By discussing the ease of getting around and taking part in day-to-day activities without speaking Japanese I am no way implying that I don't think you should learn the language. Even the basics can be quite useful.

Try to occasionally force yourself into situations where you have to use Japanese (whatever level it may be)...in other words, escape the white people! Otherwise, English will inevitably end up dominating the conversation.

Travelled there every summer as part of an exchange program during university. Studied the language and volunteered at immersion camps from 2007-10...travelled everywhere, but spent the most time in Fukuoka (southernmost part of Japan). Unforgettable times.


It's easy to overestimate how many people speak English by the ease of getting directions at the train station, ordering food, checking into hotels, etc. Despite "studying" for eight years in school, most people do not speak English.

As long as you're reasonably social and sincere, it's pretty easy to make Japanese friends. Even if you just go out exploring during the evening hours by yourself, it's not hard to meet friendly people. There are a number of fun, non-trashy pubs (avoid the Gas Panic chain unless you want to get pickpocketed and shoved around by sexually-frustrated bros) catering to foreigners. Especially if you're white, people will assume you speak no Japanese whatsoever, and conversation flows naturally. It's not as nearly difficult or awkward as you might think.

Its kind of weird I guess, like I lived in China for about a year and I probably learned 20 times more Mandarin in half the time just because I had to. When I first came here I was definately planning to study it but after while I realized I was only speaking english to everyone anyway so I just put it off.

Its super easy man as long as your friendly and outgoing etc. Most of my good friends here are Japanese. Most random people on the street dont speak conversation level english obv but when you go out drinking or whatever then its pretty easy start conversations or meet girls or whatever. Its kind of hard to describe exactly I guess

Hey mate,
Hoping to work in ski fields for 3/4 months this winter (theirs) then go to uni on exchange there for Spring semester next year. Exchange will be done through my uni, hopefully to Tokyo. Ski field work will be through one of a couple of websites that sort out that kind of thing. Any thoughts/ advice/ contacts (lol) for the ski stuff?

Good to hear that online hasn't been a problem. Was hoping not to have to play no poker for 8 months. So if i get down to osaka i'll try to give you a buzz.

Yea Japan sounds like an awesome place, I heard most countries can get a 1 year working visa is this what your doing spritezero or are you teaching english etc def going to get to Japan soon

Na bro sorry I don't really know anything about the working on the ski fields I wish I had some contacts for you lol. I've met a few people randomly that have done it before and some people loved it and some people thought it was pretty average so I really have no idea, Ild think it would be pretty sweet though.
Def give me a message if you come down round Osaka though.

Do you mean a working holiday visa? I originally came here on a working holiday visa which is the easiest way bcz you can pretty much do whatever you want and its pretty much automatic approval as long as you dont have a criminal rec, etc, as opposed to a working visa where you would have to get sponsored by the company, etc before you came to Japan.I think it's pretty pretty easy to find a job teaching english after you arrive anyway.
Also na Im not teaching english I've thought about it there are some gigs that seem like they would be kind of fun but Ive gotten to used to the online poker lifestyle to be able to regularly get up before 2pm lol.

Hey man,

I'm planning on moving to Japan sometime in the fall to teach English and play poker the rest of the time for a year or two. Right now I'm grinding in Mexico and learning all I can. I'm only starting though so I'm pretty bad ><

I've been traveling for over a year with the goal of learning poker while I do it but unfortunately Black Friday came and I couldn't do that as well as I hoped and basically blew through most of my BR but it was definitely worth it. Now I'm looking to rebuild it by teaching English and saving all I can so I can continue traveling the world afterwards and hopefully play poker doing so.

Anyway, Osaka is definitely on my list and it would be cool to be introduced around if I do go there. I've already spent some time at a Japanese farm in the Bay so I have a decent understanding of the culture and a minor grasp of the language.

Was worried that Japan didn't allow online poker, I'm glad that it does. One of my major concerns is how to deposit/withdraw money. Right now in Mexico it's pretty weird for me because I have a Canadian bank account, but my (online) job deposits to my American bank, which means there's no point of me opening a Mexican account heh. But that's ok since I'm only doing micros and have enough to learn/grind until I get to Japan and start making salary there.

