I wish to move to Japan, someday.

[Corssair]

Hello everyone,

I'm new to the forum, nice to meet you all.

I would like to ask you about few things, I'm sure there are already plenty of threads like this, but still. Not that I'm lazy, it's just this time I want full attention. I also think that my situation is a bit different(like everyone else's anyway) from others but cannot be sure.

Well, let's begin.

I'm 17 years old, I'm Polish and I live in United Kingdom for almost 5 years now. My dream is to move, and live in Japan. Find a job, marry nice Japanese girl, and maybe have kids with her. I can speak some Japanese, but it's not on a high level yet, I'll be learning.

First of all, I will finish college here in UK. I already done one year of college, as I left High School. Currently I'm on Level 5 DMC computing (one year course), then I will move onto HND computing levels 7-8(two years). After college I would like to go University for unknown amount of time for me, yet, it will be depending on the events. When I finish with college I will be 20 years old, and maybe 22 y.o. after university. Let me add that I'm quite tall, as my height is 193 cm (6,3 ft.).

My questions are:

1. Won't it be too late, should I skip university here at age 20, and should I be trying to apply for one in Japan?
2. Is it hard to get a job as a foreigner, even who have large qualifications and is able to speak Japanese really well?
3. How Japanese people look at foreigners, will I make any friends even if I'm friendly?
4. Do Japanese girls like foreigners, at all?

I know it is not an easy target, but I'll do my BEST. I'm not afraid of any earthquakes or nuclear plants. Japan is the place I want to be, no matter what! It is important for me, so please guys go easy one me

[WingsToDiscovery]

Originally Posted by Corssair

1. Won't it be too late, should I skip university here at age 20, and should I be trying to apply for one in Japan?
2. Is it hard to get a job as a foreigner, even who have large qualifications and is able to speak Japanese really well?
3. How Japanese people look at foreigners, will I make any friends even if I'm friendly?
4. Do Japanese girls like foreigners, at all?

1: A degree is pretty much everything. A lot of times more important than "work experience." Why would anyone hire you if you don't have any merits? Especially if you can't speak Japanese? Unless you do something like English teaching (where you don't need to know Japanese), but you'd still need a degree anyway.

2: If you have the qualifications and can speak Japanese, it's not hard. It's more about what YOU want to do. Many people here are fine wasting their lives as English teachers. If you want to do more than that, it requires more work, but if you have the qualifications then you should be fine.

3: On the whole, Japanese people don't care what you are, as long as you're a normal person.

4: A lot of it depends on who YOU are. Women are women.

[Tsuwabuki]

Originally Posted by WingsToDiscovery

Especially if you can't speak Japanese? Unless you do something like English teaching (where you don't need to know Japanese), but you'd still need a degree anyway.

In my experience, if you ever expect to be an active part of any school you work in, you're going to need fluency in Japanese even when you teach English. You cannot be promoted nor be given more responsibility without the language skills, and if you intend to pursue licensing, you will need to complete between twelve and sixty credit hours of education courses in Japanese (dependent upon what transfers from your university) at a Japanese university.

Many people here are fine wasting their lives as English teachers.

I went to a four year university with the intent to become an English teacher in my home country. Texas is not currently hiring, and hasn't been for years now. Instead I came to Japan, and I'm quite happy here.

I consider teaching English my calling and I love doing it, whether I am teaching simple construction and conversation in an EFL classroom or teaching Medieval British Literature. Be careful how you paint "English teachers." If many people are unambitious and willing to continue to work in entry level positions for the rest of their lives, that has nothing to do with the area they are working in. I would hope you are not implying I am wasting my life.

I am currently earning an MA in Government with an emphasis on Japanese Culture and Politics (specific thesis area is the concept of kokutai 国体, a Japanese political philosophy, during the Taisho era) to be finished in June, but that is largely for permanent residency, higher salary, and university teaching requirements.

I'm quite happy continuing to teach junior high school students. They add meaning to my life, far from wasting it.

