities again. Most clubs have activities on Saturdays too for half the day. After their club activities they get home around 6 and eat dinner before they go to juku (cram school) where they study more.

aww?? Every morning sport?
The schoolife sounds realy difficult o.o I realy want to try it one week.
Ah, and how is / do u like the traditionally Japan food? I want to try
some Ramen (i hope i wrote it right).
ah and thank you jason for the insight. I hope i will see it soon myself.
I did nothing found for German people at jetsetjapan.com
I dont think that Japan people need German language xD

[housecat]

Originally Posted by Nyororin

Phew, I take a bit of time off from answering replies, and there is a flood of them. ^^;



I don`t actually live in Nagoya, but had might as well. We live across the river, I could easily walk into the city.
And... I know you certainly don`t mean any harm, but my son has a developmental delay, has been diagnosed with mild autism, and has enough health problems to fill a book. He has yet to speak a single word yet.

So... Bragging really does not impress me. The opposite in fact.

Of course I ment no harm. I didn't know about your son's health problems. But I have a lot of experience caring for and teaching children with special challenges of all sorts, including autism. And I can tell you, though I'm sure you're the one person who doesn't need telling, that your son is still as wonderful as any other and his life is still very worth living, for both him and all the people he blesses. Your son has things to offer that most people never will. Peace.

[jasonbvr]

Originally Posted by Van

aww?? Every morning sport?
The schoolife sounds realy difficult o.o I realy want to try it one week.
Ah, and how is / do u like the traditionally Japan food? I want to try
some Ramen (i hope i wrote it right).
ah and thank you jason for the insight. I hope i will see it soon myself.
I did nothing found for German people at jetsetjapan.com
I dont think that Japan people need German language xD

The food is good, as long as it is not school food.

Here is the JET program link for Germany, Botschaft von Japan in Deutschland
Can't tell you what it says though, I failed German.