| View previous topic :: View next topic |
| Author |
Message |
TECO
Joined: 20 Jan 2003
|
 Posted: Wed Mar 15, 2006 6:58 am Post subject: |
 |
|
Tokyo is the place to be for sure.
I saved a lot of coin, put the blocks to a lot a local girls and drank my face off.
Seoul was a nightmare for me - the job scene and night life just didn't compare to Tokyo.
Tokyo - is the best EFL location in Asia in terms of both making and saving money and entertainment. |
|
| Back to top |
|
 |
SarcasmKills
Joined: 07 Apr 2003
Location: Seoul
|
| Posted: Wed Mar 15, 2006 7:32 am Post subject: |
|
|
| TECO wrote: |
Tokyo - is the best EFL location in Asia in terms of both making and saving money |
I'll always believe that this is a myth... more than a dozen people who I know have worked there (some still are) would say you're full of shiet too... |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
laogaiguk
Joined: 06 Dec 2005
Location: somewhere in Korea
|
| Posted: Wed Mar 15, 2006 4:33 pm Post subject: |
|
|
| TECO wrote: |
Tokyo is the place to be for sure.
I saved a lot of coin, put the blocks to a lot a local girls and drank my face off.
Seoul was a nightmare for me - the job scene and night life just didn't compare to Tokyo.
Tokyo - is the best EFL location in Asia in terms of both making and saving money and entertainment. |
Osaka is better than Tokyo.  |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
TECO
Joined: 20 Jan 2003
|
| Posted: Thu Mar 16, 2006 12:10 am Post subject: |
|
|
| SarcasmKills wrote: |
| I'll always believe that this is a myth... more than a dozen people who I know have worked there (some still are) would say you're full of shiet too... |
I know more than you. LOL!!
I also know more than a dozen people who've worked in Korea and hated it.
You must be new to the Asian EFL scene and have only taught in Korea.
You'll learn. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
TECO
Joined: 20 Jan 2003
|
| Posted: Thu Mar 16, 2006 12:13 am Post subject: |
|
|
| laogaiguk wrote: |
| Osaka is better than Tokyo. |
Yeah, I've had mixed reports on Osaka.
Some have told me they really liked it while others I met working in Tokyo couldn't stand it.
Like the comparison between Japan and Korea - Obviously, anyone who knows anything will tell you Tokyo is a much better choice for living and teaching EFL than anywhere in Korea. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Tiger Beer
Joined: 07 Feb 2003
|
| Posted: Mon Apr 28, 2008 6:42 am Post subject: Re: oh man Japan is so much better |
|
|
| joe_doufu wrote: |
| Wow, what am I even doing in this lousy country? It's just grey and depressing compared to Japan. (I just returned from my first 1-week trip to Japan.) Oh, and the weather is nicer there, too. My next job will be in China so I don't know if I'll ever get a chance to live in Japan, but now it's on my list. |
Does Joe_Doufu still post here. Would be great to hear about China and his experience there.
Regarding Japan, I made the move, and I actually liked Korea. Japan is way cooler and way more interesting to live, visit, and everything else. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Yaya
Joined: 25 Feb 2003
Location: Seoul
|
| Posted: Mon Apr 28, 2008 7:02 am Post subject: |
|
|
| Good to hear, Tiger, but let's see if you still feel that way after a year. No knock on Japan, but I've heard people say it wasn't their cup of tea. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
ceesgetdegrees
Joined: 12 Jul 2007
|
| Posted: Mon Apr 28, 2008 12:34 pm Post subject: |
|
|
Anyone else catch this?
| Quote: |
| Oh, and look at that Shawn dude at Chine Life, he doesn't miss Korea much. He did 5 years in Korea. Now he says he's really a lot happeir and likes living and teaching in China. |
|
|
| Back to top |
|
|
boatofcar
Joined: 20 Dec 2006
Location: Sheffield, UK
|
| Posted: Mon Apr 28, 2008 4:31 pm Post subject: |
|
|
| ceesgetdegrees wrote: |
Anyone else catch this?
| Quote: |
| Oh, and look at that Shawn dude at Chine Life, he doesn't miss Korea much. He did 5 years in Korea. Now he says he's really a lot happeir and likes living and teaching in China. |
|
Yeah, I caught it. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Trumpcard
Joined: 24 Feb 2006
|
| Posted: Tue Apr 29, 2008 7:41 am Post subject: my 2 cents |
|
|
I lived in Tokyo (Nova) for about 6 months and Osaka for about 1.5 years (corporate teaching/ALT). Osaka was like a backwater compared with Tokyo - took me a long time to get used to it. Been back there twice over the past 1.5 years I've been in Korea. And it seems far more appealing now than it did then.
