Moving to Japan from Canada

8 comments

1. Sorry for your loss. Framing this a different perspective, perhaps moving somewhere first where you both speak the language and can handle the stress of a new environment. Otherwise, with the loss of a child, and the stress of moving to a country where neither of you speak the language could be quite tolling on the mental well being of both of you.

   That being said, one of you needs a sponsored job. Which requires either a four year degree or 10 years of field relevant experience. ( The means 10 years of working experience in a said technical field.) You’d be best looking through the wiki then come back with concrete questions.

2. Hey! Canadian also and moved to Japan one year ago. Started with working holiday visa and switched to a work visa. The good news is both chefs and teachers don’t need high levels of Japanese. I’ve seen hotel restaurant job listings for foreign chefs with N5 as the minimum Japanese level. You can also teach English without a high level of Japanese so both of you could move here and find work quickly.

   Problem is the visa. If you’re over 30 then you don’t qualify for working holiday so you would need to look for a student visa, instructor visa or a humanities visa.

   Good luck! Try to study Japanese a lot before coming. My mistake was only knowing hiragana before moving here. English level is low here and if you want any sort of social life or comfort you’ll need basic Japanese.

   One last thing is working in Japan and visiting Japan are two very different things! Many people visit Japan and think they want to move here but research the work culture. My job today starts at 5am and finishes at 8pm.

3. As a qualified teacher, you could look for work in an international school (there are several Canadian ones, even!). However, these jobs are competitive and hiring season is occurring as we speak – some schools have even made offers to applicants for next academic year already. r/internationalteachers is worth a read, and there have been some recent posts about Japan.

   You will need to research job prospects and visas more carefully for your husband. Working as a chef has been discussed a few times on this sub, so search past posts.

4. Im so sorry for your loss.
   Remember, wherever you go, you will be there

5. I’m so sorry for your loss.

   I lost my one and a half year old son a little more than two years ago. I moved to Japan in June and my husband will receive his dependent visa this month. I’m teaching English and it’s my first full time job back in the workforce since I had my son. It’s the right job for me, right now. I am 36 years old. We decided to move here and are taking our time figuring the pieces out, so I can’t really give you any advice. We came here with a significant financial cushion to give ourselves time to decided if we want to be here long term, and if we do what it would take to make it a reality. I am really finding life here to be what I was looking for and considering what it would take to work in international education. So I think you have a leg up with your background in education! Others can speak better to that.

   I can’t really give you advice on the logistics of moving to Japan for your situation, but maybe I can offer you some insight on how much moving here has been a balm to my grief. People thought we were crazy, my family especially. But everything I. My old life was a trigger. Here? There are things that make me think about my son, but far fewer triggers. My life in Japan is quiet, simple, and safe. Things are hard sometimes, but it is refreshing for those hard things to be something I chose instead of the deep well of grief I have every day. The grief is still there, but being here has helped me carry it in a way that is less painful.

   I hope you find your way to living your best life. It’s miserable to live without your babies, might as well try to make it the best it can be.

6. You should know that salary for chef are much lower than in Canada. Also his experience might not be so recognized as it should be, unless he worked in a Michelin star restaurant, that will be well valued.

   The best option by far for your husband is to be working at an international hotel in Canada and apply for a transfer to a branch in Japan.

7. It might not fit your timeline and it’s somewhat competitive but take a look at the Japanese government’s JET Programme:

   https://jetprogramme.org/en/howto/

   While it’s mainly targeted at new college grads, I was around you two’s age when I went (20 years ago…). Was an awesome experience and it being a government program resulted in much handholding that made visa & tax stuff easy.

8. I remember watching recently a YouTube video about growing South American communities in Japan. Many of them were brought in to fill the demand created by the shrinking workforce, and I do suspect that most of the jobs are support and not white collar. But perhaps your husband could make some connections and see if he can get a sponsorship somehow through that community. I can’t imagine many Japanese competing to fill jobs serving that community, so there might be some demand there, such as a job as a chef in a South American restaurant.

   Apparently the biggest community is Brazilian, but there are also many people from Spanish-speaking countries. Just a thought; I have no knowledge of Japanese immigration.

Comments are closed.