ok maybe i've asked this before but..
for those of you that live there now, what do you do? student? job? what kind of job? how long will you be there for?
always interested in expats living overseas - thx. OP, have a great time!
I've been in Japan for three years. First two I spent working as an ALT for two different dispatch companies. These jobs aren't hard to find, even overseas, but all have low pay, your first year will be in a rural area, and generally the company with be either malicious or incompetent when it comes to management and salary.
My city decided to hire their teachers directly, so now I'm employed like a regular Japanese teacher at a good salary with benefits, holidays, and real responsibility in the school and school board.
I'm planning to stay until the end of this school year (March) then enroll in grad school and attempt to enter the crazy competitive foreign service in Canada. Or, I might just become a teacher back home - I really enjoy the job (did some substitute work for about 9 months before Japan) and the career path has always tempted me.
Sorry OP, didn't mean to derail the thread!