Q & A about moving to Japan/teaching in Japan (cont. from Rezz`s photo diary)

[Streeter]

sorry off topic - they want revenge after what he was doing/did? If you ask me he should have been tortured to death. He got it too easy. I am so over spineless cowards who prey on weaker ppl... they all deserve a slow painful death. Atleast the woman got the satisfaction of killing the bastard!

on topic - Sciby, yeah if you are even vaguely thinking about it, you have to come over!! I first came over because I was interested in the drift scene and wanted to have a go in the real place with the real guns of the sport. Now I am married and cant see myself returning to aus anytime soon, aslong as no more nasty surprises (ie crime) pop up.

[Rezz]

Streeter just curious, where exactly in Osaka are you? I'm in Ashiya (yeah, yeah, I know - a yuppie area) and that kind of property theft seems like it could never happen here... eg: me and the wife left some living room lights (the big ones with the donut shaped flouro's - they're in perfect condition) out on the street 3 weeks ago and they're still there!!!

[Streeter]

Sumiyoshi ward, Yamanouchi. Apparently the neighbouring ward is Nishinari which is famous for being one of the worst and the crime spills over here a fair bit Ofcourse when you have 4 hours in a city to organise accomodation its pretty tricky to sus this kind of stuff out AND score a good deal lol

[Sciby]

sorry off topic - they want revenge after what he was doing/did? If you ask me he should have been tortured to death.  He got it too easy.  I am so over spineless cowards who prey on weaker ppl...  they all deserve a slow painful death.  Atleast the woman got the satisfaction of killing the bastard!

Yup, the family of the dead guy are wailing and crying on the national news and saying "he was such a good boy!" and other drivel... sorry, but your good boy almost killed a 42 year old woman.

http://www.news.com.au - probably still a story on there about it.

Apparently she can't remember killing him, she just went into instinct mode, pulled her firearm and holed him. Got everything he deserved, imho.

on topic -  Sciby, yeah if you are even vaguely thinking about it, you have to come over!!  I first came over because I was interested in the drift scene and wanted to have a go in the real place with the real guns of the sport.  Now I am married and cant see myself returning to aus anytime soon, aslong as no more nasty surprises (ie crime) pop up.

Well, at the moment I"m waiting to hear on a redundancy heading my way... if that happens, going to finish my last 4 uni subjects, which will take me up to june next year, just in time for the english teacher recruiters.

I'm a little nervy about it, because it'll be a big change in life. For the last 6-7 years, I've been working in IT, working, sleeping, occasionally studying, wasting money on cars (!)... will probably sell the ScibyLine if/when I move over... then buy something that I can bring back, like an R33 GTR or something... or something somewhat unique... will see what's available when I get there.

[Sciby]

Sumiyoshi ward, Yamanouchi.  Apparently the neighbouring ward is Nishinari which is famous for being one of the worst and the crime spills over here a fair bit  Ofcourse when you have 4 hours in a city to organise accomodation its pretty tricky to sus this kind of stuff out AND score a good deal lol

Hmmmm... perhaps a week in a hotel is a good idea for moi then... or finding my local SAU member and asking where the good areas are.

[Streeter]

I'm a little nervy about it, because it'll be a big change in life. For the last 6-7 years, I've been working in IT, working, sleeping, occasionally studying, wasting money on cars (!)... will probably sell the ScibyLine if/when I move over... then buy something that I can bring back, like an R33 GTR or something... or something somewhat unique... will see what's available when I get there.

lol sound just like me. I was in IT for about 6 years before nearly dieing of boredom and making the jump. My only regret is that I didnt do this 5 years earlier!

As for accomodation as previously mentioned most organisations will set that up for you. If you are only staying for a year or so its *usually* better to stay with them, for reasons already stated ie. key money, having to furnish the apartment, no giagin rules etc. You will be paying more than the normal rent for the area with a company apartment though (atleast with Nova anyway.)

