Rezz

Ok I get A$45,000 after tax.

I did a 6 month course in basic Japanese grammar before I came, and a further 3 months doing private classes with a really cool divorced 50 year old lady... she was tops, she bought ME lunch after she taught me! Before I came to Japan I was probably Japanese Language Proficiency Test Level 4, now I could probably study for Level 2. I think Japanese is quite hard to learn, but anything can be learn with the right positive frame of mind. You don't need a degree to teach (been covered many times before in the Japan forum), but it would definately make things easier especially if you were after a proper work visa. As for working as a hired hand in Japan... I have no idea. 'topi' on these forums did work experience with 'JUN Auto Mechanic', so he might be able to point you in the right direction? Btw, don't believe what people say about ganja being scarce in Japan... it's who you know not what you know... I can sort anyone out with some green if they want it.

Does anyone else want to answer that question?

They say Spring 2005 (northern hemisphere) which could be anytime until May... and I seached all over Sonys Japanese site for any mention of GT4 on PSP with no luck. I know how Sony put back release dates like it's going out of fashion... hell even with the PS2 release of GT4 they put back the release date 1 month at the 11th hour. But yeah, the only mention of PSP GT4 right now is on the hardcore gamers sites... when I said there was no mention of it I meant 'official release date'... your right though it's definately on the cards.

No, I haven't personally worked for *any* of the 'corporate' schools BUT my boss has, as have 4 of our current teachers (plus many more who are either friends, aquaintences or past employees). I wouldn't really want to work for the big corporates anyway... I get more salary than them, I can take (paid) holidays, I can nominate the time of my holidays, heck I can even negotiate my working schedule within reason on a weekly basis... but then again I'm equal 2nd in command (with another guy) at our small chain of schools, so I guess I have a better than average working situation. The guys that are or have worked for Nova, GEOS, Berlitz etc have basically said it's not what it's cracked up to be... they all seem to complain about what they could or couldn't do in class ie: they had to act a certain way, and they couldn't talk to the students outside of class. Berlitz even videotapes classes for 'performance evaluation' (not sure if they still do that). All this came about a while back when teachers took it upon themselves to pick up students from the schools directly, as in getting their email addy's or phone numbers in class. It was such a problem that the 'corporate' schools had to do something or the whole English Teaching industry in Japan would forever be branded as a foreigners pick up service... or so the tale goes. Having said that, we just last year sacked a teacher because he *cough* *COUGH!* unbelievable KISSED a girl in class (he was a French guy - haha say no 'a-more'! hahaha). That guy TRULY though he was Gods gift to Japanese women... what a tosser... he brought a bad name to that particular school (we have 5 schools in total). So the issue is very real, and theres nothing some horny little guys won't try in order to score. I could go on for aaaaaaages with stories like this...

Racing games for PSP only include 'Ridge Racer' at the moment. 'NFSU Rivals' is due out in mid-Feb. No mention of GT4 being released on PSP in Japan.

Hehehe... they were probably taking bets to see who would have enough guts to go up to you and try out their English skills. Because thats all it is really, practicing English. I hate it how some guys who come here thing they are 'Gods gift to J-girls' ... of course there are 1,000's of girls here who *direly* want a foreign guy but thats only 0.04% of the whole population... and some of those are quite neurotic. Most of them either want to learn more English (for whatever purpose: higher TOEIC score, become a flight attendant, get a promotion etc) or just meet someone more interesting (in their eyes) than the average Japanese... classed as 'foreigners'. I've been teaching 100's of J-girls a week in their 20's and 30's for 4.5 years... and this is the impression I get.

Hmmmmm... :confused: Route K's

Lol How many of you internet geeks read that???

Lol, I thought it was too hardcore 'Motor Magazine' might have some useful info in it if you want more of a 'credible' mag to look at... but at 780 yen I don't think they have anymore upcoming development articles than say 'Xa Car' or 'Best Car' do at 300-odd yen.

Funky: All of 'em mate I think they all have their 'credible' information AND their outright speculative articles. Thats coming from me who actually reads and translates most articles of interest. Alot of so called 'Japan experts' can't even speak the language, let along read it... and they pass judgement and say "oh those Jap magazines are just full of crap"... little do they know that all the articles are quite honest about the crdeibility of their info. Poida: One word: Kinko's ) trust me it ain't cool... I moved to Japan in June 2000. I really wanted to see JGTC cars in the flesh at Suzuka circuit... thats all really... I didn't really like J-girls (although they grew on me - or I 'grew' on them hehe ). I had a working holiday visa so I had enough money to support myself without work for 6 months, so in the beginning I took it easy. It wsn't so hard to 'find my feet', I met some pretty cool people when I first got here (which was really easy... everybody likes Aussies... well except Kiwis) so I had a helping hand. My first job was landed 4 months after I arrived, and was really easy to negotiate... BUT, I had to relocate to country Mie. That was difficult at times (lonely) but I can owe my confidence and mental fortitude to that experience alone. Other jobs were equally easy to get, but as has been told to me numerous times, being 'not exactly ugly' is the #1 reason for that. Yes, I can see myself staying for at least another 2 years. As time wears on and my Japanese gets better, I could probably stay for another 10 years... it all depends on timing. If it's time to go, it's time to go. If I could do it all over again, I would've come here in the mid-90's (just from the money making aspect). But other than that, I think I've had the time of my life really. I've always loved Japan and I couldn't see myself living anywhere else other than my fathers native Germany. About the only regeret I have about coming to Japan is not studying the language more before I came. I think I've missed out on 2 or 3 awesome opportunities (one with a very rich young lady) because I couldn't speak enough Japanese... oh well.

