Hi, my name is Shiela, and I’ve been living here in Japan for almost 6 now (yey! *happy dance*) Today I want to share with you how I moved to Japan from the Philippines and three factors that I think you should consider before moving to Japan because moving to another country can mean better opportunities, new experiences, and self-discovery, but it can also mean challenges.
(1) First, you need to ask yourself, “why?” Why do you want to move to Japan?
I moved to Japan because my mom needed help taking care of my one-year-old brother and she was struggling to make a living because of it. So, my “why” was because of my family.
Think about your reason, and it has to be strong enough for you to make a move to another country.
I started as a temporary visitor in Japan for 90 days and then extended for another 90 days. After that, my family and I decided that I should go to a language school to learn Japanese for a year and got a student visa. If you want to read more about my experience studying Japanese, I made another blog post and you can see it in this link My Experience Studying Japanese in Japan: Costs, Curriculum, and Culture
(2) Second, you need to know which J. O. B. will you do in Japan because this will not only give you a visa to stay in the "land of the rising sun", it will also give you the means to enjoy things Japan can offer you like, Kobe beef, Sushi, Japanese sake and more.
If you have a bachelor’s degree or higher (essential for applying for a work visa) and have taken and passed the JLPT (N3, N2, or N1), you’ll have a better chance of finding a full-time position here.
I studied Japanese in the morning, then taught English to Japanese kids in the afternoon for a year. After graduating I found 2 part-time jobs as an English instructor for young learners. Combining my salary under 2 companies I was eligible to apply for a work visa called "Engineer/Specialist in Humanities/International Services" to read more about the process of how I applied for this visa you can go to this link How I Applied for a Visa in Japan Working 2 Part-Time Jobs
(3) Lastly, you’ll need to consider building a network, we can call them friends. There is a big Filipino community here in Japan and you can easily find them by going to an event like Philippine Expo, or you can meet bilingual Japanese (they probably have been to Cebu or other parts of the world so they can be very friendly and easy to talk to).
These are people you can talk to when you feel lonely, and people who can help you when you run into some problems. People here work a lot and you burn out sooo easily. so make sure to go out with your friends, build your network, have fun, and enjoy the fruits of your labor.
If you, your friend, or a family member is thinking of moving to Japan and have questions or if you’re already in Japan and need someone to talk to or you can contact me at any time at this link: Let's talk
To wrap this up, the three factors you should consider when deciding to move to Japan are; your "why", J. O. B., and building a network. If you think you got these covered, go ahead and buy that plane ticket and get ready for the new experiences and things Japan can offer you.
If you find this blog post interesting or somewhat helpful let me know by sending an email and I’d like to hear your thoughts. Thanks for reading!