I’m contemplating moving to Japan with a student visa – tell me what you think of my situation.

For starters – I'm Russian, soon to be 20 years old, guy. I'm on second year of uni doing IT and I was thinking about this for a while, my country isn't exactly doing well and even if I finish my bachelors at a pretty good university – I don't see myself leaving my country any time soon. With that being said, I'm currently thinking about a possibility of moving to Japan for 5 years (2 years for a language school and 3 for uni, considering that credit transfer from my Russian uni goes well), but I'm doubting myself on multiple points:

  1. I only have about 9 million yen in savings, which from what I've been told is enough to apply for a student visa… but I just can't realistically calculate my expenses in cities such as Tokyo or Osaka without going over 10-12 million yen, and that's with current pricing. Of course, I can still work under 28 hours a week as a student and maybe get a JASSO – but that's obviously not reliable to think about at the stage of planning. I also do not think I can get support from Russia, maybe 1 million yen annually – but thats at most.
  2. My age. As I've mentioned – I'm 19 years old, going to be 20 this winter. Even if my credit transfer goes well and all – I'll be 22 when only getting to the second year of uni. I know that a lot of international students are generally older than locals, but still, I'm pretty sure there is a huge stigma surrounding gap years and stuff – I feel like being 3 years apart from other students may be really uncomfortable.
  3. (This concern is rather just my rambling than something feasible, but if anybody on here is from Russia or knows a thing or two about my situation – this is for you) I'm not really sure if I have the time needed. With the course my country has been taking it appears that we will all be soon locked down, not on paper but rather practically, and this kind of feels like a last opportunity to get out into "international waters" before its too late, however, considering my only realistic option is October intake (maaaaybe July, but that's a stretch), I am afraid that something drastic is going to happen in my country that will destroy my chances completely.

Now that the rambling is over – feel free to express any of your thoughts on any of these points, maybe about how realistic this whole thing is, or just about my situation in general. Any advice or fact will be appreciated, trying to stay hopeful.

by AlterNerdd