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Heyo. Been a while since I was anything close to active around here, but I'm making a pretty huge life change soon and you guys were always pretty supportive.
+ Show Spoiler [backstory] + After I graduated from high school, I found myself in a shit spot where I was inches away from signing my life away to the US military. This and that happened, and half a decade later, here I am, a college graduate with a respectable income in a lucrative industry. I have savings and a 401k.
Hate it. Always knew I'd hate it. And I do. So, that's one mystery solved.
So I set my sights back on an old fantasy - teaching English in Asia. It had always been on the back of my mind - that's why I minored in education, studied some languages, took TEFL classes, earned a cert and did my hours at a Korean-American hagwon/eikaiwa-type academy. I even had a PM conversation with Mani about the most trivial of shit ("Can I get a job teaching in Asia if I have pierced ears?") back in 2011. I chose Korea and started gathering my documents (background checks are an absolute bitch), working with Adventure Teaching, doing the research. Then I got a frantic phone call from my mom, who tells me that because she never relinquished her native Korean citizenship, I, an American-born-and-raised supermutt whose only relation to Korea was a mother who hadn't been there since 1985, was required to serve in the Korean military.
I'm not going to lie - I gave it some serious thought. Tried to rationalize my way into it. If I'm going to live there, I might as well, right? And I hear mixed Koreans often get disqualified from service anyway - maybe I'll get lucky? So on and so on.
Then it turns out that since I never got registered on the Korean family database, I'm in this weird limbo state where I am simultaneously a jus sanguis Korean citizen but at the same time a complete stranger. Meaning if I just kept my mouth shut, I could probably get away with going.. but that would be.. fraud. Bad-enough-to-get-banned-from-Korea fraud. Not tryna git that. Sure, if I was willing to spend a couple months getting my birth registered, getting my mom to relinquish her citizenship, and handling whatever bullshit I'd get in Korea for not just serving like every red-blooded Korean, I could do that.. but no.
So.. I turned to Japan. When I had first considered teaching in Asia, Japan had been my original destination. Beautiful scenery, interesting people, inscrutable culture. Fuck yeah, right? I had considered Korea first because my Korean language skills were a little better than my Japanese, but no biggie. The adage I had always heard in regards to Asian ESL was "if you want to make money, go to Korea. If you want to be happy, go to Japan." Guess life wanted me to be happy.
Boy, the naiveté.
I'm a tiny bit more well-informed about the whole snafu now, but the next couple weeks sound like absolute madness in my head. The timing's all off so I can't go through JET and everywhere I check and everyone I ask tells me the best route is to just show up and go for it. I'd like to think I'm a bit more qualified than the average entry-level applicant, but this race-against-the-clock-and-my-wallet with nothing to guide me but internet rumors and Gajinpot job listings is more than a little intimidating to face alone. And if my rusty two-year formal Japanese language education lives up to my pessimistic (I suppose I should say realistic) expectations, I will truly be so very alone.
If anyone has had to go through this ordeal or anything similar, especially in Japan, I would really appreciate any advice. I'm literally just trying to find any employer that'll sponsor me a visa so I can work my ass off and maneuver myself into something more comfortable later on down the line. I'm also planning on taking on a part-time job if my employer won't hate me for it to speed up the savings and hopefully integrate a little faster.
Also, if anybody would be willing to have coffee with me or something that would be amazing haha. Current route is to head to Nagoya after touching down in Tokyo around October 12th as I hear there's a decent amount of opportunity in the area, but my desperation may lead me wherever my resume earns me an interview. I'm currently in the process of hitting up friends but it seems rude to straight up ask if I can crash so I'm looking into airbnb as well.
読んでくれてありがとう。 すみませんが助けてお願いします! 또하나 - 일본에서 한국분들이 어디에 많이 계세요?
edit: Also, Japan Rail Pass? My Japanese professor recommended it as well.
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If you're a native English speaker, which I assume you are from your mention of almost joining the US military, then there are loads of English teaching opportunities in Japan. Not having a work visa will narrow your options a bit as not all companies can sponsor them but there's definitely still plenty of places you can go.
I actually just got a full-time English teaching job with one of the big Eikawa companies in Japan a couple of weeks ago. I've been on a student visa for the last 6 months and I'm just about to start the process of applying to change to a work visa, after which I'll be starting work.
The basic requirements for most of the jobs seem to be 1. Native English speaker (sometimes 'native-level' is ok) and 2. Bachelors degree of any kind (although other teaching qualifications/experience can be as good or better). If you have some kind of English teaching qualification or experience then you should definitely be able to find work.
