MMoving to Japan

I want to become a traditional knife maker in Japan (ideally Seki, Gifu)

  • November 25, 2025

Hi everyone,

I'm a 25 y/o german/turkish guy currently living in Turkey, and I'm planning to move to Japan to become a traditional knife maker, but don't know how exactly. Only thing I know is I have to improve my Japanese.

A bit about me:
I always loved swords and blades in general as a kid (and Anime). My parents actually come from a small village in Turkey that's known for its sword, so I guess it's kinda expected 😀

My first idea was, enter Japan via a Working Holiday Visa, which I can apply to because I have a german citizenship. During this time I would focus on getting used to Japan, finding a part-time job and start preparing for language school enrollment.

The issue is, I don't have a college degree. What I have is a "mittlere Reife" as we call it in germany, which is equal to a high school diploma. Hence why I can't apply to most language schools.

I wrote GoGoNihon and they provided me with 3 different schools, that accept students without college degrees, one of which was Akamonkai school.

What they want is a N5 certificate or a prove that you've studied for ~150h. So now I'm trying to figure out, how I should do that.

I already have more than 150h. I'm about 900 words into my anki 2k core deck and have around ~60-70h of immersion via YT podcasts. I also took an online N5 test (Migii JLPT App) and passed.

Sadly, I am too late for the N5 exam on the 7th December, since all of the test locations are already full.

I thought why not go on a WHV, start working, get a SIM card, bank account get my feet wet etc. and take the next N5 exam in June and then apply to Akamonkai.

But this is actually where I'm not sure if this is a good idea, because getting a student visa and enrolling takes like 4-5 months from what I've read. I'd probably start school around late 2026 which feels too far away.

I thought "Wouldn't it be better if I just enroll right away and provide a prove that I studied for 150h somehow?". That way I would be starting language school way sooner.

Once I speak good enough japanese, the end goal is of course contacting knife makers and blacksmith workshops directly and start working as an apprentice.

There are 3 things I'm unsure of

  1. Whether this whole dream of mine is actually realistic. Can a foreigner realistically get accepted as an apprentice in a workshop? (I read some stuff about Chiiki Okoshi Kyōryokutai, maybe that would help?)

  2. Whether or not I can actually survive on an apprentice salary in Japan 😀

  3. Whether my plan (WHV -> N5 in Japan -> language school -> apprenticeship) is really the smartest route, or if there is a better alternative I might haven't considered yet.

Any advice would help me a lot. Thanks for reading!

PS: I'm actually traveling to Japan for the first time in my life in 5 days if that matters.

by AlisClair