Originally posted by: Linux23
she told me that if you are american, the women do throw themselves at you. i wonder why this is the case?
Originally posted by: alkemyst
Originally posted by: Linux23
she told me that if you are american, the women do throw themselves at you. i wonder why this is the case?
It's going to take a lot more than just being american It's like the hot spainard that comes here vs. the fat, pockmarked one. Both have a nice 'accent', but only one is going to get any hot chicks.
Same in Japan, chances are if you are a good looking american you will get ALOT of attention, however, just average or below probably just made fun of.
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Originally posted by: Flyermax2k3
Originally posted by: atom
Let's just put it this way: I've been into anime, manga, cars & racing (WRC & JGTC are da bomb), samurai, and just about everything else Japanese for longer than I care to remember. It's always been my dream to go there and now I'm going to make it happen.
I'm not claiming to be some expert on Japan or it's people & their culture, I'm just fascinated by it is all.
Hey, more power to you and your dreams.. I wish I could pursue mine but i'm too old for that stuff now
Anyways, your sentence "I've been into anime, manga, cars & racing (WRC & JGTC are da bomb), samurai, and just about everything else Japanese" I have to say is funny. I know you meant well but I could see some Japanese dude wanting to come to the US to do voice acting saying: "I've been into rock and roll, sex, drugs, weapons of mass destruction and just about everything else American."
-young
Originally posted by: kami333
and their only goal is to sleep with Japanese women.
Originally posted by: BubbaMorg
VISA: a tourist visa is stamped in your passport when you hit immigration. It's good for 90 days, and you need to show a return/on-going ticket to your next destination outside of Japan within that timeframe. Tell them you're looking for work and you'll be headed home on the next flight. Overstay this visa and go to jail. Japanese do not like foreigners who show up and look for work. Stand in line with the rest of China/Korea/Thailand/Brazil/Malaysia/Indonesia and all the other people lined up.
WORK VISA: you MUST have at least a two-year degree to get a job, period, unless you are married to a Japanese woman and have a spouse visa. If you want to work for any mainstream English program, you need a bachelor's degree. If you want to work at some chichi -n- haha English teaching joint, you still need a two-year degree. NEED A DEGREE TO LIVE IN JAPAN (I have a A.A.S. in electronics, any subject will probably work, but fine arts is better...I also had a serious hookup into a good, reputable company)
Notes: it is possible to get a job while here on a toursit visa, however, the company that hires you will have to have a contract made up for you with a term of commitment, and you will have to submit this paperwork to a Japanese consolate OUTSIDE of Japan...so figure for taking a minimum five day trip home or to Guam or Singapore or someplace before you get it. There is no work-around for this. This was my situation (I was in the States and needed too quickly for the proper paperwork to be filed, as a I had six days between being called out of the blue for the job and leaving. I came to Japan and left after 89 days and spent five weeks getting it sorted out in the States before I came back).
LANGUAGE:
HOUSING: Usually provided by your contracted company. If you're here on a tourist visa, gooooooood luck, but seriously, head to a hostel or a hotel. Permanent housing is out of the question. I pay $800/month for a two bedroom apartment in northern Japan where living is relatively cheap. Tokyo is twice as expensive. The wife and I just wasted $1800 on a three day trip there. We did not live exorbitantly, and stayed in middle-class hotels. Everything posted above about housing cost is absolutely correct. Luckily, my company picked up the tab.
TRAVEL: Japan is the most expensive country in the world to travel in. If you're coming on a tourist visa, get a Japan Rail Pass, good for a few days and all Japan Railways (JR) travel is free. Otherwise, empty your wallet at the Midori-no-madoguchi and get on the train. Local trains and subways are pretty good. Taxi's are spendy. Buses are decent. Shinkansen's are expensive, and air travel is more so. Driving takes a pile of money, especially when figuring car costs (dealer takes a large whack in fees, government takes a large whack in taxes, the rest of the money you spend on $4/gallon gasoline) and road charges (expressways are big $$$, about $100 to go 350 miles).
Well the Visa depends on the reason of course you are getting it....same way with Japanese people coming here. They can do tourist, K, H, F, etc....it really depends on why you need the VISA.
