Job Discussion Forums

[Shakey]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oPC5V8mSr3E

This cat has a US $3,000 salary and a free apartment included in his deal. But, he has finally said that enough is enough. He's calling it quits. Too much time alone in his room drinking and watching You Tube, not enough social interaction with friends, etc. For certain people, this is a very dangerous combination.

The negatives outweigh the positives.

Years ago there was an unreleased report on the high incidence of suicide among JET participants. Did anyone every read that?

[nomad soul]

[TokyoLiz]

[Lamarr]

I've heard of suicides among non-JET people, and more than a few stories of alcoholism.

TBH, the "casual" drinking thing isn't uncommon. Especially in ESL jobs where you finish late and get home late, and don't have to get up early the next morning, you can slip into a very comfortable routine of staying up and having a few cans of booze into the small hours, watching films or Youtube.

I know people though who developed problems it, but they tended to be older and more settled (or perhaps stuck) in English teaching in Japan long-term. Even if you're married, with kids, the isolation can still be a problem, perhaps more so if you don't speak the language, on top of the monotony of the work. Some guys just fill the void with alcohol, almost without realizing it.

[GambateBingBangBOOM]

[GambateBingBangBOOM]

Yes, I did hear about the report on JETs committing suicide. Every year, JETs commit suicide. But apparently the number isn't THAT far off of what the normal percentage would be in any given population.

The worrying thing is that JETs are required to get a medical examination prior to going on JET. There is some sort of question in the application about ever having had emotional or psychological problems. I guess people who have and still wanted to be on JET would just lie about that, though. If they had major problems that had required medicating or hospitalization, then I doubt their doctor would sign off on the medical form saying that they were fit for JET. The form may specifically say that the JET participant may be in a very rural placement. Many people wouldn't actually go to the doctor if they had a problem (because of the stigma, and maybe fears of employment practices that seem to exclude people who have had a problem).

But anyway, JETs who committed suicide would have to have been people who kept it together well enough to obtain the job over others, and that means they seemed fine to the doctors, interviewers, and people who wrote the letters of recommendation. Then they went to Japan and committed suicide. **OR** they developed the problem (maybe it was a very small almost unnoticed problem in the past) while isolated on JET.

Anybody who had been here long enough to remember bigdaikon, can see what happens to some people on JET (unless these were people who acted like that BEFORE getting into jet )

[Lamarr]

[GambateBingBangBOOM]

[RM1983]

It's no joke living abroad, I've seen people come apart everywhere I've been. I think that it is true that it brings out some of things you might have been able to bury but perhaps more importantly it creates new things and it is kind of anyone's guess what they will be. What happens to your brain when you move abroad like this? Is it a case of bringing out what was already there or that your brain doesn't adapt in the right way?

I think this is where we could all be a bit more sympathetic - you tend to see people who mess it up getting laid into (especially online) but is it really they are lacking the gumption and the common sense or just that they've not really managed to connect to the new environment in the right way?

I've definitely been through all kinds of bad gaijin phases - I've caused trouble when I'm drunk, I can hardly speak Japanese (couldn't speak or read anything whatsoever when I arrived), I tend to be quite strong-headed about certain things we are expected to adapt to, I've caused embarrassment cos I didn't know or care abut the social rules and graces. The point is though I've worked myself into a more comfortable place and managed to adapt a bit. I think the key is realising that you need to WORK at it, it won't just come naturally to you. No one has adapted well to this without working hard for it.

I think it might be the low-level of care and information available about what happens to you when you emigrate that causes all the misery. This kind of living abroad is packaged as an extension of your university days by the companies who profit from it and it has become a right for people who need more time before they enter the workforce back home. The thing is you can't know what the stresses are like before you come up against them. When I came here , it was almost on a whim and for all I researched none of the negativity really reached me at that time.

In my opinion though, most people do not stick around long enough to get to suicidal, they bail. If it was particularly a bad rate of suicide, then we might have a better level of information and care about what actually happens to you when you immerse yourself in another culture like this.

[RM1983]

[nomad soul]

[RM1983]

[Lamarr]

Different cultures and ways of doing things can kind of "invade" your mental space for a while and throw you off balance. I think everyone experiences this in a new place. I've spent 9 years on and off in Japan, and I'd say it takes 5-10 years even to become truly "comfortable" with the language and culture and to feel a part of things, rather than simply some outsider (though people still treat you as such). And that does take effort and adaptation on your part, in learning the language and adapting to the different ways of doing things.

How you deal with the "mental instability" of a new language and culture is key to whether you're going to adapt: whether you've got the head-strength to be able to stay on top of the stress of it all, and patience and nous to adapt your ways over time. I have read surveys (not quite sure how they worked it out) that about 40-50% of people who emigrate to a country don't adapt, and end up shutting themselves off in their own enclave, only engaging with people from their own background, only speaking their own language and so on. I had a friend who was exactly like this and ended up getting more and more angry over time, very bitter and prejudiced against the Japanese, to the point where he was even threatening violence on his wife and his friends. His marriage eventually fell apart and he had to leave.

Even now, most of my friends and people I keep in touch with in Japan are other gaijin. Coming from very different backgrounds and upbringings makes it very difficult to ever be truly integrated with the Japanese, to the point where you're going to be generally treated on a level with other Japanese, as "one of them". It would take years of immersion in the culture and language to reach that point.

[TokyoLiz]

[RM1983]