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I want to live in Japan with my spouse!

oyukybunny

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3 May 2013
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I really feel and have been told by Japanese locals that I have a very Japanese spirit. Japan is the only place that I have ever felt that I belong. Even though I'm Hispanic, I don't attract too much attention in Japan because my name is Japanese, I have naturally bstraight black hair and slightly slanted brown eyes. My boyfriend is also thin (about theaverage height and weight of as Japanese young male from what I've seen) with straight brown hair and chinky eyes. Fitting in and homesickness is not a ☝problem. We have also decided to get married to make it easier to move to Japan together. I could find a way to go alone easier, but we simply cannot live without each other anymore. I'm currently going into college and majoring in Asian Studies with Japanese language as my minor. I was wondering what kind of job I cam have besides teaching English (which I am willing to settle for if I have to ) and if there is any way possible that me and my husband to be can study there together? Are there any programs that accept couples? Has anyone had or known of a similiar situation and its outcome? I have read about many people who are moving with a Japanese spouse, but what is the case when both are not Japanese?I know this may sound childish or unrealistic but I didn't come here to be made fun of so please keep rude comments to yourself.
 
Physical appearance really isn't an issue.

What sort of career will that Asian Studies degree prepare you for where you are right now? What job skills will it give you? I can't begin to imagine what earthly good it will do you in Japan.

How long do you envision being here? If anything over a couple of years, think about something besides English teaching (which is mostly pretending to teach English to people who pretend to learn it). Show up with actual marketable job skills in a career field that you can work in here or equally well back home if and when you decide to bail out and go back to "the world", as almost everybody does.

What education will your spouse have? Will he be entering on his own working visa? Or as a spouse? I believe there may be working restrictions if the latter.
 

Umm ouch haha...
First of all, the physical descriptions were just an extra to give a little background info on how I'm not going to regret my decision if I find a way. Aside from that, I have been told by my university counselor that with that major I can work in diplomacy, international business or relations, museums, translation, etc. If this is a lie please let me know. I think my husband will have to settle as a teacher or a dependent visa.
Thanks for a response.
 
I can work in diplomacy, international business or relations, museums, translation

Probably true that people with the same degree as you have worked in those areas. But how many of them did it in Japan? (Not counting Japanese citizens who came over to do a degree in the US and went back, or people who had close relatives in Japan, etc).

Also, because somebody with the same degree as you got a job in a field, doesn't mean that the degree is all you need or an automatic in.

Some of those people were raised bilingual.
Some of those people had family connections that helped them get a job.
Some of those people managed to get extremely good grades.
Some of those people had very impressive extracurricular activities.
Some of those people did relevant work placements during their degree.
Some of those people had a summer/year abroad during their degree.

Some might have had a combination of the above.

If you want to work in "diplomacy", for example, you can't just roll up and expect to be posted permanently in Japan. Have you looked into what is required and whether it would suit you or not? "International business" on the other hand is too vague to possibly comment on. Sales? Marketing? HR? Finance?

Try looking at job sites which list positions for foreigners in Japan, and look at which ones you might possibly in the future be eligible for, and what they would require (level of Japanese proficiency, work experience, other qualifications). Ditto for your husband. Then make a plan about how you are going to make yourself eligible for that kind of job, including for the appropriate visa (visa requirements may be different from job requirements)
 
Speaking as a professional translator, if you want to make a LIVING (an actual income that can support more than yourself) off translation and translation alone you need at least some knowledge of a technical field, and for Japanese the most prominent are: cars, semiconductor devices, genetics, IT, legal (especially patents), pharmaceuticals, and life science related (especially medical devices). Having a BS or degree in science/engineering is a massive bonus.

PS also need to be pretty good at speaking the language in order to get your own clients, and not rely on agencies that will steal 50%+ of the profit
 
If either of you wants to come here unmarried to the other, you will both need work visas to stay longer than tourists, or admission as a student or cultural activities participant. The latter 2 each has its own separate visa.

I don't know of any school program that takes students as couples. You are accepted on each person's individual merit. At my university, many foreigners come with a spouse who doesn't attend classes. In that case, the spouse has to get a dependent visa unless they want a full-time job, too (in which case they can get a separate work visa).

If you come as a married couple, at least one of you needs to have a job or student status, and the other will then get dependent visa status.

I'm currently going into college and majoring in Asian Studies with Japanese language as my minor. I was wondering what kind of job I cam have besides teaching English (which I am willing to settle for if I have to )
Not sure how you intended to mean that last remark, but I could take it as an insult, since I am a teacher here (gone from eikaiwa to private HS to tenured university slot) and have NOT "settled" for anything.

Most non-teaching jobs will usually require a fairly high level of Japanese language skills, including speaking, reading, and writing. My colleague has an Asian Studies degree (M.A.) of some sort (from the U.S.) and has been teaching for almost 30 years here. That includes being vice-president of a large language school for most of that time and more recently as a FT uni teacher. As Mike wrote, it's a fairly generic degree, so the type of work you would be eligible for can vary, perhaps in more of a negative sense than you might imagine. That is, it doesn't really offer specific skills that you can offer to an employer. So, as the others wrote, with sufficient language skills, the door is open but only in a general way.

You could teach English classes at the company. This could be stuff you design yourself, or perhaps a large company has its own program you'd have to follow.
You could work for a business English agency and get sent to companies (or they would visit the agency). I think that more often than not, you would need some outside work experience from the U.S. so that you'd have knowledge of jargon or terminology or work practices in a certain field and therefore more easily understand your clients' needs.
You could try for a job in an embassy/consulate (different work visa needed), but language skills would be a must.
Translating or interpreting obviously require a high level of Japanese. Your use of "me and my husband" in the OP gives me pause to wonder just how good your English may really be (or it could just be a casual way of writing on an internet forum).

In any other situation for work, I'd have to ask what I always do: what do you bring to the table as skills, experience, or training that a Japanese local does not have, especially in those fields you mentioned?
diplomacy, international business or relations, museums, translation
The degree alone won't cut it, and the degree plus high Japanese skills are no guarantee either. You might want to look at foreign companies with branches here, whether they use a lot of English in the office or not, or you might consider getting SOFA status (instead of a visa) in order to work on a military base (depending on both of your skill sets).

As for the appearances issue, your name may be Japanese, but we don't know exactly how you look, and unless you have good Japanese skills, the moment you open your mouth you will definitely stand out. As Mike wrote, don't dwell on appearances, though. I presume you're going to change your name to your husband's, so you will lose that Japanese surname and stand out even more.

Lastly, don't use words like "chinky eyes". You might not have meant anything insulting about that, but it sure comes off that way, in case you didn't know. Chink is an old pejorative for Chinese people.
 
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