Job Discussion Forums

[Pitarou]

My title, not theirs. They call it Berger D et al., Mental health care of Western expatriates in Tokyo, Travel Medicine and Infectious Disease (2008), doi:10.1016/j.tmaid.2008.04.004. Here are the highlights:

[Inflames]

There are a lot of grammar mistakes for a published article. In addition, there are also a lot of "facts" that aren't cited at all (only 6 references, all of which were written by one of the authors!). Any editor with half a clue should have simply just shredded the thing.

[steki47]

I read a book a few years ago that covered the other half of that issue: a certain type of Japanese woman who looked to the West (and sometimes Western men) as a symbol of equality and "freedom". Rather well done academic work.

http://www.amazon.com/Women-Verge-Japanese-Asia-Pacific-Politics/dp/0822328054/ref=sr_1_4?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1340439835&sr=1-4&keywords=women+verge

[Cool Teacher]

[move]

[Cool Teacher]

[fluffyhamster]

The writers of that article seem to be saying that there is plentiful and worthwhile employment in western countries (yup, right), if only the slackers would take it (what, well below minimum wage on Workfare or something?), and that English teaching only really becomes challenging when teaching at university level (hmm, maybe, if comments regarding the relative immaturity of many Japanese students at that level are true, though logically they should of course be at a much higher level by then, and if anything easier to teach than younger and usually less linguistically-capable students. IMHO the challenges ultimately remain the same, more or less constant, no matter where you work: this stuff here is all English, and now you have to somehow teach it).

[ghostrider]

I think there's some truth to this. Japan really limits what foreigners are allowed to do and does not encourage them to integrate and break into other fields. If you love teaching, especially TEFL, and have your heart set on eventually teaching at university level, then this fits in nicely. If your passion is in another field not related to TEFL, you're going to have a hard time getting into that, not that it can't be done.

It's also true, depending on the field you study and the local economy of where you'd be living if back home, you may just end up doing unrelated work, for low wages back home. You'll have more options to try to get out of that rut though.

I think they're glamorizing what happens on the relationship/sex end. I think most people date in ways they would back home. Perhaps it's easier to attract people who are already interested in foreigners, but percentage wise, you have access to a much smaller portion of the population since many are simply not interested in being with foreigners and if you can't speak Japanese, you're even more limited.

[Rooster_2006]

[G Cthulhu]

[G Cthulhu]

Quoting from the article:

"It is rare to find a Westerner with severe mental illness in Japan."



They *so* don't get out much in Japan.

I've always been of the opinion that you can't not run into non-Japanese with mental health issues in Japan. It simply goes with the territory, and a good number in recent years (I'm primarily looking at you, anime and manga ppl) arrive with mental health issues.



"This is because persons who are seriously ill with schizophrenia, psychotic depression or difficult to control bipolar disorder, usually will not have a career which may send them abroad, and ongoing symptoms will impair the ability to travel overseas and negotiate the complex logistics and finances of living in Japan if one tries to come on their own accord."

Another tautology. They're good at those. I will admit though, the article is fascinating. Just not for good reasons.

[steki47]

[G Cthulhu]

[Rooster.]

[OneJoelFifty]