Hi,
I have always wanted to spend some time living in Japan. I have studied Japanese since my first year of college, which was almost 7 years ago, and continued to self study my way to passing N2 last December. I have also taken two trips to Japan in the last two years, planning another one next year.
I graduated college three years ago and have established the early stages of my career. I’m from the US and have been working in general corporate finance, and like it enough, though wouldn’t say I’m particularly passionate about it in anyway.
All my plans to go to Japan for an extended period haven’t worked out for one reason or another. Research and study abroad opportunities I planned were canceled due to covid, I had to give up my shortlist position for JET due to personal matters, and I made it to the final round of the MEXT scholarship but didn’t end up getting it.
This leads me to now, and I’ve figured the easiest way for me to get over there would be to apply to advanced language schools that would focus on N1 and conversational Japanese. I would like to work for a bit longer to finish paying off my loans and save some more money, and then make it over to Japan in the next two years, for a program between 1-2 years.
My question for everyone is: was this enough time for you? I know what is “enough” is different for everybody, but I want to hear from people who lived in Japan for that amount of time and decided they were satisfied enough and came back home. Or also hear from others who felt that wasn’t enough time, and how they decided they wanted to stay.
I’m mostly curious because there are some things that make me hesitate: 1) I would be putting my career on hold for those 1-2 years, and 2) I have been in a long term relationship with a partner who has already expressed that me being away for longer than a year would be a deal breaker.
I appreciate any comments or thoughts, thanks!
by RedHawkSky