Job Discussion Forums

[OneJoelFifty]

So it's agreed. Most Americans in Japan are weird.

[ssjup81]

[budgie]

I was here before there were so many 'Manga-freaks' and other 'weirdos', lol.

But seriously one gets tired of hearing the 'English teachers are losers' line. A lot of people are here because living overseas is an adventure and they don't want the mediocrity of a career (and even 'successful' careers can be mediocre). Many are here because they've married and this is where the family has decided to put down roots.

It's a shame that many are stuck in eikaiwa, not getting paid much and consequently not putting much in, but even the college jobs are subject to pared down benefits and part time contracts these days. Yes there are a few successful and fluent Gaijin in 'real' jobs or running successful businesses, but even if we all had perfect Japanese and engineering or finance degrees there wouldn't be enough decent jobs to satisfy the glut of Gaijin.

It's also possible the Japanese can only stomach so many of of us in their boardrooms anyway. Look what happened at Olympus. The corporate reaction was to fall back into the old ways of Japan Inc. and kick the foreigner out. Essential excuse for the financial improprieties: "You lot don't get it, that's just the way things are done here".

Finally the elephant in the room. Most of us are not staying for good. Why be driven to excel in a field that demands little and rewards even less when you'll be gone in a year or two anyway? The economy, the industry we're in, the very structure of society is designed to squeeze foreigners out eventually. What's wrong with having some fun and getting out with your sanity?

Even if English teachers here are are all a bunch of unambitious underachievers, someone who's 'made it' has a lot of nerve to tell that to people who are putting in long hours, struggling to pay the bills and wondering if their dodgy employers will even honor the next paycheck.

[Pitarou]