Goodness, and now I’ve replied again anyway. Just ignore it! ^^
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That is so much incredible and super useful knowledge, I really appreciate that stuff and if you don’t mind I’ll just copy the whole thing into my current “Things to think about/Important Japan Stuff” doc I made because that’s so much great info. I have also considered the getting the temp visa and changing it to a more permanent one, since it seems like just a smart idea but I still have no idea what my sister will be going for and since she’s the one registering the apartment and all, I want to let her decide first since if she does something that might make my life in Japan more uncertain then I’ll probably go for that.
But since I don’t want to spend like all year replying with a super long essay on everything you talked about just know I will be valuing all the things you said like small chunks of diamond, all completely invaluable information to know about just life. Thanks a bunch!
Oh, just remembered a thing that may be quite unexpected!
In Japan you’re legally adult after reaching 20 yo. Before that you’ll often need your parents’ consent to do stuff like rent an apartment etc.
I learned that from an interview with Japanese Australian voice actress who moved to Japan against her parents will and she said she had to frantically search for an adult friend to stay with because she couldn’t rent an apartment herself.
Your sister and you are still underage in Japan, so plan for that.
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It’s no problem, if I seem a bit defensive it’s just because I don’t want to let myself get too dragged down because some people do give good points on the cons, yet no pros so I can’t take all advice without a bit of bias yknow? I completely understand your point with the long term goals and such, I really do! To me, moving to Japan is the same as moving to uh Mexico, or maye alaska, or even good 'ol great britan. While I understand how life in Japan is hard, where isn’t it honestly? Plus I gotta admit I like the challenge, it makes it more fun than just living.
As for my friends, if you read the previous replies it basically states that I moved to where I am now, but the specifics was I had been planning to move in with one of them until my mother literally annoyed his so much that she doesn’t want me living with her son. I’ve already said my ‘goodbyes’ (we still talk on Discord).
Situation isn’t really the worst it can be, I’m in no harm or anything, though I appreciate the concern, but I know that no matter how bad my situation is, someone has it worse. So I don’t want that to be the main reason I’m moving away to Japan, for me it’s also a growing experience! I do appreciate your input, truly. Don’t think I’ll get upset with you or anything for trying to show what’s wrong with my plan, I know it’s stupid lol. But hey I gotta live a little grow a little maybe even get stranded in a foreign country a little, who knows 
Jokes aside, I am doing this just because I want to, so like you said, that’s all I really need! I’m glad you want to stop me from doing anything stupid or irrational though, I appreciate the gesture.
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Don’t worry about it, since my sister is a year and a half older her birthday is May 25th? (I’m so bad with birthdays lol). But we should be totally fine since she’s 19 rn and I assume I’m allowed to go under her wing as the “adult”.
Also she gets special treatment from our mother so I’m sure she’ll work something out if needs be. I didn’t know that info though so I’m glad you mentioned it! Would’ve been a lot more troubling if this were a year earlier haha
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That’s super cool, yeah I’ll be sure to try and get in because while my gpa is 
my act scores and essay writing skills are a good amount above average so maybe I can finagle my way in there (side rant, since I moved to nebraska recently the closest center would be denver, a short 3 hour drive away, but instead they classify nebraska under the chicago center so it’s like quintuple the distance which is sooooo annoying).
If I run into any problems then I’ll be sure to let you know (should I just @ you in the thread or is there a way to dm people here orrrr? this is my first post on wani btw so I’m very new to this). Maybe we both get in and we could even be classmates, well maybe lol but who knows! I appreciate the offer, kind sir/ma’am (also is there a way to see what an account’s gender is cause I keep saying this and I don’t want to get anyone in a fuss lol)
While I actually would be worried about that normally since my sister is really stupid, this time I do think it’s just her being honestly dumb and not actually behaving like an adult. She has more money than most kids her age do since she works a lot and so I’ll check it out but I think it’s just her having a few screws loose. I don’t believe she has a job offer, I’ll ask her once I get home but I think she’s planning to go there, ???, profit.
I do gratefully accept your concern though (I know it’s weird wording but i’ve said “I appreciate ____” like 70 times in the last 12 hours so I’m trying to mix it up a small bit lol), but even if she’s dumb I know she invited me purely because she knows she’d do stupid things if she were alone. Despite being not even an adult, and younger than her, I am far more responsible and “”““mature””“” than her most times.
I don’t like this phrasing. Your situation shouldn’t be bad - at all! So, this is the reason why I reacted: not because I think I know your situation, but because I see someone who’s still a child reaching out for some kind of help. I’m sad that most of that help will have to be done in the US where little help is to be had, but still, surely there is support for you to have. Like anonymous call lines? There’s a ton of them. Use them! They know specifically know how to support your in whatever your actual worries are!
If you insist on doing the Japan immigration thing, good luck, but I have some serious doubts about you succeeding and don’t want to see you hurt. That’s all.
