I chose it because I think I would enjoy the work ethic, group mentality, structure, and culture (always been a electronic/video game addict. Techy devices and such that may just be a waste of money are my favorite things to discover. I enjoy the compact living spaces and subsequently shorter travel distances to get to anything. i enjoy the idea of city lights, lighted streets and sidewalks to navigate at 3am when I need something late. On top of that, I feel safer in their economy than I do here (leave this one be, it's not a political debate).
I want to do it, I want to go from 0 prep now, to starting new in Japan, whatever it takes. My plan right now is this. Start school in a tech field with courses for Japanese. Work up to and earn bachelors degree, get VISA to work as English Teacher, integrate from there and live on. Now, that's all I have. people say teaching English is about it if you want a liveable salary (despite how low it is). I don't know what this means in regards to the VA and my disability claim (could care less if I lose them if I have job anyway). I don't know what timeframe is realistic, I know nothing else. Are there any good resources to check? Any services that help with this? Any help is appreciated. I know in terms of criminal background, I have nothing, so I know that's fine. But does bad credit inhibit getting a VISA? I dunno.
tl;dr: Need to know, with no college at 25, what I need to do to move to Japan.

>I think I would enjoy the work ethic, group mentality, structure
HAHAHA
no you won't.
there's nothing to enjoy in there. the work culture is about refusing any change, follow along the way things are, a lot of peer pressure, and overtime.
Most Japanese are actually very bad at technology, it's baffling. I know many who first saw a computer upon entering university.
Japanese economy is crumbling, but the US's too so heh, it might be safer there, okay.

You think a lot about yourself though, but I don't think they have any need for an uneducated junkie disabled vet who can't speak japanese in the first place.

>>1067848
I was in the military. The work ethic is right up my alley. I enjoy the structure and responsibility attached to it. And I'm more interested in finding stupid gimmicky devices for myself in relation to tech. And I fail to see what you mean that I think a lot of myself. As in I talk more than I walk? The amount of effort and work I put into my military career, and to get through combat, is evidence I am capable of more and better. However, I need to remain humble, especially asking to be at the mercy of another country. A 4 year Bachelor degree to teach english (as most common to immigrate it seems) seems like childs play.

Right now I am in the works of moving into school starting spring, I have 4 years to learn the language. And if Marijuana is a constituent of junkies to you (had the General Under Honorable Upgraded since I was wounded in Combat and had an excellent record with no fuck-ups) than I guess that's your opinion. Not one I share, but to each his own I guess...

>>1067848
Just trust me when I say the state I was in that lead me to smoke weed for the pain despite my career, was a fairly catastrophic, bottom of the barrel low point in my life for me. I can't fix my mistakes, I can just be a better man for them.

I don't want to insult you, I just want you to think rationally and objectively for a minute.

I'm no shrink, but your history would indicate you aren't the most mentally stable person. Going to Japan is almost the worst possible thing you could do. You will be 'othered', you will be out of your depth w.r.t. language and culture no matter how much preparation you think you've done, and I doubt you have the mental and psychological resilience to weather that.

Think seriously and properly about your problems rather than grabbing the first meme solution that appears.

If you want 'stupid gimmicky devices', go for a holiday and maybe order some shit of Amazon JP when you get home.

>Work up to and earn bachelors degree, get VISA to work as English Teacher, integrate from there
>integrate from there
People who are much more stable and intelligent than you have tried and largely failed to integrate, or they think they have without realising how crazy and/or detached from reality it's caused them to become.

>On top of that, I feel safer in their economy than I do here (leave this one be, it's not a political debate).
You don't get to drop this bomb and then shield yourself from criticism after saying something this retarded. Have a quick look at their public net debt for the last 20 years and then honestly tell me if you see that as something 'safe'.

