Hi nat25,
I can totally relate to your experience. I haven’t done any Bachelor’s degree in Japanese but I share the same goal: becoming a translator from Japanese to my native language. Actually, I’m currently doing a PhD in a totally different field (biology) but I’ve been thinking about the next step for a few months.
Other Wanikaniers have already given a lot of useful information, but I’ll just add what I know and try to help.
I’ve also searched a lot of Japanese universities websites, and there are translation degrees in Japan. But obviously, most of them are training native Japanese students to translate from a given language to Japanese, which is not what we are looking for! I’ve found a very small number of degrees including Japanese > English translation, but English is not my native language so I wasn’t interested and can’t remember where they were.
As you are already aware since you did a translation degree, translation skills and language skills are two different things that we have to train. The community has given useful advice to work on your Japanese, and if you really want to go to Japan, you can still go to a language school. Some advanced programs start from N2 and get you to a more advanced level.
If you are not confident about your translation skills, maybe you can find an intensive translation course/degree, even if it’s not related to Japanese, to train you about specific softwares/methods/frameworks. Since English is not your native language, these courses will most likely focus on translations from English to your native language, but I think it is still very useful. And a translator mastering more languages will obviously have more opportunities.
This is what I plan to do after my PhD, doing a 1 year professional degree teaching what a translator needs to know (translation methods, how to run your business, etc), and then maybe going to Japan for another year to improve my Japanese (and, hey, just because I want to try living in Japan someday!) either in an advanced language school program, or something else.
And last thing, you already know it but it is very important for translators to master their native language. So if you want to become a literary translator, it is a good idea to show that you are able to write literature. Maybe try to write short stories or a novel in your native language, this will demonstrate your skill!
I wish you all the best in this exciting journey!