Dear Marty. I am a Norwegian student who lately have been haunted by my own fetish for everything Japanese. 5 years ago I started studying Japanese at the University of Oslo. Currently I am finishing up my masters thesis, but am afraid that this might not amount to much else than satisfying my own interest. As I have been traveling frequently to Japan these last 5 years, and also stayed for 6 months on one occasion, I have realized one thing. I feel more at home in Japan than I do in my own home country. Every day I fantasize about just packing up and leave for good. But as it is hard for a gaijin as myself to just go to Japan, especially workwise, I hesitate. Do you have any good tips for a student whos only dream is to settle in Japan for good. As I have a good basic understanding of the language, I am sure this is a barrier to be overcome quickly if I first got there. But Since I don't have any connections for work, I am unsure what to do. If I could I would work at an am/pm easily, just as long as I got to stay in the country. But I am afraid my keigo isn't quite good enough to even support that right away:) I miss Japan all the time. The food, the people, the culture. Any advise for a frustrated fellow Japan fetishist.

I get it...the good thing is you sound intelligent enough to know what a daunting task it is...another good thing is you have the dream. Those are two really good places to start. You are right about keigo (ultra-polite form of Japanese) and am/pm--but as long as I`ve lived here I have only seen one foreigner working in a convenience store. And though he was trying his best, there is something about the "sekkyaku rhythm" (direct contact with a customer) that was off beat. Even with perfect keigo, I would think it it would be hard for a convenience chain to take responsibility for a foreigner and deal with visa and immigration issues. The gaijin that work here are rarely on the front lines with the general pubilc, for the reason that you mention, keigo. I can`t recommend this because I know zero about it, but I know there are foreigners teaching languages (mainly English) at specialty schools. Otherwise there are foreigners with a special expertise (possibly in a technical or business field) that allows them a bit of leeway on the super polite Japanese because they are not in contact with the almighty customer, and their skill is what keeps them there. FYI, I only know 4 or 5 Japanese speaking gaijin here, and as much as I`d like to think I do well at it, most of them are way more proficient than I am. The language is really what separates the men from the boys... I would suggest that you come again for a few months with the purpose of looking into the job market, real estate, visa stuff and all of the realistic things that go into making such an insane move. Then--go for it because you only live once! Best of luck.