This is a long one 

This is the story of how I decided to move abroad with no money.

I graduated in August 2015 with a Bachelor’s Degree in Romance Languages (Spanish and Italian – it sounds much fancier than it actually is). My goal was to travel and teach English abroad, so I immediately started an intensive one-month CELTA course. A CELTA is an English-teaching qualification, for those who don’t know. I originally had plans to move to Le Réunion (a French-speaking island in the Indian Ocean). This is because my friend who had a work placement lined up there invited me along. However, due to her eventual doubts in my ability to support myself over there, the whole plan fell through.

So then what? 

Alex, the babe <3

Then, I remembered that my friend, Alex, had been living in Japan at the time. I had seen some Facebook posts of his blathering on about Japan and wondered if he was still there. So, I sent him a message and sure enough, there he was! So I announced to my mum that I was going to be smegging off to join him in Japanland.

She said, “Why on earth didn’t you study Japanese at university? Can’t you go somewhere a bit closer like Spain instead?” Bless her.

So, that’s how I made the decision to move abroad with no money.

Related post: How Did I Learn Japanese By Myself?

Job hunt time 

I had a Skype interview with an English conversation school called NOVA (because that’s how Alex got over there). They gave me a job, and the visa process began! I went to the British Embassy in London with the visa documentation, my passport and my degree certificate. One month later I was called back to collect my new Japanese visa! Exciting stuff!

Now to get a plane ticket 

The Oscars event at the summer camp

As my mum suggested, I did actually go to Spain! I worked in Tarragona for two months teaching English at a summer camp called English Summers S.A. It was really fun, by the way, I highly recommend it. I saved up enough money for a one-way ticket to Tokyo and I had a bit left over. So, naturally, I went on holiday to Greece for a week with my best friend.

My mum: “Shouldn’t you take that extra money to Japan with you, Jade, rather than going on holiday? What are you going to survive on?”

Me: “Oh, Mum, this is the last time I’m going to be able to go on holiday with Nina for a while. And, anyway, experiences count more than money.”

No regrets whatsoever

While I still stand by those words, smeg me did I make my life a lot more stressful when I did get to Japan.

She made it! 

I arrived on the 3rd of October 2015 and panicked as Alex was nowhere to be found. My phone was an old Nokia brick that couldn’t connect to the internet, even in England. I unpacked my laptop and managed to connect to the airport wifi to find that Alex had caught no fewer than three incorrect trains in his attempt to come and collect me from the airport. He somehow guided me back to his sharehouse in Shinjuku, and that was where I stayed for the first month. On his bedroom floor.

Daphne <3 Oh, it is love

We went halves on an inflatable bed, which soon became known as Welt World. This is because I woke up every morning with red welts on my body from it. I also bought a duck-shaped plush cushion for a pillow, who we christened “Daphne”. Then I waited for another room in the house to become free, which it did in November.

Penniless 

Poverty strikes

For the first three days in Japan, I tried several times to get money out using my British debit card. I chose specific ATMs that accepted foreign bank cards, but to no avail. Leave it to me to actually move abroad with no money! Eventually, I realised that my bank had blocked my card from being used abroad because I hadn’t informed them I was moving to Japan. I logged into my online banking account and found a way to let them know. Within hours, my card was back online! Hooray!

Alex returned to work shortly after I arrived, and I was left to my own devices in his room. I get lost very easily and can’t read maps. It’s very likely that I would get lost in a paper bag. At the time, I didn’t have a functioning phone or an internet connection outside the house. So, I would stay and wait for Alex to come home every day so that I could eat because I was too scared I would get lost on the hunt for a corner shop and never be found again. Pretty sure I lost a bit of weight in that first week.

Jobless?

NOVA, NOVA, where art thou, NOVA?

The main problem I found was that NOVA wasn’t getting back to me. I became quite worried that I was completely jobless. In fact, it took them ten days to get back to me with any sort of information, so I spent that time looking for other jobs. I joined another English conversation school part-time, and I also found some private students on various student/teacher websites.

NOVA did eventually start up too, so I ended up with three jobs. Yet, I was still too poor to do much with my life after paying the rent!

All the other stuff 

Random picture of me at the Hokkaido food festival in Yoyogi Park

Starting a new life in Japan is very difficult, I soon found. When you start working at a company, they usually require that you have both a phone and a bank account. To open a bank account, the bank requires a Japanese phone number. Meanwhile, to get a phone, the phone company requires a Japanese bank account… What the smeg?! So I opened a bank account using my company’s phone number and said that it was mine. Then, I changed it to my actual phone number once I had earnt enough money to get a phone… Six months later.

No phone for six months? 

Yes, I lived in the middle of Tokyo for six months with no phone in 2015. It was incredibly isolating and often stressful, but one of the best things I have ever done.

Hachiko’s Mural!

Slowly but surely, with three jobs and little free time, I wore myself out until I realised that NOVA was no place to make any decent money. It also had some questionable working conditions (such as no sick leave). So, after six months, I quit both NOVA and the other English conversation school to find a better job.

Life lessons learnt 

And that was how I came to Japan with only £200 (about 25,000円) to my name and survived for the first six months.

Where there’s a will, there’s a way, people. Move abroad with no money if you have to! Don’t let anything hold you back! When you have to survive, you just do.

Jade xxx