Job Discussion Forums

[Sherri]

Hello
Glad to see a section for Australia and New Zealand open. I am an American currently teaching in Japan. I have been looking into the possibilities for me and my family (Japanese husband, 2-year old daughter and one baby coming this July) to move to NZ in a couple of years time. I am already familiar with immigration policies and have engaged a lawyer there to sort this out. What I would like to know is, is anyone out there aware of places/areas in New Zealand with a Japanese community? We are trying to settle on a city or town to target as a potential place to live. We would obviously prefer to be somewhere where there are other Japanese people living for the sake of my daughter especially. I would be very interested in a place where Japanese is taught in local schools. Also I am sure my husband would appreciate living somewhere where he could buy overpriced imported Japanese food now and again.

For background, I would probably want to teach ESL/EFL when we first got there. I have over 15 years experience (teaching adults--4 skills, an RSA cert, a masters (in industrial relations) and should have an MA in TEFL by the time we are ready to go there. But eventually we would like to buy into a business.

Thanks for reading this and appreciate your responses.

[roaming kiwi]

Hi Sherri,

You will be pleased to know that in all main centres (Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch, Dunedin....) there is a Japanese "community" .

The biggest ones are centred in Auckland and Wellington. Generally Japanese immigrants have stuck to the North Island. It could be a climate thing!

Most schools teach Japanese, if not at primary then at secondary. Your child should not feel isolated due to the increasing Asian population. One of the previous prime-ministers mentioned that NZ is an "Asian" country.

It depends on which lifestyle you would prefer to settle in. Auckland is the biggest city - over 1 million people and is spread widely. There are transport problems due to overcrowding (remember that there are only 4 million people in NZ!). The climate is generally warmer than the rest of the country, but a lot wetter.

Whereas Wellington is the capital city, the arts capital, and it is a far more laid back environment without being lazy. It's also cheaper to live there. The schools are superb - especially in the inner city. It also has more restaurants per capita than New York! In the supermarkets they have sections devoted to "exotic" goods from Japan and other cultures.

Hope this helps.

[Sherri]

RK
Thanks for the useful information! I will certainly check out the places you have mentioned. Now I am really torn between Wellington and Auckland. I guess the next step for me is to pay a visit for myself.

Thanks again!
S

[G Cthulhu]

As othes have said, you can pretty much live in any of the major cities in NZ and there will be large-ish Japanese communities.

Auckland is pretty expensive to live in (on a NZ wage), Wellington is only better by virtue of wages being higher. Christchurch is cheap to live in, but wages are low and jobs can be problematic.

I do know of several primary (elementary) schools in Christchurch that run compulsory Japanese language programmes, however (my daughter's in one :> ) and the Japanese ex-pat community is pretty active.

*If* you've got a stable and reasonable income in NZ then I'd recommend Wellington or Christchurch, in that order.


BTW, be very careful of lawyers offering help with immigration. You don't *need* to use one - just read the forms carefully, fill them out and wait. And wait you will: I've got a good friend that works in immigration handling immigration applications. The 'permitted' caseload is 50 applications at once, which would give a six month turn-around. Everyone there currently has over 400 cases each...


Good luck!