The application process varies from company to company and can take a while for some. One of the ones I applied for a while ago took about 2 months, I had to have a phone interview and 2 in person interviews at separate locations and in the end didn't even get the job. The job that I do have though had a much easier process; I filled in the application form, they emailed me to arrange an interview date a few days later, then I went to the interview and they told me I'd got the job about a week later.
If you need a little bit of part-time work to tide you over while you apply for a proper job then there's a few websites that match teachers with students, such as Hello Sensei and EigoPass. I've never used EigoPass but I've found a few students through Hello Sensei. Most people are just looking for 1 hour per week one-to-one conversation classes, and I usually only get contacted by a new person once every few weeks or so so you wouldn't be able to live off this alone, but I guess it can help.
I live in Kyoto, and I've never been to Nagoya, except the train station, but from what I've heard there aren't so many foreigners there (compared to Tokyo or Kyoto for example). This might be good for you because they might be more desperate for English teachers, but it might also mean that the city is a little less gaijin friendly, which might make it more difficult if your Japanese isn't so great.
Most of the English teaching jobs don't expect or want you to use Japanese at all though, so not being confident in your Japanese isn't the end of the world.
I've only been in Japan 6 months but I think it's great here and I don't want to leave; which is my main motivation for getting a work visa and staying now that I've run out of savings.
Good luck!
Edit: if you haven't left yet it might be good to start applying for jobs now so that you have some interviews to go to when you get there. Some places might do skype interviews too.
Also afaik the JR railpass is only available to people on a tourist visa and has to be bought before you arrive in Japan. It will definitely save you money though if you plan to take more than 1 shinkansen trip in the time period.
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you'll be fine dude dont sweat it and good luck!
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On September 04 2015 19:00 mooose wrote: I actually just got a full-time English teaching job with one of the big Eikawa companies in Japan a couple of weeks ago.
Congratulations! Jelly haha
On September 04 2015 19:00 mooose wrote: The basic requirements for most of the jobs seem to be 1. Native English speaker (sometimes 'native-level' is ok) and 2. Bachelors degree of any kind (although other teaching qualifications/experience can be as good or better). If you have some kind of English teaching qualification or experience then you should definitely be able to find work.
I hit all those criteria so your post (especially with you being someone with recent experience; all the information I can find on the net about this sort of thing is dated from like 2004 and earlier) gives me a lot of hope!
On September 04 2015 19:00 mooose wrote: The application process varies from company to company and can take a while for some. One of the ones I applied for a while ago took about 2 months, I had to have a phone interview and 2 in person interviews at separate locations and in the end didn't even get the job. The job that I do have though had a much easier process; I filled in the application form, they emailed me to arrange an interview date a few days later, then I went to the interview and they told me I'd got the job about a week later.
Oof. Sounds like a good idea might be to keep applying places even if I think for whatever reason I'm a shoo-in.
On September 04 2015 19:00 mooose wrote:If you need a little bit of part-time work to tide you over while you apply for a proper job then there's a few websites that match teachers with students, such as Hello Sensei and EigoPass.
How's that work, legally speaking? It sounds like something I'd love to do but this is my d r e a m ~ and I'd rather not risk getting deported!
On September 04 2015 19:00 mooose wrote: I live in Kyoto, and I've never been to Nagoya, except the train station, but from what I've heard there aren't so many foreigners there (compared to Tokyo or Kyoto for example). This might be good for you because they might be more desperate for English teachers, but it might also mean that the city is a little less gaijin friendly, which might make it more difficult if your Japanese isn't so great.
I originally heard about Nagoya because I was looking for cheap places to be; it turns out that the cost of living there is less than half of the cost where I live right now! Hopefully the lack of foreigners will turn out in my favor, but there could also just not really be as much opportunity for English teachers there. I dug up my old JL1+2 textbooks, hopefully they'll help me survive @_@ In any case it's proximity to Tokyo/Kyoto/Osaka makes it seem like a viable "home base" if I haven't gotten any interview offers by then?
On September 04 2015 19:00 mooose wrote: Edit: if you haven't left yet it might be good to start applying for jobs now so that you have some interviews to go to when you get there. Some places might do skype interviews too.
I actually considered that - it seems most places want people who are already in Japan (logical, I suppose) so I'm thinking of applying a bit before I go so that I'll have a better idea where I want to situate myself once I'm there. I'd do it close enough to my flight date that I'd be able to make any dates the employers proposed, so no harm, no foul, right?
On September 04 2015 19:00 mooose wrote: Also afaik the JR railpass is only available to people on a tourist visa and has to be bought before you arrive in Japan. It will definitely save you money though if you plan to take more than 1 shinkansen trip in the time period.
I honestly don't have a clue :/ my travels seem like they'll be primarily determined by who's willing to give me a shot. Not sure how I'm going to figure this out.
