fashion hayley to thread.

here I am here I am here I am

haha

Been and done it. i suggest hiroshima great place.

seriously though just go, if you are under 30 you can get a working holiday visa (you need $2000 in you bank account) and then go over and get yourself a English teaching job. It's easier to get a job if you have done 1 year of Uni but they prefer a full degree, if you have a full degree you can get a full sponsored visa and live there for more than the 1 year the working holiday visa allows.

i thought japan would be passe for you fickle chats. why dont you go to china? it's the new japan.

is it hard to find places to stay?

i was going to go to korea and do the same thing (teaching) but they needed a full degree off me, i've done two years... how do you proove it?

fuck this...i'm going to the pub.

It is easy to find a place to live. They are called ''Gaijin Houses'' which means foreigner share house and if you look up Tokyo Metropolis magazine they have a great classifieds for the Tokyo area.

Try and get the job before you go and then they set up your accommodation....then move out of that into something cheaper eventually.

If you go without a job apply for Gaba in Tokyo, the interview will be in Harajuku, you will get the job no question but it is the shittiest paid school but just do it till you find a good cushy ALT job.

should i take someone who actually knows japanese or learn a bit about the culture? or is it something that a lot of people just ''do'' and take it as it comes?

Huh? The schools prefer if you don't speak Japanese. In Tokyo you won't need it hardly ever but in smaller cities you will. You will slowly pick up the language and you will learn so much about Japanese culture/customs from your students (you will teach adults most likely)

ahhh, cool! thanks muchy! i'm actually kinda excited. i'm sure i'll have more questions and stuff so i'll be in touch!

oh wait, how long does it usually take to get organised and what do i need? i havent ever been on plane, so obviously i need a passport... then the working visa... anything else u recommend?

Their actually pretty fluent in english, so there isn't much communication difficulties. You may come across the odd japanese snob though that will no speak english for anyone. But as a whole it's No. 1.

It takes 1 month for the visa maybe? maybe 2 weeks? If you apply for a job here it takes about 3 months for them to get it all together. I don't know how much savings you have but you need a 6 month return flight to get the visa, but if you wanna stay 1 year you have to make sure it can be changed to a 1 year flight, so that will cost you $1300ish incl taxes. So however long it takes you to get $3500 and visas and passports is how long it will take. For me it was 3 months till I went, but I got my job here 1st so it was mostly their slow-ness that made it take so long.

can you recommend a job? or somewhere to look for work? did u find a nice one? i think i would just spend my tax return on it, i'd get back about $3500... do i need to set up bank accounts, any flu shots/ doctor stuff? and do i need $2000 in my account on top of the flights and everything?

Ok. The company I worked for went bankrupt (Nova, they were the biggest school in Japan but because of dodgy deals and a crazy CEO it all went kaput after 20 years) My husband worked for Gaba. Gaba only hire in Japan. Gaba do not pay very well but it is a good way to start. Look at their website There are some companies that hire in Australia but I am not sure if they need you to have a degree or not. At Gaba you don't need a degree or any experience. Look for ALT (assistant language teacher at a high school) jobs and other schools at Tokyo Metropolis Mag where you can also find good cheap accommodation. Set up your bank account when you get there at the English language friendly bank Shinsei Bank. Get your mobile phone from Softbank. You need the $2000 in an Australian bank account on top of flights, passport and travel health insurance (That might be an extra $300-400 for the year but sometimes you can pay monthly, although medical care in Japan is super super super cheap anyway and Ambulances are free so don't stress out too much *I know this 1st hand as I went to hospital in an ambulance (my 1st ever time in an ambo :>) and stayed over night in hospital and it cost me only 3000Yen or $30 Aus so I didn't even bother claiming it on my health insurance)

Just do some research online. All the answers are just a google search away.

but I don't mind helping :>

thanks so much hayley u have been a maaasssiive help :)

Oh and the school I worked for, Nova, has been re-opened by G com and some of my old students and co-workers work there and say its just as good as before the crisis (the bankruptcy was due to a crazy CEO who has been arrested recently). They actually contacted me yesterday to see if I could work for them now with the same salary, so I'm going back at the end of 2009. Well they seem to want people really badly so here is their application page G COM the New NOVA

They have the best salary and best teaching mode (well compared to Gaba) A lot of people hated Nova but it really is great fun, especially when you are only working party time (which you will be doing cos of working holiday visa) You work 4 hours 5 days a week and earn $2200 Aus per month., so $550 per week. Tokyo is CHEAP so this money goes far.

I'm there for the second time November. Can't wait!

