Hello everyone, I'm a graduating senior and my parents asked what I want for my graduation present. I asked if we could all go to Japan for a bit of sightseeing, then I would later be able to attend a language school for about a month and a half? They said they will be paying for the plane tickets, but I have to save up for the school. I believe I graduate mid June and most colleges will want me to be there by mid August I think? Is this even a possible plan, I want to be in time to attend college orientation and all. My family would like to do a week of just sightseeing then their going to leave back to the states. (I've been to Japan before and hopefully I'll be able to meet my host family again)

I currently have a job trying to save up so hopefully I can get a decent language school in Tokyo, my family members are also helping to pitch in if I'm certain that I'm going for sure. My current Japanese level is pretty decent I think. I can read most of NHK easy with ease, children books, high school dramas (with script only) with a dictionary, and more.

I'm planning to make Japanese my minor in college so I'm trying to improve my Japanese as much as I can (full time studying). Perhaps I'd like to focus on my speaking, but reading/writing would be great too.

Any suggestions? Hopefully it's possible.

Make sure you pick the exact school and program you want to join ahead of time. Schools like ARC Academy (Shibuya, Tokyo) allow you to start on any Monday with their intensive course and pretty much allow you to pick how long you want to go for. However you might not like being in class for 8 hours a day.

Once you've sorted that part out you'll want to decide on living arrangements. With a six week stay and a temporary visa your options will be somewhat limited to gaijin houses and dorms.

I feel like it shouldn't matter too much which school you pick. They all pretty much require a lot of out of class effort to get the best results and all of the teachers will be there because they loving teaching JSL.

The rest is only my opinion, but with the level of Japanese you described you probably have a lot more options. Instead of giving a few thousand dollars to a language school you could probably meet with a private tutor an hour a day, self study several hours a day, and then just enjoy 45 days of living in Japan. The school itself would offer you very little except access to a professional teacher with the downside of being tied to their curriculum and time schedule.

I never considered having a private tutor, that's a perfect idea thank you. With enough research I'm sure I'll get everything sorted together.

Can you get a student visa if you're just meeting a tutor and not enrolled in any program? The difference between student and tourist visa could be important for someone who wanted to make ends meet (or just get work-experience in Japan) with the student-allowed hours of work.

I've thought (not very seriously) about something like that, figured if I did, I'd look for an inexpensive program with very few class hours. Private tutoring could be even better though.

A student visa wouldn't be needed if its June to August since the the tourist visa is good for 3 months.

SomeCallMeChris Wrote:Can you get a student visa if you're just meeting a tutor and not enrolled in any program?

No, but in order to get the visa you have to meet the minimum class requirements which means not only do you have to sign up and pay for a minimum number of hours but you also must have 90% attendance. Language schools generally take this pretty seriously because they don't want future students to have trouble getting visas.

However, if you are willing to trade money for staying in Japan more than 90 days then it's definitely an option. I even know a few guys who went the language school route after their working holiday ended. I don't know of anyone, except myself oddly enough, who was able to cover all of their expenses working 28 hours a week. My situation was a major outlier and not even worth mentioning.

Anyway, as an old man giving out some advice, if you are young and can come and stay for a few months I highly recommend you do so. You'll figure out how much you like it or hate it pretty fast, 2-3 months is enough to get an idea of daily life, and might decide that it's worth some effort to come back for a longer stay.