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| Teaching in Japan - eikaiwa, or public school? |
| Eikaiwa |
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28% |
[ 2 ] |
| Public School |
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71% |
[ 5 ] |
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| Total Votes : 7 |
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Cubic09
Joined: 23 Aug 2009
Posts: 66
Location: Wellington, New Zealand
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 Posted: Thu Aug 27, 2009 10:32 pm Post subject: |
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| G Cthulhu wrote: |
| You're approaching this whole thing entirely wrong IMO. Stop fretting about the detail stuff. You can't control it or plan for it or do anything about it until it takes place, so ignore it. Deal with the real problems: application, beating the competition, being useful for JET. Blahblahblah. |
Fair call. None of the answers given have put me off applying, I'm simply wanting to get a feel for how things are in Japan...because the JET website doesn't tell you much at all 
I'll be worrying about my application in due course...it's a right pain that they take so long to decide on your success or otherwise, but a guess that's a primer for Japanese bureaucracy for you.
25,000 for a 3 bedroom house? Where were you posted G Chthulhu? That sounds altogether sweet, were you able to have people come and stay every once in a while?
Ideally, I'm looking for somewhere warm - not knowing much about Japan's prefectures, I'm learning more about them through Wikipedia and whatnot. For someone who loves organisation and precision, this ESID business is a right peeve - I'm sure I'll do well in Japan!  |
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seklarwia
Joined: 20 Jan 2009
Posts: 1546
Location: Monkey onsen, Nagano
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| Posted: Thu Aug 27, 2009 10:45 pm Post subject: |
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| Cubic09 wrote: |
For someone who loves organisation and precision, this ESID business is a right peeve - I'm sure I'll do well in Japan! |
You better try and get used to disorganisation and last minute changes to plans. You need to be really flexible as well as resilient to be an ALT out here. |
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Apsara
Joined: 20 Sep 2005
Posts: 2142
Location: Tokyo, Japan
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| Posted: Fri Aug 28, 2009 1:42 am Post subject: |
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| GambateBingBangBOOM wrote: |
| Apsara wrote: |
Gambate BBB, there isn't that big a difference between a 1DK and a 1LDK, I just moved from a 1DK to a 1LDK myself, and it isn't a lot more palatial than our last place- a matter of a few sq m. You also only mentioned one bedroom, which doesn't describe a 2DK, or 2LDK- it has to have two bedrooms to qualify for the "2".
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No, if the apartment has two rooms, and they are separated by the kitchen, like this:
***
Room (tatami)
Kitchen
Room (same flooring as the kitchen)
***
then it's often classified as a 1LDK (that describes my last apartment).
If it has two rooms and those two rooms are side by side with one of them having a doorway into the kitchen, like this:
***
kitchen
room (same flooring as kitchen) room (tatami)
***
then it's often classified as a 2DK (that describes both my first apartment AND my current apartment). |
What you originally described was a place with a living room, a kitchen and a bedroom. By definition a 1LDK.
Anyway, we are way off topic and I have made my original point, which is that some areas of Tokyo are much cheaper than others, and a 2 bedroom place can be had for well under 170,000 yen in those areas. |
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Apsara
Joined: 20 Sep 2005
Posts: 2142
Location: Tokyo, Japan
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| Posted: Fri Aug 28, 2009 1:50 am Post subject: |
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| Quote: |
| Ideally, I'm looking for somewhere warm |
Keep in mind that apart from in Hokkaido and some mountainous areas, the summers here are brutal (this year was a notable exception- one of the coolest summers ever, which means daytime highs hovered around 30 deg in much of the country). Unless you have spent a lot of time in Thailand or similar, living in Wellington will not have prepared you for the heat and dripping humidity of summers here. "Warm" you will definitely get!
The winters in the southern half of Japan (i.e. Tokyo and south), you may actually find quite pleasant- while it is pretty cool and may snow a bit from time to time, it is mostly clear and fine, sometimes for weeks on end (especially on the Pacific side)- hardly any of the rain or wind that Wellington gets. |
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GambateBingBangBOOM
Joined: 04 Nov 2003
Posts: 2021
Location: Japan
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| Posted: Fri Aug 28, 2009 2:23 am Post subject: |
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| Apsara wrote: |
| GambateBingBangBOOM wrote: |
| Apsara wrote: |
Gambate BBB, there isn't that big a difference between a 1DK and a 1LDK, I just moved from a 1DK to a 1LDK myself, and it isn't a lot more palatial than our last place- a matter of a few sq m. You also only mentioned one bedroom, which doesn't describe a 2DK, or 2LDK- it has to have two bedrooms to qualify for the "2".
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No, if the apartment has two rooms, and they are separated by the kitchen, like this:
***
Room (tatami)
Kitchen
Room (same flooring as the kitchen)
***
then it's often classified as a 1LDK (that describes my last apartment).
