[jamurai77]

@MMM
by actually meeting the people who will hire you, you can be a bit more sure that they are trustworthy and that you might enjoy(or at leat not detest) working for/with them. You can visit the proposed workplace, get a feel for the comany/school that you can't get from e-mails. You don't think this is valuable?
As far as the interview goes, I currently live on the island of Trinidad. Most of the companies I've seen basically seem to recruit from US, Canada, or UK. If I have to travel to one of these to interview it's an extra expense and hassle.
the cost is worth it if I am convinced that the extra security is worth it but I have heard alot of contradictory opinions on how tough it is to secure a job in Japan. Many make it sound easy(like my friend and aforementioned articles read) and then others like yourself make it sound as if it's quite difficult. Yes I am college educated and a native English speaker. Also I was planning on e-mailing applications/resumes for a couple of weeks before arriving to set up interviews in advance.