Japanese Men Refusing to Leave their Rooms

Off Topic
561

[quote]spiderman739 wrote:

[quote]LoRez wrote:

[quote]Cortes wrote:
You betcha. The industry standard for starting pay is 250,000 yen/month. This is $2500/month. Now if you live in Tokyo or Osaka this is not going to go as far as it will in the countryside, but $30,000 a year should be more than enough for any single man to live on. [/quote]

What kind of lifestyle does $30,000 a year get you? Is that an after-tax number?

It’s been a few years since I lived on $30k a year here (pre-tax), and it wasn’t a particularly great lifestyle; definitely nothing I’d consider “more than enough”. So I’m curious what that lifestyle would be like in Japan.

Is that something like a small 1 bed, 1 bath apartment with a small kitchen, and onsite laundry facilities (but not in the apartment)… buying groceries and cooking every meal, with enough extra for 1 meal out a week… using public transit only… and with not really any money left over to save or invest?

More or less than that?[/quote]

A lot of the assistant language teacher jobs (working alongside a Japanese teacher in elementary, junior, or high school) now pay less than 250,000 yen a month. That used to be the minimum and was set by law. It got revised several years ago. I’ve seen some ALT gigs pay as little as 210,000 a month.

[/quote]
Hmm. Thanks for this info. I certainly need to keep this in mind. As I really need a new teacher right now, but every new teacher gets paid directly from my personal income, and cutting it the equivalent of another 2500 bucks a month is just a bit too much for me. If I could find someone who’d be willing to work at least temporarily for that 210,000, I’d probably hire him right away.

This is totally possible accurate. My New Zealand buddy did exactly this. Drank cheap happoshu (beer that is classified as not-beer to get around the high-tax placed upon beer…not quite as good as real beer, though) and was basically a cheap bastard for a year, but went home with 10,000 bucks.

[quote]
I live in a pretty quite/rural part of Japan and was renting an apartment in the biggest city of the prefecture. I had a 2 bedroom apartment with a living room, dining room/kitchen, and a parking space (which you pay extra for) and it was costing me 59,000 a month.[/quote]

You can find terrific deals on very large houses for this price if you just spend the time and look. I can’t speak for the big cities (though I’ll bet if you move the to periphery, these deals exist there, too) but in the small to mid-sized cities, you can get a two story, three to four bedroom house with a small yard for this price.

Lo-Rez, in the smaller to mid-sized cities, that starting salary can buy a very comfortable life-style. What you are talking about is the “save an assload of money and return home with a fat wad of cash” lifestyle, which also has its benefits.

562

I was told it is illegal to teach privately in Japan, is this true? Does it depend on Visa?

563

[quote]xXSeraphimXx wrote:
I was told it is illegal to teach privately in Japan, is this true? Does it depend on Visa?[/quote]

Either you were misinformed, or you misunderstood. It is illegal to work in Japan on a tourist visa, same as every other country. If you have a visa that allows you to work, i.e. a work visa, spouse/relative visa, or (within limits) a student visa, it is perfectly legal. This is not to say that there aren’t plenty of gaijin who teach on tourist visas, either privately or working at smaller, shadier schools.

564

[quote]Chushin wrote:

  1. Japanese wife treated in a rather rude way in a large purse and bag shop.

  2. At checkout, hotel receptionist came up with a bullshit story about how I had to pay for a long distance phone call that was clearly covered in a package that I was traveling on. “This is Korea; you don’t understand how things are done!” (It didn’t help that I was on my way back from my father’s funeral.)

  3. Stared at openly by other patrons in an expensive restaurant.

  4. After waiting for 20 minutes in the cold for a cab, when one came, 3 Korean men pushed me out of the way and took the cab, pointing and laughing at me as they rode away.

Yeah, it’s no Hiroshima bombing, but if I never set foot in Korea again, I’ll be just fine. [/quote]

Damn, can’t get Korean character to show up here.

Here’s the next best thing, at least the message gets across-

Stands on rooftop

Faces in the direction of a city in western Japan

Bows deeply

í??êµ­ì?¸ë?¤ ë??ì? í??ì?¬, ì§?ì?¬ì?¼ë¡? ì?¬ê³¼ë??립ë??ë?¤!

