I’ve recently noticed a lot more people expressing interest in going to Japan on Destructoid. Despite living in Japan for over two years now, I’ve never really thought to write much about it. So I thought I would write a small series of blogs on Japan with my perspective on various subjects like games, tourism, foreigners and just Japan in general. This stuff isn’t really researched so please don’t take my opinion as any more than… my opinion. I have a number of things to write about and I’d love feedback after this initial blog to know what people want to read about next.

First up I just want to give some ideas and advice to people interested in visiting Japan whether as a tourist, student or just to work. If you’re only looking for a light read then scroll down to a title that interests you.


My Story



I came to Japan through a company called AEON which is now the biggest (I think) English Conversation School (Eikaiwa) in Japan. The way I got here was not interesting; I was recently out of University, looking for jobs and I noticed an ad for AEON in the newspaper. I got a job offer after a second interview and then put it off for a year because of an offer at home and ended up finally heading to Japan a year later. My first year was mostly spent with other foreigners and I spent a lot of time travelling, drinking and partying. I virtually studied no Japanese as my work environment didn’t require it and I didn’t spend all that much time with Japanese people who couldn’t speak at least some English. I was also very lazy about studying Japanese anyway.

About a two thirds of the way through my contract something changed. I had been dating a Japanese girl for a while and we became more serious. I extended my contract three months and planned to return to Australia with her later that year. I proposed shortly before we left and we went back to Australia for six months and got married there and again in Japan last year. I’m now working for a different company and describe my current length of stay in Japan as ‘indefinite’.




Judging from what I have read of different people on the site, I expect most are either university graduates or currently in university. I am going to mostly assume the people interested in this are college graduates without any Japanese and write from that perspective.




Study Abroad



If you are already in university, particularly if you are a first or second year student, getting to Japan should be as easy as starting a minor in Japanese and looking into your schools study abroad program. I imagine most universities have a program to Japan but if not there may be a more indirect route through another institution. For people from England, I know there is a gap year program for volunteer work (which is paid anyway). I did not come this way so I can’t help much but even if I did, I would still recommend the study abroad officer at your university over anything I could say.




English Teacher



For those that are college graduates or very close to and who are not held down with the responsibilities of family, work or a significant other; becoming an English teacher in Japan is the best and probably easiest way to get there outside of tourism. As I said, I went through a company called AEON which recruits in the US, Canada, England and Australia. In Australia I found it very easy to get the job but I understand there is more competition in America for the jobs, particularly in the West Coast recruitment centre. The only requirements for the job are a college degree, competence and confidence. You basically have to convince the recruiters you will finish your contract and that you are capable of teaching adults and maybe kids from a set program. There are a number of other companies such as ECC and Berlitz. Some who have looked into this in the past may know of companies like Nova and GEOS which have gone bankrupt, Nova famously leaving many foreigners stranded without a job.

There are also companies focused on teaching kids. Amity is the sister company of AEON which is a kids only English school. There is also Peppy’s Kids Club which has a parent company. Along with this there are ALT positions. ALT stands for Assistant Language Teacher and these teachers work in virtually every school in the country. This is my current job actually. The best known company that I can think of is one called Interac which recruits a lot of teachers. Many unfortunately recruit mostly within Japan. Outside of the big companies there are a lot of private schools and smaller English language schools all over the country which may offer jobs. The goldmines being University positions, Private High School positions and if you can get a job as an English instructor at a large company like Toyota. These are just the ones I know of, many more could be found at a website like Gaijin Pot which I rarely use but understand is excellent for foreigners wanting to go or already living in Japan.

One final thing I want to mention is what you will hear from other people who have done this. Opinions will probably be very mixed because there are so many companies, places and personalities that will shape them. I have generally loved my time but I have heard completely the opposite from people who have worked for the exact same companies as I have. Some people have to work hard and some not much at all and a lot of people have completely different opinions on what constitutes hard work. I would say that it is your own attitude more than anything that will decide how you experience teaching in Japan.




The Snowfields



This might appeal more to Canadians though I met more Australians doing this work. You can get jobs in places like Nagano, Hokkaido and perhaps Gifu working on the snowfields. The only snag to this is I’m pretty sure Japanese is a requirement. I understand many students who want to stay on in Japan take this option. My former co-worker did it in Hokkaido but she spoke excellent Japanese. Still it is another option to consider.