As far as competition there are indeed many foreigners looking for Japan work....however, saying a degree is always required I am not sure about that as I know a few americans over there without degrees. However I am not sure as to the status of how they originally came there (marriage was a big one, and another I know was originally 'sponsered' by a US company). Having a sponser or Japanese reference is important though if you are planning on living there....travelling through and thinking you can come back next time and stay are two very different things.
Right from the source, someone who knows both US and Japan's system! Toll's are another thing americans think are probably 'exaggerated'....many people don't bother with cars because of this thing, plus you can't just go buy a used car....used cars are inspected more ($$$$), taxed higher, and other fees....it makes driving a used car more expensive than a new car. Fortunately they make cheap cars sort of like 4 wheeled scooters . I have known 2 guys whose dreams of driving GT-R's were ruined ...they both did do a test drive/class though
Originally posted by: yhlee
Originally posted by: Flyermax2k3
Originally posted by: atom
Let's just put it this way: I've been into anime, manga, cars & racing (WRC & JGTC are da bomb), samurai, and just about everything else Japanese for longer than I care to remember. It's always been my dream to go there and now I'm going to make it happen.
I'm not claiming to be some expert on Japan or it's people & their culture, I'm just fascinated by it is all.
Hey, more power to you and your dreams.. I wish I could pursue mine but i'm too old for that stuff now
Anyways, your sentence "I've been into anime, manga, cars & racing (WRC & JGTC are da bomb), samurai, and just about everything else Japanese" I have to say is funny. I know you meant well but I could see some Japanese dude wanting to come to the US to do voice acting saying: "I've been into rock and roll, sex, drugs, weapons of mass destruction and just about everything else American."
-young
ROFLMAO! I had fogotten about this thread for a couple days there, I'm surprised people were still posting in it... Anyway, thanks for the laugh
Originally posted by: kami333
Well, before saying anything else I want to wish you luck. I'm in a similar situation, I want to move to Denmark (for a year or two) where I spent a semester abroad and am in the process of looking at my options. Hopefully my study aboard program will take me as an intern then I'd be all set.
Definately get your work and visa set up before you go over. Just showing up isn't socially accepted even from a foreigner and will just make things more difficult. By work experience, I think everyone means experience related to what you are going to be doing. Selling computers does not count as work experience in teaching English.
Translating jobs are a tough gig, too many translators, too few jobs. A degree helps because many places will prefer you know what you are translating. Though it does pay pretty well, I just did a subtitling job for a medical gear company which paid fairly well.
If you are interested in JET/NOVA, get involved in teaching English. You could try volunteering at a homeless shelter or some place that has a literacy program. My friend who wants to do the JET program does it and he says it helps show that you know what you are doing and are serious.
Oh, and don't count on being able to eat beef bowls at Yoshinoya for long. They're running out of their meat stocks due to the ban on US beef from BSE fears (they got 80% of their meat from the US, the remaining 20% from Australia) so they've announced that they are considering switching to chicken and fish bowls by mid Feb when their stocks will run out if the ban isn't lifted.
If you plan on staying for more than a few years, plase go with a long term plan. I meet way too many guys in Japan who've been in Japan for many years, at a dead-end jb (ie teaching English) and their only goal is to sleep with Japanese women.
Originally posted by: BubbaMorg
Hmmm, just read the entire thread. I currently live in Japan, been here for three years, doing one more and going home. Some info for you:
VISA: a tourist visa is stamped in your passport when you hit immigration. It's good for 90 days, and you need to show a return/on-going ticket to your next destination outside of Japan within that timeframe. Tell them you're looking for work and you'll be headed home on the next flight. Overstay this visa and go to jail. Japanese do not like foreigners who show up and look for work. Stand in line with the rest of China/Korea/Thailand/Brazil/Malaysia/Indonesia and all the other people lined up.
WORK VISA: you MUST have at least a two-year degree to get a job, period, unless you are married to a Japanese woman and have a spouse visa. If you want to work for any mainstream English program, you need a bachelor's degree. If you want to work at some chichi -n- haha English teaching joint, you still need a two-year degree. NEED A DEGREE TO LIVE IN JAPAN (I have a A.A.S. in electronics, any subject will probably work, but fine arts is better...I also had a serious hookup into a good, reputable company)
Notes: it is possible to get a job while here on a toursit visa, however, the company that hires you will have to have a contract made up for you with a term of commitment, and you will have to submit this paperwork to a Japanese consolate OUTSIDE of Japan...so figure for taking a minimum five day trip home or to Guam or Singapore or someplace before you get it. There is no work-around for this. This was my situation (I was in the States and needed too quickly for the proper paperwork to be filed, as a I had six days between being called out of the blue for the job and leaving. I came to Japan and left after 89 days and spent five weeks getting it sorted out in the States before I came back).
