I never tried full immersion in the States except as part of a summer course, but I did find it very helpful to do language exchange, join an informal conversation group, subscribe to TVJapan, and use Skype to stay in touch with Japanese friends. If you don't already have Japanese friends to call or meet for language exchange, there are a lot of websites for that. Skype has an unlimited option now, so you don't even need to be limited to people with computers. TVJapan is expensive, but it seems like there are more Internet options now than there were even a couple years ago.
There were also free local Japanese magazines that I would pick up now and then: http://www.jmag.com That magazine lists Japanese businesses and activities around the area. I imagine if you found something like that for your area and tried to patronize those businesses, some language opportunities would start coming up naturally.
Boston also has a Japanese community chorus and a Japanese church. I didn't become part of either of those, but it seems like they would've added to an immersion experience and provided many opportunities to make Japanese friends. I imagine that other large cities would have at least as many opportunities to do Japan-related things.
There were also free local Japanese magazines that I would pick up now and then: http://www.jmag.com That magazine lists Japanese businesses and activities around the area. I imagine if you found something like that for your area and tried to patronize those businesses, some language opportunities would start coming up naturally.
Boston also has a Japanese community chorus and a Japanese church. I didn't become part of either of those, but it seems like they would've added to an immersion experience and provided many opportunities to make Japanese friends. I imagine that other large cities would have at least as many opportunities to do Japan-related things.