I had the missus and was moving city so didnt have their accomodation as an option. I had to arrange the accomodation while passing through Osaka to Kansai Airport on a trip back home.

I have spoken to other ppl in the area and it seems that I am just RIDICULOUSLY unlucky. I have been here for only 5 months and have had alot of problems, while other people have been here for 20 years with no issues at all. I think its the same back home though, if you have something that other people want you will have trouble sooner or later.

[Sciby]

I'm in two minds about who to go with... Nova seems good from a personal support point of view, but RCS seems good because you get a company car (kei car that I wouldn't be able to fit, no doubt ) and they help you find an apartment. I prefer to live alone, and the company car would make things much sweeter... but Nova's support would be hard to say no to.

Edit: RCS is in 'Kanto' wherever that is. I suspect 'The Sticks'.

[Sciby]

Speaking of RCS, here's the blurb from their entry in the job market site at the uni I study at/work for:

Most of our teachers are sent to public High schools, Junior High and Elementary schools in a wide area of Saitama and Gunma prefectures as assistant English teachers. We also have additional teaching jobs in the evening as a source of extra income. These involve Kindergarteners all the way up to adults and business English. In addition, we are also looking for teachers to teach children and adult classes at our school itself. Teachers are provided with sponsorship for a working visa, help in locating an apartment, and a company car (valid home country and international license required). We are looking for those who can commit for at least a year, are punctual, can work as a team (as an assistant you will be team teaching with a Japanese English teacher), and are not afraid to work in and experience another country.  

Our main recruiting time is January to March for an April start and June to August for a September start. Positions do occasionally become available throughout the year, so please feel free to contact us anytime by e-mail or phone as listed below.

[Rezz]

Kanto is the the area spanning around Tokyo, like on this map:

[Sciby]

Wow, interesting... I"m guessing all the sections are prefectures?

Also, I never realised Korea is directly west, always thought it was more to the south. Got a friend at the uni of seoul wanting me to visit, and vice versa, so good to know.

Damnit, why isn't it july 2005? I wanna go now!

[Polski]

I'm hoping to head over to europe for couple of months in december then arrive in japan feb - march '05 . cant wait !

been reading up forums day and night on info. my mate David from kobecars said he might have an apartment for me to live in. if i dont get into JET i reckon i'll just head over and find a job there.

I was also under the impression that crime was virtually non existent within Japan, only organised crime. damn, i better not go there i kinda love Japan for the fact that people are crime free !

[akeenan]

also violent crimes in japan are increasing also... It seems that this type on information doesnt get out of japan but there have been many VIOLENT and I mean viloent crimes that have happened here in the past few months...

[Sciby]

On the violent crimes thing, I remember a couple of months ago that my jap lecturer was completely shocked that one 12 year old girl stabbed another one... shocking by any cultures standards, but must have been unthinkable for him.

[DaiOni]

sciby - given your timeline - you'd be mad not to give JET a go. It's the best of the english teaching jobs - over 500,000yen more per year than the average corporate wage + government job = housing subsidies, great health coverage, etc etc. In all honesty, if you have car purchasing as a key goal, living urban on a corporate wage is going to make life significantly harder. The number of ex-corporates working on as ALTs now speaks for itself. I've been helping out a guy who's moved on from AEON (regarded as one of the better corporates) and he's loving the change. Who would blame him - so much more freedom and nobody wants to work a 12 to 9 shift 5 days a week!

The RCS job sounds like a private ALT hirer - could be good but there are a lot of horror stories about similar employers (late paying wages, lies, etc) - do as much research as you can and try to speak to someone who is or was working for them.

...........

violent crimes - japan, stereotypically, likes to sweep such things under the carpet (the reporting of AIDs incidences is one such example). None of the sau japan locals, though, would deny that the level of personal safety here is radically different to their former lives. It's easy to forget that japan is a nation of around 130million people - the crime:pop. ratio is staggeringly good, really. There are, of course, incidences of violent crime - but contrast tokyo to london, new york, (even little ol' sydney)...

