Careers/Living in Japan?

Question:

So I have always been interested in Japan, its culture and its past history. (Samurai, Temples, etc.) I love the language and am in progress of learning it through the Rosetta stone courses. I am currently studying Business with a focus in management at the University of Maine Presque Isle.

I am hoping to go to Japan for a semester to take the intensive Japanese language course in Tokyo as a transfer student. I want to do this for the experience and for the credits.

My main questions are:

1. What is the chance of getting a job in a city in Japan, (doesn't have to be Tokyo). I noticed that most Americans that are living in Japan or have worked in Japan 90% of the time only teach English.

2. Even though the USD is 80.96 Yen I understand that the cost of many things is very high, Staying in Japan for a semester what would you recommend would be a good amount of money to take with me?

3. What is overall life like in Japan. I am currently 20 years old will be 22 if I am to go over for the semester study. I am an Anime/ Manga lover however I am not naive and think that is how Japan is. I know some things can be close depending on the show, (I am a huge Bleach fan) but for the most part a TV show is a TV show.

4. This could be easily considered part of question 3 but I wanted to make it more specific. What is life like for young adults between 18-30 like over there? What do most of them do with free time?

5. I understand that to get a Japanese visa does not require anything major, (ex: To go to England you have to have about 950 USD in your bank account for each month you are planning on staying over there) but as far as my research goes into the Visa subject American Citizens are exempt form Visa fees and all we have to do is apply for the visa. Confirm/Deny?


Any other information pertaining to anything close to my questions would be greatly appreciated. Thank you all ^_^

Answer:

I will roll up your questions into 1 answer: Getting a good/decent job in Japan means specialising in something that the Japanese are not good at or lack the skills in. Work experience is mandatory. After all, a highly skilled person with bags of work experience is more likely to land that dream job as opposed to a newbie. Once you work on these two things, your dreams might just come true