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Japan GAF |OT| I'm not planning a trip; I live here!

There was the usual set of parties/events at the clubs/restaurants I frequent in Osaka on Friday night, and then this weekend I'm taking the kids around to the local malls and our neighborhood's trick or treating.
 
So is it typically just small neighborhoods/communities that organize private trick or treating in Japan? That sounds really nice!
 
Aizo said:
So is it typically just small neighborhoods/communities that organize private trick or treating in Japan? That sounds really nice!
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About 2 weeks ago when I went to a nearby station I saw a big group of kids with their parents, both children and adults in costumes. They were getting sweets from store clerks so yeah, I think it's mostly communities organizing it.
 
it depends on where you live. over the years/prefectures, i've seen varying degrees of halloween celebrations, though halloween is much bigger now than when i was living in touhoku 12 years ago. i've only done trick or treating since i've had kids in two areas of japan. i missed out on doing it for the first time in tokyo this year by a few weeks. the places we have in kansai/shikoku are more residential/gated type communities with a lot of families so there's a stronger incentive to do activities like this, though the shikoku one is still a bit behind osaka/kobe. if i were to drive 5 mins in any direction it would be like halloween doesn't even exist, until you hit the next similar type of neighborhood or a central city area.

to be fair, the last 4 years in america trick or treating in the neighborhoods got visibly less active and a lot of people also opted for the major mall events there too. safe, guaranteed lighting, tons of other people. we still did a bit of street trick or treating but the highlight was the basically mini parade in the major malls of nj/ny.
 
Leaving for a few months next week to help a relative out, still bugs me how much more expensive return flights out of Japan are compared to return flights TO Japan.
 
So... it seems like Hakata (Fukuoka) got a new public pool in the middle of the city:

9.jpg


Apparently caused by some construction work of the subway around that area.

http://www3.nhk.or.jp/news/html/20161108/k10010759511000.html?utm_int=news_contents_news-main_001

Yikes...
 
MightyKAC said:
Just flew in yesterday and MAN is it good to finally be back in Japan. :)
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Welcome back. Glad your request went through!
Mik2121 said:
So... it seems like Hakata (Fukuoka) got a new public pool in the middle of the city:

9.jpg


Apparently caused by some construction work of the subway around that area.

http://www3.nhk.or.jp/news/html/20161108/k10010759511000.html?utm_int=news_contents_news-main_001

Yikes...
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Good that nobody was hurt. That poor 7/11.
 
Couple of questions about visiting Tokyo around Christmas time..

- are there any good family hotels near akasaka? Having dinner with the family at the ninja restaurant there and wanting to stay over to avoid crowded trains. But finding hotels with family rooms can be tricky. Ryokan would be good too.

- this one might be a long shot.. anywhere that will do a classic British Christmas lunch on Christmas Day? Will be around akasaka/shibuya from the night before and thinking to let the kids do some shopping for their presents as our shops are normally closed at Christmas.
 
So, in more fun news:

http://www.sankei.com/west/news/161107/wst1611070048-n1.html

「大阪市施設内４万カ所に高性能爆弾」　市が爆破予告のメール受信を発表

Basically some guy fucked any chance of credibility when he decided to go for "40,000" for the amount of bombs he placed around Osaka city. Is he trying to level the whole city or what?

dr.-evil-million-dollar-term-policy-300x241.jpg
 
Has anyone been to a western style Japanese wedding? Is it ok to wear a tuxedo? Online research looks like a black suit with white shirt and non black tie but was wondering if it is acceptable to step it up to a tuxedo. I'm a friend of the bride and I've tried asking her but have not received a response so I thought I'd turn to gaf.
 
mrklaw said:
Couple of questions about visiting Tokyo around Christmas time..

- are there any good family hotels near akasaka? Having dinner with the family at the ninja restaurant there and wanting to stay over to avoid crowded trains. But finding hotels with family rooms can be tricky. Ryokan would be good too.

