I’m here to ask / rant about things that I don’t have clear, and I would love some guidance from people who have lived this, or that might have some good insight about it.
Background
I’m 24 years old, Spanish, and currently finishing my studies in professional formation (専門学校) in Spain.
I have three different professional formation degrees that I have done almost continuously.
They are all centered around electricity, automatic systems, and robotics — including:
- Basic electrical appliances
- Communication devices
- IT
- Home automation systems
- Automata
- High and medium voltage (up to 60,000 V)
- Industrial robots
Japanese & Language Background
I’ve been “learning” (more like speaking casually) Japanese for a couple of years (3–4 years) online with friends and, currently, with my partner (a native speaker).
Since a couple of months ago, I’ve actually started to take learning seriously — trying to understand the grammar rules, why and when phrases are used, and mainly how to write and read.
I feel (and have been told) that I have a fairly high spoken Japanese level — to the point that until 2–3 minutes into a conversation (before I make a grammatical error), I’m often mistaken for a native or half, and in general been put in arround N3 taking into account my reading / writing capabilities.
For the written and reading part, I have a fairly low level. I actually started learning around 3–4 months ago, and I’m currently attending a course for N3–N2.
I don’t feel I have major issues, except for kanji and remembering the exact grammar rules for certain phrases.
Living in Japan
I lived in Japan for a year, and it was honestly an amazing experience in almost every sense.
During that time, I decided that I want to live there permanently — and every month that passes, I just feel more and more certain about it.
My Dilemma
As I said, I have three professional courses that would allow me to work with no issues in most of Europe.
However, in Japan I couldn’t, due to not having a university degree.
So my plan is to start university next year — probably some type of engineering related to electricity.
Going from finishing six years of studies (two years per FP course) straight into university is a bit of a bummer, especially when I’m in a country that I don’t enjoy being in.
I wanted to know what options I have and what everyone recommends.
As far as I know, I have three main ones:
Option 1: Marry my girlfriend
By far the fastest option — I wouldn’t need university and could go to Japan right away.
However, there are a couple of reasons I don’t want to do this:
- In the long term, not having a degree could hurt my professional career in Japan, making life harder for me and my partner.
- I don’t want to use my partner — whom I love — as a cheap ticket to go to Japan. Yes, it would be nice, but I don’t feel we’re at that stage yet, and I don’t want to use her in that way.
Option 2: Finish my degree in Spain
Study and finish my degree here while slowly preparing for the JLPT N1 over the next four years.
That way, once I graduate, I can move to Japan as soon as possible — I’d be around 28–29 years old at that point.
Option 3: Study university in Japan
This is the option I’m least knowledgeable about right now.
It would involve trying to enroll in a Japanese university (maybe joining in the later years?) and rushing to get the N1 before going, so I have no language issues during my studies.
For now, this is how much I’ve researched and understood.
I’m torn between:
- The feeling of wanting to go right away, since I lived so comfortably in Japan for a year and all my friends are there.
- And the feeling that if I wait, by the time I finally move, I’ll be almost 30 — barely able to enjoy my “youth” in the place I truly want to live.
I’m also tempted to accept my girlfriend’s invitation to marry her and go right away…
But honestly, I just wouldn’t feel right doing that.
would love to have some insight, ideas or just experiences in general, thanks a lot!
by 01zorro1