[Sciby]

I had a bit of a read/comparison of Nova/JET/RCS last night... Nova was appealing with it's flexi-schedule, since at first I'd want a bit of extra time to explore, etc, but yeah it feels a little too prepackaged. I dunno.

I'm not 100% sure about the RCS guys either. I'm going to be speaking to my jap lecturer and getting advice from him. He's been at my uni for 8-9 years, and organized ALT's for most of that time, so hopefully he'd have his finger on the pulse of what's kosher, etc.

JET sounds good, but god knows where I'd end up, and it seems like they're not too interested in taking preferences into account. At the moment, I'm hoping to live in the Gunma area... used cars, somewhat rural, good driving roads = Happy Sciby.

Interesting side note: http://www.jetprogramme.org/e/outline/data/Page1.html Only @400 aussies with Jet. I thought it would have been far, far more.

[DaiOni]

when I applied - sydney (NSW) applicants = 600+

applications accepted = 120ish

made it to japan = 65ish (though quite a few always back out at the last minute, giving alternates a chance)

I'm actually surprised at the number of canadians - it feels like all 900 are living near me!

[Sciby]

I thought there would be a lot of applicants... which is a shame, but all I can do is try. If JET fails, I can always look to NOVA, et al.

Home sick today, so something I've done (between sniffling, coughing and eating oranges) is do up a spreadsheet comparing the major options for people wanting to teach english. It's in Excel format... people, feel free to comment, suggest additions or correct information. All the information I"ve taken from various webpages. Obviously, question marks show where information wasn't available. I've sent emails to various places hoping to fill in the information.

http://www.overclockers.com.au/~sciby/jap_...eng_schools.zip

[DaiOni]

JET -

* houses are more likely to be furnished than not,

* rent is more likely to be subsidized than not,

* travel allowances are provided (business trips, unless voluntary, are always re-imbursed),

* cars may be provided (though the exception rather than the rule. 1 in 10 alts in my area has a town car),

* IIRC, the recent ALT survey showed that the majority of alts receive 20 days paid leave - this stat doesn't take into account that a significant percentage of alts get the summer (5 weeks) off (such as me! though I can't travel - I have to go to school each day and 'clock in' - I go home straight after) - of course, every situation is different. It should also be considered (for all jobs) that japan has more public holidays than australia - something like 15 compared to 9 (IIRC, and dependant on state)

* I've never heard of anyone working over 35 hours unless they did it on a voluntary basis

* Some (very, very, very) lucky alts get a yearly bonus. There is, however, like all jobs, the pension (super) refund. After three years it's something like A$12-15k

The JET information is often 'worse case' - and for good reason. JET is not an employer - they simply hire for contracting organisations (government schools (sometimes private), city halls, cities, towns, etc) - therefore they can't determine a set standard for 'job conditions'. Even on my island, between ten of us, the job conditions are wildly different. A few examples - I have the summer off, most of the others here don't, we pay 350,000 rent p/month - one person pays nothing, another pays about 500,000 (brand new apartment) - she's also the only person here (in a looong time) who has had to pay key money (though I'm the regional advisor, so it's my job to try and get her out of that deal). As I said, one person gets a town car. Some people get some (or all) of their fuel paid for. Some have landlines, others just use their keitais... I could go on

the alt mantra is: EVERY SITUATION IS DIFFERENT!

[Sciby]

Heh, for a moment there, I read 'landlines' as 'landmines'.

¥350,000 per month in rent?? :crazy: Please tell me that's a total or a typo or you've confused an ALT's monthly pay with rent or something. Most of the estimates I've seen for a 1DK apartment are about ¥55,000pm.

edit: ta for the info though, I've updated the spreadsheet... should host it somewhere rather than just attaching it.

[Sciby]

Well, if anyone cares...

http://www.overclockers.com.au/~sciby/jap_..._eng_school.zip

Let me know if it needs corrections, etc.