I want to move to Tokyo, Japan?

Question:

Okay so I really want to move to Japan, specifically Tokyo one of the biggest cities in Japan, so I'm from America, and I want to know what is needed to legally move to Japan, visas, passports, flights, etc... P.S. I want to live in Japan not to visit. Also I will visit my family. I also want to be a manga/anime artist, but I also want to be a blueprint drawer for buildings, like a architect that draws the blueprints for the building, this is only if my manga career doesn't work out.

Answer:

Kenny said it pretty well but I'm going to give you a little more specific information -

Unless you are hired by a company while still in the States that decides your manga creations are incredible and absolutely the best and that no one in Japan can do the job that you can, then they may agree to sponsor your work visa to see how you do. When that happens then you will submit your passport to the nearest Japanese Consulate and they will give you a work visa for a specific period of time. If you are truly gifted and the best they have ever seen then they may also agree to foot the $1,500 or so plane ticket from your little town to Tokyo. They may also agree to partially pay, or at least find you a place to live. Go into your parents walk-in closet, put your bed in there and everything you own and that will be just a little bigger than your new home in Japan. If all of this happens then you've got it made as they give very few work visas to foreigners that can't speak Japanese, have never been to Japan and have skills that 1,000,000 Japanese are waiting to do right now..

Once you start receiving a pay check you will be subjected to Japanese Tax and health insurance and after they take that out and you pay your rent and basic food (3 minute cup ramen from 7-11) you will have enough money left over to buy a phone card and call your mother once a month and tell her how great it is and how much you miss her. You will not have enough money for a cell phone, you will not have enough money for cable TV (all your current favorite shows will be a memory) and no more video games because now you have a job.

So now the advice part of my lecture. Stay in school, put the comic books down, study hard, get into a good college and study architecture. Get your degree and then go to work for a great company. After 10 years or so your company may have some business interests in Japan and you'll get to go over and see how tough life really is. Even better, while you are in college, you may get lucky and do a semester or year abroad in Japan and get first hand knowledge that, just like your home town, life is not a comic book.