If it has two rooms and those two rooms are side by side with one of them having a doorway into the kitchen, like this:
***
kitchen
room (same flooring as kitchen) room (tatami)
***
then it's often classified as a 2DK (that describes both my first apartment AND my current apartment). |
What you originally described was a place with a living room, a kitchen and a bedroom. By definition a 1LDK.
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A room is a room. It would be really weird to use the above described 2DK as two bedrooms, because it would mean that you had to walk through one of them to get to the other, and it would have glass doors into the kitchen, and have the same laminate flooring as the kitchen etc). A lot of people I know live in an apartment of one of the two designs, and they I've never met anybody who used the one room that connects the kitchen to the tatami room as anything other than a living room. Same with Japanese people. I described my actual apartment, which is a 2DK (I still have the paperwork that describes it- I got it from the Apamanshop) and you still say that it isn't a 2DK. But that's what it is. |
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Apsara
Joined: 20 Sep 2005
Posts: 2142
Location: Tokyo, Japan
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| Posted: Fri Aug 28, 2009 4:30 am Post subject: |
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| Okay, okay, I believe you But would you agree that it really, really sounds like a 1LDK? Even if the apaman shop said it was a 2DK, functionally it's a 1LDK, right? |
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Glenski
Joined: 15 Jan 2003
Posts: 12844
Location: Hokkaido, JAPAN
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| Posted: Fri Aug 28, 2009 4:31 am Post subject: |
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| G Cthulhu wrote: |
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How much should I set aside for key money?
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You shouldn't. It was recently declared illegal. Just say no. |
Illegal? Got a link for that? |
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Apsara
Joined: 20 Sep 2005
Posts: 2142
Location: Tokyo, Japan
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| Posted: Fri Aug 28, 2009 9:36 am Post subject: |
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Ah, I meant to comment on that. I wonder if G Cthulhu might be thinking of the case in Kyoto recently where a man went to court to fight having to pay the contract renewal fee and won, with the Kyoto court declaring that renters shouldn't have to pay a renewal fee at all. That is by no means binding on any other landlord though, and it certainly doesn't mean that key money is now illegal- in fact about 2 months ago when we were still looking for a new place, the majority of them still very definitely wanted key money.
I suspect that if key money had been declared illegal it wouldn't have happened so quietly that none of us knew about it, so unfortunately for the time being, key money still applies in most cases, and refusing to pay it will most likely result in the landlord choosing not to rent his/her apartment to you.
. |
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G Cthulhu
Joined: 07 Feb 2003
Posts: 1373
Location: Way, way off course.
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| Posted: Fri Aug 28, 2009 8:41 pm Post subject: |
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| Cubic09 wrote: |
| G Cthulhu wrote: |
| You're approaching this whole thing entirely wrong IMO. Stop fretting about the detail stuff. You can't control it or plan for it or do anything about it until it takes place, so ignore it. Deal with the real problems: application, beating the competition, being useful for JET. Blahblahblah. |
Fair call. None of the answers given have put me off applying, I'm simply wanting to get a feel for how things are in Japan...because the JET website doesn't tell you much at all
I'll be worrying about my application in due course...it's a right pain that they take so long to decide on your success or otherwise, but a guess that's a primer for Japanese bureaucracy for you.
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How fast do you think it could be when you have ~1500+ places to fill with 10,000+ applicants in 40+ countries? Personally, I'm impressed they manage it as quick as they do given that they really do look at every application.
| Quote: |
25,000 for a 3 bedroom house? Where were you posted G Chthulhu? That sounds altogether sweet, were you able to have people come and stay every once in a while?
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Only students.
...no, wait, I meant to say.....   |
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G Cthulhu
Joined: 07 Feb 2003
Posts: 1373
Location: Way, way off course.
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| Posted: Fri Aug 28, 2009 8:44 pm Post subject: |
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| Glenski wrote: |
| G Cthulhu wrote: |
| Quote: |
How much should I set aside for key money?
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You shouldn't. It was recently declared illegal. Just say no. |
Illegal? Got a link for that? |
Osaka court ruling from ~May, IIRC. No, I don't have a link handy. Google it. Or take a look over on BD and follow the Jpns links from there. |
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G Cthulhu
Joined: 07 Feb 2003
Posts: 1373
Location: Way, way off course.
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| Posted: Fri Aug 28, 2009 8:48 pm Post subject: |
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| Apsara wrote: |
Ah, I meant to comment on that. I wonder if G Cthulhu might be thinking of the case in Kyoto recently where a man went to court to fight having to pay the contract renewal fee and won, with the Kyoto court declaring that renters shouldn't have to pay a renewal fee at all. That is by no means binding on any other landlord though, and it certainly doesn't mean that key money is now illegal- in fact about 2 months ago when we were still looking for a new place, the majority of them still very definitely wanted key money.
