23M Half-Japanese, born and raised in America and possess dual citizenship from birth. I hold a degree in Game Dev since 2024. I feel at an impasse in life and have wanted to work at certain Japanese game companies for a while now. It's my understanding that with dual citizenship I can technically just up and move whenever I want.
I'm not fluent in Japanese, but I can converse with my mother and her side of the family, albeit not terribly complex sentences; I can understand what is being said toward me better than I can respond.
I currently do freelance AI work and the contractor explicitly DOES allow for work to be done while in Japan, so I would likely have at least some income coming in. I have a second job that is in the same industry, but requires one year of living in Japan before I can work in Japan. On top of that, while it isn't paid, I would also continue to work on games and projects to bolster my resume. I only have one current game on Steam and that was a game made as my university capstone.
I was planning on hopefully living with family in Aichi while attending a language school and hopefully having that income come in from freelancing, while working on games. If the freelancing is a total no go, I would also be willing to work part time. Applications for the language school start in September, with intake being in March. I just feel like my language skills are not truly up to par to enter the workforce currently, unless I just luck out with a job, which is why I feel like language school could be a good choice.
Money aside, I believe I can just go whenever I want. I currently have around 13k USD, with the goal of hitting 20k relatively soon, though I might have to or want to cut things short with the state of the world right now.
I think I'm young enough that I can just jump in and be allowed to fail. My mom I think reasonably wants me to bide my time, apply to jobs that would let me transfer in a few years, or jobs that are just based in Japan currently. Obviously this is a safer route, but I feel like if I just wait for the perfect opportunity I'm waiting for something that may never come.
All this to say, am I dumb for wanting this despite my circumstances? I'm not exactly rich, and income is not exactly guaranteed after I move. Is there anything that I haven't considered? I'd like any pointers as I just feel sort of lost in life in general, back and forth on whether this is a life worth pursuing.
by Glass-Manufacturer70