Interested in Studying in Japan

I've been thinking about getting my Master's and, at the same time, I've always wanted to live abroad for awhile (specifically in Japan). So, I put 2 and 2 together and got "Why not get my Master's in Japan!" Now I'm looking for a little information about starting this adventure.
Some background on me: I live in the United States and work at a software company. I graduated with my BS in Computer Science 4 years ago. As for Japanese, I know like 200 kanji as well as basic grammar and phrases. Definitely no where near passing the upper levels of JLPT. All of my Japanese learning so far has been self-study.
From what I've read around the internet, it sounds like a good course of action might be to enroll in a Japanese language school for a year or so. Then it would be easier to get into a Master's program. This is where I'm looking for advice from you all =) It might also be helpful to note that learning Japanese is definitely a prioty for me (in addition to getting the Master's). The thought was: spend 3-4 years in Japan and end with my degree and a high level of Japanese fluency ("high" can be debatable =P).
Additionally, I'm interested in how to go about funding this whole venture. I've been out of school and working, so I have a decent savings, but definitely nowhere near enough to pay for all of this. It sounds like after three months (confirm?) I can start working part-time on a student visa. If so, that would definitely help with the day-to-day expenses, but what about tuition? For my undergraduate degree I had deferrable student loans, is something like that even possible?
Even if you can't answer all my questions, any help at all would be much appreciated =) Thanks in advance!

Study your masters in computer science at a Japanese university is what you want?
Afaik there's no university that teaches that course in English (maybe waseda or sohpia?).
Since your Japanese level is only around N4, you need to have at least N2 (preferable N1) to study at a Japanese university to get the contents. Not sure, but it seems more than obvious imo.
To reach this level from N4 it takes about 1,5 - 2 years while studying at a Japanese Language school.
Again, I don't know for sure, just saying as I've been studying for 2 years now (self-study outside japan) for N2 while I've lived in Japan for 1 year previously.

For the finance, it takes quiet a lot, if not more to study in Japan. Japanese universities are expensive (from a european point of view, I've heard they're cheaper than american universities though).
Same with renting an apartment in Japan in Tokyo, depending where you want to study.

I'd stuggest looking up what you want to study (for your masters), where it's offered, what those requirements are from the university, and then calculate what it will all cost (university and appartment costs alone). After that, you can do the same for a language school.

hi everyone!!!!
i'm in high school,here in Albania,too far away from Japan,and i think to study undergraduate in japan in electronic fields..i have heard about EJU exam ,but what should i do ,because i cant come to japan just for an exam...
Another thing is that i dont have any TOEFL certificate,i jus have CAMBRIDGE FCE(First Certificate of English)...is this kind of certificate known in japan ,and is it possible to convert its points into TOEFL points?????
What about JAPANESE...i dont know even one word in it ...is it possible for me to study i japan????? i've always dreamed it ...............PLEASE REPLY