Sig and Anne: Going to Japan

About two months ago, Anne and I decided our next life goal will be to travel to Japan. We want to take a pretty deep dive into the land and the culture, so we decided to try and effectively live there for at least a year, probably two. I’ve been enamored of Japanese culture for quite a while as has Anne. Our mutual enthusiasm for Anime is part of that, but it goes deeper. For me, it has the perfect balance of the familiar and the unfamiliar. It is at once alien, and comforting.

To stay in Japan for that length of time, you need to get a long-term visa. The main ways of doing that are to get a work visa or to get a spouse visa. Far and away, the easiest job to secure in Japan, for an American, is to teach English in private or public schools. The only hard requirements are that you have a 4-year college degree and that you be a native English speaker. While teaching experience can help, it is not generally required. Any other job tends to require pretty advanced levels of Japanese language proficiency.

So, our plan is…

• Secure a job teaching English somewhere in Japan.
• Get a working visa.
• Move to Japan.
• Teach English there.
• Travel around the country in our spare time.

Because Japan is simply not set up for RVs the way the US is, and because the roads are considerably narrower, the Airstream doesn’t get to go to Japan. Once I’ve got a job lined up, and all the wheels are in motion, we will have to sell it. I’m hoping that while we are there, we can get a camper-van like a vehicle to go on trips with, possibly one that we can reasonably transport to other countries in the future. Australia is probably the next destination, but that’s a way in the future yet. One adventure at a time!

Challenges we are facing

1. Landing a Job
2. Getting our cats into Japan
3. Preparing ourselves for the culture change

Getting a job is always challenging as so much of it is beyond your control. I’m told that they like to hire young female American teachers most so I have a couple counts against me. That said, I think I’ve got the right personality and temperament for the job. I suspect it won’t be easy, but that I’ll manage to land a gig by being persistent and thoughtful. I’m preparing by studying the ESL techniques, reading advice on landing such work, and getting the right appearance.

Getting the cats into Japan is a long process that involves a lot of vet visits, money, and time. So long as we follow all the rules, and there are many, we should be good. But it is something of a high stakes game, and depending on the timing of landing a job, it could mean the cats end up in quarantine for a while. It’s definitely not an outcome we want, but there just isn’t a lot of flexibility in the way it all works.

Preparing for the culture is the fun part and its the one place where we can miss the mark to some degree and things will still work out fine. I like to keep life fairly low stress, so being ready to face common challenges is definitely a goal. The longest and hardest process is studying the language. Anne definitely has the head start on this compared to me, but I feel like I’ll get there. Unlike on other occasions, I am pretty excited and motivated to learn. I won’t need it to work in Japan, but without learning Japanese, I doubt I will get nearly as much enjoyment out of the experience.

Things up in the air

There are still a lot of unknowns at this point. Where in Japan we will go is really dependent on what Jobs we can get. We have some early preferences, but I want to keep the possibilities open to maximize our chances. I think we might actually do better in a more rural area, but close enough to a larger city to enjoy cultural events. I’ve got my eye on the western cities as they afford easy travel over to China and Korea for possible excursions.

I’m also not sure when we will go. Again, it all depends on the job hunt.  They tend to hire teachers in the early fall and early spring, but there are some gigs available throughout the year. Once I start job hunting, things could move very slowly, or they could move very quickly. I may have to rush over to start working, with Anne following a little later, or we may have a long time to get our affairs in order before we ship out. Whatever it takes to get this done, that’s what we will do.

How we are feeling

I think we are both very excited by this new adventure. As we wintered over in San-Diego we were definitely at a crossroads as to where to go and what to do next. I think we were both eager for more excitement, but not sure just what to do. Going to Japan is as close to a travel dream as I’ve had, so that got us lined up on the idea. I’d say we are both very happy about the decision.

Anne is somewhat anxious, as ever, especially concerned as to whether or not we will succeed in making the jump. And as ever, I’m relatively confident that we can manage whatever we commit to, especially when many other people have managed to do the same thing without extraordinary effort. What we may lack in brilliance or ambition, we tend to make up for in sheer competence.

I do feel that thrill of uncertainty and doubt that comes with a leap of faith. I fully expect some challenges that are more painful than fun. There are a lot of unknowns that give me some concern. And I do feel like this is going very far afield for me, further disconnecting me from my safety net of friends and family. That’s definitely a downside. I very much miss the good times gaming with my buddies in Seattle and the broader community I moved in. So that part makes it a bittersweet prospect.

But, these days, a wanderer I am. Traveling about, exploring, taking in new ideas and experiences, and getting a handle on this world I live in while I still have the chance.