I gotcha, I appreciate the warning 
1 Like
I think you might be underestimating the amount of time required to sort out an immigration procedure like this. I wouldnāt say you still have 9 months, I would say you only have 9 months.
Visa procedures take a long time, even for countries that are significantly more lenient in the visa process than Japan is. It usually involves sending paperwork overseas, sometimes waiting months for a reply, then sending more paperwork over for the next step. And all this is just to get the paperwork sorted, after that you still need to start finding housing and sorting out the move itself. Trying to achieve this in just 9 months would be difficult even for countries which arenāt as notoriously hard to get into as Japan is.
I would really like to reiterate what other people in this thread have mentioned to you before. If your primary goal is to move out, Japan isnāt the ideal target. Moving within America, or moving to someplace in Europe, which is generally more lenient to people coming in from the US, might be a significantly easier option.
6 Likes
My primary goal is to move out, to Japan. And for the 9 months thing, that is a minimum. Like Iāve said, I am expecting this time frame to be pushed back, mainly due to covid 19. If everything goes perfectly and we somehow get there and are living in Japan in 9 months, thatās ideal. But Iām not going to just march up to their borders without a visa, shouting half gibberish Japanese, expecting them to let me live there just because 9 months have passed. 9 months is something I need to be prepared for, but that doesnāt mean it will happen in 9 months, life doesnāt work that way
1 Like
This is what everyone is getting hung up on that you donāt seem to be understanding.
Is your primary goal to move out?
Or is it to move to Japan?
These 2 things are not the same, they are WILDLY different.
If moving out is like going for a leisurely jog to get some exercise. Then moving to Japan is like running a marathon. And moving to Japan in 9 months is like trying to break the world record marathon time.
If you simply want to move out you can do that next week. Then you can focus on whatās next in an environment that is better for you.
If your goal is purely to move to Japan, then expect to stay where you are for a couple more years. Moving elsewhere first would be a distraction of your time and money, and you are clearly far more than 9 months from being prepared.
This is not meant to be criticism, just realism.
13 Likes
Iām writing my response because the trajectory of this thread left me feeling incredibly anxious for you. While probably a reflection of your age and ADHD, your responses sound almost manic to me (fwiw, Iām bipolar) and you sound desperate. You sound like youāre rushing into something massive and like itās destined to fail, at least with how youāre approaching it.
Iām not saying donāt move to Japan at all, but if Iām honest, Iād say you gotta put that on the back burner for a long time and figure out yourself and your life right now before running off to a foreign country, especially one whose culture is so different from America/western cultures.
Youāre just a kid, and frankly your sister is just a kid too (yeah, legally sheās an adult, but sheās a teenage still and turning 20 isnāt something magical). At your age my suggestion is work with your school guidance counselors to get into a college to earn your bachelors degree. Find schools to apply to in states that are more appealing to you. You can pursue a degree in whatever you want and study Japanese at school. You may even be able to do a study abroad program in Japan and see if you actually want to live there.
You said it yourself that with your ADHD you can get really stuck on a thing. Have you even stopped to consider that that is what youāre doing with this idea of moving to Japan? You want to move and this was placed in front of you so youāve latched on like itās your only lifeline? Iām bringing this up not as criticism, but because I have experiences from when I was younger that have burned me bad from being far too impulsive, and they were nothing on the level of what youāre thinking.
Changing your location is not gonna fix all your problems. If might fix some of them, but it is only the start. You really gotta to get your life in order before you make such a massive life changing move. Take things one step at a time, start learning Japanese, get yourself to college in some other state, get yourself established as an adult, and then decide if you really do want to move to Japan.
22 Likes
For visa that why I recommend the WHV visa because it is not a work visa limited to one corporation so you can quit at any time and I also recommend going to a share house rather than to an apartment because you donāt have the issue of a lease from what I saw, you can go in a share house for x amount of months. (Doesnāt seem to have the key money issue either from the agencies that I have checked)
(Obviously living in a share house have its inconvenience but I have done it before with 9 people at the same time for almost 2 years, so yeah I got that exp)
Thatās obviously for temporary measures versus long term stay.
That what I plan to do next year if they reopen the border
But at the moment the Japanese authorities are still preventing most of the countries
https://www.mofa.go.jp/ca/fna/page4e_001053.html
Work holiday visa link
2 Likes
Well, that and the fact that Americans (like the OP) canāt get a WHV whether they are allowed in the country generally or not. Not really going to be an option.
