Mr.Cool

iTrader: (2)

hey guys, its been a long time dream of mine to move to japan. im planing on doing 2 years of language school then im going to take a shot at moving. i currently work as a cnc machine operator in canada but i was thinking a nice job to have in japan would be a truck driver so i have ample opurtunity to drive around.

i know most people try to get in starting as an english teacher but i dont think id be well cut out for that. but i am willing to do most any job, no mater how dirty, as long as i get to live it japan, its all good.

so any advice?

GodSquadMandrake

Japan only gives visas to people who have college degrees, and only for jobs which ONLY a foreigner can do. For instance teaching language or working for an international company bringing skills to Japan that you learned abroad. Being bi-lingual is not enough to get a job here because there are TONS of Japanese people who speak English fluently. They work for minimum wage in places foreigners frequent just waiting tables and stuff. People who get paid well are bi-lingual and have some marketable skill and experience. Usually they get hired at a company in their home country and then are transferred to Japan. That means it's usually not something they sign up for, it's just an opportunity that pops up. Most of those people don't speak Japanese at all either. They live in an "English bubble".

So anyway you can't be a truck driver because that's not a job you can get a visa for. Nobody will hire you. There is no opportunity for you to do dirty jobs, all you can do is teach English. Either legally or illegally. If you have the college degree you can come teach at public junior high schools and make maybe 200,000 yen per month, but only during times when school is in session. That'll put you below the poverty line, but you can survive like that and some even manage to afford some cheap car and take it to the track occasionally.

87GTR

iTrader: (61)

and open up a night time tutoring class to make extra money.

Valkyrie

You don't have to have a college degree to get a visa, it's simply that all the real jobs that foreigners are allowed to do (because a Japanese person can't) require them.

Entertainer visas don't require college degrees, but since you want to be a truck driver instead of a host or an actor, it's not going to happen. And some countries have migrant worker visas, but they all require experience in the field.

Besides the fact that you can't get a work visa for being a truck driver, even if you had a spouse visa (which allows you to work), you would have to spend several thousand dollars to get an 'oogata' drivers license (big rig license).

The best choice by far is to get a college degree (four year) and get into the JET program. It's hard, but you've severely overpaid (＄42,000 a year before taxes) for the very small amount of work you do, and you have 20 days of paid vacation a year...


If you don't save your money like crazy, you will be living paycheck to paycheck, though.. living costs here are insane.

Your best bet would be to get a student visa to study here, and come back later when you have a degree to work.

While FD's and FC's have low list prices here, the actual purchase price costs several thousand dollars more for inspections, taxes, and ripoff dealer fees. And you can't even buy a car here without a permanent parking space.

And the cost of maintaining of an FD here is literally in the hundreds of dollars per month, in oil, gasoline, spark plugs, tires. More if you actually track it.

OTOH, since you're from Canada, you could come here on a trip, buy a cheap FD private party (if you can find one), and send it back for less than it would cost to buy an LHD car here... as long as the 15 year law is still good.

Mr.Cool

iTrader: (2)

thanks for the responces, im not bent or even close to being on wanting to being truck driver, just thought that would be a great job if at all possible. i know the ods are against me, but i just love japan, not absolutly everything but a hell of a lot of it.

i need to get out of canada regardless of where i end up be it the us or possibly australia? i just cant stand the crap that goes on around here that just gets swept under the carpet so to speak.

id honestly be willing to do anything to make a living in japan. even if its a crapy one at that, id be happy. i never pay anyone to do work on my cars even oil changes, and id want an fc, as i like them more than fds. live somewhere in the boonies if that helps, in one of those old places where you need to go to the public bath house and eat the leaves off the trees to survive lol. my morals just get in the way of me being an english teacher knowing im not perfect, but maybe thats ok as a first year teacher?

Valkyrie

Oil changes themselves aren't that expensive, it's the oil itself...

Everything in Japan costs twice as much. Everything.

GodSquadMandrake

Well it sounds like you thought things through and you know what you're doing. Go for it!