The Japan Thread

[Tippy]

Does anyone know how hard/easy it is for Australians to live in Japan for a couple of years or so? We both can teach English. We might buy a cheap house and an appartment and rbnb it or maybe something else while the children go to school and learn Japanese. I'm just brainstorming at the moment.

Very easy to teach English. Won't make much money doing it though. Plus, it's demoralising work. These 'English schools' mostly prey off fresh off the boat Japan enthusiasts and know that all employees are easily replaceable with the next wide eyed gaijin looking to live in Studio Ghibli land. You are just a cog in the machine. Do you have any sort of career in Australia? If so, you really willing to sacrifice it just to have a Japan experience? It's either a young man's game or a retired man's game. It's not a great idea to do as some mid-life crisis experience. You'll just end up worse off at the end of it. Can't you just visit the country?

English teaching (and take this from someone who did it for over 10 years) is a dead end and demoralising job.

If you have no career at all the best option is try to get actual teaching experience and become an International School Teacher. Get a teaching license in Aus and work there for a year or so and then try to get jobs in international schools in Japan. They will pay a good salary and you'd also likely get some discount on your children studying at the same school.

Don't let wanderlust for Japan overcome common sense.

 

[RedLagoon]

Very easy to teach English. Won't make much money doing it though. Plus, it's demoralising work. These 'English schools' mostly prey off fresh off the boat Japan enthusiasts and know that all employees are easily replaceable with the next wide eyed gaijin looking to live in Studio Ghibli land. You are just a cog in the machine. Do you have any sort of career in Australia? If so, you really willing to sacrifice it just to have a Japan experience? It's either a young man's game or a retired man's game. It's not a great idea to do as some mid-life crisis experience. You'll just end up worse off at the end of it. Can't you just visit the country?

English teaching (and take this from someone who did it for over 10 years) is a dead end and demoralising job.

If you have no career at all the best option is try to get actual teaching experience and become an International School Teacher. Get a teaching license in Aus and work there for a year or so and then try to get jobs in international schools in Japan. They will pay a good salary and you'd also likely get some discount on your children studying at the same school.

Don't let wanderlust for Japan overcome common sense.

We're stopping over in Japan for a vacation we had some very positive interactions with Japanese outside of Japan after dealing with too many rude Aussies over the years.

I think I'll just find it out eh?

 

[Tippy]

Very accurate comic here about the teaching/living in Japan experience:

Page 01 – TEACH ENGLISH IN JAPAN

www.teachenglishinjapan.ca

Painfully true.

 

[Laner]

The problem is a lot of Japanese people (especially the older ones) only speak Japanese which it makes it hard for them to retire in another country.

There are developments that I know of in Malaysia that are almost exclusively Japanese. They were developed by them with the intention of having retirees move there. The ones I saw are really nice and are about $120k for something on a golf course. The kitchens are pretty basic, as they assume that most elderly will be eating at the restaurants. Food in Malaysia has to be about the best value on the planet.

Does anyone know how hard/easy it is for Australians to live in Japan for a couple of years or so? We both can teach English. We might buy a cheap house and an appartment and rbnb it or maybe something else while the children go to school and learn Japanese. I'm just brainstorming at the moment.

If you have a degree its not hard at all. Not sure about the job market right now, but I do know the pay currently sucks.

If you are looking at a cheap house, do your due diligence. Make sure to hire a professional (not some youtube kid from the US or wherever) so you know what you are getting into. Those cheap homes have 5x this past two years alone, and there are a lot of foreigners in Japan (with Japanese backing) who are preying on wild eyed families who are desperate to escape the liberal cities of the west.

 

[δούλος του Χριστού]

I sometimes enjoy watching videos by "Small Brained American" on YouTube. He's a white gaijin living in Japan and somewhat speaks the language. His channel is kind of a travel blog of sorts. He's been to India and all sorts of places (India is terrible, don't go there, seriously). Maybe some of you would enjoy it. He does swear a lot though, which is unfortunate.

 

[Let God Arise]

I sometimes enjoy watching videos by "Small Brained American" on YouTube. He's a white gaijin living in Japan and somewhat speaks the language. His channel is kind of a travel blog of sorts. He's been to India and all sorts of places (India is terrible, don't go there, seriously). Maybe some of you would enjoy it. He does swear a lot though, which is unfortunate.

He's like 35 years old and dressed like a whigger douche from the hood. What gives? Vanilla Ice wannabe, or is he joking on the 90s?

 

[Eagle3]

The problem is a lot of Japanese people (especially the older ones) only speak Japanese which it makes it hard for them to retire in another country.

That's actually an opportunity for a Japanese entrepreneur to open retirement homes in other countries. Hire locals who speak Japanese to take care of the Japanese retirees rather than expect the retirees to learn Malaysian or Thai.

EDIT: Whoops. Only just saw Laner's post above. It's a good idea though.

 

[δούλος του Χριστού]

He's like 35 years old and dressed like a whigger douche from the hood. What gives? Vanilla Ice wannabe, or is he joking on the 90s?

Haha that's a funny story... well at least I enjoyed it. Long story short he lost his clothes and needed some new stuff. It's a costume and he is wearing it ironically, imho. I won't spoil it but the video is here if you want to watch. And if it's not for you that's okay. Have fun.

 

[Kido Butai]

The Black pigeon speaks guy, Felix Rex...he has some takes on Japan. I think he lives there and drops red pill bombs.

 

[Laner]

I have some family issues in Japan that need dealing with and will be there for the month of October if anyone wants to meet up.

It could also be a bit of a scouting mission as I have some business ideas.

