Hi Guys,

Like what the subject says, I just turned 40 and realized I should be living my dream - to live in japan. My background - I'm from the Philippines, single and I've been in business for over 8 years doing advertising and project management on the side. I'm thinking of going to Tokyo (my target is April 2014) to study so I can get the student visa. I went to the embassy here and got over 150 language shools and its kind of overwhelming. I would appreciate if any of you have any feedback on which language schools are good (including other areas like do they help w/ looking for a part time job, looking for a cheap place to stay, commuter pass, etc).

Thank you. I appreciate all the help.

congrats on living your dream. I'm in a somewhat similar situation, but haven't yet pulled the ripcord.

As for schools, I did some time at Yamasa in Okazaki. If you don't mind not being in Tokyo I'd recommend it for the small class sizes, very affordable living, and extreme flexibility. You can start anytime and could do as little or as many hours per week as you'd like.

Thank you and thanks for the advise. I'm not really considering other cities because my end goal is to get a job in an animation studio or game development in Tokyo. Although I'd save up money for a year studying elsewhere, I feel like I'm gonna start from scratch again after that when I go to Tokyo as compared to just studying there, getting immersed in the city and having feelers and be on the lookout for openings and possibilities. But thank you so much for the reply.

Do you have experience in game development or animation?

No, my experience is in Project Management. That's just the field where I want to practice it in (ideally).

You should check out this school: http://www.funjapanese.net/

The classes are inexpensive and the instructors are quite good.

Tokyoismygoal Wrote:Hi Guys,

Like what the subject says, I just turned 40 and realized I should be living my dream - to live in japan. My background - I'm from the Philippines, single and I've been in business for over 8 years doing advertising and project management on the side. I'm thinking of going to Tokyo (my target is April 2014) to study so I can get the student visa. I went to the embassy here and got over 150 language shools and its kind of overwhelming. I would appreciate if any of you have any feedback on which language schools are good (including other areas like do they help w/ looking for a part time job, looking for a cheap place to stay, commuter pass, etc).

Thank you. I appreciate all the help.

With 8 years of experience doing work in business, especially in project management. I would highly recommend firing off a good resume to some of the more international companies in Japan. They may have positions for you that won't need much Japanese. Especially at your age too. But I guess that's just my biased opinion, as a young guy looking for his own career.

Something to keep in mind with student visa is that you are only allowed to work 20 hours a week with a special permit, while you are a student.

For cheap residences, look into guest houses. They are basically dorms, but usually less restrictive and quite cheap. You could probably find a small room for 15,000-30,000 yen a month. That would probably include utilities and maybe even internet.

Language schools are a dime a dozen. So I would utilize the internet quite a bit to find reviews on schools if you can.

Thanks guys. I have been checking the schools on the net, there's just too many. Will check out that link also.

Tokyoismygoal Wrote:No, my experience is in Project Management. That's just the field where I want to practice it in (ideally).

Oh, I see.

I think it might be difficult to get into big animation or game development companies as a mature applicant without a record of strong business experience in Japan, unless you're at a level of experience that can't be found easily within the Japanese population, though I guess that goes for any field. Foreigners who get managerial/executive level jobs mid career here seem to tend to have strong technical abillities or strong (MBA/executive level?) business records with Japanese ability being a bonus. I imagine animation would be especially hard to break into without background in that industry, even for natives.

I don't know about your current Japanese level, but If I understand correctly, project management in most Japanese companies would involve managing and working directly with many Japanese people who most likely would not have a high level of English ability, which isn't really something one is likely to pass an interview for after only several months of study if starting from scratch. So yeah, echoing vix86, it'd be a best bet to aim for companies with international working environments.

Tokyoismygoal Wrote:I'm not really considering other cities because my end goal is to get a job in an animation studio or game development in Tokyo.

If you want to be able to eat at least once a day don't work in the animation industry.

It's hard to imagine any game or animation studio hiring you if you have zero experience in those industries. What would you bring to the table exactly. Most of the purely business oriented positions are going to require fluency in Japanese. Your english (and other languages if you speak any) are a big asset and you might be able to get something related to localisation as a starting point.

Thanks for the replies. I'm saying that's where I WOULD like to be at... I'm aware the chances of that happening are not in my favor at this point. But I'm letting the universe know and i'm attracting it (I'm a believer of that). Of course I will look for work elsewhere to get by.