565

[quote]magick wrote:

[quote]Chushin wrote:

  1. Japanese wife treated in a rather rude way in a large purse and bag shop.

  2. At checkout, hotel receptionist came up with a bullshit story about how I had to pay for a long distance phone call that was clearly covered in a package that I was traveling on. “This is Korea; you don’t understand how things are done!” (It didn’t help that I was on my way back from my father’s funeral.)

  3. Stared at openly by other patrons in an expensive restaurant.

  4. After waiting for 20 minutes in the cold for a cab, when one came, 3 Korean men pushed me out of the way and took the cab, pointing and laughing at me as they rode away.

Yeah, it’s no Hiroshima bombing, but if I never set foot in Korea again, I’ll be just fine. [/quote]

ë??ì?´ì?? í??êµ­ êµ­ì ?ì?´ ì??ë??기 ë??문ì?? ë³? ì??미ë?? ì??ì?¼ë??, í??êµ­ì??ì?? ë?¹í?? êµ´ì??ë??í?´ ì§?ì?¬ì?¼ë¡? ì?¬ê³¼ë??립ë??ë?¤.

[/quote]
Yes.
…
Yes.
…
Mhm.
…
Yes.
…
Yes.
…
Really?
…
Damn.
…
Yes.
…
Yes.
…
Mhm.
…

567

I tried romanizing Korean; then realized that I really suck at it and decided to just type it in Korean and it let remain broken and hope the context gets the point across.

Anyways, I wrote “On behalf of all Koreans, I sincerely apologize”

569

[quote]Chushin wrote:

[quote]Cortes wrote:

[quote]xXSeraphimXx wrote:
A few more q’s.

  1. Can a person teaching english make enough money to live comfortably? Does it depend whether they live in the city or country?

[/quote]
You betcha. The industry standard for starting pay is 250,000 yen/month. This is $2500/month. Now if you live in Tokyo or Osaka this is not going to go as far as it will in the countryside, but $30,000 a year should be more than enough for any single man to live on.

Varq covered this, but be careful before you start with thinking it would be “amazing.” The rustic, natural beauty is certainly there, but so is the deathly cold winter, hellishly hot summer, the lack of insulation, the BUGS EVERY WHERE, the lack of MANY common amenities that I am almost certain you now take for granted like good toothpaste, a clothes drier, three-pronged electrical outlets, more than one electrical outlet in a room, DUST FUCKING EVERYWHERE, real solid hardwood floors or carpeted concrete, and nosey, invasive neighbors who make your business there business and don’t have anything better to do so take more interest in your business than you probably do, yourself…to name just a few! I actually could go on, forever. Varq’s description of an old Japanese style house was spot-on. I lived in one over a hundred years old myself, for almost five years. The first few months are pretty cool, especially if they happen to be in spring or fall, but let me tell you, the novelty wears off pretty quickly.

I will say that I miss the river that quite literally ran through my back yard. I really, really miss sitting in that river in the middle of August and just cracking a beer and letting the ice cold water wash over my shoulders after a kettlebell workout. I really miss that, and I’ll have it again, but I’m not ready just yet.

It’s not nearly as easy, but it IS possible. You need to use gaijinpot.com and scope out the smaller, independent, hungrier schools (which is what you should be doing anyway). NON-MISFIT Native English speakers are at a serious premium here. Trust me, I’m an employer, they are VERY few and far between. Remember, it’s not your average hard-working American Joe who packs up all he owns in a single suitcase and sells the rest, and moves to a country halfway across the world to work. A country whose language he does not speak, whose culture he does not know, and whose future is completely uncertain. To be honest, I’d choose any ten Japanese over one American. (side note: The only people I’ve known to work as hard and loyally as the Japanese, who are WONDERFUL employees, are Mexicans, who are also WONDERFUL employees).

I will admit, I also am a proud misfit, but I’m on the good end of the bell curve. Most of the people who come here gravitate from the other side, because they did not fit in in their home country. But Japan is VERY accommodating of Westerners of every stripe.

It’s better than no degree, and enough to get you a job at some places. And one job is all you need. After you get a visa, residency status, and just an inkling of experience, you become infinitely more hirable than someone who has never worked in Japan and lives outside the country (It’s a pain in the ass to go through the visa sponsorship process, hold the new employee’s hand as he adjusts to life here, and trust that he is going to be reliable without being able to speak to him face to face, or that he will adjust to life here at all in the first place. Many do not. ).[/quote]

Great responses, Cortes.

