Yukusaki

I already had an idea what area I wanted to go to (Osaka) so I only had a few choices, and the one I originally wanted was full for the semester I was applying for so I really only had one choice of school (it was the only part-time school out the the 4 or 5 so it ended up being the best choice for me anyway).

I would recommend doing a little research on the different areas of Japan where you could go, get an idea of what each area is like and what makes it unique. Maybe one area will jump out to you, maybe not. You can pay attention to things like:

weather--I wasn't too picky about this but the weather here in Japan is easily the worst of any place I've lived--and I've lived in southern Arizona and interior Alaska. I don't even live in a very weather-extreme part of Japan like Hokkaido.

cost of living--big cities like Tokyo or Osaka will be more expensive but also give you way more opportunities for meeting people, practicing Japanese, part-time jobs, travelling, etc.

how extensive and therefore convenient the public transit system is--again, better in cities. If you intend to be out and about seeing the sights a lot and you won't have a car or bike, this is pretty important.

dialect--some areas are more difficult to understand than others, or you might be interested in one particular dialect

access to other areas of Japan--if you're hoping to spend some time traveling to other parts of Japan, you should keep that in mind. For example, from Osaka you can hop on a local train and be in Nara, Kyoto, Kobe, Wakayama, or even Himeji Castle or Nagoya within a couple hours, or shell out a bit and take the bullet train or night bus to literally anywhere else in the country. Southern Kyushu? Not a lot of easy day trips and Tokyo and Hokkaido are suddenly a halfl-day trip one-way

subcultures--I can only speak for Kansai but there aren't many opportunities for hobbies like ballroom dance class or LGBT events outside of Osaka.

If that doesn't help, look at types of school. There should be an indicator on gogonihon for how intense the school is. Full-time vs part-time (half-day classes) is also probably be going to be a big decider for you. Again, depending on what you want to focus on, classes might not be the most effective for you, in which case part-time school is probably the better bet.

All of the schools that I'm aware of work on a quarter system, as in 4 terms per year, so the next one will starting in March/April (might be impossible becasue of Covid), and the next one in June. If you're planning on applying for the next semester at any given time, have a few schools picked out, since one may be full. If you've got a full semester or more between the time you apply and the time you want to start, you should be fine though.

Other than that, if you do a bit of research (on areas and schools), you should be able to figure out what is important to you in choosing a city or school and what isn't.

The staff at gogonihon might also have some advice for you once you start the process.

All the info below is from a few years ago, but things probably haven't changed much.

Visa-wise, yes you can. Assuming you're going to be attending a vocational school and not a regular university (and I don't know anything about university visas), your visa allows you to work, if I recall correctly, 20 hours a week, up to 8 hours in one day. That number goes up when your school is on break. You're "not allowed" to work in bars, clubs, etc., but I worked at a bar for 6 months while attending school because it was registered as an 飲食店 and not a "bar." You can use this visa for 2 years total, like ever, no matter if you leave Japan and re-apply for the same type of visa, so don't waste time if this is the way you go. Fortunately, you can still go to a part-time school on this visa if you want more time to work or do other things.

However, wages at restaurants and bars and that type of work aren't usually super high so on only 20 hours a week it's unlikely that you could 100% pay for rent, tuition, food, etc with just a part-time job. You'll probably have to get a sharehouse, live partially off savings, or make some other arrangement.

If you are one of the Privileged who are eligible for a working holiday visa, the restrictions I talked about above pretty much go away as far as I'm aware. However, you still are only going to be able to use that visa for a year or two depending on your country and there are more requirements than for a student visa.

In regards to the school rules themselves, I doubt there are any language schools that don't allow you to work. Most of them should encourage it. The site I used to find my language school is gogonihon, they will help you through the process of applying to the school and everything.

All this being said, I have one piece of advice that I wish I had known when I started attending language school: The Japanese you learn in your classes at your level is going to be mainly formal, literary, or written Japanese. If you're more interested in becoming fluent in speaking and want more everyday conversational phrases and words, it's better to put more energy into finding a job, social group, or other opportunity to actually practice speaking. It can be quite difficult as a foreigner attending a school full of other foreigners to actually immerse yourself in the language in culture despite actually being in Japan, so you'll need to make a concerted effort to really get the most out of your time here. Classes will, however, help you pass the N2 if that's your plan--and if you eventually want a full-time job in Japan that isn't teaching English, it is pretty important. If you do plan to look for a full-time job, do it while you are in Japan, as it's much easier to convert a student visa to a work visa than it is to get a work visa from scratch.

