DaiOni

JET - * houses are more likely to be furnished than not, * rent is more likely to be subsidized than not, * travel allowances are provided (business trips, unless voluntary, are always re-imbursed), * cars may be provided (though the exception rather than the rule. 1 in 10 alts in my area has a town car), * IIRC, the recent ALT survey showed that the majority of alts receive 20 days paid leave - this stat doesn't take into account that a significant percentage of alts get the summer (5 weeks) off (such as me! though I can't travel - I have to go to school each day and 'clock in' - I go home straight after) - of course, every situation is different. It should also be considered (for all jobs) that japan has more public holidays than australia - something like 15 compared to 9 (IIRC, and dependant on state) * I've never heard of anyone working over 35 hours unless they did it on a voluntary basis * Some (very, very, very) lucky alts get a yearly bonus. There is, however, like all jobs, the pension (super) refund. After three years it's something like A$12-15k The JET information is often 'worse case' - and for good reason. JET is not an employer - they simply hire for contracting organisations (government schools (sometimes private), city halls, cities, towns, etc) - therefore they can't determine a set standard for 'job conditions'. Even on my island, between ten of us, the job conditions are wildly different. A few examples - I have the summer off, most of the others here don't, we pay 350,000 rent p/month - one person pays nothing, another pays about 500,000 (brand new apartment) - she's also the only person here (in a looong time) who has had to pay key money (though I'm the regional advisor, so it's my job to try and get her out of that deal). As I said, one person gets a town car. Some people get some (or all) of their fuel paid for. Some have landlines, others just use their keitais... I could go on the alt mantra is: EVERY SITUATION IS DIFFERENT!

6'3" is not going to be comfortable I'm 5'8" so it's spot-on for me

when I applied - sydney (NSW) applicants = 600+ applications accepted = 120ish made it to japan = 65ish (though quite a few always back out at the last minute, giving alternates a chance) I'm actually surprised at the number of canadians - it feels like all 900 are living near me!

and let's not even bring up the topic of the 9 billion parts available on yahoo auctions japan (people who, of course, never ship o/s)... It's keeping me very poor

sciby - given your timeline - you'd be mad not to give JET a go. It's the best of the english teaching jobs - over 500,000yen more per year than the average corporate wage + government job = housing subsidies, great health coverage, etc etc. In all honesty, if you have car purchasing as a key goal, living urban on a corporate wage is going to make life significantly harder. The number of ex-corporates working on as ALTs now speaks for itself. I've been helping out a guy who's moved on from AEON (regarded as one of the better corporates) and he's loving the change. Who would blame him - so much more freedom and nobody wants to work a 12 to 9 shift 5 days a week! The RCS job sounds like a private ALT hirer - could be good but there are a lot of horror stories about similar employers (late paying wages, lies, etc) - do as much research as you can and try to speak to someone who is or was working for them. ........... violent crimes - japan, stereotypically, likes to sweep such things under the carpet (the reporting of AIDs incidences is one such example). None of the sau japan locals, though, would deny that the level of personal safety here is radically different to their former lives. It's easy to forget that japan is a nation of around 130million people - the crime:pop. ratio is staggeringly good, really. There are, of course, incidences of violent crime - but contrast tokyo to london, new york, (even little ol' sydney)...

I live 5 minutes away from an autobacs - and can order any part from the autobacs catalogue. Super autobacs is 1 hour away (on the mainland) - but there's no point going (except to enjoy the place) - as I can just order what I want.

at least! that's about right for our forester. The FD though.... big difference!

look at my links thread on the index page - you can check out any of the sites for parts prices. There are dedicated auction/car sales pages listed there as well.

gun. I honestly don't think what I've had done thus far was painful - but perhaps the handful of ibuprofen might have helped

