Job Discussion Forums

[seklarwia]

Hello,

I'm heading out to Japan with Interac in March, and was wondering if anyone heading out at the same time wanted to get in touch (especially those from the UK).

Even though this won't be my first time teaching outside of the EU, for some reason I'm actually quite nervous. Probably to do with being given so little info until right before I'm due to leave... oh well.

It would also be nice to meet up with at least one other ALT at Narita airport (it may not be possible to actually fly together). My Japanese is not fantastic so I must admit that the idea of wondering around a city alone with a load of luggage and a confused look on my face is not too appealing.

[elkarlo]

Hey, I'm going too, assuming I get my visa =)

It also depends on where we get placed, and what oreination group we get sent over with. Where did you request to go? I want to go Osaka or south, on account of hating the cold.

Maybe we can start a facebook group? We don't get babied like the JETs, so we need to do our own networking.

[Apsara]

elkarlo, sorry to break this to you, but other than Okinawa and perhaps Miyazaki prefecture in Kyushu, much of southern Japan is actually colder than Tokyo and the surrounding coastal areas in winter. Shizuoka, just to the south of Tokyo but well north of Osaka, is said to have the mildest winters in Japan. It has been snowing in northern Kyushu, but we have yet to see snow in Tokyo this winter.

Winter weather has more to do with exposure to the biting northwesterly winds that sweep down from Siberia than latitude in much of Japan- Tokyo, Kanagawa and Shizuoka are quite sheltered from those winds by the Japan Alps and the width of Honshu at this point, whereas the southern part of Honshu and the north and west of Kyushu are right in their path. Tokyo has a high proportion of clear, sunny days in winter because of this rain shadow.

The geography of a particular region plays a part- Kyoto is considerably colder than Tokyo (and hotter in summer) because of its location in a valley- lots of microclimates here, so check carefully and don't assume a place will be warmer just because it's further south. You will probably end up finding the hot, humid summers the more uncomfortable time of year anyway.

[seklarwia]

I did hot and humid in Beijing and horrible dry heat in Shaoxing... No thanks. That was tourture since where I am in the UK, 25 C is a really hot summer.

We haven't done formal placement requests yet, although I'd prefer to be up Hokkaido way (I love snowy winters).

I did get asked at my interview then again when I was accepted. They know that my priorities for placement are more that I teach only high school and possibly junior high and that I'm in a suburbs not total rural. My teaching experience is only with senior high and college ages and I'm not a fan of younger kids.

They told me that they would try to deal with my location requests, but since I have a very specific age request I may not get the Hokkaido area. So as of yet I have no idea where I could get placed.

Snow please! Snow please! Snow please!!!

But I agree with your networking idea. I wonder if anyone has done something similar already...

[elkarlo]

[elkarlo]

[elkarlo]

[seklarwia]

I found a networking group for Interac ALTs at the Tokyo intake last summer on facebook.

And that guy who made the rights group stuck his 2 cents on their wall too... the network creator didn't seem best pleased

I think I'll call the lovely Maria to find out if any of the others from my interview had been accepted and if I could get their email addys. I did ask before but they had yet to make their decisions on the others yet.

I should have gotten the contacts at the interviews but I wasn't thinking and I was certain that whole video thing had gone horribly wrong. Voice projection is one of my specialties since many of the classes I taught were in lecture theatre style rooms or even outside next to a busy dualcarriage way. Yeah... voice project doesn't sound so good in small meeting room. Then there was my loss of ability to add and don't get me started with my masking tape issues!

[Apsara]

[Apsara]

Tomorrow's weather forecast is a good example of typical winter weather in Japan. The entire Japan Sea coast, right down through Yamaguchi-ken, plus northern Shikoku and most of Kyushu, is expecting snow tomorrow. The forecast low for Hiroshima is -3 deg C, whereas for Tokyo and surrounds it will be fine and 5 deg above zero at the coldest. Doesn't matter that Tokyo is further north, the weather in winter is warmer here than about anywhere other than Okinawa.

Ok, enough from me about the weather!

[elkarlo]

[elkarlo]

[Apsara]

Can I talk about the weather again to answer your post?

Perhaps decades ago Tokyo didn't see sakura before Osaka, but it has been usual for the 10 years I have been in Japan, as far as I can remember.

As for insulation, older places, and even some newer places in Japan, have little o no insulation, hence some places are sweat boxes in summer and freezers in winter- I used to live in a house where it was colder inside in winter.

The temperature was in the 80s? 30 is cold? Time to start thinking in Celsius, you Americans are the only ones in the world still using that old system. To start you off, the 80s is near boiling point, and 30 is pretty hot

[seklarwia]

I think this is now the weather debate thread Got to love global warming, extremes and freak weather. I still prefer the idea of being in a freezer. I'm really not fond of sweating and its not very ladylike besides.

But back on topic... I don't think they'd appreciate us joing their group as they did create it solely for that summer narita intake as the creator told Mr "know your rights".

Maybe we'll have to do the same once we arrive. I hope they start doing formal placement requests soon. I wonder when the estate agents will start contacting us... hoping thats soon too.

[elkarlo]