Conisdering moving to Japan
 

I am considering moving to Japan for my adult life. I don't know much about Japan's current state though. How is Japan now and how do you predict it to be in a couple years? Is it like America with its quickly declining economic status and cultural and moral status too. Overall do you think it's different enough and worth the move? I hear it's innovative and a generally cool place to be. I just want some general opinions even if it doesn't answer these specific questions I've posed. Thanks.

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I think that before you decide to move somewhere, you should seriously look into things and see if it`s even a feasible idea.

There are a number of threads on this board covering most of what you`ve asked, and countless more detailing how you can`t just up and move to Japan.

And no, Japan is not like America - as much as the western media would love to play that card.

I know, I wasn't planning on just going there because it seems cool on the outside- trust me I wasn't just going to go blind I do have a lot to lose, and I am starting research at least a decade before I actually need to worry about it.

I really doubted it is that bad. America may be decent freedom wise, but has no moral value, and I don't think there is any country declining as quickly as America- economically, governmentally or socially. Even if media said that, I wouldn't believe them. Personally I think at least a quarter of America's demise is the media. I do however base all my opinions and decisions and views of the world off what I hear on the news. Whatever they tell me to think believe or do, I do the opposite, and I find myself living a happier and healthier life than many people.

I think the hardest thing would be getting a job so you can get a work visa... especially if you're not fluent in Japanese

Japan may have what appears to be a politer society, as well as a very low crime rate. However, social and moral decay does exist, just as it does in almost all highly populated, developed countries - it's rather inevitable. Japan has a major problem with suicide and bullying, for example. The suicide rate in Japan is miles beyond most other countries.

My point is this: move to Japan because you want to move to Japan, not because you want to leave the United States. I've ran into people in Japan who had a negative attitude about life and said they came to Japan because they didn't like how things were in their home country. Let's just say they didn't fair much better in Japan, either.

I am in agreement with Hatredcopter. For the first one, I myself was stuck in the train TWICE in a week due to someone jumping in front of our train, one of them was on my way to Omiya and I was in the first coach, I felt the impact and the bump. At first, the efficiency (about a 15 minutes delay) shocked me as something like this will cause a track close down for hours here in Toronto. But later on, my uncle told me that it happen so frequent that people are somewhat ignoring it and treating it as any normal accident: Conductors come out, clean up, switch condunctors, carry on.

As for the second part, Japan sounds cool, and looks cool on picture. A lot of people are attracted by its animate/manga culture, while some is intrigued by its robotics culture. While you do see an extensive exposure of the subjected culture, it is more gear towards a younger generation. Most (someone can correct me, but these are info from my uncle and cousin) Japanese live an adequette life that pretty much "allow" them to live in that fantasy manga world up to a certain age, they will snap out of it and enter the work force and work like everyone else does when they reach a certain age, but extremely long working hours.

So, agree, only go if you want to go because of something practical and sustainable...

What kind of bullying is Hatredcopter referring to? Is it a children in school sort of thing or more of a hard-core racketeering type of bullying? Or have I missed the point entirely?

Pepsi- I'd imagine... since that would probably be one of your first experiences in person with someone in Japan, so I can see why it might be difficult to be not too confident in you skills.

godwine- I understand that- You can't find anywhere without diffusion into bad influences. By the way if my purpose was to ambiguously remove myself from America, I would sut move to Britain or somewhere and save myself the time of learning another language. But I can't believe many countries are declining as quickly as America. I am attracted to Japan by the people I see who come from there. I go to a school in America that is at least 50% Asian and of the ones that are Japanese and just generally from Asia, I have found them incredibly exceptionally intelligent. Also, I read so much about technology and mathematics (because the name of my HS is High Tech, and I like that stuff) and so much of the modern (as I realise Japan was closed off for quite a while a couple decades ago) technology articles involve Japanese people. Like not just a few more, like way more, namely, my interest, electrical engineering and sound. I can appreciate a stressed importance on education.

I am not really sure, but I know someone told me it is a better place to visit, rather than to move if you don't already live there.

