That make enough to get by and have fun. Not bank.

 

Big difference between living somewhere & just visiting. My 2c from many many years travelling & living in Asia.
I love Tokyo, but no way i'd want to live & work there unless the $$$'s were off the scale good. Its an expensive place to live & enjoy, and the stories i hear from colleagues there on the commuting, the hours etc etc really put me off.
Far better to get a job in the US that involves travel to Japan (& Asia), then you can fly in, good hotels downtown, food & travel all paid for, take pictures of stuff, get your fix for a week or so then get out. thats what i just did

 

This is true, the girl I was talking to while I was in tokyo said I should consider this. All the positions are probably taken in the actual city but you could get one right out of the city, the pay is around 2000 us dollars a month and she told me you can get a decent apt for around 700 a month. I have thought of doing that through the JET program ( Japanese English Teacher). As far as any other job I have not thought it out yet, this has just recently become a more serious thought. So I have been looking it seems like it would be expensive to get started living there but it eases after the first year or so? Im not quite sure though. But it has become a dream for me that I'd like to make happen one day.

 

wow!

 

If you're a JET'er, then there's a REALLY good chance of ending up in BFE (Bum F*ck, Egypt) haha. Or something really ironic will happen, like you see you get a posting in Tokyo but then it's actually in Ogasawara or something LOL. It's the private language institutions where you'll have a better chance of ending up in the city or at least the 'burbs, but the pay is even lower and some of those companies can be really cutthroat/might even end up going bankrupt (think NOVA a few years ago).

Back to being out in the boonies though, the nice thing is that rent and cost-of-living are much cheaper than in metropolitan areas. I had a friend out in Saga that had a full-on 2 story house all to herself for $400/mo or something crazy cheap like that haha. But she ended up nearly going crazy because it was so boring out there and spent her earnings taking domestic flights around the country every month or so as a sanity-restoring mini-vacation on weekends LOL.

Do you speak/read/write any Japanese? You won't need it on the job, but life is gonna be rough outside of work if you have no Japanese language skills, especially if you're out in a rural area.

 

oh good to know. I figured there would be no way to get anywhere close to the city.. Also I did hear that it was super cheap out there with absolutely nothing to do lol. As far as speaking the language I know its not required to learn it but me and a friend are going to be taking classes at sierra to learn to speak it. I don't think it would be necessary at the moment to learn how to read or write? But again it would make life alot easier. I figure as long as I can speak it, I will be fine and then while I was there just slowly learn how to read and write it. Also I if I could find a job doing something else, whatever it may be my friend said she would let me live with her which ultimately would be alot cheaper as well. So many options! I'm sure it will be a few years before anything would happen. Id have to sell my house both my cars and pretty much take nothing with me and start all over.

 

Right on, sounds like you gave it some thought. If you really want to skip the written part of the language, I'd suggest you at least learn the katakana characters -- they're used for transliterating foreign words (often English words), so if you can read them and sound them out, you'll probably be able to understand what the word says. Hiragana is easy too but not very useful without learning kanji, the hardest characters. Something to think about.

 

Every single person I've met that has gone to Japan via JET knows a huge chunk of Japanese. One you probably would never expect to speak but she was actually almost accentless.

If you're stuck in the boonies you will really need to know conversational Japanese. Most of them are pretty old school so unless you are able to establish yourself they will consider you an "outsider" (there's plenty that are still pissed off about the war). Not only that when I went to the hot springs, they had no clue what to do with me until I said "I am Japanese, I can speak fluently" they were like thank god we thought we were screwed.

If you're planning on starting over you're going to have to plan to stay there. But the issue with that is that a lot of people are on terms so.... what if you don't have a teaching job the following year? Take that into consideration.

The JET program is extremely competitive and without some sort of Japanese background (either schooling, teaching experience, etc) It will be extremely hard to get considered for.

The biggest consideration to take in, the culture is completely different there. Although I grew up going to school in Japan during the summers, I do not think I could live there for more than 2 years. I went back last year and my opinion of that has not changed. It'd love to be there for an extended period of time but it definitely was not a life long commitment I could do.

 

but think of all the anime related merchandise you could buy!

but yeah, pretty much everyone i know who did JET was half japanese and spoke it at home to a degree. I do know a pinay who did CHIP though.

 

Good to know thanks for the advice! I just want something new. I will definitely look into the katakana characters.

Also very good information! I understand the JET program is extremely competitive, that's why I'm not only looking into that. I do know that the older generation is still bitter. There were a few times where I sat down on the train next to an old person and they got up and sat somewhere else. Honestly that does not bother me at all. The majority of people there are extremely friendly and have no issues whatsoever. This is also why I would like to learn the language to show that I am extremely interested in their culture and lifestyle. I went to the hot springs as well, not one issue going into there, in fact it was one of the better days I had there. Like I said before this is now just recently becoming a serious thought to me, its going to take some time to commit and finally be ready. Plus my family is all against me leaving them here which will make it much harder. But we are all different and have different views on our own lives. We have to do what our hearts desire I guess? But seriously all the info I really appreciate guys.

 

Never underestimate the abllity of chinese counterfeiters

 

Good point!

 

I've seen so much counterfeit stuff, some of it has even fooled me =\ the thing that surprised me is that they even bootleg their own chinese liquor. I heard from an old hair dresser of mine that when she went on vacation to a place known for their pearls, she spend 3 grand, only to realize that the government-run tourist spot was selling fakes too. She found out after she went back to Singapore, GG

 

Japanese elementary schoolers know how to have a good time!
Eyeball-Licking Fetish Causes Eye Patch Epidemic Among Kids - japanCRUSH

 

Hella good chips