Quote Originally Posted by Ode to a Grasshopper View Post
For me I fond if I go out on nights before work then I don't do so well at my job the next day, so I try to focus on work first and play/immersion second.
Yeah, that's fair enough. I was there as a uni student and... I don't know if you're aware of this yet, but Japanese undergraduate university is a complete bludge. Nobody studies - they just party a LOT. It's like in compensation for their senior high school years where they have no social lives and study their butts off to get into university, but once they're in, they need to learn how to socially interact (i.e. get drunk ). So JP university is less about べんきょう and more about のみかい! Which was great for me, because basically partying was the main way that I learnt Japanese! It was far more efficient and fun than learning out of books.

Having said that, I've heard that post-grad study in Japan is really hard though (I did my post-grad in AU; only ever did undergrad in JP so I can't comment first hand about JP post grad study - but JP post grad students all tell me it's heaps hard).

Quote Originally Posted by Ode to a Grasshopper View Post
I've got five years here, I'll be plenty immersed and more so as my Japanese improves. Right now I'm one of those recently arrived foreigners, and one whose job is largely pandering to those English speaking Japanese.
Five years! That's freakin' awesome! I'm sure you'll be more fluent than me before you can say りゅうぐうのおとひめのもとゆいのきりはずし! (that's a real word btw ;p)