I live in Japan!

[Natsume]

Originally Posted by Nyororin

There is a reason for that.

You HAVE to be a citizen of somewhere. You can`t just decide to give up citizenship out of the blue. That would be VERY suspicious.
Japan doesn`t require you to have given up your other citizenship in order to receive Japanese citizenship - they require you to give it up AFTER you have Japanese citizenship. (Something like within a year...)

There are, however, other requirements for applying. You will have to have lived in Japan for so many years, etc.
You can`t just say that you want citizenship, fill out a form, and walk home with a fresh passport. You have to wait YEARS from the time of application. (A year, and still waiting - and I have a perfect record, have lived here almost 10 years, own a home, have a family, etc.)

If you were to give up citizenship prior to coming to Japan.... How were you planning to fly? You need a passport for that.

I actually understand the wait time thats why I'm asking questions and getting things prepared. But I really appreciate your help. I am really confused about the whole thing. But I'm going to get it straghtened out.

[Kanji_The_Wanderer]

According to Maikunari, you can get a degree in Japan? I didn't know this, I thought you would first have to go to school in your native homeland and then bring that degree with you to Japan to work. Americans and Europeans can go to school and Japan? But I thought a tourist could only stay in Japan for 3 months? Do they allow you to "live" there if you are attending school?

(I am sure this was cleared up on a previous page of this thread, but there is just so much information, and I am not sure where to check. I am sorry.)

[noodle]

Originally Posted by Kanji_The_Wanderer

According to Maikunari, you can get a degree in Japan? I didn't know this, I thought you would first have to go to school in your native homeland and then bring that degree with you to Japan to work. Americans and Europeans can go to school and Japan? But I thought a tourist could only stay in Japan for 3 months? Do they allow you to "live" there if you are attending school?

(I am sure this was cleared up on a previous page of this thread, but there is just so much information, and I am not sure where to check. I am sorry.)

Yep, its prefectly acceptable to go to japan as a student and get a qualification there. ie, bachelors, masters, etc etc... BUT with that said, its rather difficult to get admission at a university for a Full course unless you speak fluent japanese/if the the course is taught in english (which many are not)... Your other option is to do an exchange which is what i'll be doing. For me, i'll be staying either 1 year or 2 years... After this 1 or 2 years, I will have the choice to do my masters there, but I seriously doubt i would!

[Kanji_The_Wanderer]

What is this "exchange" you speak of? Are you fluent in Japanese? Why do you doubt getting your master's degree?

[noodle]

Originally Posted by Kanji_The_Wanderer

What is this "exchange" you speak of? Are you fluent in Japanese? Why do you doubt getting your master's degree?

An exchange program is basically where you're actually a student in your home country and you organise it with that university to send you to another country for one year... ie... you go to uni in the US, you organise it with them to send you to a university in Tokyo for 1 year. For me, i'm in the process of organising it, I'm in france right now, and it seems i will be doing an exchange to Osaka University!
No, i'm not fluent in japanese, nor do i know the basics of the language. But your language level usually doesn't matter when doing an exchange program, and you usually have to follow a language course in japan when you're there anyway. So you won't be totally lost.
And as for masters, Japanese universities usually don't have such a great reputation. They are extreemly hard to get into, but they tend to have a reputation of lazy students. Thus, me not wanting to get my masters (final qualification) from there. I would rather go back to england to get a masters and just write in my CV that i spent 1 year abroad!

[Kanji_The_Wanderer]

Okay. Makes sense. What course are you going to study in Japan? Are you going to study the same thing as your university in Paris? All of the schools that I have seen around me don't have these exchange programs that you are talking about. Maybe it is only certain areas that do this. I could only imagine how must money it must cost the school to send it's students there.

When you go are you only going to stay in Osaka? Or do you have plans to travel? Will you be working? Do you stay in a dorm or you getting a place? Sorry, I don't mean to be so nosy, I am just curious to know how the system works.