5 Likes
Thank you, this is the most accurate description on how living in Japan as a foreigner really is 
3 Likes
R.I.P US citizens, sorry I am not from the US I didnt know
I obviously donāt recommend fleeing your countries to āsolve all your problemsā because obviously that wont change anything. Grass isnt greener anywhere. ( Except in Occident cause life is so easy there compared to the rest or the world)
I plan on going there but max 1 year (gap year if you prefer. Although Im already a fulltime worker for a few years now with a degree) I might stay even less knowning that employees cant take much vacantion/break ( like I am gonna stay there for ever yeah right ) all the problems with being a foreigner, stigma and black companies etc. Also all the slow bureaucracy x_x
2 Likes
Surely the grass is greener if you are looking from a slum (2nd and 3rd world countries) to a manor (1st world country). However, itās not the case for OP.
Isnāt the US is big enough that he could move to the other states and feel like in a foreign country with an easier life? That would be a much more logical choice rather than moving to Japan which has different culture and language.
3 Likes
That what I mentionned that Occident is gg ez idk if you read all my post lmao.
Literally here you just have to work and you can buy food without being mugged nani?!!! And you can buy a new car or a house dayum
Free water ?!!!
And you just have to give 40h to pay off your shit dayum.
And folks in Western Europe with their 5 weeks paid off. Oh schnitzel
Yeah I plan the Euro dream after baby
France even give free cash to folks who have kids
2 Likes
Iām not criticizing you. Sorry if I made you feel that way (my English is bad lol)
Occident is a new vocab Iāve learned today
Yeah I agree with you. Living in Occident, Australia, and New Zealand are like playing a game on an easy mode lol.
2 Likes
Itās fine itās fine. I dont mind im just trying to make OP realises what they have. To become more appreciative
1 Like
To be fair, some points Japan has in advance compared to the USA (and Europe):
- health insurance for everyone
- much lower income tax and VAT compared to Europe
- there is a huge variety of high quality fairly priced stationery (much higher quality of pens and rubbers than in Europe)
- very low crime rate
- civil service staff is very helpful and professional, the processes are very transparent
- limited access to weapons
- less confrontational working climate
- healthier food
- better comics
- less terror attacks
- less racial hate crimes from a subjective viewpoint
- good public education
- healthy and delicious school lunch
- cheap books
- it feels save for me to walk as a women in the night everywhere in Tokyo (I have been to so far)
- higher life expectance
- overall healthier people
- advanced public transport
- clean public toilets at almost all places I have been to so far (I donāt mind squatting)
- a higher average IQ (I donāt think this test is very useful though)
- people donāt believe as much conspiracy theories and science is trusted more
- smokers donāt smoke on the streets anymore
- dog owners clean up dog poop and dogs are very disciplined and trustworthy
- there are no free running dogs in parks and public transport
- supermarkets sell very fresh food, there is a lot of variety of vegetables and seafood
- nobody so far tried to give me back a wrong amount of money as a change
- it feels safe to leave your mobile phone or even wallet on a table in a restaurant and go to the toilet
- people literally run after you if they see that you lost something as invaluable as tissue papers
- second hand items are very cheap and in a good condition, in case of mercury they even come with a personal thank you note
- craftsmen have a high working ethic and are very trustworthy
- public transport is always on time
- people spit on the street very very rarely
- you can stay for hours in a family restaurant with only ordering the drink bar
- Japanese knifes
(I am hiding in a hole now until the response to this decreases 
)
3 Likes
[Citation needed]
3 Likes
I donāt have a source for that.
But there is no BLM movement like in the USA and also in my memory I cannot remember news about people from other ethnicities being tortured by the police.
I am not saying that Japan is a paradise for foreigners,
but it is fair to say that there are close to none ghettos.
And I am not sure if the term āGhettoā is correct here, I am talking about areas where eg. only black people life and the average standards are lower than elsewhere (eg gangs, drugs, problematic public schools, things like that)
The story of the Sri Lankan woman who died in immigration custody and is on the news all the time over a course of monthsā¦?
Just for recent news.
But even if there wasnāt huge news stories about that, it is obviously impossible to claim that there is no racial hate crime in the entire country.
4 Likes
I have to read about that, recently I was getting really tired to listen to the corona virus news to be honest.
There are some cases for sure, but I think the extent is different to the USA? But I have never been there, it might be a news bias I have.
Thatās true, I change that.
you need a permit, but people definitely have themā¦
Iāve seen ads for a shooting range in Fukuoka and I know local to me there are people licensed to hunt boar.
Is it? Iāve seen a lot of posts from women in Japan living support groups who talk about stalkers and guys who follow them or say inappropriate things on the street.
with a chance of squat toilet. But in Tokyo/Osaka/Kyoto it can be hard to find public toilets? Thatās what I hear from friends there anyway.
Not a useful test though 
3 Likes
I think they just swept the racial crime under the rug. Thatās a typical Asian country mind set.
3 Likes