Yes! My main advice is to 1. think of why you want to learn Japanese and keep that in mind as you study. If you only want to use Japanese for casual conversation and don't intend on taking the JLPT, you don't need to worry about formal and written grammar--and unfortunately after about N3, that's what you'll be learning in any classes or textbooks. Another piece of advice is that you should learn you learning style to make your study more effective and more fun for you! Don't spend hours struggling through flashcards if writing sentences is more fun or effective for you. Make sure you're enjoying studying. Do you like music? The repetitions is a fantastic way to learn vocab, so look up the words you hear often. Do you like anime/dramas? Leave English subtitles on and learn a few phrases that way (it's also very good for pronunciation and intonation practice if you have the patience to pause and repeat lines aloud).

As for resources, as a beginner I really recommend you try some textbooks or a course if you have the means. They'll give you a sort of structure and path to learn and makes it a little less overwhelming. I used the Genki series in university and it's supposed to be one of the good ones. If you can't buy it, try to find some sort of course online or something, or try a library or thrift store.

For a more reference side of things, I recommend what I'm pretty sure is called "The Basics of Japanese Grammar, " there's a few of those for different areas of grammar, and I downloaded the verbs one for like 2 bucks and found it very useful for having a lot of conjusgations all just listed out for quick reference.

For something you can use for most levels of Japanese I really like "Common Japanese Collocations," which is a book of words that just "go together" (like "take a bath" → "お風呂に入る" for example). It'll help tons with learning the most natural way to say things.

I also used the Pimsleur program (audio lessons) at the very beginning, which I got from my library. If you do use it, however, you should definitely supplement it with something to learn hiragna/katakana/kanji, and maybe some grammar. I haven't personally used Rosetta Stone or Duolingo for Japanese but you could also give those a try.

Most of these are for beginners! Once you get to about conversational you'll want to move towards actually using Japanese rather than book study!

柄 (がら) pattern, design, markings

(there are also other definitions for that word)

I think I first heard it when talking about cats’ markings like tabby, calico, etc.  I also hear it pretty commonly for things like clothes and fabric, plates and cups, etc. etc.

落語家は単純な柄か無柄の和服を着用する。A storyteller should wear Japanese clothes with little or no pattern.

白地と柄の割合によっては二毛と呼ぶ事がある  According to the ratio of a white coat and a pattern, a cat is sometimes referred to as Bi-color Cat.

The rain stopped at last.  やっと雨がやんだ。

Wait till the rain stops.  雨がやむまで待ちなさい。

I have heard that you can use  上がる（あがる） as well but I’ve never actually come across it in conversation.  For reference, the word I used when the native speaker didn’t correct me was (if I recall correctly) 止まる

ついでに -- while (you’re) at it

As I’m sure you can imagine, you use it when you”re doing some action A and it’s convenient to do action B while you’re at it, even though it has nothing to do with your purpose for doing A..  

Often it just goes at the beginning of the part of the sentence discussing action B with no special particles or anything to connect it  The first part of the sentence (with A) can be dropped.

[A (verbs often are in the -te form)],   ついでに B

ついでに私のも買ってきてくれますか。Can you buy one for me as well while you’re at it?

彼を迎えに行って、ついでにこの手紙をポストに入れておいて。Go and meet him, and while you're about it mail this letter.

You can, however, combine ついでに with A instead.

君が飲むついでに、僕の分も入れてくれないかな。Would you mind making an extra cup of coffee whenever you decide to have some?

もったいない -- what a waste!

似顔絵（にがおえ）portrait

乗り捨て（のりすて）getting off the train before the stop you purchased the ticket for (and using that ticket, not just accidentally getting off a stop early and catching the next train to get to your stop)

乗り過ごす（のりすごす）accidentally riding past your stop

乗り越し（のりこし）riding past the stop you purchased the ticket for, probably not accidentally.