Quote:
Originally Posted by samurai007
That said, I really enjoyed Japan, and I traveled as much of it as I could while I was there. I often tell prospective JETs, most of whom have never been to Japan before, that the most important single feature of a successful JET isn't teaching experience or Japanese language skill or anything like that... it's adaptability, flexibility, and a sense of humor. It's being able to take what work and life in a foreign country throws at you with a smile. If you have that, the rest will work itself out. If you don't have it, you probably won't last very long.
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I would agree with paragraph 100%. I think, (it was 2 years ago), my original target in this thread was not people like you necessarily, but the opposite: those focused on Japan without really knowing what they were getting into, or without a realistic focus. You took the lateral approach: I'll go anywhere, and take whatever is thrown at me. I was somewhere in between (or maybe both) in that I knew I wanted to go to Japan, so I majored in Japanese in college, and visited three times before I lived there for three years. Since returning to the US, I have never worked a job that wasn't related to Japan somehow, but I have never felt the desired to move back there again. I visit every year, just about, and love it when I am there, but am always happy to get home, too.