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I’ve returned from my 2 weeks in Japan, …
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Chris
I’ve returned from my 2 weeks in Japan, back to the suburbs of England
The time flew by, but looking back it also feels like I was there for months… It was great to meet Billy, Jordan and Freedom and hope to meet more of you next time!Now comes the difficult task of finding a way to start a life in Japan. After listening to others and researching more I think the best (and seemingly only) viable way for me to settle in Japan is to do English teaching for a year. Then I can self-sponsor for a visa renewal and either do freelance IT work, office IT work or continue teaching English. The reason I’ve been hesitant to do English teaching initially is because I’ve had no previous experience teaching or looking after kids and I tend to be a quiet thinker rather than someone that can keep a group of people interested. I’m guessing from my lack of experience the kind of jobs I’d get would be assistant teacher of some kind. Ideally I’d prefer to do one-on-one tutoring, but again I lack any experience so teaching adults would probably not be possible… Now I have lots more researching to do!!
Anyway, if any of you have suggestions or advice about becoming an English teacher in/near Tokyo. I would greatly appreciate it!
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Nick 1:50 am on September 23, 2008 | #
Any romantic options on the table, Chris?
Chris 2:04 am on September 23, 2008 | #
Hahaha, yeah the girlfriend is in Tokyo, but I’m not heading down that path any time soon tho
billywest 11:45 am on September 23, 2008 | #
Looking forward to seeing you back here in Tokyo soon, Chris.
Don’t worry about your personality matching up with teaching jobs; All kinds of people come here and teach. One thing I’ve noticed, though, is that most learn how to open up and entertain groups. I considered myself an outgoing person to begin with, but my time teaching has pretty much turned me into an entertainer.
Hey, I should try Vegas next
Nick 12:59 pm on September 23, 2008 | #
Stepping out of your comfort zone is hard, but it usually makes you a better person for it. There are a lot of us that want to get into the IT sector in Japan, but have had to start with teaching. I was the same. In my case, I figured that if I was going to have to teach, I’d take it seriously and give myself an advantage over other teachers (especially as I came as a tourist to find a job, and getting visa sponsorship as a tourist isn’t easy), so I took a one-month intensive TESOL course in England (validated by Trinity college). It wasn’t cheap and it wasn’t easy, but once I got to Japan, I was so much more confident than other newbies. I had about 12 interviews in 2 weeks and got 4 visa-sponsored job offers (this was early ‘98).
After that, I ended up in teaching for 10 years including managing a small chain of English conversation schools and owning my own school. But, teaching wasn’t what I really wanted to do, so I eventually packed it all in and now I work on the net from home, right back in my comfort zone you could say.
Chris 3:42 pm on September 23, 2008 | #
Thanks for the advice guys. I think you’re right, it will be good for me to do something outside my comfort zone. I’ll keep my fingers crossed for IT work, but I’ll start heading down the English teaching path.
Thanks for the link Nick, an intensive course is probably what I’m going to need to do.
ジェイソン (Jason) 10:20 am on September 24, 2008 | #
How’s your Japanese? Both writing and speaking? Can you pass a JLPT Level 2? If you intend on living and working in Tokyo, you’ll have more opportunity to work in the IT sector, but probably not in any capacity that you’re expecting. Nearly fluent Japanese is required at most places, even though some of the job opporunities listed on sites like GaijinPot say that none is necessary.
If teaching isn’t your thing, and if you have decent Japanese, have you considered technical proof-reading or translating? There’s lots of work in the Tokyo area for people that can do this well, and the pay is pretty decent. From what I’m seeing, it’s almost twice what I earn now as a “Premium Field Business Language Instructor” with one of Japan’s top educational companies.
Got to love the business titles they give people here …
Like you, I hoped to get into the IT field after moving to Japan. That said, 8+ years of experience and a proven track record of results at previous employers is not enough to even get your foot in the door. Unless you already know someone that can recommend you at a tech company, it will be a difficult goal to accomplish. This doesn’t mean it’s impossible, though. If IT is what you want, then go for it. Just be prepared to go about it in a circular fashion, rather than the direct approach. I’m doing this with my current company, and it looks as though this will be my last year of full-time language instruction. After this, it’s off to Software and Systems Development in the very same company
Chris 3:54 pm on September 24, 2008 | #
Cheers for the advice Jason
My Japanese is very basic, so I have a way to go before I can think about translating. I’m slowly starting to realise, as you say, I can’t take a direct approach to this.
I’ve decided to apply for a 1 year working holiday visa. I’m now doing freelance work and I’m investigating if there could be any barriers to working freelance in Japan. Whilst I’m doing that I’ll apply for any work I think I’m comfortable doing in Japan. During the year I’ll intensively learn Japanese and hopefully I will be almost ready to attempt JLPT2 by the end of it.
Failing that I’m going back on a holiday visa for 3 months to see the girlfriend and do more job hunting (whilst developing my portfolio and personal sites, without actually ‘working’). I’ll have to have a long hard think after those months are up.
I’ve got no commitments where I am right now so I think now is the time for me to be a little risky and just go for it. I know I would regret it if I didn’t. The worst that can happen is that I blow all my savings and have to move back to the UK and live with my parents (they’re aware of this and are willing to support my decision, thankfully!). If that happens I’ll just work my balls off, save some money and try again.
billywest 10:32 pm on September 24, 2008 | #
It’s a risk worth taking, I think, Chris. If you come to Tokyo, you’ll have no shortage of opportunities to work. You may have to teach a bit, but a lot of foreigners, who have the applicable skill set but little or no Japanese ability, get IT work here after a short stint teaching (I know several people who fit the bill).
Tori 12:30 pm on September 26, 2008 | #
- not necessarily of practical value, but very funny -
If you have the time you might enjoy reading Firefly @ your-japan.com’s “sag”
It is one of the best J-blogger series I’ve ever read and he talks about his experience teaching English (w/o any experience) and landing an IT job.
Also worth a looksy (but completely unrelated) is his The worst language mistake in history post. It’s hilarous. It made the front page of digg.com
Tori 12:31 pm on September 26, 2008 | #
oops. that was supposed to say “saga”
Chris 3:43 pm on September 26, 2008 | #
Nice link, Tori. Looks like a fun read
Daily J » Topic » Firefly - the novel 9:00 am on September 30, 2008 | #
[...] A post over at the JapanSoc blog reminded me of it so I went again to his site and noticed that he has released a prequel to his Japan novel (Firefly wants to publish a book). [...]