Becoming a professional expatriate

So, out of extreme curiousity, for those of you who have lived and are living in Japan, how easy is it to just tear up roots in your native country and move to Japan, duration unspecified? How easy is it to land a job? Is it possible to live in a total dive of a bachelor pad (and I'm not talking about the pimp-daddy type, either) to the tune of 50000 yen or less a month? In the Tokyo area, I'd imagine this would be hard, but what about other regions - Okayama in the south, or Aoyama in the north, for example? And what about visas or other immigration paperwork? This is, of course, going on the assumption that the language barrier poses little to no problem. Basically, I'm talking about a no holds-barred, flaming flying leap "Holy crap if I have to exist in my country for another year I'm going to kill myself" act of spontaneity. Doable? Crazy?

 

5man/month? just enough to pay the food which keeps you alive^^

 

Bloody hell! Do you eat out every night? My food bill is about 30'000 per month and I eat quite well.

Yakumo

 

The estimate of 50,000 per month was mainly in the way of rent and utilities... Although it's rather scary how little I can survive on for food in a month's time.

 

I can only speak for Tokyo. 50,000 yen for rent will be a pretty crappy place, a good distance away from town. For the most part, a 1 room with a minimum of a 40 minute commute to just about any major station... could be even more from your workplace's closest station.

The only way to penetrate the wall with no other visa (or a lot of money) is to go, set up camp in some gaijin house, and get a job teaching. Technically, you can't teach until your visa is ready (2 months) but I think most places will get you cracking early. Mine did (ssssshhhhh!). These jobs pay a minimum of 250,000 yen per month, as that's minimum wage for sponsorship. It's possible to live off this...especially if you don't drink or party a lot which it doesn't sound like you do. I did when I first moved there, and was down to my last yen every fucking paycheck (no way to live).

To be honest, this is a very easy thing to do. I'm by no means the first or last person to do it. It helps if you know someone there though. I moved in with a couple of friends. The gaijin house is a pretty easy and cheap option though... you just need to know where you're going before you get there. And for the love of God, when they ask WTF you're doing in Japan at customs, tell them the standard, "here to study my Japanese". Tell them you're looking for work and you will be sent home immediately.

The only thing you have to bring is your diploma, as it's needed for the visa.

Your other route other than this, is the student route, which isn't bad either. The problem is, it takes a lot of money. You have to prove you can support yourself for the duration of your schooling, which I belive is 2 million yen per year you wish to stay. You can always borrow the money, print out a statement, then pay it back, but you still have to live with only working 20 hours a week.

I've got a much problem if I desire to go back (which will one day happen.... just not sure when). I have a wife and house full of crap now that I'm 30 and married. At 22, I had shit. A computer, a suitcase of clothes, and a carton of cigarettes. Now, I got a sofa, bed, dining room set, loads of other crap, and a bunch of games. I would have to pack this shit up, go there, find a real job which takes longer than a teaching job, and a place where all that furniture will fit, which is almost impossible w/o a job.

 

Unless the standard/cost of living in Japan is exponentially higher than the US, I don't think 250,000 yen a month would be a problem. Then again, I've heard the horror stories of $1 apples as well.

By diploma, do you mean high school or college? The latter would put a huge cramp on the whole idea of bailing out of the bullshit American higher education system here. I hope that wouldn't be detrimental - for Christ's sake, we let everybody and their illegal brother into the US, you'd think other countries wouldn't mind someone looking for honest work.

I've heard you and AntiPasta both mention the gaijin house; what is this, exactly? And by having someone there you know - I've got a few good Japanese friends in different colleges (hence my preferences for those out-of-the-way regions), or were you referring to going over with another gaijin?

 

The cost of living is much higher than most cities of mainland America, but if 30 million other people can do it, so can you. Many college graduates survive on less, and as a gaijin, you can get some private students to the tune of 2500 - 3500 yen per hour.

By diploma, I mean college diploma (accredited university). An associates will not work. Your other option is 10 years of professional experience, which gets tricky to prove. Just finish school... for many reasons, of which making life in Japan easier is only one. America obviously has many more visas (asylum and such) but to get a work permit, the same rules apply. We have a Japanese lady in our office that didn't finish University but is very good at a very nitche part of the market. She had been doing it for exactly 10 years, which was her saving grace -- she barely got the visa.

