Hello Jin Han!
Hope you’re doing fine ?
Like most of the comments here, I’m also fixated on doing stuff related to Japan/Japanese culture. Sad thing is I only realized this 2 years back. Sad because I’m turning 34 this year (born in 1983, same age as you haha). I started taking part time Jap classes at Ikoma and will be attempting the JLPT N4 soon.
I very much would like to experience life working and living in Japan, though I’m not sure if I’m actually too old for this..(feeling kinda depressed as I type this :'( )
I like to write and also do funny things like correcting my friend’s company FB posts. So I’m kinda looking at doing translation work, and of course ALT work too (I mean, if it comes in a package, I’m not sure).
Anyway to cut the long story short –
1) Is there such a thing as being too old?
2) Assuming I go the teaching route, do I first take CELTA > apply for a student visa > take up a learning course in, for instance, Yamasa Institute > look for work?
3) Is there *gulp* an age limit for application of a student visa in Japan?
4) Sorry if this sounds like a stupid question. But may I know how did you look for work when nearing the end of your studies?
Sorry for the long post!
Alex
—
Hello Alex,
I’m doing fine, thank you. And I hope you are too. I noticed a lot of people apologize for long comments but I would like to point out that I appreciate long comments. Reading your comments is like reading a letter, which I love to do, so please do not worry about it. In fact, I enjoy reading long comments.
Without further ado, let me jump straight into your questions because I have a feeling this is going to be long as well.
1) Is there such a thing as being too old?
I began my plans to move to Japan at 26 and arrived here one day before I turned 27. Here, I met people who are as young as 22-23 years old and even some who moved here at 18. At that time, I wished I had moved over earlier because I was, in the Japanese people’s words, アラサー (around 30). But let’s face it, that wasn’t very possible because I was 23 when I finished NS (likely same as you) and 25 when I graduated from NUS. But NUS was necessary to get me where I am today, so I would do it again if I had to. But I also met people who came here in their 30s and some are still here while others have returned or moved elsewhere (they also moved elsewhere in their mid-30s). You probably already know about how Colonel Sanders was in his 60s when he created KFC, and how Ino Tadataka set out to map out Japan by foot in his 50s (alright, maybe you didn’t know this one). There is such a thing as too old to do JET because there is age limit to the program; there is such a thing as being too old for Working Holiday visa because you have to be under 30 to apply for it. Otherwise, you are only too old to do something if you think you are.
Let’s put the thought of whether you are too old aside and think about it a different way: You have a dream to experience living and working in Japan. If you get to live and work in Japan, it makes you happy; it gives you joy. Now, do you think a 34-year-old has the right to lead a happy life? Do you think there’s such a thing as too old to be happy?
You feel depressed at the thought of not being able to fulfill that dream now. You are 34. Assuming you get to live till the average age of around 80, not trying for what makes you happy could make you miserable for the next 46 years.
For this question, I’ll leave you with a saying that you’ve likely heard of:
Our biggest regrets are not for the things we did but, for the things we didn’t do.
2) Assuming I go the teaching route, do I first take CELTA > apply for a student visa > take up a learning course in, for instance, Yamasa Institute > look for work?
I assume you’ve read my story because that is exactly how I paved my way here. Do you have to do it the same way? Not necessarily. I did the CELTA for reasons that made sense to me and it was a course I had wanted to take since a long time ago but trust me, the bulk of teachers here do not have teaching certificates. Some are so bad, they write like an intermediate-level student of English but are teachers by virtue of them being from the Big 7 nations. But at the same time, I’ve also met others who are not from the Big 7 nations, are without the CELTA, but are also teaching here. Japan has liberated itself somewhat from the myopic view that Asian faces can’t speak English. That view still exists, but the situation is much better now.
Being a language student was a way for me to get here, but it wasn’t just a way to get here. I decided to do the language course because I had a five-year hiatus from Japanese language and I didn’t want to waste those years of study. Also, translation was a dream since I was 17, so being proficient at the language was crucial. I know people who found work here before flying in, so that is also a possible route. But if the route I took makes sense to you and is what you want to do, then I would say go ahead and do it.
3) Is there *gulp* an age limit for application of a student visa in Japan?
Yes. However, the age limit is not determined by the country, but by each individual school. The good news is, most schools only have a minimum age limit set instead of a maximum age. However, this information is based on the Yamasa Institute site that states there is no maximum age limit to study there.
4) Sorry if this sounds like a stupid question. But may I know how did you look for work when nearing the end of your studies?
