Alec in Japan

Applying for a Japanese working holiday visa can be a relatively pain-free affair if you know what you need to do. The requirements and application procedures vary somewhat depending on where you’re from but they’re all pretty much the same.

What is it?
The working holiday visa for Japan allows you to to live in Japan for up to a year and work. Tourist visas will only allow you to stay for a few weeks or months and you may not work, and student visas have restrictions on how much you can work and you must stay enrolled in full-time education. The working holiday visa is designed for young people who want to travel around Japan and work part-time jobs to suppose themselves. Working-holidayers are not supposed to stay in the same place for the whole year and they shouldn’t really work full-time jobs. The visa itself is an official document pasted into your passport, as seen on the right.

The working holiday visa is a single-entry visa, which means once you can only enter Japan and leave once with it. If you want to pop over to Korea in the middle of your working holiday, tough luck; you’ll have to return to Japan with a regular tourist visa. Not a big deal really, but it just means that if you want to go to your home country, your working holiday visa is finished. However, you can get a re-entry visa if you apply for permission.

Countries
There are five English-speaking countries which have working holiday arrangements with Japan. These are Australia, the UK, Canada, Ireland and New Zealand. The other non-English-speaking countries are Korea, France and Germany, but I won’t be dealing with those countries. The US does Read the rest of this entry »

Share This

Here I am, a week before leaving to Japan, and people are asking me why I’m doing this. Why am I living in Japan for a year? Why am I intent on spending a year on the Japanese minimum wage? Why a working holiday and not just sunbathing in Thailand?

The reasons are quite simple really. I want to write them here for you to consider and also for me to look back on during and after my year in Japan.

Learning Japanese
This is the main reason I’m going to Japan. I really enjoy learning languages and being able to talk to people. Because I’ll start studying another language at university, I want to get fluent in Japanese so I can forget about it and start learning those other languages.

Travel
I live to travel! When I think about my life up until now, the things I remember are moving to new countries and travelling to new countries. I want to look back on my life when I’m 85 and have great memories of living in different countries and seeing different places.

It’s the Right Time!
I’ve finished high school but I’ve not started university. I don’t have a mortgage, a family or a career so I have nothing tying me down. Before I step on the treadmill of life, I want to enjoy my freedom and just bum around for a year working silly jobs.

Culture
Japanese culture is so foreign. Such a cliche so please don’t kill me for writing it, but it’s true! Honestly, who wouldn’t want to spend a year surrounded by air sex, eyelash wigs, Pepsi Ice Cucumber and cute mascots for political parties?

Share This