Since coming to Japan, I've had a bunch of different people ask me
similar questions about living in Japan/getting a visa/Japan in general,
I thought this might be a good time to do a Q&A blog post. There's probably some things people have been wondering and never asked, or didn't even know they wanted to know. I also wanted to write about what are common questions to ask before coming to Japan, but I realised I had been doing so much research for almost half my life on coming to Japan, I'm not actually sure what is common knowledge any more!
Visas
I have done an awful lot of research on the different type of visas a UK Passport holder can get for coming to Japan long-term. I feel like I know a lot, not everything, but a fair bit, and I should really share that knowledge as a lot of people don't even seem to know the basics of visas.
Q: What's a visa?
Visas are cool little stamps that go into your passport, that allow you special access to stay in certain countries. The most common that you've probably had before is a holiday visa, you don't need to apply for these, they are issued automatically upon landing, and usually valid for around 90 days. With a British passport, we have access to the most countries (173!) that we can just go to without applying for anything.
Q: What type of visas can I get and how long do visas last?
Japanese Holiday Visas last 90 days. They are actually renewable, but it's at immigrations discretion and if they suspect you want to stay longer because you are working it will be denied, as it is illegal to work in any way on this visa.
I am currently on a Working Holiday Visa. This is valid for up to 1 year from date of entry to Japan, but sadly non renewable past that. Working Holiday Visas entitle the holder to work pretty much full time when they are in Japan, excluding activities that involve selling alcohol or work in the entertainment sector. Working full time however, is not encouraged really, it's supposed to be treated as a year long holiday with the option of working to supplement your activities.
Probably the most common for foreigners looking to stay in Japan long term is an ordinary Working Visa. I find mainly Americans are on this visa, as they don't have the Working Holiday option. A Working visa is different in the way that you need to have a job in Japan first, to sponsor your visa. I think technically you can come on a holiday visa (for 90 days) and then switch to a working visa once you've found a job but personally I think that's really risky as if you don't find anything quickly it could mess up your plans having to leave and re enter.
If you plan to come to Japan for school long-term (longer than 6 months) you can get a Student Visa sponsored by the school, once you have applied and been accepted. This can be with anywhere from a language school to a university, though language schools usually have more relaxed entry requirements, and it can be difficult to get into a Japanese University, especially if you are proficient in the language. Student visas are usually valid for the length of your course plus a couple of months after, though they can be extended if you want to stay at school longer, or need to resit a year, as long as the school is still willing to sponsor you.
There are a few other specialist type visas too, such as a cultural visa, which is quite uncommon and not many are granted every year, and spouse or dependant visas, which I think are self explanatory.
If you plan to come to Japan for school long-term (longer than 6 months) you can get a Student Visa sponsored by the school, once you have applied and been accepted. This can be with anywhere from a language school to a university, though language schools usually have more relaxed entry requirements, and it can be difficult to get into a Japanese University, especially if you are proficient in the language. Student visas are usually valid for the length of your course plus a couple of months after, though they can be extended if you want to stay at school longer, or need to resit a year, as long as the school is still willing to sponsor you.
There are a few other specialist type visas too, such as a cultural visa, which is quite uncommon and not many are granted every year, and spouse or dependant visas, which I think are self explanatory.
Q: How do I get a visa, and how hard is it?
For a working holiday Visa like mine, I had to go to the Japanese Embassy in London in person to apply, and return a week later in person to collect my visa once it had been granted. Prior to that, I had spent almost a month preparing, as you have to write two short 'essays', a personal statement and an itinerary, explaining why you want to come to Japan and what you plan to do (and it has to be fairly detailed), I also needed 3 months worth of bank statements, with cleared funds of over £3000 to prove I could sustain myself here, and there was also an application form and photos I had to provide. Really, it wasn't that difficult I just had to be meticulous in making sure I got all the details right as if you are denied you must wait a year before you can apply again. Apparently they also only accept 1000 visas a year too, with April being the start of the new year, but I didn't have any problem with that and from my researched I gathered it's not really an issue, not that many people from the UK actually use this visa!
I can't really speak for the difficulty of the other visas, but usually if they are sponsored your contact in Japan initiates the process so I think there is a lot less preparation involved.
For a working holiday Visa like mine, I had to go to the Japanese Embassy in London in person to apply, and return a week later in person to collect my visa once it had been granted. Prior to that, I had spent almost a month preparing, as you have to write two short 'essays', a personal statement and an itinerary, explaining why you want to come to Japan and what you plan to do (and it has to be fairly detailed), I also needed 3 months worth of bank statements, with cleared funds of over £3000 to prove I could sustain myself here, and there was also an application form and photos I had to provide. Really, it wasn't that difficult I just had to be meticulous in making sure I got all the details right as if you are denied you must wait a year before you can apply again. Apparently they also only accept 1000 visas a year too, with April being the start of the new year, but I didn't have any problem with that and from my researched I gathered it's not really an issue, not that many people from the UK actually use this visa!
