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Advice for my plans in Japan

Tsuntsun

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24 Aug 2014
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Hello everyone, I just registered after giving a good look at the forums and noticing how professional and detailed some of the advices that people give here are, you guys are awesome.

I'm going to briefly tell you my story.

I was born and raised in Italy. After years of planning, I finally went to Japan this year in May and stayed there one month with a friend, we stayed at a guest house and our plan was to experience life in Japan to see how it is and if we liked it (yes, I know that without a job it isn't really the Japanese life, but you get what I mean. I did get some modeling "jobs", but that doesn't really count). Turns out that I loved the country and I would really like to come back. One month isn't really a lot, so I would like to stay more this time.

I studied Japanese by myself online and with some Skype Japanese friends prior to going. I am not a fluent Japanese speaker by any means, but I can understand casual Japanese and can speak a little. I can also read some kanjis, I was able to make friends there because of it.

Now, I've been looking for a long time for the easiest route (and by saying easiest I don't want to pass as a slacker, it's just that the Japanese immigration is pretty brutal with this stuff) to go back to Japan and try to work there and experience the real life. Most people suggested me to do illegal jobs, but that is completely out of the question for moral and respect for their country reasons.

I am 24 years old, will be 25 in a couple of months.

I don't have a bachelors degree, but I have experience as an English teacher in a private school in Italy, I've been teaching there for 3 or 4 years. It was an illegal job (it's very common here, probably more common than legal jobs, yes, it's that bad), but I can ask the principal of the school to sponsor me if needed. I don't have any kind of certificate when it comes to English teaching though. I also lived 4 years in America in the past (this probably doesn't mean anything to them).

What's my best shot considering that Italy is not eligible for a working holiday visa? Student visa or applying directly as an English teacher for private schools in Japan?

If I apply for a student visa and look for an English teaching job, is there a chance to get a working visa after 6 months there? I know I can apply for part-time jobs with a student visa, is it ok to ask the employer if they're available to sponsor me for a working visa with a full time job when my school days are over if they accept my application for the part-time job?

The main reason why I want to go back there for 6 months or a year is because I want to get more in touch with the population. I have plans of opening my own business in Japan one day.

I have a relative that is a clothes designer here that works for Italian VIPs and has contacts with people in Tokyo as well. I was planning on opening a clothes shop with his personal designs in Japan, I know that they like Italian clothes and are crazy for fashion things.

And this brings me to my other question, is it hard to open a business in Japan? Money is not an issue. I was planning on opening either a clothes shop, guest house or pub. I'm still young so I have time to think about it.


Thank you for your time and eventual answers, sorry for the long post!

EDIT: Oh yeah, I forgot to say that Monday I'm going to give a visit to the Japanese Embassy here in Rome and I'm going to ask them more or less the same questions that I asked here. I'd like to the most information that I can on this matter.
 
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You didn't mention your nationality and if you are from an English speaking country. If you are not it would make gaining an English teaching position more difficult, particularly as you are still young and relatively inexperienced.
The basic conditions for a work visa are I believe, a minimum of a bachelors degree or at least 10 years experience in the relevant field.

If money is not a concern, then enrolling in a language school or applying for a university would allow you to live in Japan as a student and pick up some part time work. You would then have the opportunity to develop two things that will probably be essential if you wish to open your own business in Japan ...... Improve your Japanese ability and also build up a network of Japanese who will be able to assist you both in your social and business life.

If you mention opening a business in Japan when you visit the Embassy, they will probably direct you to JETRO. Check out their website .... They have a big budget and are very helpful .... I have been assisted by them in the past.

There is also an Investment visa option you can explore if you have the funds.

Another route could be using JETRO's assisted visa guidelines which gives preferential immigration treatment to certain skilled categories. You would probably fail to meet the 70 points required on their evaluation system unless your relative would be interested in backing you in opening a business and guaranteeing you a high salary in which case you may qualify.
 
You didn't mention your nationality and if you are from an English speaking country. If you are not it would make gaining an English teaching position more difficult, particularly as you are still young and relatively inexperienced.
The basic conditions for a work visa are I believe, a minimum of a bachelors degree or at least 10 years experience in the relevant field.

If money is not a concern, then enrolling in a language school or applying for a university would allow you to live in Japan as a student and pick up some part time work. You would then have the opportunity to develop two things that will probably be essential if you wish to open your own business in Japan ...... Improve your Japanese ability and also build up a network of Japanese who will be able to assist you both in your social and business life.

If you mention opening a business in Japan when you visit the Embassy, they will probably direct you to JETRO. Check out their website .... They have a big budget and are very helpful .... I have been assisted by them in the past.