Anyway, kind of cool I came across this post, I just happen to randomly google online poker in Japan.

Best way to find an apartment in the Osaka area if I don't speak japanese? Any reputable websites? I'm American so I'm only looking to stay ~2 months, how will that factor into finding an apartment?

I plan on grinding online while I travel around etc, I'm an American so what are my options for for depositing into my stars account?

Edit: looking for something in ~$800/month range if at all possible.

Hey man sorry for the late reply, I'm staying at my place in the Philippines for a few months and getting internet set up at the house is like the biggest mission ever.

Regarding deposits/withdrawls:

It might be a good idea to just get an entropay account to get money out, its just like an online prepaid visa but you can have a plastic card for atm withdrawls etc, (its just like a normal visa card) for like $5 or something, I used this for my first year in Japan but then stars randomly stopped allowing withdrawls stars support said its visa dosen't allow cashouts to Japan issued cards, so if you just get it before you arrive in Japan you'll be sweet. Also from memory there was no atm or purchase fees in the few countries I used it in.

- Withdrawls can take between 3 days to 2 weeks though and usually larger amounts take longer for some reason from my experience.

At the moment I just withdraw to my Moneybookers account then transfer to my Japanese bank account

- Takes 2 or 3 nights max.

Or else if your'e in Japan just ship to me on stars and I'll give it to you in yen lol.

- Instant yens for you.

Goodluck rebuilding you BR man if you make it to Japan I'ld be glad to introduce you to some people/places or whatever, what visa are you planning on coming on btw?

Sorry man I dont really know much in the way of short term leases etc, it'll probably be pretty hard to get an apartment on a 2 month lease though usually rental agencies want much longer leases especially since you wont be actually working in Japan, but like I said I don't really know much about it I've only been apartment hunting once, these websites should be worth checking out though:

http://www.gaijinpot.com/

http://www.kfm.to/index.php?option=c...id=1&Itemid=58

Awesome - thanks a bunch for all the advice, I will look into the entropay thing. I think I may already have moneybookers setup from 1.5 years ago when I was doing S&Gs so I will look into that as well. (switching to cash games now and it's a real kick in the arse at micros with very little reputable material about them out but I'll get there, there's a very awesome/friendly poker community here in La Paz that's giving me a ton of advice).

I'll be coming in on a sponsored work visa as I'll be doing the whole teach English as second language thing. Also, hopefully, banging a ton of chicks as I heard they're really into white dudes - is that true? hehe

haha yea man you should do ok it's a pretty easy game I guess lol.
I'm kind of in the same spot as you I guess, I grinded sngs like a mofo last year and switched to 6max cash this year starting at 16nl and now like half 50nl and half 100nl just trying to make enough money to live while my main goal is to get good enough to have a small to decent winrate at 200nl+ by the end of the year so I can mash super nova elite next year.
That's pretty sweet that there's a good poker community there, that kind of thing must be invaluable and it'll def be something that you'll miss when you get to jp,

Yeah, they play much higher stakes here though, La Paz is basically a paradise city and I plan to return one day and use it as a vacation spot, I think that's why a lot of Americans live here. It's very safe because the drug cartels don't move through here.

As for withdrawing/depositing - I had just done more research about this and some people recommended using paypal, opening a USD account in whichever country you're staying, and transferring it between the two. There's a 2.9% transaction fee for it so I'm not sure if it's worth it but since you'd open a USD account and I have 2 Canadian accounts, one of which is USD, I do not have to deal with exchange rates so it appears to be an interesting idea.

I am going to try to do it with my US bank right now after I get confirmed; the only thing that sucks is I had to open another paypal account for my canadian one and strangely enough THAT account lets me add both US and Canadian banks, but since my US bank is already linked to another paypal account I cannot do it without closing it, which I do not want to do at this time. But if something like that were possible, I think it would make the 2.9% fee vanish as well as you would simply deposit into paypal from one bank and withdraw into the other. What do you think?

p.s. I just said **** it and bought the crushing microstakes book that some people scoff at but it has received enough positive feedback that I think it will save me some learning time. Hopefully I'll be up in your limits by Fall after a couple of fatty paychecks since teaching English over there is $$$ and you only have to do it 25 hrs a week or so (crazy crazy).