I can't really speak for the difficulty of the other visas, but usually if they are sponsored your contact in Japan initiates the process so I think there is a lot less preparation involved.
Life in Japan
I'm no expert, but I've been here 4 months now (plus 1 month last year) and I'm pretty used to living here now. Also, like I said earlier, I have done extensive research on living in Japan for at least 10 years of my life, I know a lot of things that aren't even necessarily relevant to how I'm living now but might be helpful to someone living alone etc. Who knows.
Q: Why did you go to Japan?
Since I was about 12 it has been my dream to live in Japan. I love the culture, the language, and Pokemon, I decided a long while ago even before my first visit here, that I wanted to stay for a while to experience everything properly. Originally my plan was to apply for the JET Programme. Even though I think I will never ever be able to be a teacher I even prepared to get a TEFOL qualification to teach over here. Luckily, this amazing opportunity to be an Au Pair came up, and to be honest its the perfect situation for me.
Q: What do you do in Japan?
My official job here is as an Au Pair, but I'm not really a traditional Au Pair. The family I am staying with have no children, instead I take care of their dogs (two cute poodles, Kuro and Shiro) and help with the housework as it is literally a mansion so there are a lot of things to do every day. I also spend a lot of time exploring (shopping) and I have Japanese lessons once a week.
Q: How different is Japan (to the UK)?
You can pretty much assume it's almost the opposite. But I really do love it here. There are a lot of cultural differences that I think really make sense in Japan, people are much more kind, you can absolutely not wear shoes in the house, everywhere is always clean and I have yet to eat a meal that wasn't completely delicious. There are a few things that feel a little difficult to get used to even still, the weather is a big one, arriving just before summer started meant that I was leaving 12C England for 35C Japan and that was hard to adjust to. There are also some terrifying bugs here that I can not cope with, and it's no joke or stereotype that there are robots everywhere. Well, maybe not everywhere but there are a few common shops that employ robots to greet you or help you and my morbid fear of robots makes it difficult to accept that.
Since I was about 12 it has been my dream to live in Japan. I love the culture, the language, and Pokemon, I decided a long while ago even before my first visit here, that I wanted to stay for a while to experience everything properly. Originally my plan was to apply for the JET Programme. Even though I think I will never ever be able to be a teacher I even prepared to get a TEFOL qualification to teach over here. Luckily, this amazing opportunity to be an Au Pair came up, and to be honest its the perfect situation for me.
Q: What do you do in Japan?
My official job here is as an Au Pair, but I'm not really a traditional Au Pair. The family I am staying with have no children, instead I take care of their dogs (two cute poodles, Kuro and Shiro) and help with the housework as it is literally a mansion so there are a lot of things to do every day. I also spend a lot of time exploring (shopping) and I have Japanese lessons once a week.
Q: How different is Japan (to the UK)?
You can pretty much assume it's almost the opposite. But I really do love it here. There are a lot of cultural differences that I think really make sense in Japan, people are much more kind, you can absolutely not wear shoes in the house, everywhere is always clean and I have yet to eat a meal that wasn't completely delicious. There are a few things that feel a little difficult to get used to even still, the weather is a big one, arriving just before summer started meant that I was leaving 12C England for 35C Japan and that was hard to adjust to. There are also some terrifying bugs here that I can not cope with, and it's no joke or stereotype that there are robots everywhere. Well, maybe not everywhere but there are a few common shops that employ robots to greet you or help you and my morbid fear of robots makes it difficult to accept that.
General Japan
I do know a bunch about Japan, honest.
Q: Are you allowed to use forks?
It's just kind of expected that foreigners don't know how to use chopsticks. Even now when older people see me using them I get all sorts of unnecessary praise for it, it's kind of funny.
It's just kind of expected that foreigners don't know how to use chopsticks. Even now when older people see me using them I get all sorts of unnecessary praise for it, it's kind of funny.
Q: Do the cats meow differently?
It has come to my attention that some animals have different accents and that is true it is weird.
It has come to my attention that some animals have different accents and that is true it is weird.
I hope you all enjoyed question time! If there are any unanswered questions though, please feel free to ask me, I guess I can keep this post updated and link to it somewhere!
So for now, またね〜 From Osaka!
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