I forgot the crucial bit. Your problems will follow you on the plane.
You think
>a change of scenery, and I think it needs it be a drastic one
will address the problem of your life having
>grown stale, bleak, and gray

If you follow through with this ill-advised plan (assuming it doesn't derail at the university stage, which seems likely), it might take a week, a month or a year from touching down in Japan, but you'll realise the core problems plaguing your life remain and you'll be in an environment too oppressive and hostile to help you deal with them at all.

>>1067831
OP use your yellow ribbon, or whatever benefits you have and earn a degree with marketable skills. If you really are what you say you are, I work as a veterans benefits coordinator at a state university and you are far better off earning a degree than simply running to another country underprepared and underskilled. Do yourself a favor, make an appointment with the veterans rep at the closest university. There is a strong support structure of fellow vets and services for student with disabilities that may present as a barrier.

I am not your mother, but think about it

>>1067855
No insult, I appreciate your straight forwardness. I'm going to come right out and say it than. And here is the absolute, and everything truth to it.

I don't want to dig into it, or build a great wall of text, so I'll try and be brief. When I was born, my biological father left my mother and hung himself. Adoptive father remarried after mother died at age 12. Effectively beat, abused, starved, and kicked me onto the street. No immediate family ties outside of one . Taken in by close Aunt and Uncle. Told was a danger to everyone around me because I had a temper tantrum, locked in basement for 3 months, seperated but still fed and cared for, kicked out. Taken in by grandmother until I finish Highschool and join the Army.
Deploy to Afghanistan. Firefights galore, two moments alter me, and kill old self. First, I watched ANA soldiers beat Taliban prisoner to pulp for the hell of it in back of pick up truck with tools in said truck, not allowed to stop or prevent. Second, I had to kill a kid given a gun by placing a gaping hole in his lung. I am tormented, haunted, and much more by these memories everyday. I've learned what I had to do was keep myself alive regardless of what the motivations were.

(cont.)
But now I feel guilt, torment, and pain from an injury sustained later by a tumor I developed on my right Brachial Plexus. When the Army removed it, they paralyzed my arm and caused a lot of neuropathy and joint pain for me. I smoke Marijuana to deal with pain. get kicked out. Now, I feel I had everything stolen, including my old self. Whatever I had here is broken, raped, and dead. I have considered a lot of different options (honestly suicide a lot). However I figured a change in scenery would have been nice. This lead into searching into places to move to. Other countries popped into my mind. Researched a lot into Europe at first.

Whatever, I still have friends at home, and the means to see them every so often. Only reason I need schooling is for the VISA, job, and to make up for the possibilities that the VA wont pay me enough to live on, or they halt my claim altogether. If they do, fine. I have enough money to fly back need be if ever my work situation became unsecured. I've thought about this A LOT guys, I need this to work honestly, if not Japan, Europe or Canada. I'm desperate.


tl;dr: I will be fine, I assure you I spent a lot of time thinking, and will be financially able to abort mission at any moment.

I don't want to repeat what I said in
>>1067858
>>1067857
>>1067855
but
>However I figured a change in scenery would have been nice
suggests you haven't internalised what I said about your problems (or I did a poor job of conveying them). Moving to a new land - especially one as wary of outsiders as Japan - will not fix your problems, it will compound them. You won't a poor immigrant moving to a land of opportunity. You draw a consistent and secure income in the wealthiest country in the world.

And, specifically, 'teaching' (more like entertaining) schoolkids seems like a massive opportunity for your PTSD to kick in and fuck with you on the job and after - in a country where deviation from expected behaviour for any duration or in any manner is frowned upon and a job security risk, do you think this will end well?

>I need this to work honestly
>I'm desperate.
It. Won't. You can go back to the drawing board. You have to. Doing so might hurt now, but the inevitable crash-landing of following this plan will have a far greater toll on you.

Please, instead, seriously consider the course of action recommended by >>1067860

>>1067880
You won't *be a poor immigrant

>>1067851
The junkie part is not my opinion, but what the japs will think of you when they see your history. Drugs are really not well seen around here, and heavily stereotyped.
You know discipline, and that will help in dealing with the japanese culture, but that's not enough to deal with constant tatemae, and bullshit just because you're not japanese-born.

