japan

[Initial-D]

Japan is my fav place!

WHY?

Lots of FD\'s
Lots of pretty Gals
Lots of Noodles
Lots of video games
Lots of anime

and tons of other stuff too!

But seriously you really have to go it\'s not too pricy either if you stay in a Ryokan (10 days about £350 each for two sharing). I stay in Koiwa which is about a 30mins train journey from Shinjuku.

And if your 26 or under you can get a student discount flight for about £750 on Virgin Atlantic Econamy.

Will try to scrape some funds together to go again this year.


Ben :wave

[Initial-D]

Sending stuff from Japan to the UK, I think EMS is best as it\'s their equivalent to our Parcel Force (Only better I\'m sure!). It has English on it too if memory serves me right so you\'ll know what to put where.

Ben :wave

[Sky]

Actually, you can fly even cheaper than that. If you go end-of-season with some airlines you can get a return flight for around £300, and there\'re definitely flights for much less than £750. Someone in my Japanese class is a travel agent, and she reckons you shouldn\'t pay more than £600 for the flight - I can ask who with if anyone\'s interested.

The whole Japan thing is very tempting - in fact, it\'s even tempting to just ditch what I\'m doing over here and go teach EFL there for a year or so, but I think it\'ll be next Autumn (\'05) before I\'m in a position to go there with enough money to enjoy it.

Rick

[rextreme]

If you want a Job

NOVA English teaching will take anyone with a degree in anything.

250 000 + . if you want to work overtime.
You can make close to 400 000 or 450 000 a month.

Living cost is high but you can still save money if you want to.

Things I love.

Girls,Girls,Girls,
Cars,
Driving,
Parties,
Amount of choice in everthing.

Things I hate

Driving in Traffic,
Government crap,
Getting things done,
High rents

But Australia is Better IMO.

Koiwa.... close to Garage R.

[Sky]

la la la I can\'t hear you

The problem is, if I go over now I doubt I\'d come back for a year or two and I\'m mid-PhD at the moment. I\'ve got some friends going over this year, I\'ll point them in the direction of NOVA.

Is NOVA:

http://www.teachinjapan.com/

those guys?

Cheers,

Rick

[Schtoo]

Nova! I thought I would NEVER see that name here!!!

But yeah, they will take nearly anyone (and I MEAN nearly anyone!!!) to work for them. Also a good reliable source of 3 year working Visas if you can dance just right...

If you can, it\'s prolly better to get a job with the JET program. Yes you normally end up being, as one guy here puts it, a tape recorder (or as I put it, a trained monkey) but the pay is good, the hours are good and the extra benefits are good. It\'s the best gig going if you have to work for someone. Pity most of the JETs I have met are wankers...

[rextreme]

Yep thats the link.

They will take anyone.

JET is the sweet cushy job but it depends where you go. I know jets that work hard. In the country side sometimes there is NOTHING to do. And it is elementary high school teaching.
No hot housewives :rollin  Just hot school girls.

All the english schools have pros and cons.
Most of the private ones are Kids based now.

If you go with nova you have to do baby sitting classes with sometimes two year olds that dont speak Japanese let alone english.
I was lucky and joined before I had to do that.
Its just a source of money for me. I treat the job as a job. thats all.

[Schtoo]

Rextreme.

I agree with
girls, girls, girls
cars
driving
life here IS a party
and choice (sometimes too much!)

Also you get left alone (if you want to) by everyone!
Friendly folks everywhere!

As for the dislikes...

No traffic here
Governemnt crap. Yep, sometimes. Mostly not what but WHO you know.
Getting things done. Uhh... No comment.
Rent is tolerable around here.

Also the economy is in the crapper.
Government is shamefully inefficient.
End of year road works!
Being an object of curiosity. Maybe I have an extra nose or something...

As for Oz. When I go back, the stuff that has happened scares the crap outta me. And the big taxes aint that hot.

Still not sure I want to go back there just yet. But one day I probably will. Just don\'t tell mum that, ok?

[Schtoo]

True, there are some Jets that work hard and do good. Sadly a large proportion of them are just here for the well paid ride.

And Nova doesn\'t take everyone. I know...

Me, I work mostly for myself teaching English. Work few hours, make good money. Can\'t complain too loudly.

[GaryS]

Lets all gather there next April and PARTY ![/size] - we\'ll have to rely on Russ and Schtoo to provide all those loose women we see portayed in various anime.

[GaryS]

Originally posted by 20B_boy
Must \'ve been those damn slippy leather soles, eh Mr Dapperman sir!

It\'s called dressing with style and panache (as opposed to fashion) :p

[rextreme]

Most of the guys at nova work overtime or have private students as well.

Im too lazy to do that so I just take what they give me.
Ream me like a ..... (insert appropriate object)

Anyway Ill probably go back in a couple of months.
Its time. I can go back to Oz and make some money in IT again.
My plan was to come over change jobs after 3 months.
But I found it moe difficult with language trying to penetrate into the IT sector.

Cant complain. I have had fun.

Remember, next time your in town. Come and see us.

[Initial-D]

Know any English speaking designers out there guys?  If not I\'ll go for the GTO job please !!

he heh..!:p


Ben

[Sky]

But I found it moe difficult with language trying to penetrate into the IT sector.

Could you elaborate on this a little? It\'s also in my list of long-term plans (slightly different slant I guess - I lecture in computing at a university in the UK and was going to try the same over there) but what did you find that was different in IT over in Japan? Was it just language or were there other things that worked differently? How much Japanese would you need for a job that wasn\'t teaching English?

Cheers for all the replies, this thread\'s really interesting

Rick

[rextreme]

Basically,

I found, Unless you can speak "pretty good" fluent japanese, the IT industry is difficult. You cant talk to a client. I basically came from the sales/consulting field. Even understanding the directions someone gives you is difficult.

So, I have seen some jobs but the competition is pretty high also.
So you are usually competing with someone with good Japanese. Makes it quite difficult.

Not what you know.  Here I dont know many people.

Dont know about lecturing. If you know where to look. maybe you\'ll get lucky.

Russ.