On September 04 2015 21:03 FFGenerations wrote: you'll be fine dude dont sweat it and good luck!
Thanks man having to reason my way through this stuff to type it out here is actually proving pretty therapeutic to me, and with your encouragement I'm starting to feel a little less shitty. I should be excited, not afraid! narniaaaaaaaaaaa
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Japan Rail Pass is great for travel... You can only get it outside Japan, however, and they aren't long-term. I paid about 500 for two weeks.
Another benefit of them is not having to deal with figuring out ticket machines, or worrying about wasting money if you go the wrong direction. A downside is that you can't just monkey-see monkey-do because no one else has one. Plus you will be confused when you find the one in a million trains that requires you to reserve a seat and get a ticket (actually this only happened to me on the Narita Express). But it's all worth it because you'll get to take a lot of fast trains Japanese people normally take slower versions of to save money.
If you get the pass plan some time to just travel for fun. It won't be useful for teaching (though I believe they sell some other kinds of passes for more local use).
I'm not sure that going to a different country will really be the answer to your life's problems though. Japan isn't so radically different, and you might find they expect you to work harder than you're used to if you try to get a real career. You may also find yourself playing the foreigner with every new person you meet, which many people who taught in Japan express annoyance with. While still not feeling truly in a different land as there's still plenty of foreigners on vacation everywhere but the countryside, and you have to feel awkward being mistaken for one of them.
Then again, train beer. And coffee vending machines on every street. And probably the cleanest country I've ever been in.
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Thanks for the advice! I'm going to need to do some more research before I shell out, $500 is pretty steep to pay before I'm completely sure how/when I'll be using it.
And no worries - I'm definitely not going to Japan to avoid working hard. I wrote that I "hate" my current job because of the lack of human interaction and.. well, data analysis might pay but it's not making me a better person. I am, completely arrogantly speaking, a damn good employee (except when I'm reading TL in the bathroom!). My ultimate goal is to end up at either a university teaching or doing software dev in a startup or as a contractor - I'll achieve neither of those putting in the bare minimum! I earnestly want to become a good teacher or at the very least a well-integrated asset.
And I'm mixed - for better or worse I've been a "foreigner" my whole life (getting complimented on my English when I visit my cousin in Virginia is always amusing lol). So I'm not overly worried about that - I'm used to being different and in fact kind of enjoy it. That said, I'm 3/4 Asian so we'll just have to see how I'm received there haha.
Mygodddthecleanlinesss :D
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Yeah legally speaking, I suppose using those English teaching sites without some sort of work permit is probably illegal. I'm allowed to work part time on my student visa so I haven't really thought about it. There are definitely people who use these sites who don't have the correct visa, and I'm sure they get away with it since it's usually just one-to-one lessons being paid in cash, but I understand that you wouldn't want to take any risks.
I was about to recommend looking into getting a working holiday visa but it seems like US citizens can't get one for Japan for some reason. It's a shame because it sounds like it would suit your situation. It's basically a 1 year visa which allows you to work up to 28 hours a week which you can get without having to have a company sponsor it or have any work lined up before you arrive.
While you can get from Nagoya to either Osaka or Tokyo in like an hour and half on the shinkansen, it's not really viable to live there and commute unless you are making a lot of money because shinkansen tickets are really expensive. I just looked it up and a 1-way ticket from Nagoya to Tokyo is about $84. The regular trains are a lot cheaper but also take significantly longer. You could get from Nagoya to other cities for interviews but you'd probably need to move to whichever city you found a job in. This is the site I'm using to find train times and prices btw.
The JR railpass is meant for tourists and only lasts a limited time so it's not really a long term solution to travel. I just use an ICOCA card which is basically just a card you can put money on and then swipe when you go through the gates at the train station or get on/off the bus. It's pretty convenient since I don't have to worry about making sure I have the right ticket for each particular part of my journey, as long as I make sure I put enough money on to begin with. I'm not sure about the rest of Japan but the average bus or train fare around Kyoto is about $2. Kyoto is small enough that I can just get around by bike most of the time anyway though; I think Nagoya is a bit larger.
As for applying before you get there, some of the big companies have overseas applications, for example Gaba, Berlitz or Nova. In your situation I'm not sure whether it would be better to make a domestic or overseas application since you'll be in Japan soon anyway. I suppose it would just be best to explain your situation and see what they say. I'm planning to move from Kyoto to the Tokyo area soon, so I said that on my application and the company that offered me the job let me apply for a position in the Tokyo area but interview in Osaka which was very convenient because getting to Tokyo from here is a ball ache.