- this one might be a long shot.. anywhere that will do a classic British Christmas lunch on Christmas Day? Will be around akasaka/shibuya from the night before and thinking to let the kids do some shopping for their presents as our shops are normally closed at Christmas.
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Check out/search the travel thread for hotel stufff and more useful info:
http://neogaf.com/showthread.php?t=539079
 
みんなの国では「震度」にあたる言葉ってあるの？

海外の地震のニュースって震源地のマグニチュードが伝えられるだけで、震度の情報がないから人の生活圏で実際にどれぐらい揺れたのかなどの状況が分かりにくい。

ほとんどの地域で「地震？何それ美味いの？」っていうのは承知しているけど。。。
 
The reason most people don't get shindo is because earthquakes are measured differently in other western countries and we use different scales. For shindo you could just use some dumb dictionary meaning like "seismic intensity" but honestly if you told someone from America the earthquake was a 6.0, they wouldn't know that the 6.0 is measuring the seismic activity or the energy released, they would just think "oh, I know on a scale of 1-9, 6 is pretty up there". Sadly most people don't even know how many times stronger a 6.1 for example is. But anyway, because the scales are different, a 6.0 in Japan means something different than in America, almost like metric->arabic. To be honest there's probably scale converters you can use.

This made me actually read this wiki page just to get the origin of the scale systems:
https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/気象庁震度階級

Now I'm actually readin bout this shit..according to these much smarter people, converting between the two systems isn't that easy:
https://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20090522040732AAhdqHI

So the truth is just taking the biggest example of the Touhoku earthquake. Magnitude scales have it at 9.0 and shindo has it at 8.4..
 
なるほど。そもそも例えばスケール5の揺れがどれほどの強さかがそれぞれの間で共有されてないと話が先に進まないね。

mercalli intensity scaleって初めて知った。毎日が勉強。

edit: ニュージーランドで地震が起きると日本でも発生する件について
 
Random question time:

I want to send some gifts home for christmas, problem is I got no idea what to send lol. I`ve never been good at gift giving imo but now that I live in Kagoshima I want to send them some interesting or fun things... no idea where to start.

List of people to gift things to are Mom (62), Dad(58), Brother (32), Sis in law (32), Niece (...4?) lol.

What would you guys randomly recommend.
 
鹿児島の人から何か贈り物をもらえるとしたら芋焼酎がいいなあ(●´ڡ`●)。のん兵衛じゃないけど。
 
Gacha-pin said:
鹿児島の人から何か贈り物をもらえるとしたら芋焼酎がいいなあ(●´ڡ`●)。のん兵衛じゃないけど。
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Isn't it illegal to send liquids to the USA via public transport mail, especially alcohol? -no idea, feel like I heard that before lol. But yeah this would be my first choice for Parents and brother.
 
I'm sending stuff to my parents as well for christmas but luckily they are huge fans of Disney so there's plenty to choose from here :p. In the Netherlands we don't have Disney Stores and all of the Disney merch is aimed at kids, so the stuff you find in Japan makes great gifts. My mom always wanted Disney ornaments for the christmas tree and they're doing a Ichiban Kuji with just that at Family Mart right now so I'll probably get some of that. And a nice 3D Disney christmas card from Loft :p.

Last year (not for christmas) I gave small Daruma dolls to my family and relatives as a souvenir with handwritten instructions how to "use" them. It's cheap, Japanese-y and somewhat useful so I think they make nice small gifts. You can get them in many different colors too. I think I bought those at Loft as well.

I think you can't send alcohol without paying some sort of tax, but I'm not entirely sure.
 
Valkerionseven said:
Isn't it illegal to send liquids to the USA via public transport mail, especially alcohol? -no idea, feel like I heard that before lol. But yeah this would be my first choice for Parents and brother.
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I can't speak for alcohol, but I have sent and received soda cans/bottles a number of times. This goes for US and Canada.

For Canada, I did this just this past October; sent some clear folders, couple of Famitsu magazines and 2 bottles of Japanese sodas.

For the US, I did it last Christmas. Sent a friend on the US East Coast some candy and a bottle of limited edition... I think it was Pepsi of some sort? Or maybe it was a fruity flavor of Mitsuya Cider. Whatever it was, it was still in there when my friend opened up the box.

I just went to the post office with the box, sent off whatever via whatever their standard service was (and then they were handled by Canada Post or the USPS, depending which we're talking about).

Just adding my own experience here.
 
Anyone been to that new Hokusai museum that opened in Sumida-ku? Thinking about going to it in mid December and wondering if anyone had any impressions of it.
 
expert posting in the Japanese learning thread made me want to ask all of you something. What are your favorite places in the country? Feel free to list as many as you'd like.

