A Long Response to the Question I'm always asked

question: I'm thinking about living in Japan do you have any advice?

Well you caught me at a rather strange time to ask how I like Japan. If you’d have asked me at any other time I’d have said, “sell the house, sell the car, sell the kids and get over here”. But lately I’ve been a little pissy due to the lack of sun and native English speakers Plus, I’m finally getting over a particularly nasty flu. Being quite sick away from home is not much fun. Japan is totally strange. The exterior looks like the West, but the mindset and daily life of Japanese people is so totally removed as to make it difficult to find a place to get started. To you a Friedmann-esque medifore, the hardware is the same (except the toilets) but the software is different.This also makes Japan a kick ass place to visit/live, if you can get through it, and don’t mind being totally confused 90% of the time. There are lots of great things to see and do, especially in the big cities of Kyoto and Tokyo. Shrines, temples, and just generally wacky shit are everywhere. I live in a backwater area called Toyama, where nobody speaks any English at all, and I’m the only westerner (gaijin) in my town. Nothing is printed in English so I’m picking up nihongo (Japanese) fairly quickly. People are frightened of me like they think I’m gunna rob them, but a quick smile is disarming. I’d recommend staying in the big cities; the ‘real Japan’ is a little too much like the ‘real Dinuba’. Where is Dinuba? Exactly.

But enough about that… Getting a job is pretty easy, and the pay isn’t too bad. You don’t need a TEFL certificate. I have a CELTA from Cambridge that certifies me to teach to adults, but you don’t really need that to teach, just being a native speaker is more than enough to get a job. Teaching is far and away the easiest way to pay for a life in Japan. I don’t actually know any foreigners who do anything else. Usually you have to sign a contract for at least a year, but it’s not too hard to get a couple gigs without signing up. I’m on the JET program which rocks, cause I get loads of money and perks (free house) but I don’t really have to work that hard. I work as an English teacher in a Japanese public jr. high. JET is defiantly the way to go, as we are by far the most respected foreigners besides the company expats. Unfortunately you have to apply in November and it's kinda tough to get into.

So your options are basically two. You can work for one of the big 4 English schools GEOS, NOVA, and two others I can’t remember. On the plus side the money is enough, they will fly you out and back for free. The also will take care of the visa situation. Rumor has it that you can also get discount Japanese lessons, but I don’t know about that. On the flipside you have to sign a contract usually for about a year, and you basically have to teach straight out of a rather boring book, but you get to teach adults. Because I’m a JET elitist and I don’t live in a town with one of the big ekaiwas I’m don’t know anyone who personally works for the big companies. If you want to teach in Japan this is the easiest and most reliable way to go.

You can also go the private route. Checkout http://www.eslcafe.com/ there is a good jobs site there. This is really tricky cause you can either totally luck out or you’ll be a slave…and you don’t want to be a Japanese slave. Total crap shoot. I used to work for a small private company when I taught in Thailand and it was the most fun place I’d ever worked. These can be especially cool if nihongo o hanasshita koto ga dekimasu. My advise here is to be in good contact with the school before you go. Ask for the email address of someone who works there, and ask them how they like it. Also talk to the person in charge on the phone. If they can speak English well, that’s a really good sign. In my town none of my superiors speak English at all, but there are teachers at my school that lived in Singapore for a while so they totally help me out. Alright now I’m ramblin’ but lemme know if there was anything specific I can help you out with.

It’s also crazy expensive here, but that’s not to say that it’s impossible. In most big cities there are some really nice hostels that aren’t too expensive at all about $40 a night. Food is about the same as in the US. Sushi might be a little cheaper. Beer is expensive though. If you want to stay long-term rent is about SF prices. I’m pretty lucky cause I have a huge free house. Which sounds like it’s cool, but it’s not because its super cold.

Japanese language is pretty wild. There are 3 types or writing: kanji (Chinese words) hiragana (for Japanese words) and katakana (foreign words). All are a little tricky, but pronunciation is really easy. The grammar is really strange, but you get the hang of it. Lots of verb suffixes and stuff like that. The word order is the same as Yoda's (not a coincidence) so if you can sort out what you want to say into Yoda speak your half way there. Personally I like the sound of it, especially in cartoons. Japanese cartoon culture is fantastically rich…so if you’re a nerd like that…. Actually, if you’re any kind of nerd, you should come to Japan.

so lets very enjoy Japan.