I'll be there on and off from January 2009 for 6 months and then forever from the end of 2009. I miss it so much but mostly I miss my friends, and my students. Can't wait can't wait can't wait.

fuck Japan and the fucking Japanese. with their long history of human rights violations, cruelty to animals and fascist-like behaviour throughout - though not restricted to - the 20th Century, those fucking slope-headed, pin-dicks have been getting way too much oxygen. i reckon a couple of these babies

dropped onto Tokyo from a height would be just the thing.

let's see the 'younger generation' (dread term) of Japanese (putrid word) flash one of their cheesy peace signs then...

RACIST!!!

I'd rather work in a city than somewhere really rural (though I'm willing to accept you probably don't have much of a choice) - are certain agencies/companies better than others for this kind of thing?

Books- Generally if you get hired in Australia they say you will go anywhere but you can put in a preference for a major city. I was the only person in my group of 20 new recruits from Melbourne who got their preference though.

However once you are in Japan you can apply for a transfer and move, or just move and get a different job. You can change jobs easily even though your company sponsors your visa they don't own you, so if you find a better job in a better location and they will sponsor you then do it. I think you can have 3 months in a block of not working for the company who sponsored you.

Oh and if you are on a working holiday visa you can just move, you don't need to be sponsored and if you just go over to Japan on that then you will get a job at Gaba and Gaba is only in major cities.

Note well though that if you stay on a working holiday visa you will be paying 20% tax, none of which you will get back.

Um CryMeARiver that isn't true. I was on a working holiday visa and my tax was only 1.4%, I have my pay slips right here.

What are the chances of getting a place at Gaba assuming no prior experience teaching English? I do have a bachelor's degree and several years working full time in the real world though.

Gaba are the only company who hire non native English speakers to teach English, so yes you can get a job at Gaba, anyone can! They are desperate. But they are the worst company to work for and they are not allowed to sponsor visors (they got banned from doing it because of dodgy sponsoring, as in they falsified degree certificates etc) Anyway if you go over to Japan on a working holiday visa, get a job at Gaba and get settled then find an ALT job or another eikaiwa job (eikaiwa means a school like Gaba or Nova or Geos or Berlitz) and then that company will sponsor you. That is the only way to guarantee you will be where you want to be, because you apply for a particular opening in that area. The Gaba experience will help you get the sponsored job. For Gaba you don't need experience in teaching. If you are hired in Australia by Berlitz or who ever hire in Australia now you also don't need experience. Also you don;t need experience for a lot of ALT jobs, having a degree is enough.

So in short

Gaba = easy job to get, shit pay, unpaid training great central location, don't sponsor visa, don't hire outside of Japan (although I think they are starting to hire from Brisbane soon)

ALT = mostly you can get an ALT job in Japan with no experience but you need a degree. They will sponsor your visa. ALT means Assistant Language Teacher at a primary school or high school. Somtimes hire in Australia. The JET program is a good program but you will end up in the countryside for 3 years teaching ALT...but its a good foot in the door.

If you get offered a job here in Australia go over, take the sponsored visa and then change to the job and location you want.

Does all this make sense?

Well Hayley if that is the case we were really screwed over as all enquiries we made through the Japan Association for Working Holiday Makers (JAWHM told us the contrary. And we were definitely charged at 20%. In fact all the information I read on the internet says the same so I have no idea why you would be paying quite a lot less. Oh well, lucky you.

for a bit of fast yen you shouldn't overlook a bit of light hooking. after all, Japan's contribution to the sex industry and, following as a logical conclusion, women's painful loss of pride, self-respect and dignity can't be ignored.

A lot of my friends and co-workers were also female hosts. However just to make it clear with hosting there is no sex involved, you get paid to sit and talk to men (and women) and make sure they drink a lot of expensive champagne and feel good about themselves. Japan has a strange tradition of paying people to talk to you and entertain you ala a Geisha. I had a lot of students who would just pay to have a chat because its a bit of fun for them. I felt a bit guilty because they are paying $100 to talk to me for 40 minutes, but they seemed to have fun. There is an interesting blog of a former female host (and alcoholic) Geisha, Interrupted. she has also written a book about her experience called Bar Flowers. The girls I knew who did it seemed to like it. I love the male hosts, who decided they should all have hair like Rod Stuart? Hilarious.

listen to red menace: mushroom bar in kyoto is the best place ever. the hair! jesus christ.

can't fuckin' wait to go back to japan.

Kyoto rocks!!! Come to Kyoto. Music is best in Kyoto. Osaka is 2nd best I think.

Kyoto is better about temples, and girls...important,hey?

I still reckon Kyushu is where it's at. Maybe not for music, but for everything else.

nice food in q-syu!

booked my second trip today, can't wait Osaka, Kyoto, Nara and Tokyo in November!

Stoked.

Anyone changed their mind and considering going to China after seeing the opening ceremony? I'd forgotten all the good stuff China has done and made over the years.