One that instantly comes to mind for me is the Hinomisaki Lighthouse and surrounding area in Shimane prefecture. That prefecture in general is the most beautiful place I've been to so far in Japan, but the particular area is just gorgeous. You go through the mountains, but it's also right against the sea. The abandoned school nearby is very cool to explore, and you walk through a path through the dense trees to get there. The lighthouse itself is the tallest in Japan, I think, and the view of the mountains and sea from above is breathtaking.
d86a1a3dd80a2876c0340a28dc915a82.jpg
 
Need a bit of currency exchange advice here. What is the best way to buy a LOT of Japanese yen. Like tens of thousands of dollars worth. All while getting a good exchange rate for it.

Also what's everyone doing for New Years?

Friends of mine want to spend it at club Ageha in Chiba but I dunno if I'm feeling like being in a crowded and probably crazy ass place like that.
 
Too many to list lol. Since it's winter I'd probably say 琴平町 in 香川 for all of the Konpira area - the onsen village, shrine, grand theater.. one of those places that reminds me you that 99% of Japan is nothing like the city areas lol. 道後町 is up there for basically the same reasons..as is all of the 祖谷渓..

..so basically Shikoku..

MightyKAC said:
Need a bit of currency exchange advice here. What is the best way to buy a LOT of Japanese yen. Like tens of thousands of dollars worth. All while getting a good exchange rate for it.
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I'll fight the urge to go into tax accountant mode and just address your direct question lol. When I transfer similarly large sums of money I use normal bank transactions (on my account that has the best benefits/rates/no fees). If you need cash immediately, changing like 5k at the airport is fine as the rates are usually very competitive. Reason I say 5k is because larger amounts go into busy work territory where they have to get more cash, manager's approval, blah blah. I guess you could bounce around to a few tellers if you wanted to, but never really heard of someone doing that..?

Assuming you already have a major bank account here, that'd be the best idea from a safety/practicality perspective, no? Then you'll also have the FATCA declaration issues out of the way too.
 
I figure this is the right thread for me to ask this kind of thing...

So, I am a English freelance game dialogue editor/engineer who currently works online for two British companies, and I find myself in the weird situation that it would be a better life choice for me to relocate to Japan and buy a cheap apartment rather than any form of property in the UK. I would like to find work in Japan too, though I have just started the absolute basics of learning any form of Japanese.

Having done some research into the different types of visas, this is what I figure about it. A visitor can stay in Japan for up to 90 days at a time, and though there are no laws against people doing roundabout trips out of the country to refresh their period, it would be wrong to game the system like that and it would pit me against the whims of strict immigration officers. I could juggle a three month Japan to three month UK turnabout living situation as there seems to be an accepted "Yeah, you can visit for 180 a days a year if you want, just don't take the piss" unwritten rule, but that would be hard. A visitor can't profit from work for Japanese companies while in the country, but since I work online for British companies, I don't fall under that.

The clearest pursuit I think for me is to find work in the country (game audio technical developer, localisation producer, something along those lines) and be sponsored for extended work visas through that, though that could take a while as I am nowhere near proficient with conversational Japanese at this time. I have a strong project history behind me (The Witcher 3, Dragon Quest Heroes, FFXIV: Heavensward, and a metric tone of other titles) so I believe I would have a realistic chance of finding solid work. As a side note, I figure I will need another nine months to deal with some UK things before I am in a realistic position to leave the country, so I will have learned more Japanese by then.

Another idea is to teach English over there, though I am unsure how that would fit with my game dialogue freelance, and I have no clue if 'part time' English teaching is a viable thing to get a work visa sponsorship with. Maybe I could teach English to Japanese game developers? I have no clue.

Also, I could try to find a life partner, but I'm not going to rely on that to solve my conundrum.

Anyway, I am visiting Japan for six days at the end of next February for my 30th birthday, so I can get a flavour of the country then to figure if this is the right push I should be making. I am curious though if anyone with knowledge or experience can offer some advice about making a full relocation from abroad to Japan.

I would be happy changing my citizenship over, though that would nullify me from working with my two UK freelance sources, so that is more of a thought for the future. Yay life.
 