A gaijin house is like a hostel. It's basically a place (a room actually) to live in with basically no ties to anything else. It only requires a months rent for deposit, and you will not need a guarrantor. For a normal apartment, deposit (and key money) get really expensive (see the "rent" thread) and 99.9% of the places require a guarrantor, almost always a Japanese person.

EDIT: Just read Assembler's post

Happened to me on a visit, not when living there. On the flip side though, it's happened to a lot of my friends. The more normal and out-of-trouble you look, the less they fuck with you.

There is no doubt a huge spread on housing prices. My cheapest place was about a 10 minute train ride from Shibuya, in the bustling shithole of Meidaimae (Meiji Daigaku no Mae). It was 75,000 yen per month, for about 22 square meters. It was old, on top fo a ramen shop, and stank like shit 3 times a night (no shit). My best place was semi-provided by my last job. 350,000 yen a month for a 2 bedroom apartment. It was not brand-spanking new by any means, but was nice. (Some of my colleagues rent was somewhere around a million yen a month.) I was living like a white person again... unfortunately, the company moved 9 months later. If you really want to live cheap in Shibuya, it's going to be a shithole unless you get REALLY lucky. 1-room joints in walkable places from Shibuya (Ikejiri Ohashi, Mishuku, & Yoyogi Uehara for example) drop drastically in price, and are hip little places on their own. The hour commute Assembler spoke of is to be greatly considered -- it can really be a factor in the "burn out" process.

I went when I was 22. I always saw teaching as a stepping stone to the next place...even though it took me over a year to figure out what I wanted to do next. If you have a goal in mind, you can get some great experience. Anything experience business, computer, or even design-related would probably come in handy upon a return home. Basically, any job other than teacher or bar-tender isn't that bad... getting those jobs is the trick though!

 

Pretty much the same thing here, I'd love to move out to Japan, but not too sure of all the pros and cons etc. If possible Yakumo, can you tell me how you moved there, what critera was required, and what it was like finding a job etc?

Also just a little side note, whats it like living in Japan? By that I mean does Japan have low crime rate, or is unemployment high etc?

 

Lowest in the world? Not sure, but close if it's not. There's no such thing as a neighborhood you don't walk down late at night alone. Sure, crime happens, but it's much lower than any western country.

As for "what's life like there", it's very different for everyone. Read around this forum, and you should get a pretty decent idea of some experiences. I personally loved it - way better than the island. GP's pros & cons in list form:

Pros:
-Great night life
-Filthy women everywhere
-More video games than you could imagine
-You get the "challenge" of doing everything in Japanese (this makes life much less boring, for me anyway)
-No last call
-Special treatment as a foreigner (not expected to do everything the Japanese way)
-Same job, more pay (like being a man, statistically, in the US)
-Amazing public transportation

Cons:
-Pricey
-Traditionally small living quarters -- even out of the city they ain't so big
-Lack of vegetarian dishes
-Movies get there really late
-Takes forever to get anywhere (sometimes longer in a car )
-Everyone does everything at the same time. Try vacationing in Japan during Golden Week
-Smoke everywhere (this was a pro until about 2 years ago when I quit)

 

Think of the stuff not reported in the states then.

Generally that violence doesn't affect normal people. I let my wife walk to the convenience store at 2AM w/o thinking twice. That shit doesn't happen even in Honolulu -- one of the safest cities in the states.

 

I think you had some bad times in Japan ASSEMbler. Here is the safest place on earth !! I've been here 8 years and have NEVER had trouble at anytime of the day or morning. There is violence in Japan but it's always connected within a group of arse holes anyway.

Yakumo

 

Sounds like an urban legend. I'd love to see a link supporting that. But to say that rape isn't reported in Japan but *IS* in America is... well, wrong. That's why the made that whole, "anonymity of victims in sexual assault cases" thing, to get people to start reporting and pressing charges.

I think we're all guilty of that one.

 

Assembler said:
"And try getting a Job in the states after teaching english off the radar for twenty years. Unless your degree is in teching/english it's like telling people you harvested bats in cambodia for ten years."

Oh man I laughed for quirte some time while reading that.

 

Well, if Cambodian bat harvesting pays well...

 

"1. If you are young (18-20) go now now now."
Wouldnt you recommend going when at least you have at least a Bachelor's Degree?
what if your around that age and just go? with no degree, un safe right?

 

They can all piss off I sez. You have the money and weight to throw around. YOU show them up by spreading the unreachable content to our shores (not just the U.S.) and those collectors can just walk home. We'll all love you for it, but those elite stuck-ups sure won't!