How to get to Japan Method 2: Get a Job

So here is a method for those of you who are either no longer students, not in the mood for more education, or want to have more free time and just spend a few years / months doing something to make some dough and survive in Japan for longer than a vacation.

I haven't done this myself but I have plenty of friends that have and are doing this right now.
I was THIS close to teaching at a large English Language company as I had done some side teaching of business English in my spare time and managed to do well in their interview process by showing I was really into helping people, used to the cultural style, and already had experience adjusting teaching methods depending on the student (most of whom who much older than me and either doing it because they had to or wanted to fit into their English-speaking company).

Below is a list of thoughts on this whole thing from 99% of my friends doing this that I chat with..
This list is for those doing the stereotypical teaching English gig (nothing wrong with it, honestly it's the best way to feel like a mini-boss, have a good time meeting people, and I enjoyed it although I'm into making more money since business school brainwashes you.)

• It will be a culture shock at first
• Either pass the TOEFL or be really good at persuading people and get experience prior to going to Japan. Not only is it good to taste what you're going to get yourself in for, you could try asking for a higher salary.
• If you like helping people-- this is for you!
• RESEARCH-- Shop around and ask people in the companies you are looking at-- there are a lot of different types. Make sure you get a gig with a school that fits what YOU want. 
• Kids are more fun than adults to teach. It is madness, but chaotic fun.. For me, I prefer adults even though it they can be calloused.. Mainly because I like to talk about really intense topics and kids confuse me.
• On the other hand, my gal friend that teaches employees at a big company through a large Ekaiwa school (English- conversation school) in Tokyo says it can get really awkward or just pain tiring when the business people aren't in the mood. 
• 9 times out of 10 it isn't the best idea for your long term career growth, unless you go there with a purpose (unless teaching English is your lifelong dream, as it is for some :)) DO use it to make money and survive in Japan --on the side teach yourself Japanese. One of my friends learned quickly by living in the middle of nowhere and now is a translator for a big bank. He is awesome. 
• Have fun in your free time!! Unlike me with my US corporate job, by friends in Japan seem to be having a good old time doing activities I only had time for as a student. Take advantage! 
• Do other side jobs if you want more dough. Modeling for instance, or teaching additional hours. 
• Date people who are native speakers. I didn't do this but have seen plenty who have, if you really want to ace Japanese (assuming you want to learn the language) I'd recommend this. Heck, I'm pretty sure the bulk of people I know who went there for jobs had Japanese-fever. Just stating what people try to skitter around in these types of blogs. Might as well hone in on your language, find the love of your life (again, you may realize that your thinking differs from what you were expecting), and live in Japan.
• Most importantly: Have a good time!! It's an adventure-- be open to opportunities. Do things (preferably legal things) you wouldn't do back in your home country!

 

How to get to Japan Method 1: Study Abroad II

Steps (Continued from previous blog post)

10. Persuade more people. Persuade scholarship funds you are the best-- believe yourself, write a ton, get the guts to ask your professors for recommendations, make friendships with past alumni to get dirt, persuade people to travel with you, etc.. (you will do this a lot all  throughout the program, before, and after.. I swear, no one warns you this.. Perhaps I'm just a fighter and it was all unnecessary, but it did come in handy often.)

After 8pm / 9pm in Japanese Super markets, fresh / cooked foods go half off!
Starve and wait for this if you are seriously broke or want a midnight snack.
The fried fish was 2 bucks and amazing. 

11. Plan your money. Become an adult. Seriously, do this ahead of time, Japan is a rip off. At the moment the Yen is killing the dollar, which is pretty terrible, not just for you but for their companies selling product in the US/ other countries, (insert rant on economics here). Unless you're a Japanese person traveling to America or happened to be a currency trader who traded at just the right time to make money swapping money.
**Planning tips: Do an accounting of food, schooling, stuff you like buying, etc, etc.. And estimate based on other students before you how much you think you'll spend. You'll want to know before you get there and wonder what to do.. (ie: Maxed the scholarships and need a loan? If so, see if you look poor enough to qualify for government-sponsored ones. Those tend to have less interest.) My estimate before leaving was ~$12,000 for 1 semester (this included *everything* textbooks, tuition, board, transportation, food for survival, and airfare.) I probably added more to the estimate just for conservative reasons. Seeing a "0" or "DENIED" on an atm while in Japan would not be fun. I just don't think I'd be too good at sketchy jobs.. Or, maybe I would.. (haha).