That sound like a reasonable and right reason. I too am attracted to the technology more, my dream and goal was to work in humanoid robotic, which currently only Honda and Toyota have anything close to operational. But if you saw my other post, I couldn't land any job offers, and then my Fiancee doesn't want to work there (she is also in robotics, she is in mechanical, i am in electrical), so we have settled to some day move there and retire there instead.

Good luck with it, but do as others have suggested, do some research, or at least visit there a couple of times first to see if you truly like it there.

I was stuck on a train twice because someone threw themselves on tracks here in new york. Two people same day. One uptown other downtown.

Before considering moving somewhere, you need to do a ton of research. Then visit the place, maybe for an extended period of time. This is a difficult question, because, well, if someone asked about moving anywhere in the country your from, what would you answer. Your daily life brings up too many things to even begin to explain. Nowhere is about, say, mango and robotics. Life is full of suffering and drudgery and every day things like paying electricity bills and folding laundry. The world is covered by people who just get through the day and try to find something uinteresting that makes them happy.

All the posts are good posts, several by experienced people. But I have to add that many places on every continent are declining just like the United States. But the pendulaum swings both ways. Live a bit longer and you'll realize, the more things change, the more they stay the same. Lastly, Japan is nothing like the states, but people are people.

godwine- of course I will be sure to do that. Right now I am young and with the declining economy my parents can't afford a week in Japan. I would rather wait than just spend like a day or two there. 14+ hours in not worth just a couple days.

Junsai-Yeah that's rather not good. A previous poster said that now they are so use to it the driver just gets out sweeps up the mess and keeps goin'

Paul11- That's why I am starting now. I have at least 15 ears before I would actually decide ok do I want to move

Even before the declining economy, my folks could've never afforded a trip to such a place.

I know a lot of people say, "Visit before you live there." And I always wonder, what type of money they're making to even visit another country and what type of a job they have where they can take off so much time at one time to stay long enough to do something, like these people that take month-long vacations. I couldn't even imagine being allowed something like that, then again, vacation (paid) is a luxury...one I've never had.

I had to sell everything I owned to get a plane ticket to Japan. It was like a hippy garage sale. But I found work with an english school before going, with a one year contract. It turned into over three years and now I'm older and economically stable enough to visit sometimes.

Where there's a will, there's a way. but you gotta work for it. there's a happy medium between a two week vacation and moving there for good.

I managed to pay for my holiday to Japan without too much trouble or panicked saving... but I guess I'm lucky in that I live with my parents so don't have to pay for rent, food, bills etc, and as a contractor my work is fairly flexible (although no paid holidays).

I definitely think checking the place out before moving there is a good idea though - as much as a holiday costs, the cost of moving to another country, deciding you don't like it and moving home again is more.

I agree with you in that regard, but since I have the will, just no way, my best bet is to stay there through some other means, and my best bet, for the moment, is JET or some other program similar to it. At least I'd get an idea what it's like to live there through that. Staying for a year, I should learn plenty. ^_^

I'd never want to up and leave here and move to another country without actually living there temporarily and not there as if I am on a vacation.

Oh, my folks could probably visit a place like Japan now, if they saved up the money to go. My mother and father have timeshare...although, for the locations they can go to (which have lots of locations), with the resort paid for or rented, or whatever, Japan, surprisingly, isn't even on the list of places. Other Asian countries are, but no Japan. My mother was shocked at that. She was like, if I ever ended up in Japan, they could just use their time share resort stuff to visit and have a place to stay.

I live with my parents and have to pay rent, food, bills (school; car; car maintenance; student loan), etc.:p Yep, and JET's going to be my way...well, if I get in that is and I hope I do. ^^

There are books and websites dedicated to finding english teacher type jobs in japan. JET's ok, but a private company was a better bet for me and some others. Look into the various companies and programs.

I'm planning on JET too... from what I can see, the general pay and conditions of other English teaching jobs in Japan are around the point where I have to wonder if it's worth leaving my job and life here for it. I haven't looked into non-JET options all that well though.