We can talk about the legal, career, and financial practicality of the move easily. I'd actually suggest you go to some of the reddit Japan related subs and search/ask there because these topics are very..very.. abundant. But honestly I won't even touch any of the topics in your post here because you're talking about leaving your entire life/career behind to move across the world to a country you have never even been to. You plan to visit for 6 days (probably the most touristy and fantastical places at that) and base your decision on whether to uproot your entire life on that. To throw away your mother country's citizenship for a country you have never set foot in.

I don't know what it is about Japan that makes people think like this but man..stop. Relax. Take a rational look around. The first thing you should do is take a decent amount of time to figure out what your plan for the next few years looks like from all sorts of standpoints - family, career, relationship, goals. See why or how Japan has anything to do with any of them. Second thing you should do is speak to some career mentors in your network to understand what exactly there is waiting for you over here if you do wish to continue in your career or if you completely reset/try something else. The third thing to do is to read, read, and read about all of the challenges and opportunities you have if you do decide to do something like this. There are countless experiences out on the internet, including here on gaf, about what this entails.

Just to be clear, you could get a job teaching English and be here in probably 6 weeks if you applied tomorrow. That's just how that industry works. But again, think about everything that comes with doing something like that. It's not that I'm trying to dissuade you, I'm just trying to make you realize that something like this may be a band-aid in the now that makes everything better temporarily, but you may be making decisions that affect you quite adversely down the line if something doesn't work out as you think. Also you owe it to yourself to not close off the possibilities of other countries that are not Japan that may satisfy the needs you feel you have. Japan is not a paradise.


Anyway, there's plenty of people here that did similar things in similar fields and from similar backgrounds that I'm sure will give their thoughts.
 
I'm an expert said:
We can talk about the legal, career, and financial practicality of the move easily. I'd actually suggest you go to some of the reddit Japan related subs and search/ask there because these topics are very..very.. abundant. But honestly I won't even touch any of the topics in your post here because you're talking about leaving your entire life/career behind to move across the world to a country you have never even been to. You plan to visit for 6 days (probably the most touristy and fantastical places at that) and base your decision on whether to uproot your entire life on that. To throw away your mother country's citizenship for a country you have never set foot in.

I don't know what it is about Japan that makes people think like this but man..stop. Relax. Take a rational look around. The first thing you should do is take a decent amount of time to figure out what your plan for the next few years looks like from all sorts of standpoints - family, career, relationship, goals. See why or how Japan has anything to do with any of them. Second thing you should do is speak to some career mentors in your network to understand what exactly there is waiting for you over here if you do wish to continue in your career or if you completely reset/try something else. The third thing to do is to read, read, and read about all of the challenges and opportunities you have if you do decide to do something like this. There are countless experiences out on the internet, including here on gaf, about what this entails.

Just to be clear, you could get a job teaching English and be here in probably 6 weeks if you applied tomorrow. That's just how that industry works. But again, think about everything that comes with doing something like that. It's not that I'm trying to dissuade you, I'm just trying to make you realize that something like this may be a band-aid in the now that makes everything better temporarily, but you may be making decisions that affect you quite adversely down the line if something doesn't work out as you think. Also you owe it to yourself to not close off the possibilities of other countries that are not Japan that may satisfy the needs you feel you have. Japan is not a paradise.


Anyway, there's plenty of people here that did similar things in similar fields and from similar backgrounds that I'm sure will give their thoughts.
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I have been thinking about relocating to Japan for over a year. My family are supportive of me, I have nobody weighing me down, and the UK has soured me with how younger generations have little means of furthering themselves in work or society, not to mention the whole Brexit thing. An apartment costing £10k-£15k in Japan is equivalent to a £40k+ flat in the worst of the UK. I have been saving a while to form a mortgage deposit, but I am struggling to be comfortable with making such a long term investment here. At least in Japan I could buy a single room apartment and continue to save money for investment and life pursuits.
 
I mean, if your post said you had been thinking of making an international move and exploring options for a while, instead of jumping immediately to throwing your citizenship away, I could've pulled out one of the hundred responses I've given on this question before. Your post was just so extreme, and honestly sounded like you hadn't really started the journey of understanding how to make a living here yet, that I just wanted you to pump your brakes a bit. As for what you think you know about living costs here..again, I think you need to slow down and research a bit. Especially about actually buying property and what that entails.

