Thanks, Qunli. Life is too short to let dreams slip away like this, you'd be surprised how much of an effect your post had on convincing me that this is the way to go. It'll be a long and hard road, but I think I'll go for it.

We have a rapidly aging population here in Australia, too, and so the only reason we've really managed to keep our growth up is by accepting immigrants. I've read that in a country like Japan which is in continual recession, innovative minds can make their fortunes. Assuming you're in Japan or hoping to move into Japan, good luck to both of us .