Job Discussion Forums

[Bound2Somewhere]

Hi,

I have more than one question. First, is it difficult to find a temporary/seasonal job in Japan for someone with a BA, limited Japanese language skills, no teaching experience, and no teaching certificates? Would I be better off applying for a part-time job in my country?

Second...this may sound stupid, but what does "koma" mean? I read it in quite a few posts on here.

Third, is it common for a school to not pay you for overtime work in Japan? Are schools in Japan required to give teachers overtime pay?

I'm waiting to hear from a school in Kagoshima. I have read previous posts about Kagoshima. However, I was hoping someone could tell me more current information about Kagoshima.

Last, is anyone able to give me information about Kagoshima Immaculate Heart College?

Thanks

[Glenski]

[Bound2Somewhere]

Sorry, I guess I should explain that my Japanese language skills are at an Intermediate level. I feel I'm still limited in my skills, since languages are always growing and changing; and I will always be learning new vocabulary. Anyway, thanks for explaining about finding temporary/seasonal work in Japan.

Even if you think I'm not qualified for koma, I'd still like to learn the details about it.

Last if a teacher is salaried, is the school still required to give overtime pay? As far as I know, if you are salaried in the U.S., your employer does not have to pay you overtime.

If anyone else can give information about Kagoshima, I'd appreciate it. Thanks!

[Glenski]

A koma is what universities call the class for the week. Most are 90-minutes long. Like I wrote earlier, moot.

Overtime for university teachers is practically non-existent. As for other jobs, it depends on the contract.

Immaculate Heart...? Spider sense is tingling...

[tonyukohi]

Actually in the US they must provide some sort of compensation; most of the time, if you are salaried, this comes in the form of comp time, i.e. you can leave early/get a day off to make up for the OT. Ostensibly.

Dude, if the uni professor/HR deacon/all-around sempai says it's moot, it's moot. It's pretty tough to get a uni gig with experience if you're not published/have a master's/etc.; I'm pretty sure it's nigh-on impossible to do so without any teaching background. That being said, if you know a decent place that's hiring, go for it.

[hivans]

I live in Kagoshima, so I may be able to give you some information. Please bear in mind that I am not actually an English teacher, so my knowledge of the English teaching situation is based on hearsay rather than solid facts.

When you say current information about Kagoshima, I wonder if you meant the English teaching situation? I have heard from a friend working in a large eikaiwa company that rolls have been falling of late, and one branch within the wider Kagoshima city area had to close. Three years ago, I was told by two or three people that the ALTs in Kagoshima prefecture were pretty much all JETS and did not come through dispatch companies. More recently, one other person told me that some ALTs in Kagoshima prefecture were now being sourced by dispatch companies (but I have no idea how widespread this might be). I know of about five long-term residents who have opened up their own conversation schools here. I think there are a few conversation schools dotted around the rural areas of Kagoshima prefecture, I seem to remember one on the island of Tokunoshima placed a recruitment advertisement on the job boards of this web site a couple of years back.

Away from English teaching, I think the city itself would be pretty much unchanged in terms of facilities and cultural life from what was described in previous threads. Just a summary of local news that has caught my attention in case you are interested, the volcano became a bit more active last year. I reckon it still doesn�t live up to its tourist office billing (!) of the world�s most active volcano at all (up to the 1990s it was much more active my friends tell me). Last year some vulcanologists inserted state-of-the-art experimental probes into the crater. Apparently once they collect data on one major eruption, they will have a statistical model that will allow them to predict subsequent eruptions (very reassuring!). The bullet train will be able to run right the way through to Fukuoka from 2011. One thing everyone (including me) got very excited about was that last month the school representing Kagoshima prefecture was the runner-up in the national high school football (soccer) tournament (heartbreak that they didn�t win). However, I am convinced that the centre forward, Yuya Oosako, will become a huge star in the national team in the future. There is also a new professional basketball team here. The local Member of Parliament has called for a clampdown on illegal bicycle parking in the central shopping precinct. However, I am rambling, sorry, I wasn�t sure what you wanted to hear about Kagoshima.