Where exactly would you like to live? What kind of lifestyle would you like? Your career options also fit into this question. If you just want non-skilled work living in a 1DK, come on over man. Not sure how that fits into 'saving' and 'life pursuits' though.

Edit--

Also the whole Brexit..Trump..god damn millenials thing.. you have to understand that these are not automatically cured in Japan. There is a generation of young people here. They too are incredibly non-active and unmotivated in a lot of areas. They too waste their energy and lives on stupid things. The work and schooling culture here is absolutely brutal for young people. How up to date are you on Japanese politics? Japan is in a very sensitive spot right now with how Putin and Trump are going. Abe has a very fierce plan that he's trying to pull off. Hell, even the shit with Koike, her predecessor, and the Olympics is just a tiny glimpse into how things are run here.

You're an adult obviously, I don't need to tell you to avoid the grass is greener mentality. If things like the movements of young people affect you that much, how will you deal in a country where you have no cultural or linguistic understanding of what the people around you are doing? Or is it enough to just say 'well, it's not my country, so whatever'? Which wouldn't make much sense if your goal is to actually be a citizen of the country.

Seriously, not points to dissuade you. Come, man. It's a great country. Just trying to give you points to think about, mull over.


OH - AND COME TO THE THREAD --- http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1206948
 
I'm an expert said:
I mean, if your post said you had been thinking of making an international move and exploring options for a while, instead of jumping immediately to throwing your citizenship away, I could've pulled out one of the hundred responses I've given on this question before. Your post was just so extreme, and honestly sounded like you hadn't really started the journey of understanding how to make a living here yet, that I just wanted you to pump your brakes a bit. As for what you think you know about living costs here..again, I think you need to slow down and research a bit. Especially about actually buying property and what that entails.

Where exactly would you like to live? What kind of lifestyle would you like? Your career options also fit into this question. If you just want non-skilled work living in a 1DK, come on over man. Not sure how that fits into 'saving' and 'life pursuits' though.

Edit--

Also the whole Brexit..Trump..god damn millenials thing.. you have to understand that these are not automatically cured in Japan. There is a generation of young people here. They too are incredibly non-active and unmotivated in a lot of areas. They too waste their energy and lives on stupid things. The work and schooling culture here is absolutely brutal for young people. How up to date are you on Japanese politics? Japan is in a very sensitive spot right now with how Putin and Trump are going. Abe has a very fierce plan that he's trying to pull off. Hell, even the shit with Koike, her predecessor, and the Olympics is just a tiny glimpse into how things are run here.

You're an adult obviously, I don't need to tell you to avoid the grass is greener mentality. If things like the movements of young people affect you that much, how will you deal in a country where you have no cultural or linguistic understanding of what the people around you are doing? Or is it enough to just say 'well, it's not my country, so whatever'? Which wouldn't make much sense if your goal is to actually be a citizen of the country.

Seriously, not points to dissuade you. Come, man. It's a great country. Just trying to give you points to think about, mull over.


OH - AND COME TO THE THREAD --- http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1206948
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I didn't want to weigh down my original post with my line of thought about deciding to move, given it was a wall of text as it is, but I am quite happy to go deep into it.

I am about to hit 30 years old and have worked in the UK games industry since 2009. In the past, I wanted to find in-house work with a developer either in Europe, the USA or Canada. As it stands, most European development studios don't pay their employees well, and the UK will probably lose its right to EU free worker movement because of Brexit. On the other hand, while Canada is a haven for game development, devs there aren't bringing in as many foreign workers as it used to, and it seems strangely hard for a game audio guy like me to find a foreign hire friendly role there. As for the USA, any tolerance I had for its bad elements has been eradicated thanks to the amplification of its problems during the last few years.

So, this leaves Japan fo being best suited to my line of work. I know the country has its problems, as all countries do. As for my nationality, it doesn't matter to me. I eat English food, I watch TV and films from the USA and Japan, I listen to European hard techno and Swedish occult metal, so I have a internationalist mentality which has been outright rejected by the UK government in favour to gain a volatile voter base. My belief that I will fare better in Japan isn't a weeaboo one, though the entertainment it generates is certainly a factor in this.