Too many that I want to highlight…

You misfit. :-)[/quote]

all you fucking Asiatics stick together, your positive response is irrelevant.

570

[quote]Chushin wrote:

[quote]magick wrote:
I tried romanizing Korean; then realized that I really suck at it and decided to just type it in Korean and it let remain broken and hope the context gets the point across.

Anyways, I wrote “On behalf of all Koreans, I sincerely apologize”[/quote]

On behalf of me and my wife, thank you.

But aren’t you American? Do you have the authority to apologize for Koreans?[/quote]

=(

573

[quote]spar4tee wrote:

[quote]Chushin wrote:

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[/quote]
Yes.
…
Yes.
…
Mhm.
…
Yes.
…
Yes.
…
Really?
…
Damn.
…
Yes.
…
Yes.
…
Mhm.
…[/quote]

Hahahaha!!

574

[quote]Edgy wrote:

all you fucking Asiatics stick together, your positive response is irrelevant.[/quote]

LMFAO!!!

575

For Seraphim and anyone else interested in countryside vs city perspective.

I spent my first year in the rural of the rural. After that I moved to Tokyo. Let me state my bias: I love Tokyo. I love the vastness. I love the energy. I love that different stations and areas have different energy. I even sometimes love the trains. I love going to Disney once a year or so and Odaiba every now and then. I love some typical tourist type spots. I love that you don’t have to necessarily live in the city (Yamanote) to experience it. I love that my Japanese friends I made who studied abroad at my college also live and work here and that we’re still good friends.

About the countryside:

I lived near the ocean, had a car, and paid virtually nothing for living. Great pluses. But the solitude got to me. I just graduated college and wanted to meet people around my age, hang out, make good buddies for life. The FEW (let me emphasize few) people around my age were already married with kids. I had to drive to get anywhere (no train) so alcohol on a weeknight was definitely out. It was completely opposite of the expectations I had built up going here. Life also seems completely still in the countryside. The same events repeat themselves every season like a cycle, the old generation teaching the young generation, and the middle generation helping out with the planning and labor and watching their kids perform.

I’m very thankful I spent my first year in the countryside (to those people who call a town with a train and 25,000 people the inaka, I went to the -real- countryside) and got to see that side of Japan, but it was a very difficult year. I also didn’t enjoy working as an assistant teacher in public schools (NEVER again). I could have definitely made better of my situation, but I wasn’t mature enough yet and came to Japan with different expectations and wanting a different lifestyle.

I see Tokyo (and the closer by stations of Kanagawa, Saitama, and Chiba) as a place with options. It really is what you make of it and how you build your life. There are traps (especially if you come with no Japanese language ability and stay to your gaijin circle) that can close doors and leave you waking up a couple years later thinking “what the fuck have I been doing?”, but if you define clearly the kind of life you want and put in the effort it can be achieved. Work or play, it’s your choice. There are also so many different social circles and sub-cultures and different people that you have the chance to encounter people with many different backgrounds and values (Japanese necessary for meaningful communication typically).

If you don’t plan to just take a one year vacation in Japan, then spending your first year in the countryside can be very good. The experience and opportunity to build your Japanese and financial savings is something you won’t get in the city right away. The people can be very kind and if you put in the effort will likely welcome you. Then once you get a feel for it you can decide whether or not you want to come to the city. If you’re teaching English, your decision will also probably depend on how you enjoy the ALT position – something I did not. When I moved to Tokyo I found a job at a respectable company teaching mostly toddlers. I only do it part time now and it was kind of an energy drain to do five days a week, but I really love kids so I enjoy this “English teaching” job infinitely better than I did my ALT position.

But when I’m in my 30s I’m moving to Shounan.

576

[quote]Sutebun wrote:
For Seraphim and anyone else interested in countryside vs city perspective.

I spent my first year in the rural of the rural. After that I moved to Tokyo. Let me state my bias: I love Tokyo. I love the vastness. I love the energy. I love that different stations and areas have different energy. I even sometimes love the trains. I love going to Disney once a year or so and Odaiba every now and then. I love some typical tourist type spots. I love that you don’t have to necessarily live in the city (Yamanote) to experience it. I love that my Japanese friends I made who studied abroad at my college also live and work here and that we’re still good friends.