I do have better job satisfaction in Korea and am not by any means uncomfortable but I do miss Tokyo and Osaka in terms of range of food, nicer and more comfortable surroundings, better, nicer subways, far less hostility from the locals, sheer quirkiness. However, in rural areas, I received a lot more staring.
Japan was not that much more expensive. In fact I've argued countless times with others who have never LIVED there. It's one thing to visit a place but when you actually live and saving money is your thing, you find ways to do so.
My 50,000 yen apartment is a little more than the rent I pay in Seoul, but factor in the ridiculous utility costs and my Seoul apt is way more expensive in real terms. One of my regular purchases was a pack of 2 grapefruits at 99Y shop as well as a bag of frozen vegies and all dry groceries. Beer is far better in Japan - if you wanna drink the half beer/harpoushou (sp) it costs half the price of regular beer.
Salaries: have barely changed in Japan - still around 250,000 per month roughly 2.4mil won. I knew people teaching business English in Dongguan in southern China making 12,000+ RMB a month cash in hand 2 years ago. All comes down to the work you do and the lifestyle you live.
Overall in my opinion, Japan doesn't nearly have the range of lunatics as Korea deos (working in ESL) has a lot more stylish women, tastier and bigger range of food, 99yen shops, great beer (Sapporo Malts!) more foreign goods available everywhere, far less surface level racism than Korea. And a more enjoyable less whiney language to speak and learn! |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Tiger Beer
Joined: 07 Feb 2003
|
| Posted: Tue Apr 29, 2008 8:35 am Post subject: Re: my 2 cents |
|
|
| Trumpcard wrote: |
| I lived in Tokyo (Nova) for about 6 months and Osaka for about 1.5 years (corporate teaching/ALT). Osaka was like a backwater compared with Tokyo - took me a long time to get used to it. Been back there twice over the past 1.5 years I've been in Korea. And it seems far more appealing now than it did then. |
So IF you were to go back to Japan again to live, which city would you choose? And why? |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Trumpcard
Joined: 24 Feb 2006
|
| Posted: Tue Apr 29, 2008 3:14 pm Post subject: Re: my 2 cents |
|
|
| Tiger Beer wrote: |
So IF you were to go back to Japan again to live, which city would you choose? And why? |
Well Tokyo as there are more jobs and I didn't spend as much time there. It's not as rough as other cities, not sa easy to live in either but you soon get used to it, really only marginally more expensive and also has intersting towns sites close by such as Kamakura, Nikko. Originally I stayed out in the burbs 20 minutes west of Shinjuku on the Chuo line. My buddy now lives in an absolutely great scenic area 15 minutes west from Ikebukuro close to Tokarazawa. His suburb has sleepy Hawaiian music played through loudspeakers in the main street all day, 2 large supermarkets, 2 discount supermarkets which stock a huge range of imported foods and drinks, all manner of fast food chains, gym. I'd love to live right on the edge of central Tokyo, no more than a few stops away from the west of the circle line. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Tiger Beer
Joined: 07 Feb 2003
|
| Posted: Tue Apr 29, 2008 8:42 pm Post subject: Re: my 2 cents |
|
|
| Trumpcard wrote: |
| My buddy now lives in an absolutely great scenic area 15 minutes west from Ikebukuro close to Tokarazawa. His suburb has sleepy Hawaiian music played through loudspeakers in the main street all day |
GOTTA LOVE the Hawaii/Japan connection! There is one place I walk by in my neighborhood that often lightly plays Hawaiian music. There are also two bars that I know that each have about six different Hawaiian beers available on their beer list.
Love that! |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
hugekebab
Joined: 05 Jan 2008
|
| Posted: Mon May 05, 2008 8:31 pm Post subject: |
|
|
| fatpat wrote: |
| I agree Japan.....They can admit things, |
What, you mean admit things like the Nanjing massacre, or the Burma atrocities? |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Cheonmunka
Joined: 04 Jun 2004
|
| Posted: Tue May 06, 2008 6:40 am Post subject: |
|
|
I got a very dirty look from a Japanese ajoshi in Fukuoka. Maybe it was because I was in some kind of memorial park for the soldiers or something, I don't know, but I never had those looks when I was in that Tapgok Park place that has all the unification statues in there in Uljiro.
Maybe the Japanese men learn to hide their truer malignant feelings very well but close to the skin all the same.
Hi! |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
|
FAQ
Search
Memberlist
Usergroups
Register
Profile
Log in to check your private messages
Log in