Lazy students huh? From what you hear about Japan on the outside, and from educational films, students seem to always be on the ball, and never slacking...Hard to see them as lazy. Must take a lot of years to go through with it...

[noodle]

Originally Posted by Kanji_The_Wanderer

Okay. Makes sense. What course are you going to study in Japan? Are you going to study the same thing as your university in Paris? All of the schools that I have seen around me don't have these exchange programs that you are talking about. Maybe it is only certain areas that do this. I could only imagine how must money it must cost the school to send it's students there.

When you go are you only going to stay in Osaka? Or do you have plans to travel? Will you be working? Do you stay in a dorm or you getting a place? Sorry, I don't mean to be so nosy, I am just curious to know how the system works.

Lazy students huh? From what you hear about Japan on the outside, and from educational films, students seem to always be on the ball, and never slacking...Hard to see them as lazy. Must take a lot of years to go through with it...

Thats surprising, almost every university in the world has an exchange to program to another country. Not always japan of course, but i'm sure there are some that have Japan in their list of countries. As for it costing a lot for the uni, thats not always true because universities usually send out as many students as they recieve! So it kinda works out to be the same.
Yeah, I have to study the same thing as my home university (paris) because i have to validate everything, otherwise it will not count towards my degree which i still recieve from France.

Right now, what i'm doing is

Series and Sequences, Analysis, Algebra, Linear Algebra, Abstract Algebra, Probability, Statistics, Electromagnetism, Astrology, Mechanics, Thermodynamics, Logics, Computer science (programming), French lang, French literature, English Lang.

Unfortunately, i'm doing an Intensive course so I have all these subjects... BUT, it can simply be called Math, physics, Computer Science, and Languages because these can all be considered as modules of these main subjects. I wouldn't recommend anyone to do this, but unfortunately i'll be continuing with this course in Osaka, which would mean that i would hardly get to travel, but i have the option of spreading it all out into 2 years (like i mentioned before), so that i can have a lot more free time to travel and do whatever I want. But of course, even if i do it in one year, during the holidays and weekends i sure will be a tourist! And i think i will be staying a couple of months after i finish studying to travel More.

For work, maybe I will work as a private tutor teaching English and/or French and/or Arabic (though i highly doubt i will find people for arabic). But this is not sure yet, i need to check the laws about getting a job with a student visa.

Accomodation is usually organised from your home university before you go to the country. I think for me i'll be staying in a student residence for a couple of months, then i'll get my own apartment if i'm not satisfied.

[Natsume]

That is absolutely facinating. I have a Associates in the culianry arts. I studied just basic cooking all around. But I could probably see if my school has a Culinary exchange program. And if I tell them about the job in Tokyo I probably have a good chance of getting approved for it! Wow thanks guys!

[Hatredcopter]

Originally Posted by Kanji_The_Wanderer

Lazy students huh? From what you hear about Japan on the outside, and from educational films, students seem to always be on the ball, and never slacking...Hard to see them as lazy.

That's how it is for high school students. University entrance exams are inhumanely competitive in Japan, so high school students face a lot of pressure to do their best in high school to get into a university. During high school, many students will even attend a cram school at night to prepare even more for these entrance examinations. However, once they've been accepted to a university, that's it - they're in. I guess the theory is that university is kind of a time to take it easy, as they've been busting their ass for so long in high school. It doesn't take as much effort to graduate from a university as it does to get into one in Japan, so that's the biggest reason why.

I attended a Japanese university for a year, and I wouldn't really say anyone seemed lazy. I'm sure if I had attended a Japanese high school prior to a Japanese university, I'd probably see the difference.

As far as exchange programs, I'm curious to know where you're from, because even in the boring ol' midwest where I'm from, almost every university has at least one exchange program with Japan. One of our universities has a whopping 6 different exchanges, from Tokyo to Osaka to Sapporo to Nagasaki and so on.

[Natsume]

I'm From Hawaii