Job Discussion Forums

[PAULH]

My name is Scott Ahlquist and I've worked for Heiichi Miyauchi for the last two years. This posting is a response to Paul Feinberg's diatribe of March 11.

In the time I've worked for Mr. Miyauchi I can honestly say that all my dealings with the man have been honest and aboveboard. He is a scrupulous and completely honest businessman. In addition, the man has impressed me on any number of occasions with his fundamental decency and goodness. That said, the man is trying to run a small business in terrible economic times. He quite rightfully looks for every possible way to cut corners to ensure we don't drown in a sea of red ink as every other business in Japan is doing right now. O.K., O.K., so the guy is cheap. I didn't want to say it on the Internet, the guy pays me after all, but I do have a certain commitment to the truth.. Cheap, by the way, is also a word I'd use to characterize Paul...something that has a lot to do with this little squabble. Anyway, anybody willing to play by the rules of the English teaching game here in Japan has nothing to fear from Heiichi. He's a decent guy. So too, for that matter, is Paul.
We were an independent school before being brought into the American Language School corporate umbrella about 5 months ago so I don't know too much about them. Here's what I do know. All my dealings with ALS have also been completely honest and aboveboard. They have a great group of creative teacher trainers who know a whole lot about English teaching here in Japan and they're willing to invest the time and energy to help you become a better teacher. I don't think you can ask more from a company than that. I just spent last Sunday at a teacher training forum (something I bitched endlessly about having to go to, Sunday being my only day off...6 day work weeks are not uncommon here, but the compensation matches, something any debt laden teacher would be wise to consider) which was one of the most productive, informative eight hours of my professional life. If you are looking to come to Japan to work, I don't think you could do much better than ALS.

A word of warning to all those considering coming to Japan and searching these pages for some kind of clue as to what a good company to work for would be. And by the way, if you are even thinking about coming over here stop thinking about it and do it. Japan is an incredible, trippy country. It will blow your mind and challenge your assumptions about life. It will also be, at times, lonely, frustrating, sad, depressing, infuriating and a few other adjectives I can't come up with at the moment. These are the prices we pay for a rich, life-changing experience...
Anyway, be suspicious of any negative post you see on these pages. It is just as likely that a negative post represents somebody who didn't, for one reason or the other, have the right...what do we want to call it? Mental make-up I guess, to enjoy this situation as it does evil doing on behalf of some greedy owner or corporation. I do believe that, as a rule, your ability to enjoy Japan is under your own control. A lot of that has to do with accepting certain realities of life here. Among these are the following:
-There are cockroaches here. They are big and they fly.
-Japanese people, for the most part, use Kerosene stoves to heat their rooms. These do not smell very nice.
-Japanese apartments are a bit on the moldy side and they all have this...smell. I won't say odor because it's not that bad. You just get used to it.
-There are no stoves in Japan. Japanese people don't seem to bake. I don't know why. I just live here.

Take a look at some of these negative posts. There's one from a couple of days ago in which a teacher complains about a broken VCR and having to complain to the owner day in and day out to get it fixed. An exhausting and stressful experience, I admit. Why not just go out and buy one? I know, I know it's in the contract and technically if the school says they'll provide one they should but if this owner (Mr. Adechi, I think it was) is anything like most Japanese businessmen of his age, he's trying to find a way to fit 25 hours of work into a 24 hour day (who needs sleep, after all, it's the Japanese way...interesting that the Japanese word for "slacking off" is a derivative of the English word sabotage...giving it a kind of evil connotation) and maybe doesn't have the time to swing by an appliance store to buy a VCR for one of his teachers. If a functioning VCR is something you absolutely need for your own happiness then go buy it. You can get one used for under $50 and a new one for under $100. You might even enjoy the experience. Learning how to navigate the retail ocean of Japan is one of the keys to enjoying your life here.
Another teacher complained "it's three days of training and off you go!" Implying that that's a bad thing. Hey, three days training is a lot by industry standards. I got thirty minutes when I first came to Japan (ah, the good old days). English teaching here is not a multi-billion dollar industry with tons of cash lying in the corporate vaults to be spent to ensure students get the "best English teaching money can buy". Your training is largely your own responsibility. Get a TEFL certificate, go to seminars, talk to and observe other teachers (even if it means doing it on your day off), read "Dave's".
And then there's Paul. In his insect infested, moldy, heatless apartment without refrigerator, washing machine or stove (forget, for the moment, that Japanese people don't bake). I saw the apartment they moved Paul into. His description bears only incidental relation to reality. It certainly wasn't sumptuous by western standards but fairly typical in terms of what we English teachers get. Better, in fact, than some of the apartments JET teachers get. Paul's just a case of a guy with very middle-class assumptions of the good life (and there's nothing wrong with that) getting dropped into the reality of English teaching in Japan. If a nice, well-insulated apartment with a big fridge, large washing machine, garbage disposal, central heating, absence of mold and cockroaches is something you absolutely need to be happy, then teaching English in Japan probably isn't for you (and there ain't nothin' wrong with that).

Anyway, take these negative posts with a grain of salt. Do your own research. Ask schools for the email addresses of previous teachers and talk to them. Accept Japan for what it is, leave "things westerners take for granted" back home, work hard (for the sake of your students, not the owners) and you'll have a great time here. Sorry this became a bit of a rant. (If anybody actually read it to this point)
Scott Ahlquist
April 11th, 2003
[email protected]
Sawara, Chiba
Japan
Posted: April 10, 2003

[PAULH]

sorry, mail link doesnt work

[Iwantmyrightsnow]

Why don't you try the Salvation Army. They have a worldwide service that reunites families. They have offices/churches in Japan.

A friend had been "missing" for 5 years in Oz and they managed to track him down.

from their homepage:

The Family Tracing Service was officially established in 1885, when it was designated as 'Mrs Booth's Enquiry Bureau'. It has developed to become one of The Salvation Army's most distinctive international services.

The mission of the Family Tracing Service is to restore (or to sustain) family relationships, by tracing relatives with whom contact has been lost, either recently or in the distant past.

To find out more about the Family Tracing Service or to apply to have a relative traced, please contact the Salvation Army in the country where you reside.

That was from their international site but couldn't find any info on the us site, easily found on the australian site though. You might just want to call them.

[Rice Paddy Daddy]

paul, i think i remember reading that post!

[stacie davis]

thanks all for the advice and avenues that I hadn't even thought of. I now have a contact at the embassy and will try the route through the Ashikaga home page. As for the letter to the ESL cafe from my brother, I had read that and talked to DAve about posting a "missing persons" ad hoping that he might read this post. I'm afraid the only negative post I got on here might be right, he might not want us to know where he is...that makes me very sad. Everyone...CALL YOUR MOTHER!
THANKS AGAIN, I'll keep checking here!!