Job Discussion Forums

[andrea]

ok, so that's a rather broad question. what i'm really asking is where is the best place in japan for me. and now you're probably thinking, well, sh*t, i don't know, i don't even know this person, don't know anything about her or why she wants to go to japan. well then, let me tell you a bit about me.

first - i'm planning to go to japan sometime in late august/early september. i want to teach english, preferably to a mix of adults and children. currently i'm teaching adults in the czech republic. when my contract here is over, i will have had about 9 months of experience. i also have a celta.

second - i want to be in a decent sized city - but not too big, not tokyo - with a decent sized foreign (english speaking) population. i would also like to be near mountains and the sea, though mountains are more important to me. i'm also very interested in buddhism, so i would love to be in a place with some nice temples and such.

third - i want decent working and living conditions.

so, does anybody have any recommendations of cities or schools i should look into? i'm just looking for a little guidance from those in the know. i've been trying to do some research on my own, but there are so many places and so many schools, i just get overwhelmed. so yes, any advice would be wonderful.

[PAULH]

[Brooks]

Kobe.
Maybe the most foreigner friendly city.
It has 1.4 million people and is near Shikoku, and not too far from Kyoto.
I have gone hiking near Kobe, on Mt. Rokko.
In Kobe, you can get around on foot.
It has the second biggest Chinatown (after Yokohama).

[TokyoLiz]

Andrea,

If you're into big city life, and you don't mind the crowds, then Tokyo is the place. There are so many international events, and lots of work. The downside is, if you're not into the club scene, can't tolerate crowded trains, have a problem with the exhorbitant rents, then maybe it isn't for you.

Some Japanese cities boast great night life and a reasonanble cost of living. I'd say Hiroshima is one of the most liveable places in Japan. Lots of foreigners there, you can bike everywhere, and Shikoku and the Seto Inland Sea provide lots of places to get away and enjoy mountains, hiking, biking, skiing...

In northwest Shikoku, there's the lovely castle city of Matsuyama. It's under a million people, only an hour and a half by ferry from Hiroshima, not too crowded, easy to bike around, filled with greenery, and abundant in cultural and national treasures - the Tobe pottery, Dogo Hot Spring Spa, an awesome castle, historical temples and shrines, and old-fashioned textile centers.

It's also only an hour or so north of spectacular countryside, orange groves, Mt. Ishizuchi, and a few hours by ferry to Beppu, the hotspring town on Kyushu.

The jobs there are pretty good, too. Check out some of the listings on Gaijinpot - the schools out there pay reasonably well.

Can you tell I love the place? I lived 2 hours south of Matsuyama when I was on the JET program.

I just barely tolerate Tokyo right now. I'd rather be in a rural area, close to mountains

[Gordon]

I really like Kobe, would love to live there. Fukuoka is often talked about as the most liveable place here. However, many who love there say the competition for jobs is tough. Lots of ex-Korean English teachers go there.

TokyoLiz, come to Takamatsu if you like smaller cities. If you lived on Shikoku, you've probably already been here. We actually have a Starbucks now, 2 in fact.

[andrea]

thanks for all the replies.
to answer some questions -
paul - yes, of course i have a degree - a BA in english and philosophy
my idea of a decent sized city? well, i grew up in a town of 700, with the nearest "big city" 20 miles away with a pop. of 85,000. i'm currently living in a town of about 100,000 (in the Czech Rep.). and i've come to the conclusion that mid-sized towns are crap. well, actually, i rather like the city i'm living in now - it's got nice parks, fairly friendly people, and just enough to do to keep myself from going insane. but i guess i'm looking for a bit more life on my next venture...more people, more different things going on, more cultural events, etc. so, really, it's more about the life of the city than the size. but at the same time i don't want to be in a really huge metropolis like tokyo - that's a bit too much for a small town girl. and as far as the number of foreigners - i just want a bit of a foreign community. there are about 3 other foreigners in my town right now, and i'm not particularly fond of any of them. i have czech friends, but sometimes i really would like to have a couple good foreign friends here...like some comfort from home.
eh, well, kobe sounds interesting. and shikoku - i was considering shikoku before. and kyoto calls me...
what about some good schools in these areas? i will be applying from overseas, and i know that a lot of schools don't hire from overseas, but quite a few do. it seems that people on this forum are always making it out to be worse than it is - like you only have nova and 2 other schools to choose from if you want a job before you come here. makes you wonder if they ever actually look at job advertisements...
anyway...i've been looking at american language schools, which has branches in many, though not all, places in japan. anybody know anything about them?

[PAULH]

Andrea

I have lived in Shikoku (Takamatsu) and can recommend. Small city feel, close to sea and parks. Famous for its buckwheat noodles. Friendly people and they have a fairly big foreigner population. Not as big as Osaka but when i was there most other foreigners knew each other.

I live in Kyoto at the moment though I dont know much about teaching jobs here in conversation schools though. PM if you need more info. Pretty hard to get jobs here unless you can go through the big schools or you come here with a bit of cash and hit the classifieds. March is a good time of year to look for work.

[G Cthulhu]

throwing my own two yen into the hat...

Ick:
Kobe and Kyoto (but mostly just Kobe) suck. They're overflowing with non-Japanese rabbiting on and on and on (and on and on...) about how wonderful it is to live in those places. It's just the attitude you often run into IME. I hate Kobe with a passion. Kyoto you can, at least, mostly avoid the culture vultures if you dislike that sort of person.

Hmmmm:
Tokyo is souless. It also has several large US bases nearby, which means all the joy associated with the little darlings being allowed off base. Nothing to recommend the place.

Nagoya. The concrete castle with the elevator sums the place up IMO.

Yeah!:
Sendai. Peculiar at times and certainly has the whole concrete jungle thing going, but also a good size, interesting things to do, see, be and a good size and place at 1 million people and northwards.

Most anywhere else in the Tohoku region or down the east coast. Small cities (250,000 is the norm), but usually interesting for a year or three. Far more chance of experiencing more of the variation Japan has to offer than by living in one of the big cities.



Obviously, all IMHO.

[shmooj]

Mountains, sea, foreign population, big but not too big = Nagasaki.