No, that is not a stupid question. A stupid question would be, “Is there such a thing as a stupid question?”
Since I was enrolled to a school, the teachers there were very helpful in assisting us prepare our resume. Once you get your resume done, just keep sending it out. That was how I got my second job. But that’s not your question =\
I was fortunate since I was introduced to a company by my teacher while searching for my first job. But since the company wasn’t hiring then as it was in the middle of the academic year, I was told to look elsewhere. However, luck was smiling on me as one of their teachers had trouble with the students and decided to quit all of a sudden. Being the middle of the school year, the company was desperate to get replacement and since I had just met with the company staff, they knew it was likely I hadn’t gotten a job and so I was first in their mind to contact. That was how I got my first job. So, my suggestion would be, email all the ALT companies even if it were in the middle of the academic year because you never know when someone might just decide to leave. I have this feeling that someone quitting in the middle of the academic year is not that rare. But that’s just a guess.
With all that said, all the best to your JLPT, and I hope you find the answer to what would make the most sense for you.
Hello Jin Han!
Just gonna ride on this comment here because I too, have some questions of my own that I hope you may be able to help me answer ><
Some info about me: I'm 20 years old now, and am a uni year 1 student in a private university in Tokyo (the school's 偏差値 is about 50, so it's mediocre at best). I couldn't enter any local universities in Singapore and I didn't wanna enter a private uni in Singapore, so I applied for my current university, and they have decided to pay for my school fees up until I graduate so long as I get a GPA of 2.5 and above. Sounds like a really good deal, huh? Thing is, I don't like the school's curriculum because it's a bit too… elementary for me and it is really much, much simpler than my diploma (in the same field). At this rate, even after my graduation I don't think I will be able to secure a good job in Singapore… Which is why I plan to get some working experience here in Japan before going back. I only have a JLPT N3, and I plan to study for JLPT N1 this December, but I'm not too sure if I can manage it. I know many work as English teachers in Japan, but I'm not keen on that because my English level is really too horrible to teach anyone, plus I have a really Singaporean accent although I'm trying to improve it.
My question is, (sorry for the long background on myself) are Japanese companies easy to get into? I'm really concerned about the 'black'-ness aspect of most companies (as far as I heard from people)… I do not wish to slave my years away for companies that do not appreciate their employees. Also, if possible, do you have any advice for someone in my situation? I have course mates who wants to transfer to other universities, but I don't think it's financially feasible for me, then again, the financial trade off might be worth it if I can get into a good school like Tokyo University. What do you think?
Thank you so much for reading this! I am really glad that you're uploading frequently now, I love to receive notifications of your new posts!
Hi Jin Han,
Many thanks for taking the effort to reply my post 🙂 Greatly appreciate it. My apologies for only replying today cos I was pretty busy over the past few days with work.
I talked about this with many different groups of friends (cos I’m the sort who likes to ask people for their opinion). Most were somewhat positive and encouraged me to go for it and all, but there were friends who also understood my personality and provided me reality checks, They told me to carefully decide if this was really what I want, or it’s just another 三分鐘熱度決定.
To be honest, age is still a major factor (the other being $$) in my decision making and thought process. I mean, it definitely isn’t a worry that can be erased after reading a good article (i.e. yours :), I wish it was though. :\ Of course, other worries like taking care of myself, being disciplined, being able to find a job etc. plays a part too. Sometimes I’m quite tired of the worrisome me. /_\
I need to find, in somewhere, anywhere, the courage to take this first step out of my comfort zone. Concurrently I’m also keeping tabs on the intake dates, cost, accommodation etc. Just waiting for that yes moment.
Thanks again for your advice, I hope I’m able to find my answer soon too, and if it’s really gonna be Japan, I’ll let you know and we could prob have a meal or something, hahaha!
Cheers!
Alex
Hello Alex,
No problem. I understand that each and everyone of us has our own situations different than others, making the decision easier for some and more difficult for others. Regardless of what your eventual decision is, I hope you find joy in whatever you do.
Hi Gaijinhan!
I have been a reader for some time – stumbled upon your blog when I was doing Jap classes in Uni. Now that I have graduated and returned to Singapore, I’m thinking of taking Japanese classes part time. I saw that a lot of your readers/commenters studied at Japanese language schools and obtained certifications. I’m just wondering if there’re any good ones you (or anyone) could recommend. I know someone who studied at Bunka but when I googled for reviews, it didn’t provide anything constructive enough for me to make a decision to enrol. Some say Ikoma is good but it’s a bit pricey for someone who just started working like me :/ Any advice would be useful! Thank you!