And you're still overly idolizing the japanese technology, setting yourself up for disappointment.

Go join the French foreign legion.

Hey OP. I was in the National Guard. Saw how people were getting treated and was lucky enough to get out early in my contract because everything is so fucking disorganized. Never got deployed but saw men get denied medical benefits literally because the CO did not want to sign the paperwork. Decided I did not want to end up like those guys. I barely did anything while in the Army but still it changed me. It changes everybody. Not to the same level as you but shit man it really is a disgrace how they treat soldiers here.

Listen OP go to Japan on a tourism visa for one month. Not for traveling or anything. Just go to a city and try to live there for one month. If you think you can handle it then pursue your idea even more. The Japanese are nothing like us. I am going to be working in China for one year and I am not sugarcoating my time there. I will probably have a hard year there but I am doing it only for the money and will be coming back to the US afterwards. Just spend a month there and see if it really is a good idea after all.

>>1067832
Their economy is pretty bad tbqh

>>1067934
OP said his right arm was paralyzed from surgery, so I don't think that's an option for him.

>>1067951
From his story OP is an American, so he won't even need a tourist visa for Japan if he's only staying for a month.

>>1067831
OP, like others have already said, you have some unresolved issues and are setting yourself up for disappointment. I think it's best to take things one step at a time and go to college first and see what pans out from there.

>>1067848
Fuck you, you little shitstain, you think you know a fucking thing about this guy? If you're so fuckin smart then why do you have literally nothing of value to contribute?
Choke on a dick, you're pathetic

OP, I feel for you, so I'll try to give you some useful advice.

>work ethic
The Japanese work ethic means taking 15 hours to do a job everyone else in the first world will do in 5. The long hours aren't because they work hard -- they're due to (a) social stigmas and (b) the fact that many of them don't want to go home.

>group mentality
Well and good, but you're not Japanese and will never be fully accepted into the group.

>what I need to do to move to Japan.
Get a 4-year degree from a university. Apply to various schools and programs online once you have it. Rinse and repeat until you get a job offer.

As an English teacher you'll make about US$25,000/year -- enough to live on, but nothing fancy. You may be able to continue your VA benefits; in any case this is something you should be asking the VA about. Bad credit shouldn't matter for a visa; they're only interested in criminal things.

Do however think about some of the advice you've received ITT. Actually visit the place to see if you really like it -- Japan isn't such an easy place to live and not everybody enjoys it. Realize that your problems will get on and off the plane with you. Keep in mind that you'll be living in a place that actively wants to keep you at arm's length.

OP, also this -- if the VA is paying you enough to live on in the US, and you really need a change of scenery, why not consider other options? Why not go directly to the Philippines and live there? Move to some nice beach town, marry a nice local girl, open a small hotel -- VA money should be more than adequate to do this, and you won't have to deal with the BS of college, day-to-day life in Japan, and teaching English to students who have no interest in it.

I was also going to mention that you could live well off VA benefits in SE asia. I hear Vietnam is actually really great. Lots of beaches too.

Japan is boring.

OP, I think Japan really isn't a good option for most people. To be successful there you have to be really into Japanese things. If you're just casual about it you'll have a hard time. Their culture is vastly different from western cultures and it's difficult to adjust to.

I think you should consider a few other alternatives instead. Look at work-holiday options around the world. Go to Australia for a year, work and live the backpacker lifestyle to rejuvenate your life. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Working_Holidays_in_Australia

Do a trip around Asia after that, maybe you'll come across a country in SEA that you'll like, try to see if it would be possible to stay there. Spend a year and if you don't like it move on.

But actually, if you're only 25, I would suggest going to university and getting a degree. Especially if you can get it to be paid off at least partially by VA. It will open many doors for you.

Good luck m8