[WingsToDiscovery]

Originally Posted by Tsuwabuki

In my experience, if you ever expect to be an active part of any school you work in, you're going to need fluency in Japanese even when you teach English. You cannot be promoted nor be given more responsibility without the language skills, and if you intend to pursue licensing, you will need to complete between twelve and sixty credit hours of education courses in Japanese (dependent upon what transfers from your university) at a Japanese university.



I went to a four year university with the intent to become an English teacher in my home country. Texas is not currently hiring, and hasn't been for years now. Instead I came to Japan, and I'm quite happy here.


I consider teaching English my calling and I love doing it, whether I am teaching simple construction and conversation in an EFL classroom or teaching Medieval British Literature. Be careful how you paint "English teachers." If many people are unambitious and willing to continue to work in entry level positions for the rest of their lives, that has nothing to do with the area they are working in. I would hope you are not implying I am wasting my life.

I am currently earning an MA in Government with an emphasis on Japanese Culture and Politics (specific thesis area is the concept of kokutai 国体, a Japanese political philosophy, during the Taisho era) to be finished in June, but that is largely for permanent residency, higher salary, and university teaching requirements.

I'm quite happy continuing to teach junior high school students. They add meaning to my life, far from wasting it.

You took everything I said out of context. Firstly, the majority of people who do come to Japan to teach generally do Eikaiwa work, where you don't need Japanese. Hell, I know people who are college students who don't have degrees yet who are teaching English at companies like Gaba here. Or it's not even uncommon for real programs like JET to hire people who can't speak a lick of Japanese. I think you would have been better off not getting a degree in English/Teaching back home because it's not like you need any teaching qualifications to be a teacher in Japan. With another degree you could have the option of switching jobs or moonlighting or something.

Secondly, I said "many" people. For every one person like yourself who actually enjoys teaching and are successful at it, there are 1,000 people here just looking for a visa. They've got no end game, can't be successful back home, and are complacent living off 30K a year. They could climb the ladder at Starbucks back home and make at least that much.

I know you'd like to add some kind of prestige to your job, but in most cases it's not there. Teaching in general, I have utmost respect. "English teaching;" not so much.

[Tsuwabuki]

Originally Posted by WingsToDiscovery

You took everything I said out of context.

Maybe.

Firstly, the majority of people who do come to Japan to teach generally do Eikaiwa work, where you don't need Japanese. Hell, I know people who are college students who don't have degrees yet who are teaching English at companies like Gaba here.

I think this differs by area, whether the majority is eikaiwa or ALT work. In my area most are ALTs, either dispatch or direct hire. We have a university professor as well, as we have one university. We've also previously had two foreign teachers (American and Australian) who had kyouin menkyo (teaching licenses) and aside from administration positions (due to Japanese law), were day to day indistinguishable from Japanese teachers. That's my current path.

Or it's not even uncommon for real programs like JET to hire people who can't speak a lick of Japanese. I think you would have been better off not getting a degree in English/Teaching back home because it's not like you need any teaching qualifications to be a teacher in Japan. With another degree you could have the option of switching jobs or moonlighting or something.

I agree with you that many foreigners come to Japan to be dancing monkeys or human tape recorders. That, however, is not teaching. Teaching requires actual pedagogical methodologies, and while you can learn them from doing, even eikaiwa instructors and ALTs benefit tremendously from having an actual education background and Japanese. I've done both. Unless you want to be a hiring manager or owner, eikaiwa is a dead end. If you do, however, I know foreigners who own their own schools and are successful at it. So even there, the issue is ambition, not career type.

If you want to be a human tape recorder for the rest of your life, then by all means, get a mickey mouse degree or game the system and get hired solely for your ability to speak your native language, but you'll never get anywhere, because your skillset will never be one that will bring you higher responsibility, nor the positions and money which come with it.

As for the value of my degree, I would not have been "better off not getting it" because 1) I intended to teach in Texas, meaning that I had no clue I was coming to Japan at the time 2) it provided me with the pedagogical skills I needed to immediately come into a Japanese classroom, and with or without a co-teacher, take command of the classroom and impress 3) led to a higher initial salary and evaluation based bonuses 4) was a requirement for getting into graduate school which leads to university opportunities and also my specific area of scholarship falls under Contribution to Japan for permanent residency 5) makes it substantially easier to get a kyouin menkyo, especially the prefectural based temporary version, but eventually the necessary national permanent one.

