So I just got back from a holiday to Japan (was amazing, long time must visit location but first time there) and my partner has completely fallen in love with the place (she's not the reasonable sort) and wants us to move there and teach english for a year or something.
This is actually something we have discussed in the past (teaching english overseas), we both have a degree in literature and are in our mid twenties and would love to see more of the world. Being from Australia (which has good ties to Japan) we don't even need a visa or anything like that, just a teaching english as a foreign language accreditation and a placement with a school over there. I've always wanted to teach anyway so its all good.
We don't speak fluent Japanese, but I did study it for some years in high school so I'm not completely basic either. She is a quick study and probably more fluent than me these days.
Anyway here is where it gets tricky. We got back from Japan and began making plans for a lengthier non-holiday stay over there. Now our current lease runs out in November, and she's recently told me she would like to transition directly from our lease ending to going over to live in Japan. Having not done much research on this, this seems very soon to me - especially for a major life decision like moving overseas to work for a year or two (keeping in mind november is roughly 9 weeks away).
It's probably fair to mention here that in the relationship she is the dreamer and I am the realist. She would be perfectly fine flying over there and trusting that she could work the rest out. I, on the other hand, am a nuts and bolts kind of person. I can't even realistically think about going there until I know where we are staying, how we are getting accredited, where to work etc.
This is causing some friction in our relationship (as I'm sure you can guess) as it largely comes to down to opinion differing on how long is the right amount of time to prepare before heading over there. Obviously I have a lot of research to do (luckily I have some savings so money isn't a huge issue) before I can commit to a timeline on that, she wants us to leave as soon as possible because that's just the way she is.
So I thought I'd put it out there to you guys to see what your views were. Anyone done anything like this, potentially in Japan? Any tips? We know that outside of teaching its virtually impossible to work long term in Japan and that teachers dont earn much over there, that doesn't bother us really.
Also if you want to tell me that I'm not adventurous enough or alternatively that my girlfriend is a crazy person that would be fine too. We've been together 6 years also, so I don't really need input around "don't travel/work with/live with your girlfriend" if we can avoid that.