Hey everyone! Hoping this is the right place to post – really appreciate any insight or perspective you can share as I navigate a pretty big future decision!
I’m a 30F seriously considering moving to Japan in 2026 or 2027 to attend a Japanese language school for a year. I grew up as an immigrant in North America, travelled quite a bit as a kid, and have always dreamed of living abroad to really experience and immerse myself in a different culture. I’m also a huge language nerd (I speak 4 languages fluently and have been taking beginner Japanese lessons for the past 6 months – Japanese would be my fifth language). I visited Japan last year and absolutely loved it, and ever since, I haven’t been able to shake the idea of going back for a longer-term stay.
The plan would be to hit pause on my career and essentially take an “adult gap year” to fully immerse myself, study hard, and hopefully get to a solid level by the end of the program.
I’ve recently accepted a new job in HR, offering a comfortable 6-figure salary, which I’d obviously have to give up to do this. I’m excited about the new job and I know stepping away would mean explaining a gap on my résumé, which I don’t love, but at the same time, I know life’s not just about work. It’s a bit scary to think about walking away from something stable, but truth be told the industry I work in isn’t really my passion and more of a means to end to make money and save for passions/hobbies/life projects.
Long-term, I’ve been toying with the idea of starting a small business importing Japanese paper products and matcha (two things I’m very passionate about), so part of me sees this gap year as an investment in that dream, and as an opportunity to perhaps start networking my way into the stationary and tea industries (ambitious, I know!) to test out products and who knows, maybe connect with some potential vendors whom I could work with one day. I do realize however that not having an income for a year while in Japan may potentially set me back financially and delay this entrepreneurial project as I wouldn’t realistically have enough money to invest into this business venture until I’ve filled up my savings again.
A few other important details:
– I’m in a happy long-term relationship and my partner would be supportive of this move, although we would likely be long-distance (fine with both of us).
– I’m not planning to have kids.
– I’ve saved up a decent amount, but I am nervous about retirement savings for my parents, and would be living very budget-consciously during the year, since I wouldn’t have an income.
Here’s where I’d really appreciate your thoughts:
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Am I totally nuts to quit a stable, well-paying job to be essentially jobless and income-less for a year?
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What does this kind of experience really cost, roughly speaking? I know it varies a lot depending on location and personal spending habits, but I’d love a ballpark estimate for tuition + living expenses (assuming modest accommodation in a large or midsize city, normal spending on food, occasional travel within Japan, etc.).
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Is there another path I should consider instead of language school? I’m very open to hearing ideas of other ways I could spend my time in Japan that align with my plans/goals mentioned above. Or should I, for example, just stay in North America, focus on learning the language here and travel to Japan just to network with vendors while continuing to grow my savings here? As mentioned above, I really do love language learning though, and do see it as an experience in and of itself.
Thanks so much to anyone who reads this and shares their thoughts! It really means a lot!
by Booksandbabkas
25 comments
there’s a lot here, and it seems like you have at least some amount of financial freedom so –
maybe visit the country again first, before going through the process of moving. visit for a month or longer if possible, and see if you even enjoy the country on a non-vacation basis. being a tourist and being a resident are two completely different things!
Edit: ah yes, you’ve visited.
Why not just visit for a few months, visit tea stores, etc as a sort of tourism/research trip?
Personally it would make more sense to me to take that six figure salary and schedule in regular trips to research things while studying on your own.
If you were made redundant why not but giving up a six figure job to be treated like a teenager in a japanese language school where most students are pre university age doesn’t sound like a dream for an established adult.
Being a tourist here is awesome, no responsibilities, going and experiencing new things. However, as a resident it’s way different! Having to go and deal with issues at city hall, at the bank, etc. It’s super hard without conversational Japanese. Make sure you’re super convinced before giving up the nice job you got going.
Its not unheard for companies to give people a longer unpaid ‘leave of abscence’ like a sabbatical or a long term service leave. Usually you’d need to put a few years in first though. Australia famously has a 13 week long term service leave baked into the law after working 10 years for an employer. So discuss with your manager the businesses appetite (and requirements) for you taking a year off to go on an adventure.
In terms of cost, while everyone is different its worth remembering that Immigration requires students have around 2,000,000jpy that they can spend for a year of classes and living expenses. Its not a hard number, but it’s a good lower ballpark figure. More money is obviously more better.
You seem like the stereotype of someone who *would* attend language school. It seems like a no-brainer to me. You can also do 6 months instead of one year if you like.
Attend language school, study hard, and network. There’s really no other way to go about this unless your Japanese is at a level where you can secure a job.
I’m native so I can’t give you advice but I’m matcha wholesale, let me know if you need information on this side. I love matcha so much, too!
I’m leaving next year (33M) to also spend a full year in Japan. Right know I’m automating the most of company so it can keep running while i’m away. It’s never too late to experience something new in our lives!
About your work, it’s for sure irresponsable but I would do it, better then spending the rest of your life thinking on what could have been.
