I'm 30M from the UK with a Master's degree working in engineering, bilingual in English and Chinese. My job is stable and pays pretty well but nothing crazy, unfortunately I'm not in the Tech/IT industry so not many jobs in Japan that would want to sponsor overseas applicants in my line of work. I have tried applying to the few that have shown up but haven't had much luck. I've been in Japan for work trips (2-3 months at a time) and also travelled there on holiday many times. Life at where I am feels unfulfilling as I am much more used to urban life, but I have been using it as an opportunity to save up. I'm luckily in a financial position now where I can realistically not work and live comfortably for many years if I really want to dig into my savings and investments.
I've been studying Japanese myself but only currently at N4 level, tried the N3 JLPT mock exams but was still a bit hard for me. I'm a bit lucky in that Chinese shares a lot of things with Japanese so it makes studying Kanji at least a lot easier.
The idea is to quit my current job and take a maximum of 2 years off in Japan to attend a language school, where I can reach at least N2 or maybe N1, whilst in the meantime try my luck and job hunt from inside Japan. However in the back of my head I've always had second thoughts as it seems irresponsible to quit a well paying job and torpedo my career/salary, maybe I'm getting a bit old to sabotage my finances to become a student. Has anyone else here taken this kind of leap? Did you manage to recover your career somewhat? It would be great to hear your story and experiences.
As for language schools in Tokyo, I've done a bit of searching and found ISI, ARC, TCJ, which were the ones that looked pretty good in terms of study intensity and support for employment, they all offer student visa support. It's a bit hard to find proper reviews as people seem to either love them or hate them. Looks like the normal intake time for 2 year courses is April, so I want to try and aim for April 2026. If you have any experiences with these or other language schools in Tokyo I'd love to hear them!
by Same-Data-9681
5 comments
I think language schools are great if your just want a long study holiday, but realistically you didn’t mention your industry so I’m not sure how easy or hard it would be to find a job.
Bro I’m in the same position as you are right now. Do you think after your trip you’d be able to simply get a similar job as you have now if you leave on a good terms? I am thinking the same thing, stop my job for a year or two and really try living in Japan, and if it doesn’t work out come back. My only issue is if I really like Japan there aren’t that great options for foreigners to work unless you want to start your own business
Always research your field first and measure your chance to get a job in japan. otherwise it is just a long sabbatical leave.
Even people in the hottest field such as software engineering sometimes fails to make it in the end.
If you’ve been here for numerous business trips, then your office must have some presence in Japan – any chance of a transfer?
Why is your life unfulfilling and what about Tokyo specifically will fix it, beyond coming more on holiday? Have you looked at moving to London or another bigger city, where the language & Visa restrictions are easier?
Does it have to be Tokyo? It’s the most expensive place…not Fukuoka, Osaka, etc?
Assuming you’re of Chinese heritage (rather than a Brit who has learned Chinese), then you should be able to speed run the JLPT tests as so much of it is Kanji knowledge. Do you know if you’d be able to get a job in the same field with N2? Do you need N1? Will you need experience in Japan too! If that fails, what other career could you do?
I can only share based on my own experience of someone who came to Japan (Tokyo) in his late 20s with little knowledge of Japanese (only Hiragana and Katakana), attended a language school for 1.5 years (came in July) and manage to get N2 and then N1 within two years.
Check everything. The school, the neighborhood, the community, the expenses and even the work possibilities. Once you are here, you can either work part-time (arubaito) or try your luck with internship and maybe get a proper job offer after you graduate your Japanese language school.
If you feel like it is not your thing after 2 years of language school, then move on to do something else. But, if you do like the culture, you will enjoy the 2 years experience that you will get and maybe stay in Japan longer.
Consider the pros and cons, prepare for any decision you make and make sure that the math is mathing.
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