There is also an Investment visa option you can explore if you have the funds.

Another route could be using JETRO's assisted visa guidelines which gives preferential immigration treatment to certain skilled categories. You would probably fail to meet the 70 points required on their evaluation system unless your relative would be interested in backing you in opening a business and guaranteeing you a high salary in which case you may qualify.

I thought it was clear I was Italian, my bad! Thank you for the answer. I'll take a look at JETRO. I thought that to apply for a teaching position 3 years of experience were enough, isn't that the case?
 
I thought it was clear I was Italian, my bad! Thank you for the answer. I'll take a look at JETRO. I thought that to apply for a teaching position 3 years of experience were enough, isn't that the case?

Oops! I can see you did say that you were born and raised in Italy! My bad I think ; )
When you mentioned having an illegal job in Italy I thought you may be non Italian / EC citizen.

I don't want to give you incorrect advice re visas for teaching, so hopefully one of the forum members from the teaching profession can give you better guidance after they've had their morning coffees.

Good luck, whichever path you choose.
 
Since you are Italian and not a native English speaker, you will need 10 years, not 3, of experience.

I find it hard to take part of what you write seriously. First, you say you did illegal modeling here, then say you are sincere about working in Japan. Then you say you worked illegally in Italy as a teacher but that your school would be willing to write you a letter of recommendation. Give me a break.

The main reason why I want to go back there for 6 months or a year is because I want to get more in touch with the population.
Girlfriend(s)?

If you want to start your own business, you have to hire 2 full-time Japanese and get the Business/Investor visa. Of course, you will need an office, business plan written out, and money just to get started, too. Have you ANY of those things worked out yet? (Why is money not an issue?)

If I apply for a student visa and look for an English teaching job, is there a chance to get a working visa after 6 months there?
There's always a chance, but I'd think it was very unlikely as an English teacher for the reason I gave at the beginning of this post. Please understand that even if an employer wants to hire you for the job, immigration's requirements for a visa take precedence.
 
Oops! I can see you did say that you were born and raised in Italy! My bad I think ; )
When you mentioned having an illegal job in Italy I thought you may be non Italian / EC citizen.

I edited that in after you pointed it out, not your bad!

Since you are Italian and not a native English speaker, you will need 10 years, not 3, of experience.

I find it hard to take part of what you write seriously. First, you say you did illegal modeling here, then say you are sincere about working in Japan. Then you say you worked illegally in Italy as a teacher but that your school would be willing to write you a letter of recommendation. Give me a break.

Girlfriend(s)?

If you want to start your own business, you have to hire 2 full-time Japanese and get the Business/Investor visa. Of course, you will need an office, business plan written out, and money just to get started, too. Have you ANY of those things worked out yet? (Why is money not an issue?)

There's always a chance, but I'd think it was very unlikely as an English teacher for the reason I gave at the beginning of this post. Please understand that even if an employer wants to hire you for the job, immigration's requirements for a visa take precedence.

I did get some modeling jobs, in the sense that some people started talking to me in Shibuya and blah blah blah. I always told them that I only had a tourist visa and they stopped asking information after that, I didn't get paid or actually worked for them. I reckon that I wasn't clear in my first post. I was sleepy.

Illegal work in Italy is more common than legal work, it's just how it works here. You either work illegally or wait for years while starving for a legal job, I picked the first option. Illegal work is so common that a letter of reccomendation wouldn't be a problem to have. You're from a different country so I guess something like this is particularly bizarre to you, which is to be expected. I was actually lucky to even find an illegal job, those are scarce too these days.

So anyways, from what you're saying it's almost impossible for me to get a working visa, even if I go there as a student first.
My options are either opening a business or getting a degree here in Italy and then looking for an English teaching job (which will still be difficult because I am not a native English speaker, but I'll have the immigration requirements fulfilled at least).

I'm probably just going to go there for a year as a student, if that's the case.

I am not going to start the business anytime soon, I will look into making a business plan when the right time comes.

A question comes in mind now, though. Everyone always makes this whole finding a job deal so difficult, but then how do all those africans that I have seen in Tokyo manage to live there? Do they all get married to a Japanese woman or what?
 
A question comes in mind now, though. Everyone always makes this whole finding a job deal so difficult, but then how do all those africans that I have seen in Tokyo manage to live there? Do they all get married to a Japanese woman or what?
It's hard to answer because i don't know who "all those Africans" are.

Yes, they might have spousal visas.
They might also have diplomatic visas, dependent visas, student visas, etc.
Ask them the next time you come. :)
 
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