Hi everyone. I've been reading a lot of posts from this subreddit and want to submit my situation for peer review. See if I can identify things I am overlooking or underestimating. Some context:
– Both of us have a Bachelor's and studied animation in the US
– We have worked freelance for animation projects internationally, though are fairly new to the industry.
– I have been learning Japanese for roughly 10 years (though not serious dedicated study that entire time) and am probably around N3 (I know ideally I should be N2 or higher before moving- am working on it)
– My partner is a beginner at Japanese but took a semester of Japanese in college
– Both of us have briefly visited Japan as tourists (mentioning this because many recommend visiting before deciding you want to move there)
– I've researched the anime industry, its problems, specific pipeline, etc. and have several friends / acquaintances who work remotely for anime, so I'm not trying to work in anime with rose-colored glasses.
The rationale for moving to Japan is that, given the industry we work in and the fact that I am already somewhat familiar with the language, it would be a bit more accessible than moving abroad elsewhere (aside from maybe France or the UK which also have animation opportunities) and has good food, safety, and convenient transportation. Also, YOLO, experiencing other cultures and major lifestyle shift while we're still young/early career, etc. If we hate it we can always move elsewhere, but having experience on anime productions is actually somewhat of an in-demand skill on western animation productions these days, so it would still benefit our careers.
The general outline of the plan is: I try to find work for one of the animation studios and work remotely for 6 months to a year, then see if the studio will offer for me to move to Japan and work in-house. When that happens, while I sort out the work visa process, my partner will apply to a language school for a student visa. We move over together and find housing near both the language school and studio I work for. (Vast majority of the anime studios are situated along the Chuo line in western Tokyo, so I figure finding a language school in Shinjuku or Ikebukuro would make for a reasonable commute.)
While at language school, my partner would get the 28hr/week work permission and do some side animation gigs to gain professional connections and establish relationships with producers. During this time I would be the primary support for our living expenses, except the language school which my partner would cover. After a year of language school, they'd transition their student visa to a work visa and work in animation full-time.
I can anticipate several potential issues with this plan:
– The timing of me obtaining the work visa and my partner obtaining the student visa may not neatly line up, resulting in a staggered arrival to the country rather than traveling together.
– My partner's attempt to switch from a student to a work visa may get rejected.
– We are a same-sex couple, complicating the housing search process on top of being foreigners and having a tight budget for the first year. (Wondering about the difficulty of apartment hunting as two unmarried "roommates" since many places might want singles or families only)
If anyone has experience dealing with the above points, I'd love to hear any advice/comments. Are there any other potential complications I might be overlooking?
Of course, this entire plan hinges on me being able to get work in anime remotely at first, as well as the studio offering for me to move. Because of that uncertainty, I don't have any sort of strict timeline/goal to be in Japan by a certain amount of years. I'm mostly doing a bunch of research to decide if this even makes any sense or not.
by Mental-Anywhere-5213