I suspect that if key money had been declared illegal it wouldn't have happened so quietly that none of us knew about it, so unfortunately for the time being, key money still applies in most cases, and refusing to pay it will most likely result in the landlord choosing not to rent his/her apartment to you.
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Hmmm. I don't think so. But my Japanese is shaky enough these days that I wouldn't absolutely say. I don't have the link available (& really can't be arsed going to find them for here) but from memory the article I was reading was definitely talking about Osaka and key money.
But I would agree that regardless of a court ruling, landlords will continue to do whatever they want until they're forced to stop. Don't believe they should be encouraged by allowing them to, however.
Obviously, YMMV. |
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Cubic09
Joined: 23 Aug 2009
Posts: 66
Location: Wellington, New Zealand
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| Posted: Sat Aug 29, 2009 1:19 am Post subject: |
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| G Cthulhu wrote: |
| How fast do you think it could be when you have ~1500+ places to fill with 10,000+ applicants in 40+ countries? Personally, I'm impressed they manage it as quick as they do given that they really do look at every application. |
I disagree. A period of up to 6 months is a very long time indeed, particularly since a lot of the applicants to the JET programme are required to find and hold down jobs in the interim, regardless of whether they are eventually successful. Personally, I consider that a bit of an ask, and if I didn't already have gainful employment sorted for when I finish my studies I would be examining the JET programme very carefully.
But perhaps they do things differently in New Zealand? Recruiters are in general extremely swift at getting back to you with an indication of your chances, and you're very rarely left in the lurch - and in the current economic environment, the same numbers apply - down here in the Antipodes, it's not unusual for a call centre job (one!) to have 300 applicants. I'm sure a few posters will correct me on this one - at least they don't have you over a barrel, which is how the JET recruitment looks on the outside.
Still, JET seems like a wonderful opportunity, and I don't want to knock that. Many people (including myself) will undergo the painful wait and uncertainty, and that speaks volumes about the programme I'm sure.
Does anyone know of any good books about JET, particularly from previous participants? I'm currently reading Under the Osakan Sun, by a fellow Kiwi called Hamish Beaton, who was a JET for 3 years. It's hilarious, and somewhat sad at the same time. It seems the Japanese education system is in need of a real shake-up!!
A lot of it dwells on his lack of success meeting a nice Japanese girl, and it seems clear that dating is approached completely differently there. Personally, I keep an open mind - unlike a few  , that is not on my radar at all! |
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GambateBingBangBOOM
Joined: 04 Nov 2003
Posts: 2021
Location: Japan
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| Posted: Sat Aug 29, 2009 1:53 am Post subject: |
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JET recruitment takes a long time. It's actually timed pretty well, in that you arrive in late July early August- that's summer vacation in the Northern hemisphere. The difficulty is that you have to submit your health check etc. right at exam period, which can be a huge problem, and some people have actually turned it down because of it. But then, some people have turned it down just because they didn't get the placement they wanted.
The general idea seems to be that people will do JET immediately after graduating university. You finish school in late April, May or early June, then you get ready and leave for Japan in late July or very early August. One problem is that many people are arriving with very little actual experience outside of school, just their part-time jobs and having travelled on Daddy's Dollars.
And so now it seems that many JETs are arriving with a bit more experience than just university.
For books, the one usually mentioned is "Importing Diversity" but it's pretty old now. |
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Cubic09
Joined: 23 Aug 2009
Posts: 66
Location: Wellington, New Zealand
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| Posted: Sat Aug 29, 2009 2:06 am Post subject: |
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| GambateBingBangBOOM wrote: |
| The general idea seems to be that people will do JET immediately after graduating university. You finish school in late April, May or early June, then you get ready and leave for Japan in late July or very early August. |
Oops! That seems all pretty sweet then...down in the Southern Hemisphere though, the university year finishes in November, which means a solid 9 months in the wilderness. I wasn't thinking about you people up North! 
Thanks for the book recommendation, I'll keep a look out. |
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Cool Teacher
Joined: 18 May 2009
Posts: 930
Location: Here, There and Everywhere! :D
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| Posted: Sat Aug 29, 2009 3:13 am Post subject: |
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I think it si abnout renewal fees.
Here's an article it talks about key money but doenst say its illegal. Wish it was!
http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20090724a1.html
| Quote: |
The point of contention in the Kyoto District Court ruling Thursday was the "contract renewal fees" for renting houses and apartments, which tenants are obliged to pay their landlords every time their contracts are renewed.
In many cases, the fees are equal to two months' rent and must be paid by lump sum, putting a heavy financial burden on tenants every few years, in addition to the "key money" that is required when a tenant first enters into a contract.
In the lawsuit, a Kyoto man had demanded that his landlord return �460,000, comprising �110,000 in contract renewal fees and �350,000 in key money, based on the law to protect consumers in business deals.
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