Secondly, I said "many" people. For every one person like yourself who actually enjoys teaching and are successful at it, there are 1,000 people here just looking for a visa. They've got no end game, can't be successful back home, and are complacent living off 30K a year. They could climb the ladder at Starbucks back home and make at least that much.

Right, but the issue here is not this nebulous concept you have of English teaching, but rather the issue is the unambitious individuals who are consistently recycled in these positions that undermine the label of "teaching." Even as an eikawa instructor, you could actually teach if you knew how. Most individuals do not. Therefore they are not really rightfully teachers.

I know you'd like to add some kind of prestige to your job, but in most cases it's not there. Teaching in general, I have utmost respect. "English teaching;" not so much.

I don't just teach English, I also teach elements of government, political science, and history. However, even if I did only teach English, because I am a qualified English teacher in the United States and speak Japanese, I am able to actually work with my students on issues of mechanics and style. Most of the individuals you are describing couldn't diagram themselves out of a paper bag, let alone diagram a sentence and explain that sentence structure in a second language about their first language. This isn't a matter of prestige, it's a matter of efficacy.

Most of the time English "instruction" in Japan has absolutely no real teaching, which is why I always am quick to draw a distinction. You say you have an utmost respect for teachers in general, of which I certainly am one. My subject being English doesn't preclude the fact I am a "real" teacher, so I feel quite disrespected in being placed in the same box as non-teachers. Title, eikaiwa or ALT, has nothing to do with teaching or not teaching. Ability to teach does.

Do you understand where I am coming from?

[Corssair]

It is not like I will be teaching English anyway. I would prefer doing something related with IT, because IT is what I am studying at college. Still, in my opinion, being an English teacher in Japan must be fun - if you know how to teach, and you enjoy it... amazing!


@WingsToDiscovery

That's what I thought. I will finish college here in UK, but I am still unsure about the University. Shall I do one here, or try to apply for one in Japan - or do both?

Also, could you advice me a good way to learn Japanese? I know lots of words already, the thing is that I cannot combine them and make sentences, yet.


Sorry for slow replying, I'm also working and don't have too much time!

[tazzy]

Originally Posted by Corssair

[*]Won't it be too late, should I skip university here at age 20, and should I be trying to apply for one in Japan?

Too late? How would 20 be too late? The life expectancy for Poles and Brits IIRC is well in the 70s.
You don't have a degree, you can't get a work visa.

[*]Is it hard to get a job as a foreigner, even who have large qualifications and is able to speak Japanese really well?

Yes.

[*]How Japanese people look at foreigners, will I make any friends even if I'm friendly?

Depends where you are and how outgoing you are.
No clue what kind of a person you are here, not saying this is you, but....generally someone who is a loser at home is also a loser when they move to another country. There is no sudden turn around.
Making friends in Japan is quite a bit harder than in Britain but it is doable.

[*]Do Japanese girls like foreigners, at all?

Some do. A lot don't. Others don't care one way or the other.

It is not like I will be teaching English anyway. I would prefer doing something related with IT, because IT is what I am studying at college. Still, in my opinion, being an English teacher in Japan must be fun - if you know how to teach, and you enjoy it... amazing!

That would be hard.
I only got my non-teaching job here in Japan by doing well in my field elsewhere and then the opportunity to come to Japan appeared for me.
99% of young foreigners coming to Japan are English teachers. You need years of experience to get a job in another field, there are more than enough un-experienced Japanese graduates without needing foreigners.

Also, could you advice me a good way to learn Japanese? I know lots of words already, the thing is that I cannot combine them and make sentences, yet.

Learning words is the hard part. Grammar is quite easy. You're lucky if you can learn vocabulary easily.
Just go searching around the internet for information on particles and the like. There's a tonne of Japanese learning stuff out there. Or buy a book like minna no nihongo or genki.