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Don’t worry about it, I know how stupid I’d be to think that I’d speak their language just like anyone else. What I was meaning was that would be my goal was to get close to that after a year or so but I’m in no way betting on that. I honestly am postponing perfecting my pronunciation because, well I’m a white, brown haired, blue eyed, sorta chubby, american. I don’t think I’d be fooling anyone if I speak some words the same way they would lol (not that I won’t try but I mean it’s unrealistic at this point)
I’d actually work hard on pronunciation since it’s a HUGE boon in getting a job, and just seeming an intelligent being.
Americans might no be as aware of this?? But I think it’s true for any culture: handling natural pronunciation is key to projecting an aura of respect and knowledge. That of the native. It’s nothing to be snuffed at.
And Americans are notoriously bad at his. I have no idea how you get this bad at this, but I guess just knowing 1 language is part of it (unlike most people in Europe in comparison, knowing 3<)
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That billionaire has a track record of doing things other people think impossible.
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No no no it’s all good, trust me this isn’t some kind of call for help. I’m working on my mental health with my doctor (slowly) but I know that some people would consider me to be in a good position (i.e. people from bad spots of third world countries, victims of human trafficking, people wrongly imprisoned). I am a big boy who can handle himself 
.
I will certainly do everything I can to succeed with moving to Japan, but like I said, I’m not putting everything on it so I honestly expect it to not work, since a lot of things don’t. But I mean I’d be stupid to not try and prepare because if it does work then I don’t want to be underprepared yknow? I’ll be sure to come back to this thread or message you or something when either I’m in Japan or I get a guaranteed no. But I’m stubborn so the latter might take a year or two for me to admit defeat.
EDIT: About the prononciation thing, don’t worry I’m not giving up on that already. I just know some people insist upon repeating one word 500 times and writing out the kanji 200 times and just having absolutely no efficiency or intelligence on learning. I am still learning the pronunciations and I’m just waiting till I have a robust enough vocabulary to use small sentences so I can try and make them sound more natural, rather than choppy, but correctly pronounced singular words
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One other harsh reality that I forgot to mention is, you will have a really hard time renting an apartment. I had a guy laugh and walk away once when I asked to see an apartment listed on the wall.
The only reason I got an apartment is because the company I worked for had a relationship with a realtor company. They basically verbally translated the contract into NHK easy style Japanese for me.
Foreigners are considered risk in Japan. In Japan, the entire society is built upon trust and many other countries do not function like that. Japanese people have been burned many times and landlords have this perspective to protect their investment.
Also, I had to interview on the phone to secure my apartment. Talking on the phone is Japanese is really hard.
I have 10 years of input, 3 years of college Japanese, and just good ole self-study and I was still not prepared for this. I’m, uh, really inefficient with my learning but was also better than 60-70% of expats there (fun fact, Japanese level is somewhat low amongst non-Japanese. When you stop getting " Nihongo jouzu", it’s like a badge of honor. I would consider this guest on this Japanese youtuber’s channel amazingly exceptional. For two years, mind blowing.)
I think the general sentiment of the thread is, this will be hard. I’m here to tell you, yes, that’s correct. The only reason I was able to move there is because I have 10 years of experience in my field and my company sponsor had some great lawyers.
I’m also not including the Japan/US visa process which you have to be in the United States to pick up.
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I do admit that this will probably be harder than anything I’ve done in life (except maybe dealing with my mother lol) but it’s a challenge I gladly accept, because uh well I don’t even know but for some reason I want to do this and so I’m going to do my best to do it! Also yeah, living situations will be weird but since both me and my sister will be paying the rent wherever we live then it’s fine as long as it’s within a mile of the nearest public transport.
Also, thank you for not mentioning the visas lol. I know alllllll about that stuff
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Well, Americans who have ONLY been exposed to their own culture and language is part of it, I agree. The other is that English has different sounds than Japanese, at least in terms of the vowels. Fortunately for the OP he also speaks Spanish. To what degree? I don’t know. But, the better his pronunciation in Spanish, the easier it should be to pronounce words in Japanese given that both languages have similar sounds.
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My web game Kanjiroids is a arcade-style way to practice kanji/vocab learned on WK. Looks like I haven’t added it to that thread yet! Edit: just added it to the Web Apps section
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Let’s hope that’s a boon indeed. I have no idea how helpful that is though. ^^
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Well I know spanish well enough to understand someone speaking to me at a moderate speed for most daily conversation pieces, however it’s a bit rusty because well I never use it. It sort of helps due to my recognition in how English isn’t the only language on Earth, but as far as speaking Japanese and learning it, they’re very different so it doesn’t help in the important parts
Again, you don’t have to prove anything to me. In the end, it’s about meeting those visa requirements and that you cannot fake. Just be realistic about it. I don’t want you getting hurt in the process.
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If your Spanish pronunciation is not good, then I’m not sure you’ll get the same benefits as a native Spanish speaker would (or at least someone who has correct pronunciation). Understanding it is a COMPLETELY different thing than to actually speak it. But maybe it’ll still help a little? 