About the countryside:

I lived near the ocean, had a car, and paid virtually nothing for living. Great pluses. But the solitude got to me. I just graduated college and wanted to meet people around my age, hang out, make good buddies for life. The FEW (let me emphasize few) people around my age were already married with kids. I had to drive to get anywhere (no train) so alcohol on a weeknight was definitely out. It was completely opposite of the expectations I had built up going here. Life also seems completely still in the countryside. The same events repeat themselves every season like a cycle, the old generation teaching the young generation, and the middle generation helping out with the planning and labor and watching their kids perform.

I’m very thankful I spent my first year in the countryside (to those people who call a town with a train and 25,000 people the inaka, I went to the -real- countryside) and got to see that side of Japan, but it was a very difficult year. I also didn’t enjoy working as an assistant teacher in public schools (NEVER again). I could have definitely made better of my situation, but I wasn’t mature enough yet and came to Japan with different expectations and wanting a different lifestyle.

I see Tokyo (and the closer by stations of Kanagawa, Saitama, and Chiba) as a place with options. It really is what you make of it and how you build your life. There are traps (especially if you come with no Japanese language ability and stay to your gaijin circle) that can close doors and leave you waking up a couple years later thinking “what the fuck have I been doing?”, but if you define clearly the kind of life you want and put in the effort it can be achieved. Work or play, it’s your choice. There are also so many different social circles and sub-cultures and different people that you have the chance to encounter people with many different backgrounds and values (Japanese necessary for meaningful communication typically).

If you don’t plan to just take a one year vacation in Japan, then spending your first year in the countryside can be very good. The experience and opportunity to build your Japanese and financial savings is something you won’t get in the city right away. The people can be very kind and if you put in the effort will likely welcome you. Then once you get a feel for it you can decide whether or not you want to come to the city. If you’re teaching English, your decision will also probably depend on how you enjoy the ALT position – something I did not. When I moved to Tokyo I found a job at a respectable company teaching mostly toddlers. I only do it part time now and it was kind of an energy drain to do five days a week, but I really love kids so I enjoy this “English teaching” job infinitely better than I did my ALT position.

But when I’m in my 30s I’m moving to Shounan.[/quote]

Excellent post. I love the country but I completely see where you are coming from, and you are dead on in your assessment of it. I call where I live “inaka” but my town is actually far from the real countryside. However, my wife grew up in REAL inaka (and never wants to go back, haha!) It is nice, though, to be able to give our kids that experience of true nature and quiet living. My plan is within the next five years to buy a large piece of property in the middle of the countryside, but only 10 minutes out from town, so I can have the best of both worlds.

One other point, in the just a little bit bigger towns, there is a FANTASTIC service called “daikou” which is a taxi service that caters specifically to drinkers. There are two drivers in one of the smallest cars you can imagine, and one leaves that car and drives your car home while the other guy follows. The craziest thing about this is, they actually cost the same if not LESS than your standard taxi service.

One more of the little things that have made me fall in love with this country. Tabehoudai, nomihoudai, soshite daikou da yo. Maru de tengoku da. (^_~)

577

Agreed, excellent post. I also lived in “fake inaka” - a town of 80,000 that most Japanese would refer to as being inaka, but that had a decent assortment of amenities. In hindsight, if it has got a Yamaya, it really doesn’t count as being “the sticks” :slight_smile: I liked being in a town of this size - you definitely get the gaijin rockstar treatment, but you are able to maintain a small semblance of privacy - whether this was perceived or real, I cannot say.

If you really want the rural Japan immersion experience, being an ALT is the way to go. A few of the ALTs I hung out with got posted to some of the most far-flung places imaginable, with nothing but rice fields, a couple dusty little shops, and maybe a jinja or two. Some liked it, some didn’t. Inevitably, nearly all of them escaped on the weekend to a bigger city - I used to laugh that my little town served as an entertainment hub for some of these people, solely by virtue of having a few bars that didn’t play enka.

579

[quote]Chushin wrote:

[quote]PimpBot5000 wrote:
,… and maybe a jinja or two.[/quote]

I first read that as, “and maybe a ninja or two.” [/quote]

Usually I hire an exterminator to weed out the ninjas from my rice fields.

580

I always laugh when people refer to their little towns of 80 000 people when the place I live has about 500. Nearest town has about 7000. A girl I went to school with always said she grew up in a small town and there was nothing to do. Eventually she mentioned that the population was about 25 000. I had to laught. Ahhh, perspective is funny.