About your other questions, few Brazilians I follow claim to live with 28h weekly income of 1200~ yen per hour. It’s really modest lives but they get arround. To really live the culture I’ll try to also make a living without using my reserves (it give me chills to be honest, haha).
Sorry about any mistakes, english is not my first language.
Good luck!
1. No, not nuts
2. It depends. I dont know about tuition, but apart from tokyo, kyoto osaka, etc, a ¥200.000 per month for living expenses/travel/eating out in a small or mid sized city is plenty. ¥100.000 would be the bare minimum (and would not be fun)
3. Working Holiday Visa? Business Manager Visa?
Long-distance relationship is hard. You both say it’s fine, but it is not. Consider this carefully
If you think you can walk back into another job with a similar salary later, why not? You are still young and not planning to have a family. If not, how about continuing your lessons and putting away a lot more of your salary over five years instead of one or two? Then, see if you still feel the same way about Japan.
I think you will find you have a lot of competition importing tea and washi would be a rather niche market.
I’ll say this..which might not be as helpful, but as someone who had the opportunity to move from the US to Japan, with two job offers in hand, don’t ask anyone about what you should do with your life. If you really want to go and feel like it’s the right time, do it and don’t look back. I sought advice from others about whether or not it was the right move and ultimately let them talk me out of it. So I politely declined the offers and it still haunts me nearly 10 years later. Seeking advice like this is a gateway to regret. The thing to ask is how best to make the move 😀
I’m 38 years old and currently living in Japan as a language school student. So far, the experience has had more pros than cons. If it’s something you truly want to do, it can be amazing—Japan is incredibly unique in both its good and bad aspects.
One thing I’d recommend is checking in advance with a foreigner-friendly real estate agency for rental purposes (WagayaJapan handled everything for me). Other than that, choose your city based on your interests (changing city/school after that is rather hard), try to rent near your school or a train station to make commuting easier and transportation cheaper. Enjoy!
It’s not a crazy idea, I’ve met tons of people that did the same. Costs are very low in Japan and can be extremely low if needed. When I lived in Osaka i stayed at one of the “international houses” J&F was the company. Basically a big build full of rooms like a dormitory with a big shared kitchen/lounge and bathrooms. When I was there you could have a private room single bed, desk, mini-fridge, wardrobe (just like a student room) for $500/mo. You could also be in the same size room but with a bunkbed so it was a shared room. This was $250/mo. Obviously prices have changed for sure but it gives you an idea of what rents could be.
I would highly recommend one of these types of houses for your own sanity. Being alone in a new country and hardly speaking the language is incredibly isolating. They are a good way to make some basic friends to do stuff with. Everyone there is usually a student at a language school or college, Japanese people live in the building because they want exposure to languages as well. So it’s mixed living. They do events like let’s all go to a festival or let’s have a bbq.
The biggest issue here isn’t the money or career. It’s your relationship. I am not sure if you have done anything like this before but 1 full year apart is a massive undertaking. I have had long distance relationships and it’s not easy at all. You will need to be ok with this relationship possibly ending. Things change in ways you wouldn’t know in a LDR. It’s time apart but also completely separate lives. It’s hard to describe but just know that this will be the hardest part of all of this, your dynamic may change, things could surface, or you could be totally fine.
It would make sense if you have a solid plan of what you are exactly doing towards import business while being in Japan.
There are Japanese companies that offer B2B services. You can do research, contact these businesses, move forward probably without being there.
You should also have a solid business plan laid out as these markets are already quite saturated. And people are gonna think it’s way cheaper to just visit Japan and buy whatever they want that way.
Here’s my counter proposal:
I highly recommend finding a remote job. Then doing “Gold Card” in Taiwan. Then visit Japan and stay a month or two at a time.
Also if you are passionate about matcha, you should do your research in Taiwan and China. That’s a whole another world.
This will minimize the risk and skip wasting your time at a language school as your ultimate goal isn’t so much about language and more about business side of things.
Food for thoughts.
Hey, I am also a 30F female who quit her high paying job (engineering manager) to live this year-long career break so I hope you find my anecdote useful. I started last year October, have got half a year left to go and I don’t regret doing it at all 🙂
My reason is a little different- my partner at the time wasn’t keen on living abroad while I’m a fan of the experience so we agreed that I’d do this for one year then go back and think about settling down.
I chose Fukuoka because the cost of living here is really low compared to where I’m from, everyone here is super friendly, and the city is of a decent, comfortable size.
I’ve saved up a decent chunk for this year long plan and a bit more for the runway when I return home so while the thought of eating into my savings and being income-less is there, you’ll get used to it within a month.
I’ve got a whole spreadsheet of my expenses categorised into one-time, recurring, and weekly expenses that I can share when I get home 😄 figured this tracking would be one in handy someday for someone thinking to do the same.
Let me know if you have any more questions- I’d be happy to answer!
Assuming you aren’t in any financial distress, I think you will regret not going to the language school in japan much more than losing your job.
