Offered a job in Kurokawa, Nagoya - need advice

[bigpun]

Ohayou minasan!

So - it's been a while since i've posted, but so much has changed in the past year. After an amazing trip to Japan for 2 weeks last summer, I fell in love with the country and knew that living in Japan was for me.

As soon as I got back home, I enrolled at a part time Japanese language course and started a TEFL course to become 'qualified' to teach English.

I just received an offer for a job, teaching English at an eikaiwa which i'm thrilled about and just wanted to know if anyone had any advice as a new resident in Japan?

It'd be great to hear from anyone who knows of Kurokawa as I can't seem to find anything on the Internet about the area so the only concerns I've got right now is the location. I've got some friends in central Nagoya so it's great to have them nearby but the adventure for me is to make lots of great new friends and live life a bit!

Thanks in advance for any help and advice that you might be able to give this nervous, scared and excited new explorer!

[Nyororin]

Kurokawa is a fairly normal location. It`s sort of between Shiga Park and Nagoya Castle. It`s in the north part of the city, but still not all that far from downtown.
Nagoya is a big city, but it isn`t THAT big, so really other than a couple specific locales - places like Kurokawa are more "neighborhoods" than "areas" or towns. Kurokawa itself is just the name of the subway station there.

If your friends are in central Nagoya meaning near Nagoya station - then you`ll be close. If they mean it as in the physical center of Nagoya, then it`ll be a bit farther.

You might be able to find more info looking into Kita-ku, where Kurokawa is.

[bigpun]

Hi Nyororin,

Thank you for the reply. I see why I can't find any info on there now - it makes much more sense now I know it's the name of a neighbourhood.

My friends live around a 5 minute walk from the big Meitetsu station so hopefully that's pretty close by?

I've been to Nagoya before and know it's not really very touristy but I don't mind that so much as it's nice to have accessible links to other areas like Nara, Osaka etc.

My Japanese is pretty poor at the moment as I only get to take a single 2 hour class each week. How much will that affect me when I get to Japan? I'm really eager to learn and improve!

Any other tips for a newbie??

[Sashimister]

Originally Posted by bigpun

Ohayou minasan!

Not in the Japanese word order. Switch'em around!

So - it's been a while since i've posted, but so much has changed in the past year. After an amazing trip to Japan for 2 weeks last summer, I fell in love with the country and knew that living in Japan was for me.

As soon as I got back home, I enrolled at a part time Japanese language course and started a TEFL course to become 'qualified' to teach English.

I just received an offer for a job, teaching English at an eikaiwa which i'm thrilled about and just wanted to know if anyone had any advice as a new resident in Japan?

It'd be great to hear from anyone who knows of Kurokawa as I can't seem to find anything on the Internet about the area so the only concerns I've got right now is the location. I've got some friends in central Nagoya so it's great to have them nearby but the adventure for me is to make lots of great new friends and live life a bit!

Thanks in advance for any help and advice that you might be able to give this nervous, scared and excited new explorer!

OMG What a small world! Kurokawa is where I went to junior high school . I was raised in that area even though I've been stranded in Tokyo for so long.

I like Kurokawa because it's the center of the area (Kita ward of Nagoya) and it has everything you need such as restaurants, cafes, shops, beauty parlors, etc. Kurokawa's best feature is its accessibility. You can hop on the subway at Kurokawa and go to central Nagoya in just 10 minutes. Kurokawa also has a big bus terminal where you can catch the buses to go where the subway doesn't take you.

This is making me homesick!

[bigpun]

Originally Posted by Sashimister

Not in the Japanese word order. Switch'em around!

Oops! I did say my Japanese was terrible So much to learn!

Wow what a very small world this is - I'm really glad I posted now as it's great to chat with someone who came from the place that's so foreign to me

Sounds like a great place from what you've said! It's very much put my mind at ease knowing that it's not in the middle of nowhere and it's a decent place to be based.

[Nyororin]

Originally Posted by bigpun

My friends live around a 5 minute walk from the big Meitetsu station so hopefully that's pretty close by?

I wouldn`t want to walk there from Kurokawa, but it is just a few minutes away by subway.

My Japanese is pretty poor at the moment as I only get to take a single 2 hour class each week. How much will that affect me when I get to Japan? I'm really eager to learn and improve!

If you`re teaching English, it probably won`t make any difference as all in terms of work. As for everything else, you shouldn`t have any real problems surviving - but life may be a bit boring without any understanding of everyone around you.
I can`t say for certain in your case, but it seems pretty common for English teachers to not have the opportunity to improve their Japanese all that much even while in Japan. Teachers tend to stick together so end up without much actual exposure to Japanese language. At least not in a way pushing them to learn any of it. Just being in Japan, unfortunately, is not enough on it`s own to learn/improve Japanese.

Any other tips for a newbie??

There are a ton of threads on here offering lots of advice. Please have a look around. I can`t think of anything specific applying to Nagoya, but will be happy to answer any detailed questions about the city.

Do you know yet where you will actually be living? A job at Kurokawa doesn`t necessarily mean you`ll be living right there if you haven`t been told you will be.

[bigpun]

Yeah i'd heard that about English teachers before. Luckilly the other teachers at my school would all be Japanese so hopefully out of the workplace we'll be able to use a bit of Japanese.

I'll certainly be looking at taking Japanese language classes when I get there in some form too.

In terms of where i'll be living, I don't know exactly where but they did say that I have a commute time of 10 minutes - walking. So is it safe to say i'll be living in Kurokawa still? It's nice the school is so close, beats the 45 minute commute I currently have at my job here in England

Are there many onsen around that area that are walking distance or accessible by subway? Really looking forward to making the most of them when i'm there

Sashimister, maybe you can recommend some places to go in the area?

[Tsuwabuki]

Originally Posted by Nyororin

I can`t say for certain in your case, but it seems pretty common for English teachers to not have the opportunity to improve their Japanese all that much even while in Japan. Teachers tend to stick together so end up without much actual exposure to Japanese language. At least not in a way pushing them to learn any of it. Just being in Japan, unfortunately, is not enough on it`s own to learn/improve Japanese.

This is why I love rural Japan, and intentionally chose to be in rural Japan.

I had no choice in the matter. I learned/improved my Japanese out of necessity. But when there are only like ten native English speakers in a given area...

Yeah. Immersion. It works. Big cities? Not immersion. Too many ways to avoid having to use the language.