Anyone here posting from Japan?

[badman]

Hi all

mods: plz dont move this ---- its not off topic --- read it

I want to know how many of you on this forum are skyline lovers living the dream in japan? I'm asking you this because I really want to know how you guys got over there and, if you're into the car scene over there, how u did that.

basically any stories you guys are willing to share would be of great inspiration to me, being a young and VERY eager (to live in japan and work somehow with cars) 17year old.

I realise the skyline scene here in Australia is growing but obviously it all started in the land of the rising sun, and thats where I want to spend my life. I am OBSESSED with japan. everything about it. Ive been speaking the language for 6 solid years now, I'm top of the grade at a selective school... im not bragging.. im trying to show how much i love japan and how much effort i put into studying the country.

thanks guys

[akeenan]

omedetoo gozaimasu!

there are a few users from japan,

i was posting from japan a while back but not anymore

but will be at the end of the year for quiet a while

I have some cool stories about the car scene. I saw some of it while I was there.

The japanese culture is the best in the world and i also honestly believe japan is the best place in the world.

peace.

[hippy]

i think i have friends in osaka or yokohama i think ?? anyways can u guys tell me of some good cheap car shops over there where i can get good second hand car stuff from??

[hippy]

oh yeah .. they got there by doing teaching english in japan thingy ... through a company called nova i think??

[badman]

akeenan, what kind of work are you going to be doing over there? I'm currently hoping to get my international trade degree (BEc @ Sydney) majoring also in japanese... and then work for austrade or something like that, hopefully eventually ill get over there. do share your stories!!!!!!

[akeenan]

oh yeah .. they got there by doing teaching english in japan thingy ... through a company called nova i think??

thats how im going to work over there!

i went to a few car shows and saw some old skylines at tokyo bay @ tokyo big site driving around up on the second level outside. it was awesome

[akeenan]

oops didnt mean to click that, oh well yeah saw many many skylines and also many other cars i hadnt seen before.

subarashii!

anyways can u guys tell me of some good cheap car shops over there where i can get good second hand car stuff from??

i only managed to go to one auto shop but i dont think they sell 2nd hand things there.

so i dont really know sorry

[badman]

So youre going to work for nova? I would love to try and work with them... I was reading their website it seems almost too good to be true! let us know how that works out akeenan!

[badman]

the nova website seems very ambiguous and vague in its description of your life over there.... they say the housing is 'affordable' .. whats that sposed to mean!!?? do they pay for your flight over there?

[Merli]

Apparently Nova is the worst company to work for.

JET is much better, so search for them on the web.

As for 2nd hand car parts, go look for stores called "Yellow Hat", "Up Garage", and "Crystal".... They sell heaps (and I mean HEAPS) of second hand performance parts for next to nothing.

[akeenan]

Apparently Nova is the worst company to work for.  

JET is much better, so search for them on the web.

cheers! thanks for the advice. ive rung nova and they said because of my esl experience i would be cool. jet i have no idea will check them out!

[Demon Dave]

Hi, as a Brit who is living in Japan (been here four years now) I can say that this place has gotta be one of the best countries in the world to live in (only thing bad about the place is the fact the Japanese 'routinely eat things with suckers, eyeballs and other flagrantly unacceptable body parts still attached to them...':D )

If you want to work here, teaching English is about the best (or should I say only) way in. There are several big independant English schools - Nova and GEOS being the main ones. The JET program is partly government run - all the teachers become AET's and work in public schools. You get an initial one year contract that is extendable for upto 3 years. Only bad thing about the JET program is that I'm 99% certain they don't allow you to own a car!!! You also have no way of controlling where in Japan you work - you can specify a preference (Tokyo would be good), but you could end up being sent out to some obscure island where you're the only foreigner...

Still, getting a job teaching here is pretty easy - just take me as an example - I came to Tokyo 4 years ago on vacation. After 3 days decided I loved the place (Japanese Sports car paradise!) and decided to stay. I spent the remainder of my 10 day vacation job hunting, managed to get a job and then made a call back to England telling everyone I wouldn't be coming back home!

Never looked back...

Dave (in Japan)

[romaniac]

hahah dave thats crazy, but a good story. Almost inspiring enough for me to try aswell

[badman]

dave mate thats EXACTLY the kind of story that i wanted to hear. There are always going to be the nay-sayers in this world, and especially for me i've found there's never a shortage of people who are willing to try and bring you down ("oh you wont earn much teaching english".... "oh it sounds too good to be true"... "bla bla bla"), but they're the bogans who are gona regret spending their entire lives in Australia while I'm overseas immersing myself in another culture

Do you speak much Japanese Dave? I speak japanese quite proficiently.. when I went there in 2001 for 3 weeks I couldnt believe how quickly my (then) limited grasp of the language accelerated into conversational fluency.

