Hi everyone! I turned 30 this year and I've been considering relocating from the US to Japan. I'm currently in grad school for CS, I'll be finishing it in May next year. I took Japanese in HS and a course in undergrad (graduated in Dec. 2022), and I decided to start self studying again. I'll have 3.5 years of experience as a software engineer/quality engineer by the time I graduate, I make about $85K with $25K saved up at this point. I'll be married as well, but my fiancé, 35M, has a bachelors in CS and 3 years of SWE experience so he should be fine as far getting a job there (or maybe he'll get his masters, we're figuring that part out soon). He has a separate savings of about $30K. So money isn't that big of an issue.
We've been to Japan twice so far and really enjoyed our time. It's been a goal of mine to live there since I took my first class back when I was 16, so I'm thinking now might be a good chance to go for it before we have children or settle down. I'm trying to decide between possibly attending Globis for an MBA, applying for a start up visa or just getting a job there in tech. I MIGHT be able to keep my current job, I do work remote and they have an office in Japan but my coworker who tried something similar with a move to Ireland got turned down, so I'm not banking on it.
I am dealing with some downsides though, like I have 2 cats and a medium sized (48lbs) dog that would come with me, there's no one we could leave them with and I will not rehome them. They're young and can handle the travel there without issue according to the vet. If finding an apartment turns out to be an issue, I'm heavily considering buying a home there and just turning it into a vacation rental or something if we decide to leave. I'm sure we'll have even more money saved up by the time we actually go to make the move (even though we have a ton of student loan debt).
All things considered, is this feasible? Do you think that making this move would be a good idea? Also, do you think my race could be an issue? I'm a black woman and he's a white, and although we didn't face any discrimination when we visited, I know vacationing vs actually living somewhere is a completely different experience. Thanks in advance!
by jasminblu