Tattoos (irezumi - as was mentioned) are frowned upon - yes indeed. Japan is actually in its second tattoo boom, the first one being in the 90s. Generally speaking - it's not frowned on by the younger generation at all. However, I don't go around with it on display - it goes from the top of my shoulder down to the edge of my (t-shirt/polo shirt) sleeve line. Sadly, it's becoming increasingly popular with my high school students - however, they tend to do the work themselves with ink and a sewing needle - more often than not on hands and forearms (both boys and girls) As for onsens - many of the gaijin here have had work done, and have had no issues at onsens throughout japan. For foreigners, you'll always be stared at anyway! As for myself, I have absolutely no intention of getting naked in public - so it's not an issue. The tattoo is of an onidaiko drummer (demon drummer) - something which my island is very famous for. I always liked tattoos but never got one as I couldn't find anything I wanted to be stuck with for life. Now I have a kinen irezumi - a commemorative tattoo - something to remember my time in japan (not that I'll be leaving for a while yet). The tattooist isn't yakuza, but they are his main source of income. And the reason he was over here was to work on the local crew. As for pain - I've only had the outline done - the shading and colouring come next week. The single needle for the basic outline didn't hurt at all - was just a warm sensation. The triple needle (with one longer needle that apparently goes in about 4mm) made my toes twitch but I would call it uncomfortable, rather than painful (a burning sensation). bamboo vs gun - I'm not doing it for some sort of fetish high

1. is absolutely false - I see japanese people sign documents all the time 2. is not restricted to japan

NO VAcation

good. poorer.

domokun is a sentient turd

I saw dave rodgers/super eurobeat performing at osaka auto salon once - still don't get what all the fuss is about

only if the missus has grey hair and a walking stick

haha, LOL, first time I've noticed your メッセージ there rezz - I'd probaby ignored it, expecting exactly what you have suggested!!! btw, have fun with the new ride where's the thread??

owned: on paper, performance-wise, the JDM version I-III FDs (mine is a II) are pretty much on par with an r32 GTR (0-100 and 400m are very close). Though they are world's apart to drive - obviously rwd for a start - far less driver assistance ('pure sports' is the term often bandied about), very light (mine is 1260kg, some are a touch lighter), 50:50 weight. I love hammering a high-powered 4wd turbo around in the wet - but on a dry track - it doesn't come close to the adrenalin rush of the twin turbo rotary... which never seems to run out of power and just loves screaming high revs - combine that with arguably the best rwd chassis to ever come out of japan... Power delivery is quite different, the lack of torque w/ rotary is one criticism that has been made - but when you are going 0-100 in under 5 seconds - I have to say "ahh... who cares, goodbye!". I do prefer to drive the ej20t powered forester around in traffic though (it's a more liveable beast in most ways).

that one worked better should be phonetically read as koh-meh below it are various readings for it: kunyomi - japanese derived readings, and the onyomi - chinese derived readings (different readings are used for different kanji combinations, etc). kome can be used for rice that you are eating, the sack of rice you are buying at the supermarket, or the rice growing in the field. It often has the honorific 'o' attached to it (ie: okome). The correct way to write it is 1. short top left stroke 2. short top right stroke 3. horizontal stroke 4. vertical stroke 5. long bottom left stroke 6. long bottom right stroke What I find ironic about this kanji - is that it is also the kanji for 'america' ...america is katakana-ized as 'amerika', but the kanji-fied version is 'beikoku' = the kanji above + 'nation' kanji (koku/kuni). I've been told it has to do with the sound of the kanji - nothing to do with the concept of 'rice country' - but I'm strongly of the belief that 'rice' (in car terms), is an american phenomenon, and just something the japanese copy and get blamed for (I'm sure some of the other sau japan locals will agree).

maybe this will be better:

okay, it was a bit of a dodgy link so I'll try the google search link (may not work)... here goes....

gohan does mean 'rice', but it also has a 'meal' connotation. It also specifically means 'boiled rice'. Gohan is two kanji too, though the first kanji (written as hiragana above) isn't what I'd consider to be basic kanji. the first thing that popped into my head when I read the OP, was kome I'll go see if I can google up an image

The lo-fi punk/rock scene is pretty good - couldn't care less for the mainstream dribble. It's amazing that some of the (almost 'garage') bands get record deals and airplay though - I guess the size of the market allows it. husking bee - is my recommendation would love to see them at fuji rock this year (which is in my neighbourhood) - that has to be one of the best festival line-ups ever pity about the ticket price... A$480 has to be the just about the most expensive general admission ticket of all time

hey akeenan, have you been to the upgarage near chiba chuo station? I'm thinking of popping into there on the weekend (before crystal). If so, any good?

hello