Also what organization do you work for? I'm hearing positive things about NOVA .. whats your opinion?

cheers mate

[hippy]

BS u can't earn money teaching english .. its just that living costs is a bit high from what i hear ... but theres always ways to live cheap ... thanks for the info

[4150]

Been here in Japan for almost nine years, plan on staying for another three years or so. Sorry can't really tell you too much about the job market since I'm an American serving in the military. Be carefull of Nova though, quite a few guys I know who got out of the military worked for them and hated it. From what they told me they make you work crazy hours and the pay really wasn't that good in the end.

I love it here, my wife(she's Japanese) says I've become "Japanized" It's a shame I'll have to leave, if I could have it my way I'd stay here for ten more years The thought of saying goodbye to the 25t really bothers me, not even sure what the hell I would get in the states, I guess either a WRX or a Lancer EVO.

As far as cost of living whereever you go to live will make the biggest difference. The Tokyo area is very expensive, I myself live in Yokohama right now and my 1 year old three bedroom western style house is running me 169,000 Yen a month for rent. While I was living in Misawa(in northern Japan near Aomori) I could get pretty much the same house with a garage for about half the price.

What other kind of info are you looking for?

[badman]

Thanks 4150 that was quite helpful.... well really im just looking for a way to break into japans work force without joining the military.. My plan is to get through uni studying Economics & Government International Relations & Japanese.. then work for Austrade (aussie government dept. that deals with all foreign trade matters) --- the dream is to be some sort of diplomat in japan, like Senior Trade Commissioner in Tokyo or something.

btw im not the sort of person who makes up dreams and doesnt follow them through....

[Demon Dave]

I've heard conflicting stories about Nova - some people have had good experiences, others bad. It's a big organisation with branches at just about every city, so I guess it's the luck of the draw. They do have you working silly hours, but you then again, so do a lot of other schools. As teachers of English, the peak working time is from mid afternoon to late evening, so most schools are gonna want you to teach around that time.

Despite what a lot of people say, you can earn a lot (A LOT) of money teaching English, though usually not right away. Most schools will pay you a min of 250,000yen/month (the min required to get you a visa), but it's possible to get more than this. I can't speak for other parts of Japan, but where I'm living (Yamanashi), most of my friends start out working for an existing school, then once they've settled in they start up their own school. It isn't that hard to do, especially if you're spouse is Japanese (no problems with the visa). Then you can start to make some serious money. In my case, me a couple of friends have our own small school.

Of course, being able to speak Japanese helps (I can, but I'm no where near fluent!)

Again, if you want an idea of what is possible - take me as an example. When I originally came here it was for a 10 day vacation. (I had no plans to stay, but all that changed after I arrived!)

Luckily I was able to find a job in those 10 days, but still - on the day I was supposed to board a plane back to England I boarded a train to Yamanashi to start working for a company I had no idea about. I had no money. No place to live, and my total possessions were what I carried in a suitcase. The other English teachers at the school thought I was crazy! 4 years later, I've had 3 cars (Civic, R33 GTS and R34 GT-V, my own place, wife, kid etc etc etc). I currently teach (work) less than 25 hours a week too...

Not bad, even if I do say so myself. I love it here!

Dave

[Demon Dave]

Just wanted to add - in support of what 4150 was saying, Living in Tokyo is ridiculously expensive. Owning a car in Tokyo even more (that's aside from the fact that the average distance between traffic lights in tokyo is about 10 cm!! )

You'll find it a lot cheaper to live out of the main metropolitan area - Tokyo, Kawasaki & Yokohama are the most expensive, as is Osaka. I'm living in Yamanashi (west of Tokyo - Mt. Fuji area). It's not a bad location, Tokyo is a couple of hours by car (less if I drive the Skyline;) ), Tsukuba circuit 3 hours, Fuji speedway 1.5 hours, Fuji San, 1.5. hours, Yokohama - 1.5 hours. The rent out here (Yamanashi is in the countryside) isn't too bad either...My house doubles as a school (3 classrooms), plus 2 car garage, garden, parking for another 4/5 cars - all that for 90,000yen/month. It would cost me 5 times more for a similar place in Tokyo!

Dave

[hippy]

Thats a good story dave .. my friend who went to japan is hoping to do something like urself .. i'm not too sure how hes doing though ... and i've also heard that those companies are pretty shit ... cause they take a portion of the money which u are making and thats why it seems u dont' get paid enough ... i also hear that jap chicks really really dig foreigners LOL like any ugly guy here can go over and become a superstar LOL ... thats just what i've heard ...