1. Yes 🙂 because it’s losing money versus earning money and it comes with losing prospects. language is not a skill. it should come with a marketable skill but it won’t so in the end you might speak Japanese but what is it going to give you? I’m pretty sure you can import matcha without wasting so much time and money. You could be living comfortably and with your partner, building wealth, strengthening skills. Instead you’ll be stuck in dusty classrooms all year studying Japanese basics, and since Japanese is not an alphabet based language, Japan doesn’t teach through fun projects so it’s a lot of good old memorizing and multiple choice. After you finish the course you’ll just return home with no money and no new skills and maybe you’ll start your import business. Could you have done it without wasting your time and money in Japan? Absolutely. I’d say you’d be better off investing your existing money into it. Remember, if something goes wrong, you always have leverage in your own country speaking the language and having a place to be and your support system.
2. So you haven’t researched any of it and you haven’t narrowed it down to price-location? Sounds like you don’t have an actual plan then.
3. Staying there, learning the language and traveling is the best option.
As someone who came from a great HR position as well and living currently in Japan, I highly recommend you NOT to do this. Idk about your current position but its not going to be worth it unless you saved a huge amount of money. If I were you I would seriously study Japanese where you are right now untill N2 level and then work here as a HR person ( salary is really good for HR employees who have a 3-5 years of experience) Visiting japan and living in Japan is not the same.
That being said, if you want to challenge yourself have enough savings to sustain yourself comfortably for 1 year + you should do it. But its not rainbow and sunshines like when you come here on a 2 week holiday.
Go! Follow your heart.
1. Not nuts.
2. `>=20` year old apartment 1K about 20 minute train from Tokyo is maybe 60k JPY per month. Utilities maybe 10k-20k depending on how much you use. Phone bill is 3k~6k depending on use and who you go with, assuming BYOD. Food is 60k if you cook balanced meals at home, 120k if you go out all the time. Transportation is probably about 10k per month assuming you buy a commuter pass to the school and occasionally wander off the route. So maybe 143k ~ 216k per month. 1.716 million JPY ~ 2.592 million JPY per year ish. Keep in mind that yen’s exchange rate is volatile right now with a lot of macroeconomic stuff on the brink of large changes… so even if you convert to your currency right now and say “oh, I have $18,132.21 USD, so I should be fine!” the value of that yen can change greatly over the course of a year. Not to mention that I didn’t include the school tuition which is probably around 1 million JPY for a year… tl;dr, I would have at least 4.5 million JPY saved up before cutting off all income streams and living in Japan for a year to go to language school. If you want to cut it close, or work a part time job in Japan while going to language school you might be able to get by with only 3 million JPY to start out with.
3. tbh, I think you’re underestimating the amount of mental strain this will put on you. Not only during the year in Japan, but after you get back trying to find a new job and restart your career is a lot of mental stress. If you dread the thought of trying to find a job in your country that will be open to relocating to Japanese for a year and working remotely etc… imagine how much you will dread trying to find a job when you get back. It might make more sense to just look for a better job that will accomodate your world travels more.
Language school is a fine option as long you temper your expectation.
No – if you want career growth, money, and to maintain your happiness in your current relationship (unless said partner moves with you).
Yes – if you want quality of life improvements.
A good friend of mine did this pretty much after working several years in tech. He loves living in Japan and he never plans on moving back to the US lol.
I saw go for it OP. Any language school should be fine at worst as long as you like the location. Even then, the best thing about language school is that you can stay in an area in Japan at a relatively cheap cost while investing time and energy in Japanese culture. I feel that majority of the language is context based which is hard to learn without actually practicing it in social situations.
In terms of savings, expect to have at least $15,000 saved USD.
You said you grew up as an immigrant but I don’t know your culture background. You’ll need intense Japanese training for a year’s time and if you are not familiar with Kanji you’ll probably need more time. Many Japanese schools teach them really slowly.
My husband and I are currently in Japan for vacation and are already trying to make plans to move here. The culture is so different from the US. It’s wild to see how well everyone here lives let alone how kind everyone is.
As a woman who has been SA’ed for 6 years, I dont like going outside by myself. In Japan, I feel 100% comfortable and safe.
I hope if you do move somewhere in Japan, you have a similar experience of kindness and safety. Plus, Japanese is a beautiful language and the food is out of this world delicious and affordable
Yeah!
I came to Japan at 30 for a one-year language school, putting my IT career on pause. I only knew a bit of hiragana from studying on the plane—so basically, I arrived with zero Japanese.
Now I’ve been living here for 12 years! I bought two properties, a brand-new car, had a dog, got married, and had kids!
Work has always been chill with good pay in IT. I was even headhunted and switched companies multiple times. Honestly, finding a job now feels even easier than before.
Unlike what you read on Reddit, neither my wife (also a foreigner) nor I have ever felt racism or exclusion from society. Making friends has been easy, and people treat us with a lot of respect.
I had a detailed one-year study plan in an Excel file—budget, timeline, everything. I told myself I’d go back in under a year if I started burning through too much of my savings. I treated that threshold like gospel. But after just 3 months in Japan, I was working as a dishwasher and waiter—and barely touching my savings.
So many friend and stories ! U should do it !