Case (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
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fandomsecrets2015-08-19 06:49 pm
case) wrote in fandomsecrets2015-08-19 06:49 pm
[ SECRET POST #3150 ]
⌈ Secret Post #3150 ⌋
Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.
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Notes:
Secrets Left to Post: 02 pages, 032 secrets from Secret Submission Post #450.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 0 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.
Working in Japan
(Anonymous) 2015-08-20 01:20 am (UTC)(link)Re: Working in Japan
All of those things go into what you can expect from your experience.
Re: Working in Japan
(Anonymous) 2015-08-20 01:26 am (UTC)(link)Re: Working in Japan
I don't want to be an immediate downer, but a lot of people in chain school situations do not enjoy the classroom part of their jobs. You will get prepackaged lesson plans and you won't be able to deviate much from them or offer much in the way of your own material, and this is often a problem if your particular classes aren't learning as fast as they should or you run into issues with the curriculum. If you are a young, attractive female and are placed into a business English classroom... you are probably in for a rough time and a year of being constantly hit on by salarymen who don't want to learn English and just want you to write reports for them.
On the other hand, it means you will always have foreign coworkers to travel with, hang out with, and generally bond with. The bad part about teaching in independent schools that cater to public classrooms and private schools is that if you aren't fluent in Japanese then you likely won't be making many friends with coworkers and Japan can get very lonely when you don't have an opportunity to make friends.
Dating is also usually a difficult proposition for gaijin women in Japan (not sex, mind you) so I'll just warn you about that right off the bat. Also, if a Japanese guy offers to buy you a drink he's soliciting sex. Many are the women who get to Japan and are very confused when they accept a drink from a strange man only for clothes to start coming off fairly shortly afterward lol.
Hopefully you get placed in one of the larger metropolitan areas near a gaijin bar. If you want to meet people (either foreigners or Japanese people who have travelled outside of Japan and are thus seeking to befriend foreign people in their own country), those are usually the best places to do so. If you get placed in a rural area, you might be in for a very lonely time.
As for fitting in... if you're not fluent in Japanese and can't speak a word of it, you're in for an easier time of it socially than you will be if you do speak Japanese. People won't expect you to know any social rules if you speak no Japanese, and they'll be willing to let things slide. Be very observant either way, and try to learn what the proper gestures and manners are, and it'll go a long way toward having your Japanese coworkers/associates like you.
cont.
Re: Working in Japan
To really get the most of your time in Japan, give yourself plenty of time to explore and have fun and make sure you try absolutely everything new that catches your eye. That said... combinis might seem like a great place to eat at first, but they basically all sell junk food, and many an English teacher has been shocked to realize they've gained 15lbs in a few months just eating from convenience stores. If you're really down on your coin, you can also just hit up one of the department store style food courts (usually found under major train stations) for the free samples and essentially be able to have a free lunch.
The best way to keep yourself healthy in Japan is to learn to cook and to find a 100Y store that sells fruits and vegetables; otherwise, buying them can be prohibitively expensive. If you're a coffee drinker, you might want to drop the habit before you get to Japan. Coffee runs from $25-$50/lb there, and although there are coffee chains that sell really interesting drinks and snacks (my favorites were Seattle's Best and Tully's Japan operations) it isn't really tenable to keep up a morning coffee habit. Switch to green tea while you're there.
Finally, Japan has some great places to visit that take a while to get to, so while you're there make sure to get the seishun juuhachi kippu (seishun 18 ticket) which gives you free travel on all JR rail lines throughout Japan. It's an extremely economical way to travel during Golden Week, and a tradition amongst English teachers who don't want to spend money. A warning: travel from Tokyo can take quite a while if you are wanting to visit Kyoto on the SJK fare, so make sure you have something to do on the trains.
Hotels are expensive to stay in, and hostels are few and far between, so the best place to stay overnight (or in a pinch) is at a manga kissa. A flat rate gives you a few hours of stay in a booth which often has reclining chairs for people to sleep on, and unlimited drinks from the self serve soda fountain.
Above all, this is going to be a rare experience in being a minority (if you aren't one already). Cherish it. It will give you an incredible perspective on how it is to be a exoticized, demonized, treated as a status symbol, and so much more. It will be a genuinely life-changing experience, and while that may be uncomfortable at times, you will thank yourself for doing it later in life, I can promise that.
Re: Working in Japan
(Anonymous) 2015-08-20 07:17 am (UTC)(link)Re: Working in Japan
It will be worthwhile though, if that's what you're wondering. Definitely that.
Also a really great chance to have a lot of NSA sex with people and discover that part of yourself, if that's what you're into. ;p
Re: Working in Japan
(Anonymous) 2015-08-20 05:30 am (UTC)(link)Re: Working in Japan
(Anonymous) 2015-08-20 02:29 pm (UTC)(link)Re: Working in Japan
(Anonymous) 2015-08-20 09:42 am (UTC)(link)Your experience is probably going to vary significantly based on whether or not you're placed in a rural area, or a big city like Tokyo. But as above poster said, the nicest thing about a big chain school is that you're going to almost definitely have a social circle of other foreigners, which is great, because if you've never lived in Japan (or a foreign country!) before, acclimating and figuring out the new culture can be very frustrating, especially if there is a language barrier.
To meet Japanese friends, I recommend signing up on a "conversation exchange" website. Do you speak Japanese now? Even if you don't, it's a free way to get Japanese lessons, usually you speak English for half the time and Japanese for half the time.
That being said, as someone who was fairly competent in speaking Japanese, and actually WANTED to speak Japanese, I was very wary of Japanese people who would want to be friends, who are basically just using you for English practice or as a "gaijin fashion accessory". This happens a lot, and unless you're totally happy to never learn a word of Japanese and have potentially shallow friendships, most Western foreigners complain of this. I would have people in the street invite me to coffee and such, and then only want to speak English. Even if my Japanese was BETTER than their English. Or they want to show you off to their other friends and brag about having a foreign friend, but when push comes to shove, they aren't interested in actually having you be a part of their life.
That sounded very pessimistic, but just as an English teacher, don't be afraid to tell people you charge money for English lessons. ;)
Honestly though, Japan is great to live for a year or two at least. Safe (as in crime, not natural disasters sadly), people are (generally) polite, the culture is fun. And to be extra honest, once your company issues your work visa, you're pretty much golden until that visa runs out. I knew people who came over with those big chain companies, didn't like it, quit and applied for other jobs, visa already in hand. I mean, be careful doing that, but still. Don't feel like you're tied to your company if you hate it. I knew a girl who stuck out a company she hated for two years before she finally had the courage to quit and try a different school, which she loved.
Re: Working in Japan
(Anonymous) 2015-08-20 02:27 pm (UTC)(link)