Job Discussion Forums

[the4th2001]

[Sweetsee]

11. Good grazing(including coffee in our local OlOl)in the department stores.
12. Beer machines. (for those imbibing)
13. Four seasons.
14. Beautiful hot spring resorts.
15. Low unemployment.
16. Immediate, 1% in-house financing of electronics.
17. Cutting edge electronic goods.
18. All night bars/clubs/parties.
19. Extremely reliable public transport.
20. Conveniently located motocross areas.
21. Costco.
22. All you can eat dining/drinking places.
23. Good lunches for less than �500.
24. 3rd largest economy.
25. Excellent roads and highways.

[Glenski]

11. Good grazing in the department stores.
For what? Most clothing doesn't fit most western bodies. Packaging is excessive and not eco-friendly. Most clerks avoid talking to foreigners.

15. Low unemployment.
Uh, for whom? Yes, officially it's 4.6% (adjusted seasonally), but that's for the locals, I believe, and even so, you gotta take it with a carload of salt.

Lots of oldsters take cleaning and other PT jobs. You never see a youngster wiping out toilets or escalator rails. Plus, the fact that more and more Japanese are not studying abroad is because they are afraid to lose that precious rare opportunity here to interview 1-2 years ahead of time.

20. Conveniently located motocross areas.
Huh?

21. Costco.
Not everywhere. Only one in all of Hokkaido, for example.

22. All you can eat dining/drinking places.
With 2-hr time limits even for parties.

24. 3rd largest economy.
Have you read the news lately?

25. Excellent roads and highways.
Where? Pretty narrow and slow-moving, if you ask me, even on tollways. And also very expensive t use when/if they are finally completed!

[Sweetsee]

26. All the negativity just makes me stronger!

[the4th2001]

[Sweetsee]

27. Raising bilingual children.
28. Convenient convenience stores.
29. Home of the rising sun.
30. Well paying, personally satisfying work with beaucoup holidays.
31. Spitting distance from killer SE Asian vacation spots.
32. Maid cafes.
33. Fewer SUVs.
34. A government not hell-bent on war.(anymore)
35. Love hotels.
36. Mos Burger.

[Ikki]

4th2001: I'm not really "hoping" for anything but here's what I think is a reasonable laundry list of benefits that should be provided:

1. Fully reimbursed return airfare.
2. Employer setting you up into the NHI, pension, etc., schemes.
3. A clean apartment w/basic furnishings waiting for you upon arrival. No rent due until first payday. Apt. has AC and at least a space heater.
4. A minimum of 3 weeks paid holiday a year, with another week added if you renew a contact. All Jap. public holidays off.
5. A settlement allowance upon arrival(say, 300 bucks).
6. No overtime without FT's consent. Such overtime should rate not less than Y5000/hr.
7. Landline phone in apartment should be provided.



Those are just a few off the top of my head.

[the4th2001]

[rxk22]

[Sweetsee]

37. Service stations where smokers get their ashtrays polished and filled with fragrance beads.
38. Hair salons offering point cards redeemable for 10-15 minute scalp massages when full up.
39. The ubiquitous state of the art washlette/toilettes.
40. A population boasting a 99% literacy rate.
41. Kaiten zushi.

[nightsintodreams]

1, Being able to go out at night and feel completely safe.
2, Going out drinking and not having to watch over your shoulder incase some idiot decides to start a fight with you because "he doesn't like the look of you".
3, A decent paid job (in my opinion) with only a degree. Not even experience is needed at most companies.
4, First year tax and health insurance comes to less than 700 dollars.
5, Easy enough to get an exemption from paying shakaihoken, so no need to worry about that.
6, Everywhere is clean (at least in the towns, cities, villages. I know the beaches are often disgusting)
7, Standing out from the crowd (can be a good of bad thing depending on the way you look at it, i see it as a positive)
8, Weekends in Kyoto, Tokyo etc
9, Good and cheap restaurant food (compared to the UK anyway).
10, Easy to pull
11, Holidays in Philippines, Indonesia, Taiwan, Thailand.
12, Lots of time off (at most companies, as mentioned earlier i get about 10 weeks plus national holidays).
13, Possible to work two decent paid jobs at once.
14, Opportunity to study Japanese. If you work as an ALT you will have plenty of time to do this while getting paid.
15, Working with kids is fun.
16, Teaching is more enjoyable than the average 9-5 job.
17, Retro video games are very very cheap. Plenty of classics that weren't made available in our home countries.
18, Possible to save a lot of money (at least in your first year).
19, Some good things to put on your CV when you eventually come home (teaching experience, experience living in a foreign country, possible Japanese ability)
20, Once you have a year experience its relatively easy to transfer to a different area of Japan or even somewhere else in Asia.
21, Reliable, cheap public transport.
22, Very low crime rate. Ive lived here one year and thus far have not seen any crime. Not even a single fight.

Negatives
Too many winging whiny gaijin teachers. They're always moaning. Why don't they go home, back to their splendid home country where everything is so much better and fairer?

[Sweetsee]

37. Utra-healthy, exquisite, non-meatbased cuisine.

[Glenski]

[Sweetsee]

Really. You must be slipping, mate.

[seklarwia]