12. Passport. Good grief, get this done now. If you don't have one and you're reading this just go now. It's not too hard, just takes a bit of patience as the government processes it. You'll look at it and feel like you are no longer strapped to your country. I notice it's not a big deal for 2nd generation kids as their parents like to shuffle them out of the country so have had passports for their kids at birth but for you rednecks out there, hop to it!  Just go to a Walgreens get a passport photo taken get the paperwork from the nearest joint that handles passport applications. Here is a link to the US Passport site. No excuses! Apologies if you're reading this from another country. Actually, no, if you are reading this from another country, you probably already know another language and have had a passport forever now!

13.  Get cheap airfare. I am lying. It's hard to get "cheap" going to Asia from North America. Or, at least at the moment. It'll probably be 1,000, at least from Seattle at this very moment. When I went I got a steal at $890 or something like that. I mean, it could be worse, last time I checked Brazil it was $1,700. Ouch.

14.  I could go on and on about this topic, heck I could write several books, but if you have any specific questions ask people before you how they beat the system, tips, e-mail alumni. etc.. I might be able to answer a thing or two but the best resource is that stranger sitting next to you who once traveled to Japan in your Japanese class!

How to get to Japan Method 1: Study Abroad

There are numerous ways to *get* to Japan. The trick is figuring out which one will work for you. In this post I will discuss my method and reasoning for choosing a study abroad over other ways.

Pros:

• Get hand-holding from the school. The University hires staff that are supposed to help you figure things out. It's their job, utilize it!
• Direct-exchanges via your home University are "cheap"! Essentially the same tuition you pay at home. You're already forking over your life savings and racking crippling debt, might as well go abroad.
• Get a scholarship. This can be hard but it's like really tacky dating-- Law of numbers. Write a billion applications. Have a clear purpose, brain wash yourself that this is your life dream. Write a ton. Be creative with the submission. Get personal. use life references. Pray. 
• Make friends more easily than on your own
• Become a "native"
• They say it's better than working in Japan, which is more lonesome for foreigners.. Heck, it seems that Japanese are even more lonely.

Cons:

• Busting your way into a University in Japan. You will have to duke it out and probably BS your way to get into the program you want / school you want to be at. Get on waiting lists. People bail, plans change, money gets tight. 
• Transferring credits toward your actual degree WILL be difficult. The exchange coordinators may claim it's easy. Just assume it's going to be as difficult as the ending fight in a Rocky movie. If you have / experience otherwise, you have a great school, great exchange program, and are very fortunate.

Steps

I never had these tips when I did my exchange program. It was trial and error. I added a few side stories to prove some points, if any of this sounds horrifying to you, don't worry about it. Even during some of the more crazy times if you take everything in with a grain of salt and think: great story for later (I mean assuming nothing terrible happens) then it's more of an adventure. The slight hassles of getting there are well worth it. 

1. Make sure your University offers exchange programs
2. Talk to the coordinator. Ask a billion questions, anything you think is too embarrassing to ask, just ask it. You'll be glad you did
3. Figure out where you want to go, research online.. Look at any packets they have.. Look on a map online!!! Use street-viewer on Google. Get a flavor for what the terrain looks like
4. See what past students say, my University had a giant folder of reviews. These were sort of biased / old but also stalk out alumni on Facebook and LinkedIn. Poke them. They'll probably be very friendly as they once had the same thoughts you did.
5. Figure out when you want to get the hell out of school. If you don't mind the pains of graduating later, do a longer exchange or take on a funky set of classes to expand your horizons. Either way expect you'll be slightly set back. My University was fantastic at accidentally doing that. 
6. Figure out your goals: To learn, to play, to shop?? To be in the city. You'll probably get to achieve at least one. Don't get your hopes set to high.. Just be happy you get to go and adapt. I was around a ton of people who had all these expectations. If they're too high and not met you'll get discouraged. I did.. At the end though, I thought: screw it. I might as well enjoy since I'm going to be delayed a quarter. And, then things got fun. 
7. Now is the hard part.. You have to persuade them to get you into a direct exchange. 
8. I don't want to bash any programs (I would in person but I will attempt to refrain online.. But DO NOT go for external ones that are 20k+ that's ridiculous.. (Unless you have family that has dough and you just don't care..) You may be in debt but you don't want to be in more debt than is necessary. Random rant: It's like those bogus pay to be an intern programs. Come on. That's just insulting. I don't often call out shady programs, but that is one that just blows my mind and I'm willing to fight to defend my position. Try direct exchanges first. They're just a way better deal. 
9. Now have 3 back ups. Just because you can't get to University in Tokyo or Osaka or wherever you want to go still sign up. In all honesty my Japanese is terrible I believe because I went to Tokyo. I spent too much time not speaking Japanese. An easy trap to fall into. I have no regrets-- but it can be avoided but I feel that those in more rural areas will get a much greater benefit language-wise. 

