Japan attracts many people wishing to study the language and culture, and there is no shortage of schools around the country. This week's first question is from R.H., a British reader keen to come and learn Japanese. She is looking for schools that would welcome mature students:
I am 55 years old and I am not a university graduate. I would like to study Japanese language and conversation with the aim of starting a business here in the U.K. I am British and would like to study/live in a country town and obtain a visa to study in a language college for about a year or so.
To begin with, the good news is that there is no upper age limit for applying for a student visa to come to Japan, so once R.H. chooses her school, they should be able to help her organize a visa, assuming she meets the other requirements from Immigration. There used to be specific resident statuses for younger foreigners, namely "college student" and "pre-college student" but these were combined with "student visa" in 2010, and now that one category covers all ages (see bit.ly/jstudentvisa) Of course, whether or not a specific language school has an age limit depends on the school itself.