As my current freelance work is over the internet, I can do it anywhere in the world as long I have UK citizenship. All I want in life is to own a little bit of property so I can live rent free, have a personal space I can do my own thing in, and explore more of the world now the UK has soured me. All I ever do here is visit nerd conventions, the occasional music festival and raid every charity shop I can find, so I wouldn't be missing anything I can't do over in Japan.

I take a genuine interest in Japanese culture and its history in the world that shaped the country as it stands today. I will be using the Genki books for my beginner Japanese, then I plan to take on learning courses in London, and then potentially look at studying in Japan. The ideal situation would be for me to relocate to Japan while I continue my UK freelance work, then transition to finding work in Japan which will either replace or supplement it, then pursuing residency at a point when I am fully grounded and don't want to juggle visa applications every year.

I would settle for a place on the outskirts of Tokyo with a decent rail link in to its center. The law allows for anyone to own property, so I can invest my money there fine, and there are sites like https://www.realestate.co.jp/en/ which have property listings on them.

I have the time to wait while I prepare, this isn't something I expect to do quickly by any means. I hope this fleshes out my reasoning as for wanting to do this. And finally, I'll join the Japanese learning thread soon, I promise. :)
 
i dont get why anyone would willingly want to be in or around tokyo if they had the choice.. kantou so lame
 
I'm an expert said:
Also the whole Brexit..Trump..god damn millenials thing.. you have to understand that these are not automatically cured in Japan. There is a generation of young people here. They too are incredibly non-active and unmotivated in a lot of areas. They too waste their energy and lives on stupid things. The work and schooling culture here is absolutely brutal for young people. How up to date are you on Japanese politics? Japan is in a very sensitive spot right now with how Putin and Trump are going. Abe has a very fierce plan that he's trying to pull off. Hell, even the shit with Koike, her predecessor, and the Olympics is just a tiny glimpse into how things are run here.
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Yeah, politically, it's ridiculous to look at Japan as some kind of haven if you're bothered by the right wing trends in Europe and America...
 
well since this thread is dead, as evidenced by zefah having to post here..how soon can you come, retro?
 
its absolutely the biggest trap foreigners fall into. like i get it, the job market, especially for those not adept at the language, for most industries is centralized there. same is true for my industry. but there are for sure millions of opportunities outside of there, especially if someone actually has a work from home kind of job.

of course everyone has different needs for what they want in the area theyre living. what sucks is living in a place like tokyo most foreigners dont get cars or, again, get good a the language so they basically just stick in the area for 99% of the time. thats what i warned porcile about in the jgo thread.

i think people would be surprised how different the country is outside of the kantou area. like..very different. tokyo is nothing like the 99% rest of the country. why my actual homes are in kansai/shikoku and tokyo is just like a for work thing.
 
Ok, I'll write something a little later since I was pretty much in the exact same boat (like weirdly weirdly similar) this time last year, and have been living and working here via English teaching for nine months now. The opinions of a non-qualified teacher are rarely worth much to anyone but maybe for you it will be helpful and can give you a real world example to consider. I just have a few things to do first.
 
There's a million of the same stories out there, so really, who cares about what I have to say but here you are.

Been living here for 9 months now (Yokohama). I do the whole teaching English thing in a public school as an ALT. I'd never stepped foot in Japan before I came here. I'd never worked or lived in another country. Honestly, besides some art, games and films I really didn't have much perceived emotional attachment to Japan. I didn't really plan on visiting anytime soon, but like a lot of people, I just wanted to do something different. I wanted to live in another country, meet people, learn a language and challenge myself to do something without all the comforts and safety nets of my life back home, because there were a lot of those. Anyway, this entirely from my perspective, so teaching English but wanting to find a more appropriate line of work for my skillset at some point in the future.

I really enjoy my job and teaching, but have had to reset my expectations many times. Granted, I got placed in one of the worst schools in the city, but school and teaching culture is SO different here that if you can't change the way you think about things, then you'll end up miserable and bitter when things don't go your way. This is easier said than done but If you can adjust and change, then teaching can be very satisfying and enjoyable.

For a lot of people though, I think it's a slow creep, they never wanted to teach, and by the time they've realised that they're deeply unhappy they've fucked themselves completely by not studying the language and more importantly by not having any marketable skills. There's nothing wrong with the guy who flips burgers by day, but goes to night school in the evening after work. The reality is a lot of people flip burgers by day and go to the pub in evening.

