Travel Tips

Getting started in Japan is not as hard as it seems. Everyone seems to think that it is very expensive to set up home here but it is quite comparable to the US depending on where you decide to live in Japan. If you want to live in the Kansai area (where I am most familiar with), you can find very cheap accommodations for as low as 50,000yen/month (about US$490). I`ve seen apartments listed for cheaper than this as well in the classifieds sections. If you go outside of Osaka, Kyoto, & Kobe, the prices go up. In those three areas, you can find apartments where you do not have to pay key money. Key money is money that is paid to the owner for the key to the place. Key money can be the equivalent to a one to four month`s rent. It is non-refundable. A deposit is needed no matter what, usually one month`s rent (can be refundable in some cases).
Furnishing your apartment? Look in the classified ads. There are numerous Sayonara sales going on every month; foreigners leaving Japan & wanting to sell their furniture, washing machine, bookshelves, TV/VCR, etc. You can also look in the gomi, Japanese recycle. Every two weeks in your neighborhood is recycling day & the Japanese use this opportunity to get rid of old clothing, sofas, chests of drawers, shelves, etc. The majority of the time these furnishings are in really good condition, and everything is free! You can furnish your whole apartment this way!
The phone situation is probably the most daunting. Getting a landline phone can be the most expensive fee you will have to pay when first setting up. You will have to buy a line (it will be yours forever unless you decide to sell it). This can cost up to 75,000yen. After you buy the line, you will have to pay an installation fee, another 25,000yen. Most foreigners who come here for a short time just opt to get a mobile phone & skip the whole landline headache. Everyone needs to get a mobile phone anyways. I don`t know anyone without one in Japan. Even the junior high school students all have them!
For families who want to move to Japan & to the Kansai area, you will probably want to live in an area where your children can go to an international school. The majority of those schools are in Kobe (Marist Brothers International School, The European School, St. Michael`s International School, & Canadian Academy). In Osaka there is Osaka International School & Osaka YMCA International School. In Kyoto, Ecole Francaise du Kansai & Kyoto International School.

I get a lot of questions about teaching English in Japan here in VT. I have taught English for more than 3 yrs in Japan: at a large national language school, small language schools with only a few branches, a private English language school, corporate companies, & privately on my own. There are pros & cons for working in each of those environments, depending on what you want in terms of work environment & quality of teaching.
To get a job teaching English in Japan, you have to be a native speaker of English or you have to know English really, really well in order to be able to explain grammar, vocabulary, sentence structure, etc. You also have to have a Bachelor`s degree from a 4-year college/university. Those are the two main requirements. Some schools require you have a teaching certificate (TESOL, TEFL, CELTA, etc) & if you do have one you will get a bit more money. If you don`t have one, it is still ok. There is a lot of debate of teaching quality if you don`t have a teaching certificate, but I`m not going to go into that here. I didn`t have a teaching certificate & I had no problems finding jobs & was praised for my teaching by my students and coworkers. I do think that if you want to come to Japan & start a life, don`t go into teaching if you don`t care about the students & the quality of your work. There are some people who want to come here to live & their main purpose here is to learn Japanese or judo or date Japanese women but their only way to earn an income & get a visa is to teach English. A lot of these people could care less if they are teaching their students anything. It is very unfortunate.
In order to get a working visa to teach English, you need to be sponsored by a school or company. The visa is now good for 3 years, an excellent decision made by the Japanese government. You must get the visa when you are still outside of Japan at your nearest Japanese Embassy. If you are already in Japan, you will have to go out of the country & come back in to get the visa validated. Most people who go this route fly over to Korea & back--close & cheap from Japan--and entering Japan again to get their visa validated at immigraion. I recommend finding a job first before coming to Japan and getting the work visa in your home country. Most companies/schools in Japan, if you are already in the country, will not sponsor a work visa for you. They prefer to hire people who already have the visa. They are usually more willing to hire you and if need be renew your work visa, but not help you to sponsor one. Your best bet is to find a job first before going to Japan.
There are a few websites you can go to look for work teaching English in Japan:
Ohayo Sensei, www.ohayosensei.com.
Kansai Flea Market, www.kfm.to
Gaijin Pot, www.gaijinpot.com
Dave`s ESL Café, www.eslcafe.com/jobs
Most of the teaching jobs in the Kansai area are clustered in Kyoto, Osaka, & Kobe. It is easiest to find work in those three cities.
If you have any questions please feel free to email me.