LANGUAGE: I don't speak Japanese, though I'm learning, and my wife is Japanese (married last March), but I will probably never be fluent. Fluency takes at least 4 years of serious study, even Japanese have difficulty with kanji (which takes twenty years to master) and I've been here three years and know basically how to shop and order food. Phone conversations are still out of the question. I work too much to seriously study, and my workplace is half-American/Japanese, so I rarely speak Japanese. It's more of a kind of pigeon-Japanese, anyway. Forget jobs in translating or Japanese voiceovers, those are reserved for either bi-lingual Japanese (from birth, basically) or really famous foreigners (i.e., Bob Sapp). Probably the most used western language here besides English is Portuguese. There are lots of Brazilians here.
HOUSING: Usually provided by your contracted company. If you're here on a tourist visa, gooooooood luck, but seriously, head to a hostel or a hotel. Permanent housing is out of the question. I pay $800/month for a two bedroom apartment in northern Japan where living is relatively cheap. Tokyo is twice as expensive. The wife and I just wasted $1800 on a three day trip there. We did not live exorbitantly, and stayed in middle-class hotels. Everything posted above about housing cost is absolutely correct. Luckily, my company picked up the tab.
TRAVEL: Japan is the most expensive country in the world to travel in. If you're coming on a tourist visa, get a Japan Rail Pass, good for a few days and all Japan Railways (JR) travel is free. Otherwise, empty your wallet at the Midori-no-madoguchi and get on the train. Local trains and subways are pretty good. Taxi's are spendy. Buses are decent. Shinkansen's are expensive, and air travel is more so. Driving takes a pile of money, especially when figuring car costs (dealer takes a large whack in fees, government takes a large whack in taxes, the rest of the money you spend on $4/gallon gasoline) and road charges (expressways are big $$$, about $100 to go 350 miles).
THE LADIES: Ohhhhh, they dig ya. Afterall, they're thinking, you got into Japan, so you're either military (diggin' the uni) or have a four-year degree from Princeton, a suave job, and a free ticket with spousal visa to the U.S. in hand.
THE END OF THE WORLD: You'll be livin' next to Kim Jong-ILL and his nukes. And the Japanese HATE North Korea and dislike most other Asians. And North Korea HATES Japan, and most other Asian countries dislike Japan, but not for the fact that that's where their money comes from. And Japan is heading to the end just like the rest. I'm surprised what I've seen in three years here.
So, my advice? Come to play, man. Blow that money, see if you like it, if you do, get a degree and come back. Maybe you'll get a hookup. Who knows? Hope my rant helps.
Originally posted by: AndrewR
One avenue you could look at is getting a job working at or for an American military base with the US government. There would be no visa problems since you would fall under the Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA), and you could establish yourself while you worked for the military and could look for a local job with a Japanese company.
Originally posted by: Flyermax2k3
Originally posted by: AndrewR
One avenue you could look at is getting a job working at or for an American military base with the US government. There would be no visa problems since you would fall under the Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA), and you could establish yourself while you worked for the military and could look for a local job with a Japanese company.
Just out of sheer morbid curiousity, what exactly would this entail and how would one go about doing such a thing?
Originally posted by: AndrewR
Originally posted by: Flyermax2k3
Originally posted by: AndrewR
One avenue you could look at is getting a job working at or for an American military base with the US government. There would be no visa problems since you would fall under the Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA), and you could establish yourself while you worked for the military and could look for a local job with a Japanese company.
Just out of sheer morbid curiousity, what exactly would this entail and how would one go about doing such a thing?
If you live near a military installation, call the base and ask to speak to the civilian employment office. They should be able to point you in the right direction. You MIGHT have to work in the States for a bit first because you need to get a General Services (GS) job in order to come over here. The good part about it, though, is that once you do, the military will pay for your move and then set you up with a housing allowance and cost of living allowance here. You would most likely need a college degree though.
Originally posted by: kami333
Try the forums at www.japantoday.com They're pretty active, though they have a decidedly anti-Japanese bend (rather interesting since it's filled with Americans living in Japan(.