> Work visas can take 2-4 months to process.  Rare cases are less.  So, plan
on
> getting the job 2-4 months before you move here (if you can get a job
outside
> Japan).  Even if you are in Japan on a tourist visa, you might have to
leave
> the country to process that work visa (usually in Seoul), which requires
more
> money out of your pocket.  Many places are not requiring you to leave
Japan,
> but this is only a trend, not something that happens 100% of the time.
>

that's funny you bring up Korea. I had to go to Pusan after college to get
my visa renewed. I fucked up quit badly and was stuck in Pusan for about 2
weeks. I played 3 - ball pool for the entire time and met a lot of nice
people (although we couldn't speak in English, some of them knew some
Japanese). But I remember staying at the Hilton in Pusan, and it was so
amazingly cheap; something like 10,000 for the suits. And about eight
hundred thousand yen in Korean wan took like a suitcase to carry around. it
was like monopoly money; but fun.