Job Discussion Forums

[Master Shake]

Black_Beer_Man, and most of the other posters, echo my experience living in Tokyo. The workaholic mentality was just too much of a downer, so I left.

I moved back to Colorado, USA a year ago. Funny thing is, it's Sunday at 8pm and I've been studying most of the day and I've still got lessons to plan tonight for 4th graders tomorrow. But I don't feel overworked. I know why I'm doing this and how it will help my students and me in the future.

Working those long hours in Japan felt pretty pointless in comparison. You just go through the motions because everyone else does.

And when you do go out in Tokyo to enjoy your free time, it's depressing because everyone you meet is working crazy hours and is unhappy.

[mitsui]

Once my vacation ends in a week it gets harder to see people since work becomes the focus. More for other people than for me. I think some people are not as busy as they appear but the culture demands people are busy.

I think some people keep themselves busy so they don't get depressed.
Big city is a lonely place.

[Black_Beer_Man]

[kzjohn]

Fall terms (後期) are always easy. Five classes/week this year, starting on the 26th--three on Mon, one on Tue, one on Thurs. (Last fall was unusual, only four/week.)

Work is 8km 15-20 min each way (20-25 during morning rush), and I sometimes come home for lunch. Driving or pedaling, no trains here.

[TokyoLiz]

This is my third year at a private high school where I built the curriculum I teach. Most of the bumps have been worked out, and Term 2 is a lot less hectic than Term 1. The schedule until midterms looks like a doily - lots of holes for events and holidays.

The commute is 10 minutes on foot, 10 minutes on the train, and another 10 minutes on a bicycle or on the bus. The train ride goes in the opposite direction of the rush hour.

Teaching here is less stressful and much less hectic than my old teaching job in Canada. There, I prepped without pay for an hour or two before each working day, taught for 3 hours with a 15 minute break, 45 for lunch (during which I prepped), repeat in the afternoon. I had an evening and weekend job teaching immigrants. Vacations weren't on my calendar. I was living paycheck to paycheck.

Here, I teach 2-4 lesson hours a day (I'm assigned 15-17 lesson hours a week). I don't work weekends because I have a decent salary.

I used to work in Tokyo proper, but gradually found work closer to where I live in Chiba 'burbs.

[mitsui]

Commutes tend to be 60-90 minutes around Tokyo.
If your commute is short, you are lucky.
If you can live closer, good, but most of us are forced to live in a suburb or even farther out.

[Black_Beer_Man]

[TokyoLiz]

One job I did required a 2 hour commute each way. I was doing grad studies at the time, so I looked at it as 20 hours of study time, done before I got home.

The first five years here, I had long commutes because of the neighbourhood I chose to live in.

Networking can get you invitations to work. That's how I got job offers closer to home.

[Maitoshi]

Commuting can really suck. Sometimes taking a longer route is better than the shorter one if it means getting a seat. It's hard to study when standing and crammed between others.

[ssjup81]

[Black_Beer_Man]

I was just remembering a conversation I had last year with a new Japanese colleague originally from Osaka.

She had been in the Tokyo / Yokohama area for only a few months, but remarked "Tokyo and Yokohama people look angry generally."

It's especially interesting when someone else, out of the blue, shares an observation that you have also had.

From her comment, I take it that other parts of Japan are happier places to live in.

[mitsui]

Of course.
Go to Nagano. They have manners there.
Osaka people could make jokes, or talk to people they don't know.

Not here. No, people would rather just stare at their phone all the time or just avoid people or avoid any interaction, except at work where they have to be a group member, and pretend they like each other.

Go to Naha. You don't see the otaku nerds like you do here. Naha is so relaxing. Too bad the pay is low there.

If I could find decent work in western Japan I think I could actually stay longer in this country. But even my Japanese wife prefers America to the Tokyo area.

[Black_Beer_Man]

mitsui, do you know about Osaka people's attitude toward foreigners? Do they have any desire to befriend and know about foreigners?

Or is their friendliness just surface friendliness?

In the Kanto, it is very hard to make sincere, nice Japanese friends (especially with Japanese males). Almost all the ones I have made turned out to have purely selfish motives. They couldn't give a rat's ass about me.

[victory7]

[mitsui]

Not sure. Osaka can be a busy place too and work takes priority.
It is not easy to make friends but you have got to get better at Japanese because most people here only want to speak Japanese.
Sometimes even knowing Japanese is not enough, in order to be accepted.
You have to act like the majority act, which is hard for people who come from a country which emphasizes the individual.

I think some foreigners have an ignorance is bliss attitude. With a Japanese spouse you get deeper into the culture.
I think some people are not thinking about the future. With fewer young people, there will be fewer teachers and schools. It will get harder to make money.