ever been to Japan?

I'm at a point where I really have to change my life......

thinking of saving up few grand, selling all my posessions and going to live in Japan for a year.....

any1 done something like that?

Do you know how to speak Japanese?

Are you going as part of a teaching English contract?

Unless you have a job lined up already a few grand is not gonna lost long.

It is very expensive to live in Japan.

is there a reason that it has to be japan? is there something about the culture, or a job opportunity, that draws you there?

because, afaik, there are more lucretive countries in asia that you could pursue--korea, taiwan, and even mainland china (from what i've heard).

a few grand? You need a few grand just to stay a week there. Living costs are very high. Besides that, job oppertunities for foreigners are few and far between. Unless you are teaching english, which is probably the only job out there for you. It's very hard to be a immigrant in japan, their doors are not as open as they are here. Unless you plan on knocking up some japanese chick, and marrying her. Odds are you will be asked to leave the country within a few months unless you find a job. And even with the english teaching job oppertunities, you have to be outside the country to get a contract, i don't think you can just go there and find work. It works very differently, but from what my friends told me you can't just be any person off the street. you gotta do alot of the job finding stuff from outside the country first. Why not just move to vancouver if your looking for a change.

Originally Posted by junglebass

I'm at a point where I really have to change my life......

thinking of saving up few grand, selling all my posessions and going to live in Japan for a year.....

any1 done something like that?

Really wanna do that? Go to Bhutan. I would have even suggested Nepal but there is a lot of political unrest atm.

North east India, or Himachal Pradesh in Indian (Gharwal Himalayas) is another place to go. Or even Ladakh. Smaller Indonesia Island. Parts of Thailand, Laos or Vietnam. I mean there are literally thousands of places to go to.

Japan is super expensive, and if you looking for a "find your inner self, and discover the meaning of life" quest, then commerical Japan or any country for that matter is not where you want to go.


Also, this kind of move requires a greal deal of conviction, motivation and thought. Its not as easy to pack your bags and disappear. You have to know what you really want.

Read "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintainence". Worth it.

A train pass on the shinkausen would cost you a few hundred just for a few weeks. Living in japan is quite expensive.

Have you tried applying for government foreign service? I used to have a professor who started off in foreign service in japan, then went on to work for a giant Japanese thinktank and finally came back to work as a professor after he married a japanese woman and had 2 daughters.

Kinda OT, but heres a journal about a teacher that, as part of the JET program, is an assistant language teacher in Japan. Just updated today. Very interesting read..

http://outpostnine.com/editorials/teacher.html

good for you man, this country is BS. Japan is a very nice place but I think id get tired of the people and the language pritty quick. If you wanna go somewhere that you think you would like to stay your whole life, go live in Italy, France or Spain.

I would love to go visit.. maybe visit red district while i am there.. lol.

how much do you know about japan?

u need to do more research before you make a decision like this...

I lived there for a couple years in the mid 90s. Its great.
The reason people choose to go to Japan and not other asian countries is because of:
a) Anime (if you're into it)
b) Technology and gadgets
c) Food
d) money (you can save lots of money if you don't go out much)
e) its more modern/westernized than most other asian countries (korea is very close) so you don't have to worry about going to a hospital there
f) its clean
g) Japanese women are hot and dress far better than women here
h) good place to learn the language
I) very low crime rate (I walked around with hundreds in my wallet with no fear)

You really have no clue eh? Nice.

Originally Posted by bionicbadger

I lived there for a couple years in the mid 90s. Its great.
The reason people choose to go to Japan and not other asian countries is because of:
a) Anime (if you're into it)
b) Technology and gadgets
c) Food
d) money (you can save lots of money if you don't go out much)
e) its more modern/westernized than most other asian countries (korea is very close) so you don't have to worry about going to a hospital there
f) its clean
g) Japanese women are hot and dress far better than women here
h) good place to learn the language
I) very low crime rate (I walked around with hundreds in my wallet with no fear)

I really dont think that those are the reasons from the original post. Seemed to me like he wanted to get away from all that.