I taught in a smaller company with a bunch of schools and enjoyed it. Every company (at home, too) has problems, but the worst part was the American managers. The Japanese staff were always great. Things may have changed, but the JETs told me they felt like drones and didn't really teach. They were props and no one took their ideas seriously. Didn't want to hear new ideas. In my company, I was thrown to the wolves from day one. But I wanted to teach and had complete autonomy, as long as tings went well. I controlled everything about my classes except time and who enrolled.
If you have an established career, why endanger that for a dead-end job, unless you have skills and speak Japanese enough to parlay that into something more in Japan.

Sounds like JET suits my needs better than it might yours - I'm not actually interested in teaching in a career and would prefer not to have complete autonomy in a class, although I find the whole idea of teaching a language interesting. I have a good (though young) career but want to do a bit of traveling before the whole settling down phase of my life... buying a house, starting my own business, getting married and all that jazz. I'm studying Japanese part time out of interest and living there for a year seems like a pretty good way to practice that and experience the culture firsthand.

I'm lucky (again) that my job in web design is easy enough to keep up with new developments in, and I'm planning on starting my own business when I return so leaving my job isn't a huge issue :)

Sounds like a plan.

I plan on moving to Tokyo Japan that is where i want to move when i turn 18 i still have 4 years to wait until i can move out of the house and learn to read Japanese and speak Japanese.>^_^<

Read a ton about Japanese culture and history and learn a bunch of anthropology to put it in perspective. You've got plenty of time to prepare and be successfull.

Wow, a lot of good advice. But what is this JET thing all about, what does it stand for? Also, are there any good exchange student programs available, or is JET one of those programs?

I'd still rather see how the dynamic is first as an assistant before attempting a full on teaching job. Besides, I don't have certification in TESL.That's how I feel, for the most part. I want to try something like JET first before considering trying to go to a private company and actually attempt teaching. I'd like to see what general techniques are learned first when teaching English as a foreign language.I made a topic about this a while ago... http://www.japanforum.com/forum/livi...s-alt-cir.html ...you can check it out.

Over all, JET stands for the Japan Exchange and Teaching programme, and is government run. It's pretty much a year-long job/exchange, but if you want to stay longer, you have the option of recontracting. The longest you can stay now is five years. The three jobs are, ALT (Assistant Language Teacher), CIR (Coordinator for International Relations), and SEA (Sports Exchange Adviser).

As an ALT, you're pretty much assisting the ELT (English Language Teacher). This position also requires the least amount of Japanese. You can do this job without having to know any Japanese.

For a CIR, you're usually a part of a corporation (if I'm not mistaken), so you definitely have to have proficient Japanese skill.

The SEA is a newer position, so I'm not sure of the requirements for that.

They pick out so many people out of the applicants every year. They just wrapped up for those who applied in 2007 for this year. Those applicants who got accepted are now being given their placements. You can make requests, but there's no guarantee that you'll get them. For me, my ideal location would be someplace in Hokkaido or northern Honshuu.

Anyway, you could always take a look at these sites...

JET Program - Official Website (USA)
JET Programme - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Actually, many of the CIR positions actually work in prefectural offices or city halls - usually some sort of local government position. Ah, the joys of working in a Japanese bureaucracy. Positions with non-profit organizations and sometimes corporations do exist too, though.

the qualifications for most ESL jobs in independant (i.e. not in the public school system) are that you be at least 21 years old and have a college degree of any kind. That's it. Your degree can be anything, you need no experience or education in teaching or ESL. those things help, because, depending on competition, a dude with such experience might look more qualifies. Most of the English techers I knew were young doofases with not a lot of experience. Just find a school or program you like and apply.

So you think you can just go out and move to a foreign country just like that just because you're 18? So what are you going to do to support yourself there? Getting a visa requires you to be sponsored by a company and that usually requires a bachelor's degree or some useful skill. You still have a lot to learn. Anyway, I just got back from Japan last week and Tokyo ain't all that great. I should have spent less time there and ventured out to other cities more. Maybe you should move to NYC if you want to get out of your little town and try to make it in a big city. Seems like everyone is doing that. That or L.A.

I don't mind visiting Tokyo, but I wouln't live there if I could live someplace like Kobe, which is a lot smaller and more livable.

I didn't know that. When I manage to get into JET (I'm going to remain optimistic), and it turns out I really enjoy being in Japan and would like to pursue a full-on teaching job of English language, I will definitely look into it.