Moving to Japan in '09
 

At least, that's the plan...

Nice to meet y'all. You can call me Keaton or Mike. I'm 20 years old, in college in NC, and the love of my life and I are separated by the Pacific Ocean.

She has been visiting me as often as we can for as long as a tourist visa will hold up, but we're looking for something more permanent. She's looking for options to move here, and I'm looking for options to move there.

I'm getting more familiar with the visa process, but legal mumbo-jumbo can only take me so far. So here's where y'all come in. If anyone has moved to Japan and has success (or failure) stories, I could use them!

- How did you get there?
- Did you get a job? What kind? Is is better to visit and get an interview, or apply online? What are some good companies/jobs? Is a work visa easy(ish) and quick(ish) to get, compared to the next option?
- Did you marry? Marriage is on the horizon, but we don't know much about that process either. It seems like you have to come to the country, get married, go back home, and then wait.

Well, this is all for now. The whole thing is pretty overwhelming. Anyway, thatnks so much, and if you ever need any help with learning Japanese, cinema, martial arts, or scuba diving, you know where to find me :vsign:

Oh, sorry, I forgot one thing! I've got a pretty expensive cell phone, and I don't just want to leave it. How can I get it to work in Japan?

What's up Mike and how's the weather in my home state of NC? I'm from Mooresville which is north of Charlotte at the end of Lake Norman.

Anyways, about your situation. I am not too familar with the specifics of all your questions, but I can answer a few. To start with, I am sure you know what I am about to say, to work in Japan you might as well teach English.

I know what a lot of people think, teaching doesn't really sound like my thing. But to be completely honest if you work as an ALT in the public schools, it will give you a greater appreciation of Japanese life and greater understanding of what your darling, future wife had to endure as a child. And what your's will as well if you stay here that long.

Now as far as the application process, you will want to definitely apply and get hired before coming. I don't know about your financial situation, but for me when I got out of college I needed a secure paycheck to pay those loans. JET program is pretty much out of the question since they are going to place you almost at random and I assume you want to be as close as possible to your miss's.

Now if you are working and under the work visa, you are not going to have to leave Japan once you marry. The only people that would have to do that are people under a tourist visa who get married and their visa expires before immigration approves their new visa.

Anyways, go to the Teaching in the JP thread. Read and post more questions if you have them.

Oh yeah, the cell phone. Depends on whether or not your phone uses a SIM card or not. If yes, maybe you can use (even then though I highly doubt you will). If no SIM card which is quite common with carriers like Verizon and other US carriers, definitely no.

Either way, just suck up and sell your phone. It is not like your phone can type and recognize Japanese which will be necessary at some point.

haha with all this talk about moving to a different country, i'm sure that you can give up your cell phone. the technology is also a little better than japan than it is here in the US.

raverboy

If you plan on staying more than 3 months, you need to secure a job before you go.

JET is a great program, but unless you are married, there's no telling where in the country they will place you. You could try some of the major English schools...

Or here is a link someone posted earlier today...

Jobs in Japan : Search jobs - Jobs - Japan Jobs - Japan Info - Japan Apartments - Japan Classifieds - Japan Forums

Thanks a lot for the information about the differences between the different programs and cell phones. I kinda thought my cellphone was soulbound to me after I attached it to my plan :D

I've got ~1.5 years left in college. When should I really start hunting and applying for the positions? Is our school's Japanese teacher a good resource for this?

Thanks again!

Oh yeah, and my lover said いいんだよ！！！

Applications for the JET programme are sent in sometime around August or September of your senior year. Maybe it is later but check the website, a link can be found on the 1st page of Teaching in the JP. For all other teaching positions, most companies and schools begin hiring for positions starting in the fall around April/May. But new positions will continue to be posted throughout the summer since some recruiters are either a) overworked or b) lazy. I know examples of each. Positions starting in the spring, the application and interviewing takes place from the end of October. Most companies/schools like to have their positions filled about three months ahead of time for visa purposes, but there are a lot that don't follow immigration procedures to the letter.

Your Japanese teacher is not going to have any idea about getting a job as an English in Japan. He/she may know about the JET programme and most will encourage you go that route. Of course they will also know about Nova and will probably discourage you, and rightly so, from that one. The greatest thing your Japanese teacher can provide you with is a letter of reference. When I applied, I had a Japanese teacher for one reference, another professor to comment on my English/writing ability, and a third that was my manager at the restaurant I worked at.

ps~ It's green dammit.

Thank you for the information. Am I correct that JET is the program, and ALT is the job?

About living arrangements. I'm sure it differs from company to company, but I've heard that some will provide you an apartment, and others will help you find one. We're perfectly capable of finding one on our own, but if the company *forces* me to live in one of theirs, I have a few questions. Will my lover be able to live there with me? Also, I have a dog and a cat. I really don't want to give them up. I'm sure it's difficult to find an apartment that allows pets, and impossible if I'm forced to live in a company apartment that doesn't allow them.

Do not plan on bringing pets to Japan. The last I heard I think there is a 3-to-6 month quarantine for any animals coming to Japan. So your dog and cat will be completely different beasts after spending that kind of time in Japanese animal jail.

On JET do not plan on being able to live with your GF. Company apartments will not allow pets, but family style apartments will. If you do go on JET, they will expect you to live where they place you, and that will certainly be cheaper than renting a new apartment anyway.