Hi Maru,
Thank you for reading. Out of curiosity, where did you study?
Before I answer your question, I need to clarify that my information is quite old (from before I moved to Japan), so I’m not sure how much and if the schools have changed. Anyhow, here’s my two cents worth (maybe 1 cent after taking into account inflation =\):
I’m a huge fan of the Minna no Nihongo series, so I have positive bias toward schools that use them. Inoue School of Language & Art was the first private language school I attended after poly, and the school used the book that I like. Unfortunately, at that time, our teachers kept changing, which we later found out was because they weren’t getting paid. So, when a group of five teachers decided to quit altogether, we decided we didn’t want to stay with the school either and left in search of a new language school. At that time, we tried Yano Language School, which wasn’t bad but while we were pondering over the options, two of the teachers previously from Inoue decided to start their own school, Aoba Language School. So we joined them. Also, when we went to Yano, the school was no longer run by the original owners who received great reviews. Apparently, the owners sold the school and moved out of Singapore. Aoba was really great, except that it closed down a couple of years back because the teachers decided to move out of Singapore. So, useless information so far.
Like you said, Ikoma is good. It has great reputation and I’ve been there once and really liked it. The only reason I chose Inoue over Ikoma at that time was because a friend was already at Inoue so we decided to join her instead. There is also a school at Hougang, regarding which, I’ve never heard any positive reviews so that is out of the question. I’ve also known people who studied at JCS, which is where you register for the JLPT tests, and the negative reviews were mainly regarding how large the class size is, so you don’t get much talking time. Otherwise, the teaching and content seems fairly decent, which is to be expected from an association that handles JLPT applications. Now, the reason I decided to leave Bunka to the end is because I have a lot of comments about it.
First, Bunka doesn’t use the Minna no Nihongo series. They use their own “patented” method for learning, which I really dislike. I’ve never studied there, but my sister’s friend who used to study at Bunka once asked me to teach her Japanese because she didn’t understand what the teacher was teaching. When I met her and saw her textbook, I was very surprised why they chose to teach it that way and as a CELTA-trained teacher, I think that is one of the worst ways to teach language, but a very Japanese approach to language learning.
However, to be fair, some of my classmates at Inoue were formally from Bunka and they liked the school and material but decided to change school because they felt the school was proceeding too slowly for them. Another friend I spoke with liked Bunka’s original teaching material, so despite my opinion that it’s not so good, there are people who like it. It all comes down to what suits your learning style and Bunka’s method doesn’t suit mine. The good thing is, most schools allow you to attend trial lessons so I would suggest you go try out at a few places and see which suits your learning style best.
Last, this is again a personal opinion but, I strongly advise against attending schools that teach a wide variety of languages. I prefer schools that specialize in one language.
So to sum up this pretty un-orderly reply, do go for trial lessons at the schools that you are considering like Bunka, Ikoma, Yano, Inoue, JCS, Hougang, or whichever and then decide accordingly.
I’m not so sure about the price differences now, so it is very difficult for me to suggest a school based on that, but just considering the quality of the school, I would probably go for Ikoma.
Hi Gaijinhan,
Thank you for taking time to reply!
Uhm I previously studied in London and I think unlike most of your readers who harbour genuinely a interest in learning Japanese, I took Japanese language as a module because 1) my school did not offer Korean at my level (not saying that I’m good lah but I think it’s because not many westerners take interest in learning Korean beyond the elementary level?) 2) I thought it would be an easy module to score (kiasu-ness!).
It turned out that I had a really fun class and my teacher’s really very nice. So my friends and I decided to opt for her class again in our final year and that’s basically how I began to develop an interest for the language. At one point I was considering to do a Masters in Todai and I came across your blog while doing some research related to this. (did’nt go ahead with this idea because I got a better offer but eventually I returned to SG cos I didn’t secure a full scholarship argh it’s a long story I shan’t bore you)
Anyhow, for my graduation trip I went to Japan alone for 2 weeks and that’s when I realised how crippled I was. Despite being able to understand simple sentences, I couldn’t respond appropriately and that was really frustrating. I guess travelling alone also kinda aggravated the helplessness :/ Not wanting to experience the same situation again, I decided to enrol myself in a language school in aspirations to get a better grasp of Japanese.
I did some research over the past few days and have narrowed down to Bunka and Ikoma. Will be going down later to just take a look :>
Nice! That always work as great motivation to me: to actually try interact with locals.
Hope you find one that suits both your learning style and your budget.