To be continued......

Additional Tips:

• Be nice to your parents. Any issues you have, resolve them. You're going to be really far and need help when shit hits the fan with your bank account / you can't access funds / your college is being sloppy and lost your records. You're many time zones away and having someone reliable who has all your account info / details is crucial. My life ordeal summed up in a few sentences: 
• My school held funds, I had no money, I was in Japan on ~ day 10 and tried to access my American bank account to withdraw a few bucks for food (credit cards don't work too well in 85% of places).. DECLINED. Me: HOLY S@#$.. I'm in Japan and only have 730 Yen (~6 bucks) for food and living.. The next business day is tomorrow.. My University's financial aid center isn't open for hours and I'll have to stay up late to email them and what if they don't answer, I don't have the paperwork, etc etc..
• I e-mailed my mom (it was a crazy hour in the US) an emergency email
• She found the number to the head of the exchanges, ended up calling 4 different Financial Aid people and had to get the low down in the US why my funds weren't going to my bank account.
• They explained somewhere along the line I wasn't logged as registered. She had to yell at them and say "YOUR department got the paperwork-- she's doing an exchange through your school. They reply: have her come in she replies: Are you crazy, she's in Japan!.. Turned out there was a big mis-communication with numerous students like this where their paperwork / note that "oh this student is studying in another country they still get their substandard loans.. Didn't get through..
• Praise the Lord the next day my bank had funds.. But if she wasn't there who knows what unbelievable bureaucratic tapes I'd have to go through, esp when you attend a University with 40k+ people!
• To SUM UP: make sure you have someone, somewhere (preferably the home country) that cares about you / would be willing to ring a few necks to save you just in case.

The best free, juicy Tokyo blog

Hello Everyone!

It's been quite a bit of time since my last adventure to Japan, however I still constantly get questions from fellow YouTube viewers, friends, and random Internet-dwellers.

Finally, I've decided I shouldn't hide this information since I'm currently in the working world in the US atm and don't have a chance to exploit all my little acquired pro tips and should just share them with all the rest of you. It's more of a pay it forward to all of the amazing people who helped me along the way (and yes, I'm spiritual and pretty sure a slew of miracles happened along the way) and I want everyone to experience this at least once in your life. I'm no goody-two shoes, in fact often I'd try to bend the rules so perhaps that's what made it interesting. I didn't do anything illegal but I was around people from other countries who just have different morals than Americans so they had pretty good stories. Although I wouldn't recommend any marijuana. I don't smoke but I heard someone who did got deported. That would just be terrible.. 

To this day I haven't seen any blog, YouTube, or site that truly shares the experiences I had / discoveries to be had... Perhaps I just haven't looked hard enough but I can guarantee you that you will find some golden tips for your travels, and at the very least get some good stories along the way.

I still have many friends who are there teaching or in graduate school or some other position to make a few bucks on the fly while basking in the sweet craziness that is Japan. 

Just a few of the juicy tid-bits I plan to share here, that you may not find anywhere else. Also to note, I am extremely colorful and don't plan to water any of these stories down like you may see in general boring sites (no offense, I just plan to speak my mind here).


-Travel tips
-Secrets no one will tell you (ie: working under the counter)
-How to get to Japan via study abroad
-What to expect
-How to save money
-How to eat on the cheap
-Where to go in Tokyo
-How teaching in Japan on the fly really works
-Ways to make money 
-Places to get cheap(er) cosplay outfits
-Best bathrooms 
-Romance.. And more!!

I'd love to write this all in a book and make a profit, but I love hearing from readers-- if you read any of this and are inspired / find it helpful please help support me by donating or clicking a few of the ad links. Helps me justify in my mind and a tad bit motivating for me to continue writing pro bono.

Many thanks to all of you for your support-- I hope you enjoy!!!

Sincerely,

Alice