My partner (27) and I (23) have been in love with Japan since visiting for a month in 2024. My partner works fully remote doing analytics-oriented work, and is likely going to be pivoting to software development with the help of his organization, while I work in sales. We make decent money given our ages and location, around 130-140k combined annually, but I personally don’t feel very happy. Before I graduated college we discussed moving to Japan and pursing the JET program, but nothing came of it. Now that I’m actually working I’m realizing I would truly like nothing more than to move to Japan for at least 1-2 years, possibly longer, and become immersed in the language and culture.
I know I wouldn’t be able to keep my job, it requires travel within the U.S. and typical hours. My work is talking to people, and we don’t conduct business outside of the United States, so I’d have to consider JET program or an alternative means of income if I moved to Japan. My partner doesn’t think he’d be able to keep his job, but much of his work is done on his own time, and he is rarely in meetings. The company is fully remote so his colleagues live all over the United States, with one colleague living in Europe. This gives me some hope he could potentially keep his job, but I’m not counting on it.
We discussed it and we would both be willing to apply for the JET program and leave our current jobs, the issue with this is that we have two cats. I know it is strongly discouraged to bring pets to Japan, and that there are strict rules. I guess I am just concerned that if we both pursued the JET program, we wouldn’t be able to bring our cats right away, as once you land in Japan, JET whisks you away to a hotel that does not allow pets, and apparently most apartments don’t allow cats either, meaning we’d have to do the work of finding a place in Japan, while living in the U.S., that allows cats… This would also mean we’d be less likely to get subsidized or free rent by our school, which could prove difficult with the pay provided by JET. I guess another issue is that even if we both got into JET, even if we were married, there’s a chance we could be placed in schools far from one another. This makes me even less inclined for us both to focus on JET, as it would likely work best with only one of us pursing the program – this way we could go to Japan together, live there together without fear of far apart placements, and the person NOT in JET would be able to deal with the cats once we landed so the other could be whisked away to whatever hotel JET takes you to.
Anyway I’m just wondering what other options we have, I don’t need to pursue JET, especially if there are other potentially more suitable options. Also wondering if anybody has experience bringing cats to Japan, especially as someone who is going to be teaching there. It seems much different for content creators who have more money and greater flexibility, but with the salary and rules in JET, the pet thing is definitely an issue. We aren’t planning on moving right away, maybe by end of 2026 or sometime in 2027, so I have plenty of time to plan and figure something out.
Thank you!
by Glittering-Guitar509