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  • Hey guys! So I've been getting a lot of questions about how can you actually get to Japan. Well,

  • I've been putting off making this video for a while because it's kind of a dry subject

  • so in order to make it more exciting to those of you who already know how to get to Japan

  • or know everything about Japanese visas, Jun and I have been drawing really bad pictures

  • of cats in Paint and we're going to show them in this video. Along with all of the really

  • poorly drawn pictures of cats in Paint that you guys made for us! Thank you so much! So,

  • all right. Let's get to it.

  • First, to get the obvious out of the way, you need a passport. So get a passport in

  • your country. Good job! Okay! The second thing you need is a visa. A visa is a little permission

  • slip that Japan will put into your passport that says you can go into their country.

  • There are four primary types of visas that all of you will be getting. It will either

  • be a student visa, a work visa, a spouse visa, or a working holiday visa.

  • But before I get into those, first I'm going to tell you how you can get to Japan without

  • a visa. And that is by using the visa exemption program, which is a special agreement between

  • Japan and I believe like 66 other countries, which I will link to down in the description

  • so you can see if you're one of them, that will let you go to each others countries for

  • generally 90 days, if the purpose of your visit is for tourism, commerce, a conference,

  • visiting relatives or families, or etc. Things like that. If that's the case you don't need

  • a visa at all. All you need your passport, a round-trip ticket (so what that means is

  • you need proof that you're going to leave Japan before the end of those 90 days--they

  • WILL ask for that), enough money to support yourself while you're there (although they

  • rarely check--They've never checked for me and I've been in Japan, I've gone into Japan

  • like 7 times now), and you need the address and the phone number of the place that you

  • will be staying, because you will have to write that down on your little immigration

  • form when you get off the plane.

  • So that is what I've used the most to go to Japan so far. The first time I went I used

  • a student visa but after that, every single time I've visited, it's been using the visa

  • exemption program. You can generally use it about twice in a row, although people might

  • start questioning you, especially if you're just leaving the country for a few days and

  • then coming back to renew your 90 days in Japan. It starts getting questionable. So

  • if you just want to live in Japan, try to find a way to get a legitimate visa because

  • eventually they could kick you out of the country. And you could be gone from the country

  • for a long time--you could be banned from the country for a really long time.

  • Okay! So let's get into real visas! First is a student visa. To get a student visa you

  • need to be accepted into a school--any level of school in Japan. The easiest way to go

  • to school in Japan is to do an exchange. How an exchange works is your high school or your

  • university will have an exchange program with similar high schools or universities in Japan

  • and both schools will send students to each other. So to do an exchange like that all

  • you have to do is find your foreign programs department in your school and talk to a counselor

  • there and they will walk you through every step. It's super easy. Mainly that involves

  • paperwork. Sometimes they might ask for references or you might have to write an essay or something

  • like that. You can also apply directly to a Japanese school, like a university. For

  • this you would apply the same way that you would apply for a university in your home

  • country. But of course the application and everything else is probably going to be in

  • Japanese. They might also require you to take the JLPT, or Japanese Language Proficiency

  • Test and get a certain score before admitting you into their university so that they know

  • you will be able to understand the classes since they will all be in Japanese.

  • What some students do during university is they will study abroad in Japan and if they

  • like the school that they studied abroad at enough they will submit an application to

  • transfer universities and finish their degree in Japan. And if that's something you want

  • to do then you will have student counselors there who will be able to walk you through

  • that process.

  • So, once you get accepted into a Japanese school all you have to do is submit an application

  • for a student visa. And the school that you're applying to or your student counselor will

  • be able to tell you exactly how to do that.

  • The second type of visa is a work visa. To get a work visa you have to get hired by a

  • Japanese company. The most common way for foreigners to get a job in Japan is by teaching

  • English. There are a lot of ways to apply for these jobs, the most common being the

  • JET program, although there also private companies you can apply to such as Aeon or ECC. You

  • can get directions for applying on their websites. Generally, you do not have to be able to speak

  • Japanese, maybe not even at all. However, they do typically require you to be a native

  • English speaker. If you are not a native English speaker, then you can also apply to teach

  • your native language in Japan, although I don't have any examples for you.

  • Also, a requirement of the work visa is that you must have a Bachelor's degree in any field.

  • There are exceptions to this such as if you are applying to a specialty field and have

  • a number of years of proven work experience. You can also get a work visa if you work for

  • a company in your home company and they transfer you to an office in Japan. However, since

  • most of you watching this are really young, this is generally not going to apply to you.

  • Or if you don't want to teach English, you can apply for jobs in other fields. However,

  • in this case you are generally going to be competing with Japanese people for the same

  • job. So you should really have a reason why should hire someone abroad and go through

  • the process of applying for a work visa rather than hiring someone from their own country.

  • But you can look for jobs like this gaijinpot.com, daijob.com, or jobsinjapan.com. Whether or

  • not you will need to be able to speak Japanese is completely dependent upon the job.

  • The third visa I'll go over is the spouse visa. This one is simple enough. All you have

  • to do is be married to a permanent resident in Japan. Typically your spouse will need

  • to have a job and be able to show proof of financial support for you. If you are moving

  • from your country to Japan, it doesn't matter if you have a job--your spouse, the person

  • living in Japan, is the one who's going to have to have a job. You can also try to get

  • someone else to sponsor you, although it doesn't always work because they want your spouse,

  • the person living in Japan, to be the one with the job who's supporting you.

  • And finally I will go over Working Holiday visas. This is exactly what it sounds like.

  • You go to Japan basically for a holiday but you also work while you're there. I put this

  • one last because it's not available to Americans! I'm sorry, my fellow countrymen, we can't

  • use it. You can only do a Working Holiday in Japan if you are from Australia, New Zealand,

  • Canada, South Korea, France, Germany, the UK, Ireland, Denmark, Taiwan, Hong Kong, or

  • Norway. This visa lasts for one year, or two periods of six months if you're from Canada

  • or Australia, and you can only do it once. And you must be between 18 and 30 years old.

  • There is a link to the website if you want to know more.

  • So YAY you're on your way to Japan! But wait, now you need to go through immigration when

  • you get off the plane. And this one is really easy; for 99% of people you're going to get

  • through just fine. However, immigration does have the right to turn you right back around

  • and send you back to your home country on another plane. They will ask you on your immigration

  • form, "Have you been found guilty of a crime in Japan or another country?" when you're

  • on the plane. If you check "Yes" to this then they may not let you into the country. Do

  • you think they're going to know if you're telling the truth if you check "No"? However!

  • Be aware that if at any point the Japanese police suspect you of a crime, they can hold

  • in jail for up to 23 days without letting you contact the outside world except for you

  • lawyer or your embassy. If you do want to tell the truth, it's up to the immigration

  • official to decide whether or not to let you into the country. In that case it would help

  • to bring supporting documents if you have some sort of minor conviction. However, if

  • you have a drug conviction or a felony, they're probably not going to let you into Japan.

  • So these are all the most common ways for a foreigner to get to Japan. The whole process

  • is a lot easier than it seems at first--mostly what it is is filling out a lot of paperwork.

  • So, thanks for watching guys--I'll see you next time!

Hey guys! So I've been getting a lot of questions about how can you actually get to Japan. Well,

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