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Costs, Benefits, Drawbacks (for my fiance), and Job Accessibility For Naturalizing with Japan

SamuraiLord

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31 Jul 2017
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After I have finished studying at Oklahoma State University, I plan to make the move to Japan. I've been wanting to move there since I was a 5 year old, but lacked the resources to do so growing up in a poor family. (Dirt was richer than us.) Lately I've been trying to do research in preparation for the move, but can barely find anything. Would y'all mind helping me out? Thank you very much for reading my post.
 
"Naturalizing" refers to obtaining Japanese citizenship, which is something you wouldn't be able to do for many years after moving here. Is that what you meant to ask about?

What will your degree be in? Do you have any experience or professional certifications? What field do you wish to work in? Do you have any Japanese language skills? Have you passed any level of the JLPT?

Is your fiancee Japanese? Will you marry prior to coming here? If she isn't Japanese and you won't be married, then will she be a college graduate prior to your coming? Is she also 18 years old?

It's nice to meet you and we're happy to have you with us, but I'm afraid your first post didn't really give us any of the information needed to be able to answer your questions. Not to doubt your word or anything, but there is TONS of stuff available online and right on this forum. You can't have searched very hard.
 
"Naturalizing" refers to obtaining Japanese citizenship, which is something you wouldn't be able to do for many years after moving here. Is that what you meant to ask about?

What will your degree be in? Do you have any experience or professional certifications? What field do you wish to work in? Do you have any Japanese language skills? Have you passed any level of the JLPT?

Is your fiancee Japanese? Will you marry prior to coming here? If she isn't Japanese and you won't be married, then will she be a college graduate prior to your coming?

It's nice to meet you and we're happy to have you with us, but I'm afraid your first post didn't really give us any of the information needed to be able to answer your questions.

Yea I plan to go to try to obtain Japanese citizenship after the minimum time I can & that is part of what I'm asking about.
I start college in less than 2 weeks. I plan to get a degree in English and get my Certification in Teaching English as a Foreign Language, I wish to work in Education, I'm starting to learn on my own and I'll be taking college courses as soon as a spot is available, Not yet my skill is far too low with the language at this moment.
She is not she was born in Kansas, USA; We are not sure due to lack of information about stuff like that, She would be graduating college the year after I do.
I'm new to posting questions so I had no idea where to start with info. Thank you for replying to me, and being willing to help me out with this.
 
Put thoughts of citizenship out of your head for the time being. That's so far off in the future and such a slim likelihood of ever happening and not necessary anyway that it isn't worth discussing.

Is the TOEFL field something you're going into because you have a genuine interest in it? Or is it because you think the only thing you can do in Japan is teach English?

Why Japan?
 
Put thoughts of citizenship out of your head for the time being. That's so far off in the future and such a slim likelihood of ever happening and not necessary anyway that it isn't worth discussing.

Is the TOEFL field something you're going into because you have a genuine interest in it? Or is it because you think the only thing you can do in Japan is teach English?

Why Japan?

Ok naturalization put aside now
I've always wanted to teach English but after seeing how majority of students at 14 schools across 6 states treat teachers I knew that I didn't want to teach in this country I know If I wanted to work in Japan there are all sorts of jobs just need right skills. Trust me I am indeed passionate about TEFL

I've always been fascinated with the culture of Japan since I was 5 years old. I've spent years learning about the history of the culture, reading books about people's experiences in Japan, the way the Japanese economy affects the world's economy, etc. I've wanted to live there since I was 5 learning the culture, seeing what it is like there first hand, teaching English there is a bonus on top of everything.
 
I think you should check with your university to see if there is any way to spend a semester or otherwise get an opportunity to visit Japan. Maybe check into what opportunities there may be in relation to Oklahoma's sister state relationship with Kyoto Prefecture. For example in Michigan there's a program where Michigan students staff a tourist boat on Lake Biwa. Free labor for them and university credits for the students.
 
Drawbacks to Japanese citizenship:
No "Miranda Rights"
No guarantee of trial by peers
Conviction rate of nearly 100%, meaning if the police arrest you for something, you will be found guilty of something. Another way to say this: the law heavily favors the police.
Outdated and ossified women's roles that, as a Japanese, it is very hard to resist without facing some isolation.
Dual citizenship not allowed - means naturalizing as a Japanese requires you to abandon your US citizenship. This means applying for ESTA when you wish to visit the US (and all that entails). It also means you deny your children the right to US citizenship. Not an issue if you truly wish to leave the US behind, but it becomes a major issue if you think you might like to retire in Hawaii or Florida, but you can't because you are not a US citizen. Or, if you wish to send your kids to university in America, but it becomes prohibitively expensive because they are foreign students and must pay the fees as foreign students. Or, if either of your parents are sick and you need to return home immediately, but there is a problem with your ESTA or a problem with you visiting the US for any length of time longer than 3 months.
A real estate market that is still horribly damaged from the real-estate bubble of the late-1980s, and the grim demographic outlook, particularly in rural Japan. Meaning; real estate is a declining asset in Japan. People lose money on houses. All the time. For the last 30+ years. This is not a problem just for naturalized citizens - but consider bringing all your cash to Japan, and then investing your life savings into a money-losing asset. Is your retirement secure? Is your post-retirement support system in place? Are you financially secure enough so that you can live in a metropolitan area where there are many conveniences and diversions, and foreign couples and kids are not unusual. Or will you be priced out of the metro areas, and have your choices limited to a cramped suburb, or out in the boondocks which may cause you to have a 2+ hour commute (on crowded public transport. Your job may not allow you to commute to work by car because your job may not have parking spaces, and because your job has some legal liability while you commute, and it is within their legal rights to forbid you to commute by car or motorcycle.
These are some of the negatives. I only add these now because I see this thread popping up in the "Recent Topics" banner, and I keep thinking about the negatives. I'm a permanent resident of Japan, by the way (not a naturalized Japanese). There is no benefit to me for becoming a Japanese citizen, except the right to vote, which is not insignificant, but to me not worth the downside.
 
As the saying goes, "Life is what happens while you were busy making other plans". There are so many things that are going to happen to him, her, and them between now and 5+ years from now that there really is little point into taking this too seriously right now.
 
Yes - I thought it might be useful not only for the OP, but for other people who have the same question. It seems we've had a couple of people recently bring up the idea of becoming naturalized citizens of Japan, without ever having set foot in the country. And, to be candid, I can remember having similar ideas when I was first preparing to come to Japan, lo these many years ago. So this is kind of a way for the old me to look back on the young me and say, "some of these things are worth thinking about".
Also to anyone interested, I have lived a few decades in Japan now, and am very happy with that decision, despite some of the negatives I have raised. I may well retire here.
 
I've been teaching English here since 1998. Don't even try comparing American students and teachers to Japanese ones. You seem to think Japanese kids will be a pushover. Ha!

What about your fiancé? What does she plan to do here, and what are her qualifications?
 
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