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On September 05 2015 09:26 mooose wrote: You could get from Nagoya to other cities for interviews but you'd probably need to move to whichever city you found a job in.
That's actually my exact plan! I'm not particular about where I end up living, especially for that first year haha.
Kyoto is sounding really nice; if I'm able to find an opportunity there I'll definitely pursue it.
As for recruiter applications, I've actually already applied just as sort of a backup! I'll be sure to update my applications once I'm there, though.
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I'd make a couple points.
First, I would urge you to stay away from Eikaiwa. It's a miserable lifestyle and intended for college graduates with no direction or career options, which is fine if you just want to do a two-year stint before going home with a lot of stories. But it seems like you have a budding career going, so I think it might be better to look for a job with a company in Japan.
If you need a quick visa, Japanese school isn't a terrible option. It can't hurt to get better at the language or to become literate in particular. Life in Japan gets infinitely easier if you can speak and read Japanese.
As for finding a job, your best bet probably are recruiters. Email someone at enworld and try to get some advice and perspective from them about your chances.
Japan is about a decade behind the US in terms of data analysis and computer work. That's not to say they're stupid, but software and statistics are neglected subjects in Japan (they favor hardware, engineering, and pure math instead). They haven't bought into the "software is eating the world" meme. And lucky for you, all programming or spreadsheet work is done in English because they use the same programs like R or Excel.
As for your back story, I would double check the military thing with someone who actually knows. As far as I know, if you're walking around Korea with a US passport and not on a family register, then frankly you're not a Korean citizen and they'll never find out or insist that you should be one. Your problems would only come in the opposite situation if you somehow tried to claim the rights of a Korean citizen.
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On September 05 2015 21:30 coverpunch wrote:First, I would urge you to stay away from Eikaiwa. It's a miserable lifestyle and intended for college graduates with no direction or career options, which is fine if you just want to do a two-year stint before going home with a lot of stories.
That's unfortunate. I'm looking to teach English in Japan because from what I've seen after months of unemployment, it's nearly impossible to get a job in the US without experience (in my field, anyway). Entry level jobs are few and far in between, and they immediately get gobbled up by someone more qualified. It's really sad that I have to consider this option, since supposedly I have one of the most marketable degrees (Computer Science). Either way, it's probably better to teach English abroad than flip burgers here.
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www.hyperdia.com
saved my ass in japan with the train lines. lists everything.
i lived 2 years in japan (as a K-american) so if u have any questions, feel free to pm me
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On September 06 2015 05:06 parkufarku wrote:www.hyperdia.com saved my ass in japan with the train lines. lists everything. i lived 2 years in japan (as a K-american) so if u have any questions, feel free to pm me There's also an Android (probably iOS as well?) app called Japan Trains (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=bside.extremeambient.net&hl=en) which I used which requires internet and uses Hyperdia as the back end. Was invaluable for working out what trains to get, and tells you how long they take, when to switch and how much it will cost as well.
You do need internet though, but I assume if you are expecting to be there long term you will get a local SIM with data anyway.
As people mentioned, rail pass is for visitors. Also depending on where you end up being it might not be much use. E.g. around Osaka there are lots of private lines that the rail pass doesn't work on, it also doesn't work on the Tokyo subway IIRC.
http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2361.html This also has a "does it pay off?" section based on how much you expect to travel. I got one first time I went because I was using the Shinkansen between Osaka and Toyko when I was on holiday, but when I went back the next year I was only in Toyko so it wasn't worth it at all. But again, travel visa/"temporary visitor" status required: https://www.japan-rail-pass.com/common-questions/temporary-visitor-status
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Good luck to you! I hope your life only improves once you are in Japan
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In a ridiculously fortunate twist of fate (maybe life felt bad about the whole military thing) I got a job offer from an awesome pre-school in Hokkaido - my dream locale! I'm getting the details worked out in the next couple of days and am leaving in two to three weeks. No more stress about the job hustle, and I can finally get started on the rest of my life!
@parkufarku: Oh gee, that looks amazing. Bookmarked, and will definitely make good use of it when I visit the south. And will do!
@coverpunch: I agree with your points, but if it ever comes to a time where I have to sign an affidavit affirming that I'm not of Korean descent, I'm not really comfortable with that. The reason I'm concerned about it is that at least back when I was trying to apply, EPIK actually asked whether I was of Korean descent. I feel like it would be stressful to work and live in Korea with that hanging over me - I'd rather go to a country where I can have everything be completely above-board, no grey areas.
@Lonyo: I don't really expect to travel much at least during my first year (I'll spend most of my time in the Sapporo area getting acclimated, picking up the language, getting used to the whole teacher thing) so I think I'll pass (hehe) on the pass.
@awerti: Thanks
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