Living in Japan has been quite the experience. I have now been here for ten months, and I'm happy to report that there have been far more ups than downs while living here. Having said that, the purpose of this blog isn't to necessarily encourage you to join the JET Program (they're not paying me enough to justify advertising in my spare time); it's more to give everyone the information one would need to make the big life decision of moving to Japan.
You know moving to Japan is huge. You've heard the warnings, the cautions, the encouragement. For a few minutes, consider what moving to Japan will do for you as a person. Consider how you will cope with:
You know moving to Japan is huge. You've heard the warnings, the cautions, the encouragement. For a few minutes, consider what moving to Japan will do for you as a person. Consider how you will cope with:
1) Living alone
2) Making new friends (or sucking at life and making no friends)
3) Being the only foreigner in your location
4) Possibly having a long-drop toilet
5) The language barrier
6) Homesickness
7) Driving/Commuting
8) Never connecting with a Japanese person or fitting into the community
9) Being an assistant teacher
10) Being treated like a full-fledged teacher
11) Being reprimanded for your habits, your clothes, etc.
12) Being a novelty
Yes, I put having a long-drop toilet before overcoming the language barrier. What the fuck. I would never want one of those.
Anyway, my point is that living in Japan isn't 100% EXCITINGEASYSPECTACULARANIMECOSPLAYRAMEN!
It just isn't.
It just isn't.
It's life. You don't come to Japan and put your life on hold. You're still going to be living your life, just in a different location. You still have to do dishes, take out the trash, pay bills, allot yourself time to de-stress...
Don't come here expecting things to be so wildly different that you are no longer you. That's not the case. The worst thing you can do is come here with unrealistic (or unevaluated) expectations. What I mean by "unevaluated" is that you really need to think things through. JET can be fun; JET can be the bane of your existence, and sometimes it's not up to you which one it is. Your BoE can make your life a living hell or it can give you free nenkyuu just because you have a pretty face. JET is "what you make it" only to an extent. You can't control what BoE you get or if you're a prefectural ALT. Gird yourself for hard times.
Stepping out of the Negative Nancy shoes, my personal experience on JET has been very good. I have a nice house, I'm safe from tsunami; I'm reimbursed for gas I use to travel to my two schools in the mountains; my kids are well-behaved; I started playing futsal and have made some Japanese friends; my Japanese is improving; the ALTs around me have become some of my best friends; my BoE cares about my safety; my supervisor is incredibly easy to work with; I am not expected to act as a full-time teacher (making lesson plans, staying at school late, etc.); and I'm not made to feel guilty about anything.
I'm not exaggerating when I say I have the best placement in all of Japan. I'm proud of Sai. It's a beautiful place with great people. (Do you see how the gushing is slowly getting more annoying than the previous negativity?) I'm treated very well here, but I also don't ask for help that often and am really low maintenance. I try to make my supervisor's job as easy as possible, which I'm sure she appreciates. (She's a busy lady being a yakuza and all.)
I'm not exaggerating when I say I have the best placement in all of Japan. I'm proud of Sai. It's a beautiful place with great people. (Do you see how the gushing is slowly getting more annoying than the previous negativity?) I'm treated very well here, but I also don't ask for help that often and am really low maintenance. I try to make my supervisor's job as easy as possible, which I'm sure she appreciates. (She's a busy lady being a yakuza and all.)
One of the most important pieces of advice I can offer you is: be an adult. My friends and I can act like retards when we're together (PC mumbo jumbo, GTFO), but when I'm in public, I conduct myself professionally. Living in a small village mandates this. Someone sees me wherever I go. People talk. I don't want one immature action to haunt me for the rest of my time here. I'm not saying you have to wear a suit all the time and walk around frowning. Be yourself, but remember to have a little restraint. Teachers in Japan are role models. Make sure your students (and their parents) see you in the best possible light.
Make sure you have a goal in mind when you get here even if your goal is to come up with a goal while you're here. It's really easy to set your time here on JET aside from your normal life but DON'T DO IT. If you don't plan on staying in Japan for the rest of your life (or even the five consecutive years you're allowed to be in JET), spend your free time preparing for the future you know you want. A lot of ALTs I know are applying to graduate school or are in the process of at least searching for which schools they'd eventually like to get into once they leave Japan.
Another thing... if you get here and absolutely hate it, don't fucking break your contract. It's a huge inconvenience for your contracting organization, and it's a really poor reflection of you, your country, and the JET Program, which is already in danger of being terminated. For some reason, you are completely free to break your contract without legal penalization. You'll have to pay your own way to get back home and be a douchebag though.
If you're a sensitive person, this experience is still possible for you. This is the first time I've ever lived on my own. After high school, I had a roommate for a year and a half at university, and then my boyfriend and I rented an apartment together. It's not so bad though. In fact, if I didn't have a boyfriend to miss, I'd be perfectly content where I am right now. Living alone is the best way to get to know your own needs and solidify who you are. In my opinion anyway. It is imperative to get out at times, however. Make friends! Explore!
Hopefully I'll be able to write about all the other things I've wanted to talk about soon. Between work, studying Japanese, and trying to stay sane, I don't have much time for blogging. I do think they're somewhat helpful though, so I'll keep writing them. Maybe I do have enough time and I'm just being lazy. It's probably that.
Make sure you have a goal in mind when you get here even if your goal is to come up with a goal while you're here. It's really easy to set your time here on JET aside from your normal life but DON'T DO IT. If you don't plan on staying in Japan for the rest of your life (or even the five consecutive years you're allowed to be in JET), spend your free time preparing for the future you know you want. A lot of ALTs I know are applying to graduate school or are in the process of at least searching for which schools they'd eventually like to get into once they leave Japan.
Another thing... if you get here and absolutely hate it, don't fucking break your contract. It's a huge inconvenience for your contracting organization, and it's a really poor reflection of you, your country, and the JET Program, which is already in danger of being terminated. For some reason, you are completely free to break your contract without legal penalization. You'll have to pay your own way to get back home and be a douchebag though.
If you're a sensitive person, this experience is still possible for you. This is the first time I've ever lived on my own. After high school, I had a roommate for a year and a half at university, and then my boyfriend and I rented an apartment together. It's not so bad though. In fact, if I didn't have a boyfriend to miss, I'd be perfectly content where I am right now. Living alone is the best way to get to know your own needs and solidify who you are. In my opinion anyway. It is imperative to get out at times, however. Make friends! Explore!
Hopefully I'll be able to write about all the other things I've wanted to talk about soon. Between work, studying Japanese, and trying to stay sane, I don't have much time for blogging. I do think they're somewhat helpful though, so I'll keep writing them. Maybe I do have enough time and I'm just being lazy. It's probably that.