 

[Hermetic Seal]

Very accurate comic here about the teaching/living in Japan experience:

Page 01 – TEACH ENGLISH IN JAPAN

www.teachenglishinjapan.ca

Painfully true.

This is fantastic, surprised I've never seen this before. Makes me grateful that I was an ALT in public schools similar to the JET program instead of an Eikaiwa. Maybe sometime I'll write a bit more about my experience as a teacher in Japan. I'm thankful it was mostly positive and had very little drama involved.

 

[Australia Sucks]

This is fantastic, surprised I've never seen this before. Makes me grateful that I was an ALT in public schools similar to the JET program instead of an Eikaiwa. Maybe sometime I'll write a bit more about my experience as a teacher in Japan. I'm thankful it was mostly positive and had very little drama involved.

How did you find dealing with the racism aspect of Japanese culture when you were there? Did you feel very isolated socially?

By the way I just want to clarify that immigration policies and how people are treated once they have residency in a country are two different things.

I think its a good thing for a country to have very limited immigration, but I feel at the same time that once people are legally living in a country they should be made to feel welcome and a part of mainstream society. I think Japanese people are not very accepting of outsiders.

 

[Hermetic Seal]

I can’t remember any instance in almost four years of life there where I experienced anything that could be described as discrimination or racism, but I’m sure it helped that I went to great lengths to learn Japanese language and culture and fit in, I was sort of the model immigrant from that perspective.

However, I did feel like I ran into a wall eventually, where I struggled to form real, meaningful connections with people through unavoidable cultural differences. This wasn’t ready the conscious fault of anybody involved. I just think the effort I put into it all passed the point of diminishing returns.

 

[Laner]

I can’t remember any instance in almost four years of life there where I experienced anything that could be described as discrimination or racism, but I’m sure it helped that I went to great lengths to learn Japanese language and culture and fit in, I was sort of the model immigrant from that perspective.

However, I did feel like I ran into a wall eventually, where I struggled to form real, meaningful connections with people through unavoidable cultural differences. This wasn’t ready the conscious fault of anybody involved. I just think the effort I put into it all passed the point of diminishing returns.

Do you think things would be different if you had a family? It's almost like a built in friend group and would have the connection that you struggled with.

Why I ask is that this trip could turn into something more. I have always wondered how I would enjoy living in Japan, but I honestly don't have any idea of what it would be like over the course of years. I enjoy my month at a time a lot, but can't picture the long term reality.

 

[Australia Sucks]

However, I did feel like I ran into a wall eventually, where I struggled to form real, meaningful connections with people through unavoidable cultural differences. This wasn’t ready the conscious fault of anybody involved. I just think the effort I put into it all passed the point of diminishing returns.

I think Japanese people don't even try. Them putting up the wall is kind of a deliberate strategy I think. Cultural differences will always be there but its not an excuse to keep people at arms length.

For example I know guys who spent multiple years living in Brazil and they said they made heaps of friends and really fit in despite the fact that there are vast cultural differences between Brazilians and Westerners.

 

[Cooper]

Japan is getting poorer every year, at this rate this is going attract a large expat community that will resemble Shanghai in the 1930s or Hong Kong a few decades ago. In that video above, the gaijin goes into a bar where pints of beer and snacks are $2 each. You would have to travel decades in the past for those kinds of prices in America. And their housing is the cheapest of any industrialized country and getting cheaper as their population dwindles.

 

[BeatUpTruck]

I sometimes enjoy watching videos by "Small Brained American" on YouTube. He's a white gaijin living in Japan and somewhat speaks the language. His channel is kind of a travel blog of sorts. He's been to India and all sorts of places (India is terrible, don't go there, seriously). Maybe some of you would enjoy it. He does swear a lot though, which is unfortunate.

His videos are good I watched most of his journey once he got out of the western world. He tells it like it is and is funny. I used to think he had brass balls too because of the risks he took, until he got robbed in South America and then he got all jumpy and talked about having PTSD… from being mugged? I guess what I thought were his balls was just naïveté that hadn’t caught up with him yet

 

[Australia Sucks]

In that video above, the gaijin goes into a bar where pints of beer and snacks are $2 each.

To be fair that was in a smaller city if I am not mistaken. I doubt there would be anything close to that price level in Tokyo or Osaka, etc.

 

[Australia Sucks]

And their housing is the cheapest of any industrialized country and getting cheaper as their population dwindles.

Rural housing is getting cheaper. Housing in the nicer urban parts of the major cities is still expensive.

 

[Hermetic Seal]

I think Japanese people don't even try. Them putting up the wall is kind of a deliberate strategy I think. Cultural differences will always be there but its not an excuse to keep people at arms length.

Maybe. I feel like, toward my case anyway, it's more like a lack of motivation. Japanese people could form meaningful connections with me, but few wanted to invest the effort to do it. I think it's much harder for the Japanese person (especially one not obsessed with Western stuff) to empathize with an American like me and try to understand/connect with them, than the other way around, and most of the time they just don't think it's really worth it, especially given how transitory the western immigrant population in Japan tends to be. To be honest, I don't really blame them.

Do you think things would be different if you had a family? It's almost like a built in friend group and would have the connection that you struggled with.

I thought I was going to marry a Japanese girl and spend the rest of my life there but I'm very thankful it didn't work out that way. I think communication problems and low-level, ongoing conflict would have been a problem no matter what, and there would have been a lot of stress and anxiety.

I spent two years living in a town in northern Japan and I just loved it. One of my favorite places I've ever lived, beautiful place. I think about it all the time and I miss that town and the landscape more than any girl from Japan. I'll share a few pictures I took back then, 2011-2012.