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MAKING THE MOVE TO JAPAN
Destination content © Ruthy Kanagy, used from Living Abroad in Japan, 1st Edition.
Maps © Avalon Publishing Group, Inc.
Overview "When your children are ready, plan ways to learn Japanese together, go shopping, or take outings.
But I recommend starting slowly—riding a subway may be a big enough activity by itself. Don’t fill up the schedule too much."
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Dependent Visa • Making the Adjustment
Dependent Visa
If you are coming to Japan with a student or work visa and have family members accompanying you, they will need to apply for a Dependent Visa at a Japanese consulate office outside Japan in order to enter the country. A spouse or children of someone residing in Japan with the visa status of Professor, Researcher, or Cultural Activities are eligible for dependent residence status. Normally, the period of stay for dependents is three months, six months, one year, or three years. If your dependent plans to stay in Japan for more than 90 days, he or she must also apply for alien registration.

Making the Adjustment
Children face their own challenges when moving to a new country. Make sure to provide plenty of support—familiar books, toys, music, photographs of extended family and close friends, and some favorite foods. Allow them time to get adjusted to their new surroundings, and try not to push them to play with children they don’t know. If your children are old enough, help them write a postcard or email to a friend back home. Above all, as a parent, give them your time and emotional support, although you may be busy with the many tasks of setting up house in a new culture. When your children are ready, plan ways to learn Japanese together, go shopping, or take outings. But I recommend starting slowly—riding a subway may be a big enough activity by itself. Don’t fill up the schedule too much.
  I was four years old the first time I went to a new country. My parents were going back to Indiana for a year of furlough from their missionary work, and I found myself in a strange place filled with new tastes (like Froot Loops), a new language, and relatives I’d heard about but had never met. I was too young to go to school, so I stayed home and played with buttons from my grandmother’s sewing basket. The second time we moved back to the States, I was eleven and attended an English school for the first time. I could speak English, but heard a lot of words that weren’t in my vocabulary, and sometimes got laughed at for not knowing common slang words. Your child may face similar challenges living in Japan or going to a Japanese school. Finding him or her a buddy to help ease the transition will make a big difference.
  But despite some adjustments, the pluses of growing up in two cultures far outweigh the challenges. Learning two or more languages from infancy has been shown to stimulate and develop brain cells, since brain capacity increases through mapping multiple sets of vocabularies and grammars. On a social level, knowing more than one language and culture gives children (and adults) a broader worldview and empathy for people from other places. Home is no longer just one country—“one nation indivisible” extends to “one earth indivisible.” There are practical advantages as well—being bilingual and bicultural will be an advantage when your child establishes a career. You as a parent can give your family that opportunity.

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