Job Discussion Forums

[Brooks]

the cheapest way is to fly from Kobe. Flights are as low as 10,000 on Skymark Airlines for the next year.

[abufletcher]

[abufletcher]

[Sweetsee]

sorry

[Brooks]

there is the ferry to Kobe from Takamatsu, but since you don`t pay, definitely taking the plane from Takamatsu is the fastest option.

Sweetsee, remember that Abu has more time to head over to Tokyo.
I have to work until the 18th, and get less than two weeks off this month.
Such is the trade off with working at a high school.

[Mark]

I've heard of Skymark but never used it. It seems like a good, discount domestic carrier.

But it's basically 20,000 to fly to Kobe and back, not really too much different than taking the Shinkansen to Osaka. And, with the extra hassle of getting out to Haneda and going through security and whatnot, I wonder if it would be any faster.

But they seemed to have direct flights from Takamatsu to Haneda, unless I'm remembering that wrong.

[Sweetsee]

But Brooks, what I am curious about is: Abu said he has a job in Tokyo.
But that is part of his job down there, right?

[Brooks]

Mark, I disagree.
What it boils down to is where you are going from point A to point B.
If you take Nozomi from Shin-Yokohama to Osaka, that will cost about 27/28,000 yen, depending on if the ticket is a discount ticket or if your seat is reserved.
It depends where in Osaka you are going. If you are going to Sakai or the southern part of Osaka fu, I prefer to take the plane.
My former boss is from Wakayama, and he always will fly to KIX instead of going to Shin-Osaka station, taking Midosuji to Tennoji, then taking JR to Wakayama.

[Doglover]

[Sweetsee]

But his school is paying?
Cool, huh?

[Doglover]

[Sweetsee]

I see. Abu's moonlighting job pays the travel expenses?

[abufletcher]

Actually, it's a pretty equitable arrangement and fairly standard. Most jobs will pay a transportation allowance. This is just a longer commute. I don't claim to understand the economics of all this but I assume that paying for specialists to come and teach courses allows Temple to have a strong program while at the same time keeping the size of their full-time staff to a minimum. Adjuncts are always a cheaper option than full-time with benefits.

Even their full-time staff regularly flies (or takes the train) between their three campuses in Tokyo, Osaka, and Fukuoka. This is no doubt cheaper than having three sets of faculty. I'd be happy to save Temple some money on transportation costs though if I can figure out a cheaper route that's still convenient. Since flying from Takamatsu still involves a 40 minute drive coming and going to my town of Zentsuji as well as an inevitable wait at the airport and travel in from Haneda, it might indeed be just as fast to take the shinkasen. Though I'm not sure this is particularly cheaper. There's a night bus but I'm afraid I might be too wiped out to be very effective as a teacher.

Anyway, my travel arrangements are two giant steps off of the original topic(s). Anyone have any more to say on the changing EFL market in Japan or the background that might be helpful to teachers looking for that non-eikaiwa job in Japan? Do qualifications even matter in the current era of dispatch companies?

[Sweetsee]

I would venture to say that if you have the connections, qualifications don't matter, don't hurt either.

[abufletcher]