Other



I wrote a lot about becoming an English teacher and this is because it is virtually the only job a foreigner can get in Japan. Of all the foreigners I’ve met, virtually all were teaching English in some capacity. Even the exchange students often had English tutoring jobs. The only other foreigners generally work for large companies and live or visit here on business. I currently live in Toyota which you can rightly infer is the home of the Toyota Motor Company. Many foreigners are working for the company or relate component companies. If you live around Tokyo or in Okinawa you may also know a few in the US military. Some foreigners have started businesses like foreign pubs or restaurants. There are a number of Chinese, Philippine, Brazilian and Peruvians who work in factories as well. Outside of this, virtually all foreigners are tourists or English teachers.




Tourism



I don’t know how useful I will be here because I haven’t really been a tourist. My advice if you are low on cash would be a budget airline and staying in hostels. There are plenty of cheap hostels in Tokyo and many of the more popular cities like Kyoto, Osaka and at least one in Hiroshima. A must is also a rail pass which I think you can buy for up to a month. The bullet train (Shinkansen) is very expensive if you are a resident like me but very cheap for tourists. I understand you can get a rail pass for about $300 for a week. This includes all JR company trains so you can get pretty much all over the place. If this sounds expensive, consider it costs me roughly $200 to get from Nagoya to Tokyo and back. You can get all the way to Kyushu which is the south island (think Nagasaki) and all the way up to the north of the main island. One thing to remember is that this has to be organized prior to your entry into Japan. My brother found this out the hard way when he came to visit.

Despite what you may have heard, there are plenty of places to each cheaply. I actually find the supermarkets to be generally cheaper than Australia. Restaurants like Yoshinoya sell cheap meals such as a bowl of rice with meat on top and some sauce. There is also ramen which costs about $5 or under. The other great thing is places usually have pictures so you just need to be able to point and smile to get what you want. Other than that there are lots, (and I mean a lot) of convenience stores known as “conbini” around the place which cheap but often nasty meals.

Once you are in the country it isn’t too hard to find things to do. Most tourist spots are free to enter and there is generally plenty going on around the more populated areas. The nightlife isn’t quite as nice as in the West, depending on what you’re interested in. The club scenes are much better in Tokyo than they are in Nagoya where I spent a lot of time. I don’t doubt you know about places like Akihabara and Shinjuku in Tokyo. Game centers and shops are everywhere in the cities and you shouldn’t have to go far to find one if odd games and collecting is your main goal.




Deciding

Since I have assumed most people interested know little to no Japanese, I honestly recommend becoming an English teacher at one of the bigger companies as the ideal way for someone who wants to spend a decent amount of time in Japan. The main reason is that these companies will do all the hard paperwork for you. They also usually organize accommodation and give you a good orientation. Above all this, working in Japan means the trip pays for itself.

You are able to go it alone, entering on a tourist visa and looking for work but unless your Japanese is quite good, it will be hard to find work like this. On the plus side, if you do it is easy enough for the company to extend your visa.




Studying Japanese



I met a student from Mexico in my first few months who said, “You will learn Japanese whether you want to or not.” This doesn’t mean you will become fluent, despite your best efforts not to, but that you will just learn bits of the language every day from living there. Everyone is different and some people pick it up much faster than others out of interest, study or just being lucky enough to have a good ear. As I said, I didn’t bother much at all before I came or during my entire first year. This doesn’t mean I knew nothing but that I could have become a lot better with just a little more dedication.

If you are going as a tourist, you don’t really need it. There are usually English-speaking Japanese around the popular spots and as I wrote earlier, restaurants often have pictures. You also don’t really need it if you work for an English Conversation school as they usually have a policy of English only in the work place.

All that stated, no matter what you want to do, studying will not hurt at all. As a personal recommendation to start, I would learn the Japanese sounds through hiragana and study katakana which are the characters used for foreign words. The latter in particular helps a lot because there are so many English words used in Japanese. You do have to watch out for some words such as ‘pan’ which is written in katakana but is the Portuguese word for bread. Other than this, basic introduction language and please, thank you & sorry should be learned. This is the best way to start and these steps are a good foundation to build on.

Japanese people do study English in school and virtually all know some but is primarily in the written form. If they have not had English conversation instruction they usually pronounce it quite differently* and won’t understand words you say. I usually advise people to write it rather than say it in a desperate situation.

*The Japanese language doesn’t contain v, th, or l and words often end with a vowel making it hard for them to pronounce words like “alive” which sounds like “araibu” and if they say “thank you” it often comes out as “sankyuu”.


Anyway, I hope this has been helpful for you. If people are interested, I can definitely write more. I want to stress again that this is mostly off the top of my head and there are plenty of places to get better informed. I do hope this helps some and maybe sparks an interest for others.


For those who haven't seen, Harris Hatsworth also has a nice blog up about his experiences.