What's the rush to live together?

cool your goin to japan the same time im goin. 09 is when i graduate..... woah

The JET program has a few different jobs it offers. The huge majority will be ALT's. There are two other positions that are non-ALT jobs. These are the coordinator of international relations and another program that is like English education through athletics. I really don't know that much about the second one other than there are not that many positions for it since they only place two to three in each prefecture. The CIR's are basically about the same number. They usually have the task of organizing events for both JET ALT's and the prefectural board of education. Your Japanese ability for this position should be JLPT level 1 or higher, fluent in other words. Then there are other positions available in the prefectural board of education, and these positions usually go to JET program participants because they are exposed to the prefectural level more so than private ALT's who are mostly only familiar with the city BoE.

As far as your g/f living with you as a member of the JET program, that is not going to be a problem. Yes, you get the apartment of the former JET which are usually decent places, but unless you live out in b.f.e. no one is going to know, much less care, that you have a g/f staying with you. But you can't really go out and find a new apartment that easily in the JET program. Whatever you choose has to be conveniently located close to your school for the ALT that comes after you leave. You can't get a car and then decide you want to live farther away from your school. I knew a JET who was doing this, but they were stilling paying rent on the apartment while living in someone's house for free.

As far as companies that hire English teachers, it is none of their business who lives with you and where you live. Some companies say they provide an apartment, but unless your boss also happens to be a real estate agent it simply means you are taking over the apartment vacated by your predecessor. If you are willing and able to get your own place paying the key money and getting all the light fixtures, stove top, shower, washer, heater/AC, etcetera, more power to you. It isn't cheap moving into your first apartment in Japan which is why most Japanese live with their parents until they are like 30. I am not kidding, you walk into an empty apartment and there is nothing in there other than a counter top, a hood fan, some wires hanging out of the ceiling and holes in the wall for water hookups.

Companies that place you with roommates, F that. I wouldn't want to live with about 90% of the English teachers I know. I like my space and don't like cleaning up after other people.

The issue of pets is another story. Each apartment is going to have different restrictions based on pets. Some will allow a cat but not a dog. Some will allow a dog but maybe no cat since you are allowed only one. Some apartments have weight restrictions meaning the size of your dog is going to matter. To be completely honest, you are better off renting a house than an apartment when it comes to pets. Even in a house there are going to be rules, but you are more likely to find a house that allows pets than an apartment. What MMM is saying about quarantine is totally true. Even after the initial cost of quarantine, I don't want to know how much that is, there are fees and taxes to be paid to the city government for ownership of dogs and probably cats too. Again I have no idea of what the pet tax is, I just know it exists. Or at least I have heard of it.

See you there, mousee. When we make it, I'll buy you a beer.

Thanks for the wealth of info. It's much better to hear this from someone who did this rather than the company website. I read about the sports thing, and it's not something you apply for, it's more of a professional thing. Kind of mysterious.

I'm not really so picky, actually. As long as I'm with my lover and we've got a roof, everything else is negotiable. My best quality is adaptation :P I had the notion that they managed dorm-like apartments, and I didn't want to redo freshman year of college.

The pets thing is going to be a real mess, but I'll figure it out somewhere.

Let's say I apply to JET in September of the year before I graduate. They say it's competitive, but I hear otherwise. Anyway, assuming I don't get in, what are my options? Browse Gaijinpot and look as hard as I can for job openings?

As I've said before, JET's selection process is a complete mystery to everyone including those chosen. But yeah, if you don't make it in, no worries. You will certainly be able to find a teaching job with a degree. Gaijinpot is good as well as the other links on the first page of Teaching in the JP 2.0. I applied sometime in June, was hired in July, and came over at the end of August. I didn't decide to teach until January of my senior year so I missed the JET hiring round. There is more advice about getting a teaching gig in the teaching thread.

Yeah, apply to JET, you will know by February or March of your senior year if you got in or not, so plenty of time to find something else when you graduate.

EVERY JET placement is different. I don't know where your GF lives now, but don't count on living anywhere near her, or count on her living with you in your JET apartment. In my situation it could have happened, and I had a buddy who was a JET that had his GF living with him, but I also knew people that were next door neighbors to other teachers in smaller towns, and word spreads FAST. I am not saying its impossible, just don't bank on it.

The thing is, that as far as dating in Japan goes your girlfriend never sleeps over at your house until the two of you are actually married. At least this is the way it works in more traditional (ie outside of Tokyo) Japan. Even after two Japanese marry, they often live at home with their parents and visit love hotels when they want some action.

Exactly right. And no matter where you are in Japan, you will be in the minority, and Japanese people like to, shall we say, share news of what's going on with their neighbors. Privacy is a luxury. It will NOT be OK with your school to be living with a woman outside of marriage at their apartment, and word will likely get back to them eventually. The landlord probably won't like it either.

Yo, I found some stuff on pets. Check it out, Animal Quarantine Service Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries

Notice how it says "If you have all the proper paperwork your pet will go through in 12 hours" and if not it will be 180 days. From what I hear, plan on 180 days, unless you are Paris Hilton or Britney Spears.

What if he has no one willing to take in the pet for the time being?

another option since you're still in college would be to transfer to a school there. temple university in PA has a campus there. might be worth looking into. Welcome to Temple University