Besides JET, I don't think there are many golden egg teaching opportunities here, it's not worthwhile to think about it as a long term plan. Besides, there's a culture of employee turnover and just as soon as you've settled into something you like, you might get moved on to something against your will. That's how it is. When it comes to job stability and visas, you could be working here for ten years and have the same security as someone who has been working here for 2 months. It's not the reality for everyone who comes here but for many it is, especially someone new to the country. Is it something to get angry about? No, not really, but some people can't let it go and create an image of themselves as the perpetual outsider, with Japanese society a huge wall blocking you from getting in. Which is wrong of course.

Another thing thing about teaching. There is absolutely no standardisation to it at all. One guy might have a bunch of teaching qualifications and experience, and another might just be some dumb kid with a media studies degree and that's it. It's not to say that both can't be ultimately end up being good teachers, but it's more than likely that the person who cares more about teaching is going to have a better time of it. They are going to be able (and want) to match their expectations to the students ability and culture of teaching, and ultimately adjust to the way things are taught. Teaching is all about giving, it's a selfless pursuit with little reward. In terms of workload, again, no standardisation, its all down to luck ultimately.

On the whole Brexit, intolerance, dumb people thing. You need to change your expectations on that too. I've been stopped by the police twice for no reason and asked to show my ID card. Been shouted racist stuff by a crazy woman in a train station, and obviously all the usual silly micro-aggression stuff which Japanese people just can't help but do. I don't take any of this stuff personally, so it doesn't bother me at all, but some again people can't let it go and it inflates their sense of negativity, and way they choose to interact with people.

Most Japanese people above a certain age (I assume the age group you would be targeting as friends) work crazy hard. No one is going to fall over themselves to be your friend. Someone was complaining in the Japanese learning thread about how Japanese people are flakey, but 90% of the time its because they're dedicated to their jobs and really don't care enough to babysit a foreigner, order food for them and do the most basic things for them. A lot of people just don't want to speak English all the time, even if they have the ability to. You have to work hard to make friends, and keep making friends after that.

In summary, I like my life here and have no complaints at all, but its nothing like my life back home. I accepted that life my world would be turned upside down and that I'd have to start from scratch in a place that wasn't my home. Anyway, maybe to answer your question more succinctly, I used to do freelance and part time teaching in the UK, and I think could easily live that lifestyle here. My second year is going to be so much easier but I still have a lot to do if I want to achieve my goals. Maybe that's the most important thing. What's your goal?

Just in terms of overall enjoyment of living here, Japan is a great country and I've had a blast so far, but with many of the ups and downs that go with uprooting yourself completely. Your ability to cope with such moments just depends entirely on your attitude and resourcefulness.
 
Porcile said:
Most Japanese people above a certain age (I assume the age group you would be targeting as friends) work crazy hard. No one is going to fall over themselves to be your friend. Someone was complaining in the Japanese learning thread about how Japanese people are flakey, but 90% of the time its because they're dedicated to their jobs and really don't care enough to babysit a foreigner, order food for them and do the most basic things for them. A lot of people just don't want to speak English all the time, even if they have the ability to. You have to work hard to make friends, and keep making friends after that.
Click to expand...
I recognize that you're speaking in generalities, but you're misinterpreting some things. You're referring to my post in that thread, I believe. You're pretty off the mark regarding my situation. The friends I was talking about are largely students or not working jobs they are dedicated to, and we speak Japanese, so no babysitting necessary. Not really an issue I'm having trouble with anymore, so I don't feel the need to talk more about it, but I do feel the need to mention that you're talking about your experiences living in Japan for only 9 months—in one small area—at one specific job. A bit strange if your advice is aimed at me, but I'm guessing you're just speaking generally.
 
Aizo can you please remind us (me) what your background is in terms of living in Japan again? I lose track of user names and shit really easily.. were you the guy who came, left, and came back again? I remember someone doing that while..English teaching..?
 
I studied abroad for a year at Sophia, and then came back after I graduated from my home university. I lived in Shimane and Yamaguchi for a bit.
 
why would i not remember a sophia alum..wtf.. or maybe i didnt know..
 
I was generalising about generalisations. I really don't expect anyone to value my experiences as anything other than my own limited experience here.
 
My goal is to get reasonably rich and eventually retire in some small town near in between Kyoto and Osaka.
 
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