Job Discussion Forums

[Okonomiyaki]

1) Heating in winter. It's NOT good enough to be half heated by a kerosene stove that makes your knees warm while your back turns blue, or half heated by a kotatsu that heats your legs while your bod goes blue. And nobody should be so cold that they wear a scarf to bed...!!

2) Unchecked high prices: shakken (roadworthiness tests), uncontested insurance claims, ludicrous coffee prices, ludicrous movie prices, crippling commuter bus/train prices.

3) Unwillingness to take a stand: Women, don't just tell me that you "like music". NAME the damned bands! Don't act like a blank slate for fear of offending acquaintances. Neighbors: Strap on some cojones and COMPLAIN about the damned *beep* speaker trucks that annoy hundreds to get one customer.

[Apsara]

[wayne432]

Or get a place with an AC/heater

[Imseriouslylost]

My main gripe about Japan is teaching English. I haven't been doing it very long but it feels extremely dead end.

That's the first thing I noticed when I came here from Korea. Korea has a decent 30+ crowd. You can make a rewarding career out of teaching English if you put the time in and have the right connections. You can find a school that leaves you alone, you can find a school that pays you well and you can find an environment that respects you enough to let you grow as a teacher. It takes a lot of work and Korea is a very stressful country to live in (that's why I left) but in the end you can have a rewarding job, have an active social life, travel and leave with a huge nest egg. The only problem is that living in Korea for too long can make the most sane of us go crazy.

Japan seems to be the opposite. I like it here quite a lot; people are friendly, it's clean and orderly, the culture is quite interesting, it seems to be extremely layered in so far as you are always learning new things about the country and it's customs... The thing I can't stand here is work. Everything else is gold.

Teaching English here is such a dead end. The industry is revolting. Dispatch companies suck. I don't know any Eikaiwa workers but from what I've heard Eikaiwa are even worse than dispatch companies.

I thought the Koreans didn't know how to get the most out of English teachers... Hah! Here in Japan, the water cooler gets more of a say in what goes on in the classroom than I do. They treat English teachers like expensive tape recorders. They get pissy when we look bored even though they give us nothing to do. I seriously think they expect dispatched ALTs to sit perfectly still at their desks without flinching, just waiting to go into their next classroom so they can stand in the corner with a fake smile for 45 minutes only to say "REPEAT AFTER ME: APPLE, APPLE, APPLE" and watch their JTE teach in the exact same way they were probably teaching in 1965 to a bunch of students who are rightfully bored out of their minds all the while thinking that they're god's gift to education. It's retarded.

At first I was shocked to come here and find out that no one seems to stay for more than a year. In Korea I was about mid-range in terms of length stayed (3 years) and age... here I'm the oldest English teacher I know at only 26 years old and I'm the only person I know who wants to have more responsibility and move up the ranks in teaching. It seems like every English teacher in Japan is between 22-24 years old and they're only here for exactly one year (two tops). There isn't any optimism amongst English teachers and the payoffs are so low that no one would ever consider it a career. It's a shame, really.

I don't regret coming here from Korea. I like living in Japan a lot more than living in Korea, it just feels like teaching English here is nothing but a toxic dead end. Even if I went and got an MA and some more credentials, from what I hear, I'd just be fighting tooth and nail for a university job that will eventually vanish anyway and will never actually be 'worth it'.

I have a plan to go part time with my company next year and fill the rest of the time with privates. If that doesn't work out, I guess I'm out of here because there is nothing else I could do. It's a shame because I really like Japan. I just don't like it enough to stay at the bottom rung just to live here.

[ghostrider]

Imseriouslylost: Tokyo is a massive city. Most of the English teachers I know and met were in their mid-twenties and thirties. I've only met a few under 25 (that I know of). I think if you're in eikaiwa or a major ALT, you'll see people come and go quite often. The ones who stay for more than 2 years aim for higher paying contracts and are more likely to get hired after some experience.

I agree the job situation is a bit bleak. I think the major hurdle is getting the right advanced qualifications and/or meeting the right person at the right time who can recommend you for a good position (ones that you won't find here or on GaijinPot).

[seklarwia]

@Imseriouslylost:
When I got here I was 23 and with the exception of a few much older ALTs in the next town, who had been out here for a while and our city's "famous" direct hirer from Singapore, I was one of the oldest ALTs around. I was older than a JET who was half way into their 2nd year! But in the last three intakes, the number of crazy young ALTs being brought in has decreased a lot. JET still brings in a couple, but the dispatch companies around here seem to be looking for mental maturity and the few younger ones they have brought are not being seen buying nothing but alcohol everytime they visit a shop or heard before they are seen every Saturday as they terrorise quiet neighbourhoods with their drunken antics (part of the reason I stay away from many of our JETs).

But two weeks ago, through an Interac meeting and the huge welcome dinner after organised to welcome the new dispatch and JET ALTs, I was really shocked. I don't think I found more than a couple younger than me amongst any of the new recruits throughout the day and I have just turned 25 (notice the age insecurity creeping in ) A few of the new dispatch ALTs were much closer to my father in age than me and the average age of the rest was at least somewhere in the late 20s.

As to being a talking tape recorder; ESID. I have never been a tape recorder. I get lots of control and quite often full control of all my classes. I get asked for input and help from JTEs and non-JTEs alike. I get responsibilities outside of the classroom, whether that be asessing students, playing host to visitors to the school, preparing students for external tests and exams, organising, preparing and assisting students and teachers for performances, etc. I am rarely at my desk in either office.

And if you speak to ES ALTs, you'll be hard pressed to find tape recorders among them.

[Glenski]

[Imseriouslylost]

[flyer]

As far as lack of promotion etc goes, I think its pretty much the nature of the industry here. After all, we are living in a foreign country, working in an industry that is pretty narrow (as far as scope of actual work) I think its hardly surprising that there isn't a lot of room for huge promotions, level up, etc etc. Japans population is not growing anymore, the economy is stagnant at best ..... everyone is tightening their financial belts! Why does it surprise you that things are not all rosey for us?

And from what I have heard, there are many jobs back home now thats not what it used to be. Many uni grads are finding it hard to get good jobs, get promoted. Life long jobs with lots of promotion are getting scarce back home so, it stands to reason

For goodness sake, if you don't like it here, fine, no one is forcing you to stay.

[Glenski]

[Mr_Monkey]

I know that different countries have different expectations, rules and laws regarding qualifications and such, but in the UK it's almost impossible to get a job in a school without a Trinity Cert. TESOL or a CELTA - they're minimum qualifications.

They're also really entry-level qualifications - higher-level qualifications like the DELTA or Trinity Dip.TESOL are what qualify you for better jobs - even MAs don't qualify you for those jobs unless the holder has undertaken 5 hours of principled observations.

The knowledge and practical skills of teachers with diplomas and MAs is just better. I don't see why you think you shouldn't have to go back to school. In teaching, that's how you move up the ladder.

There should be more opportunities for training in Japan.

[rxk22]

[Tiger Beer]

[Apsara]

The above is very true. I've been here 12 years now, and most of my friends have been here 5+ years as well (and are not English teachers)- I don't really know any newbies.

When I first moved here though, I only really knew other English teachers and most hadn't been here more than a couple of years.

[chongalice49]