Immaculate Heart College is a Catholic college for young women. The main campus is in Kagoshima city, and they have a branch campus in Sendai, the next city up the road. They have a pretty high reputation in Kagoshima. Many of the teachers are nuns, but I don�t think that the students or teachers have to be Catholics. I know of a couple members of their English-teaching staff by reputation only, as highly experienced teachers. I have heard that it might be difficult for young, unmarried men to join the teaching staff (I don't know how accurate that is). I did see (about three years ago?) an advertisement on www.gaijin.pot for a teacher of business English at Sendai. That�s pretty much all I know about them.

Please ignore any unhelpful comments I have made, and post again if you have any more questions.

[hivans]

Sorry, double post!

[Bound2Somewhere]

Thanks for all of the great replies!

@Glenski: Yes, I received a job offer.

@tonyukohi: Thanks for the information and advice.

@hivans: Thanks for the information about Kagoshima...especially about Sakurajima! It's sounds similar to my previous time in Japan, when I was told that the "big one" (earthquake) was coming that year. However, I'm unfamiliar with volcanoes. Does a city/area usually receive significant warning time to evacuate before a volcano is going to erupt?

Currently, where does the bullet train run to? Is it possible to take a bus or train to Shikoku or Honshu? Are there a lot of things to do in Kagoshima?

[Apsara]

Sakurajima's eruptions tend to be in the form of ash showers, not lava flowing everywhere. If a bigger eruption was coming they would usually know weeks in advance from changes like the sides of the mountain bulging, like when Miyakejima erupted properly a few years back they had evacuated everyone on the island already.

You will need to take a ferry if you go to Shikoku from Kyushu although you can cross by bridge from near Kobe on Honshu. The bullet train goes as far as Fukuoka last I heard, or has it been extended? If so, it won't be as far as Kagoshima yet. There is also a bridge from near Fukuoka to the end of Honshu, and yes, there are trains.

[hivans]

Congratulations on the job offer.

I wouldn�t worry about the volcano at all. I think they only have really big eruptions at a frequency measurable in geological time (thousands or tens of thousands of years) and as the previous poster pointed out there are telltale signs of such an eruption that we can understand today that the people of Pompeii could not.

Funnily enough, we do have a bullet train in Kagoshima; it just doesn�t connect with any other bullet trains yet. Work on the line for the Kyushu Shinkansen started from the south, so for the 2 and a half hour journey to Hakata (Fukuoka) you are whisked to Shin Yatsuhiro in 45 minutes on the Shinkansen, and then do the rest of the journey on the slower, older train. The Shinkansen will go the whole way from 2011, which I reckon should lop about an hour off the journey time.

In my opinon, Kagoshima is a great place to live. It is a prefectural capital of half a million people, so you have all the facilities you might need in terms of shops, hospitals, bars, restaurants, etc. However, you are also within easy reach of the surrounding countryside where there are some great hiking opportunities and hot springs and the like, as well as the prefecture�s many islands. I reckon Japan is a pretty friendly country, but the people down here seem to be unbelievably friendly and helpful. It seems (to me) that there is a more intense regional pride than might be the case in other areas. Off the top of my head, I think the drawbacks might be things like having a rather narrow English language selection in the bookshops and missing out on big name bands and non-mainstream international cinema. Also, being this far southwest, you need to take a bit of time to get to other regions of Japan

It could be worth checking out websites like these two below.
http://www.synapse.ne.jp/kia/e/index.htm
http://www.minc.ne.jp/kics/eng/top.htm

Just a thought, but once you check out sources of information like these, if you have more specific questions, why don�t you post a new thread with �Kagoshima� in the title? I wonder if there are people with experience of Kagoshima who have missed your thread up till now because it does not have that in the title.