Hi..Am I kidding myself here?

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Lukahj
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Post by Lukahj »

Hi all
I used to live and work in Tokyo in my early to mid 20's.
I am now 55 and wish to return to live there and buy a beautiful cheap country house - with no degree, and only a diploma level qualification, what are my chances of being able to do this? My interests are art/ gardening/ illustration/ healing/animals and just general potting around...I just want to work part time creating my own way of making a living somehow, either private English lessons, massage/reiki, pet sitting, dog walking, art work sales, etc....Am I kidding myself in regards to this? and what about a visa? Can this be done? Or do I need to marry someone Or get a work visa only and work for someone else?

VanillaEssence

Hi..Am I kidding myself here?

Post by VanillaEssence »

I think you would have a hard time getting an English teaching job without a university degree, especially considering age discrimination is a thing here. Definitely wouldn’t be able to get a visa to just work part time. Marriage would work but I wouldn’t call that route ethical.

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Zasso Nouka
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Post by Zasso Nouka »

I'm going to be brutally honest here as I'm guessing you don't want a sugar coated answer that will waste your time. You are going to need some sort of visa to enable you to move here, either a work visa at an English school or other business or a spouse visa to enable you to live here.

None of those options are necessarily bad, working at an English school in the countryside isn't a bad occupation but I have no idea how you would go about finding one that would sponsor your visa. Should you fall deeply in love with a Japanese national you want to marry and they feel the same way about you then that's also a viable option. Or if you are independently wealthy and wish to invest money into a startup business here in Japan that also will give you another route.

edmundedgar
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Post by edmundedgar »

Definitely not easy. If you can get yourself established and you're getting regular income in a single one of the boxes it's not too hard to renew then ultimately get permanent residence, but the problem is getting the initial work visa. As far as teaching goes it would be hard to find a job without a degree unless you were already here, and I'm not sure they'd issue a visa even if you found someone to hire you.

I'm not prepared to give "impossible" for an answer since the world is full of people who manage to wrangle things that sound impossible, so, trying to think how it could be done:

If you've got money and time you could maybe enroll as a student, (language or art or whatever) then while you're here studying hope to find a job that would get you a visa renewal when that finished, or alternatively find love, in which case marriage would solve the visa problem. Alternatively if you complete a bachelor's degree you could then get a teaching job and a visa off that.

I had a friend who was studying ceramics here on a student visa then successfully changed to an artist visa; When I google up artist visas I get a bunch of bitchy people on r/movingtojapan saying forget it unless you're an internationally renowned artist exhibiting in Paris and London etc etc, which she wasn't, but she's definitely very talented and had a decent list of exhibitions she'd done before and invitations to exhibit in Japan in future.

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Post by edmundedgar »

Lukahj wrote:
Mon Sep 06, 2021 9:23 am
I used to live and work in Tokyo in my early to mid 20's.
Just noticed this bit - what were you doing then and how did you get a visa?

Lukahj
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Post by Lukahj »

Thanks everyone....yes last time I was just on a visitors visa, and that was for six months and then 3 months. Two different passports/ dual passport.
British and Australian.

So I am thinking of getting a degree, I only have to complete two years of Uni to get one. And then from what I am hearing I could possibly then come to Japan and be a student for a while learning the language, so I can get a student visa, then possibly fall in love, well that would be amazing, but I won't put my hopes on that one :lol: but then you never know :shifty: .....

Then if I do find work teaching English, ( Do I also need to do a TESOL course?), which surely I would get, but then maybe not because of my age, although I do look a lot younger, I could then possibly get the Working visa, but then you can only get it if you work full time? so what if you start working full time but then go to part time? do they check your working visa regularly to see if you are working full time? geeze...its not easy is it...

Then there is an Artists visa which sounds probably difficult.

Yes I only really want to work part time. Unless I were to start up a small business in something? like Australian coffee? in the country or a small bed and breakfast, no I don't have a lot of money either.

VanillaEssence

Hi..Am I kidding myself here?

Post by VanillaEssence »

I’ve got to say that I think you’ll be in much better shape staying in Australia. Super and pension mean you’ll actually be able to retire, I can’t envisage how you’d be able to retire in Japan. Getting a degree only to earn below the Australian minimum wage as an English teacher doesn’t sound like a great plan. I don’t want to be too negative, but I really think your best bet is just to regularly travel to Japan once that is possible.

You can’t change to part time once living here. The only way you could only work part time is if you had a spouse visa. Also, employers will ask your age, and age discrimination really is a big thing here. I think this will especially be in play because the English teaching company will have to sponsor your visa.

Starting a business here is not so easy either. I don’t know what the capital requirements are. A friend of mine has an Australian coffee place and he works 16 hour days. My advice is stay in Australia, enjoy your pension and travel to japan as often as you can.

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Post by gonbechan »

You could enroll in a language school which would allow you to work part time, but you would be spending more than you would make.

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DocDoesFarming
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Post by DocDoesFarming »

You'll need money for rent and food and travelling to your school and you're only allowed to work 20 hours a week from what I remember. You could always teach on the side for extra money but it wouldn't be enough to live on without a bunch of money saved.
Obviously if you have the money you could do 2 years in language school and then enroll in a Japanese University to earn a degree. But then there is no guarantee you could find a job after, although if you want to get into the care field there are plenty of old people in Japan who will need looking after.

I would second the staying in Australia and flying over for holidays, you can do 3 month trips or whatever.
I write a load of bollocks, don't take me seriously.

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Post by hushashi »

I don't want to disagree too much, but one of my mates from Oz who is 55, got hired sight unseen by Gaba. They sponsored his visa, although I am not sure if he has a degree or not. Perhaps yes. He then ended up falling in with one of his students who makes good money and now they live together.

The guy had more than his share of bad luck over the years so this was a string of wins that I was glad to see. Probably, from afar, it didn't look like a wise plan to move here. But in reality, it was just what he needed.

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