Alright... Back to Q+A guys. Sorry Akihiro.

あきひと、「ごめんね、お名前の漢字をしらない」あなたのＳＡＵのメンバーの口座が変わったことがわかった。なぜ変わった？

Yeah, it's in Romaji... Japanese postal workers can read Romanized Japanese place names no worries. In fact the address could probably written backwards and it wouldn't make any difference.

Good questions Poida... I was wondering when somebody would ask about this. Firstly, the address above WILL get to your house, but you could make it easier for the postman by writing/typing: Tokyo-to Taito-ku (Negishi-chou) 2-17-1-404 JAPAN 110-0003 ** 'Negishi' sounds very local, you may not need to put this in the address but please verify with a Japanese aquaintance. Secondly, the postman usually has access to the back of where all the mailboxes are (you may not be aware of it), so if the package can fit in the mailbox he'll leave it there, if not, he'll put a receipt in there which you can then take to your local post office and retrieve the package (you'll need ID for this - last time I got asked to produce my Gaikokujin Tourokusho or Foreigners registration card). I guess it's pretty obvious that packages aren't left at the front door.

Hahahaha!!! You like bronze women Akihito? I like Ganguro!!!

Wel... there it is. PROOF that Aussies copy the Yanks, no matter how sh*t... no matter how stupid it is...

Who's Bronz?

Akihito! Do you have a question about foreigners??? Hahaha

No... SUICA Card is JR Higashi (East) Nihon only... in Osaka we have ICOCA Card it's exactly the same thing. I get mine from machines marked 'ICOCA' (obviously) and I can choose the 'monthly pass', it expires one month from the activation date that you decide on. The monthly pass allows you to travel infinately between 2 selected stations (eg: Osaka <---> Ashiya for me) but thats it... if you travel outside those 2 stations you have to pay extra. It's really only good for commuters like me. ^^^ I love the choice of animal for ICOCA Card... no other than a blue Platypus.

Am I gay? When have I 'openly expressed love for another bloke' on the forums??? I think the question should be "Are SAU members other than Rezz ghey?" ;) Having said that, it does worry me when members PM me and say "...if you're ever in **** (city) let me know..." Yikes.

This is really interesting about the Coke taste thing... honestly I don't think they're any different. Are you guys tasting them side-by-side? Maybe it's just me...

I wouldn't say Japan had any more compulsive buyers than any other country... what about when (ok, ok, I can't think of a better example right now) Windows '95 was released? You had people even in Alice Springs lining up outside PC shops at midnight the night before the release waiting for the store to open... thats compulsive too right? It's just presented by the media in western countries as a wierd kinda compulsive behaviour of Japanese people... did you know that in Japan they're shown news reports of Americans lining up outside movie theaters 5 days before waiting to buy movie tickets for the latest Brad Pitt extravaganza? So here the reverse applies... Japanese think westerners are compulsive fad driven buyers... especially at Christmas time.... Japanese are just trying to keep up with the west it seems.

I'm not going to pretend I'm an expert at Japanese history but... during the Edo period in Japan, missionaries from different countries (particularly Portugal) where based in Nagasaki in Kyushu and where chiefly trading goods, but also trying to spread the word of God. The emporer at the time saw that his people were being converted at an alarming rate - the ladies were getting married to foreign guys etc - so he sent a whole army there to basically arrest and/or kill all the foreigners and basically close Japan to the outside world for about 200 years. The effect this had was akin to the Rennaiasance in Europe, it was when Japan really developed it's own individual culture. So having said that, people even today still have this 'curiosity mixed with ignorance' of other cultures amongst some older people... and even some younger kids. These people are a minority though, so more often than not Japanese are either genuinely shy or they are afraid foreigners are going to babble some strange language to them. It doesn't help on the foreigners part that Japanese language is so hard All the Japanese people (other than my in-laws) that I've spoke to about this all are aware of the apparent 'uncoolness' of the Japanese penchant to be ignorant or even a little hostile to other cultures and really view it as the #1 reason why Japan isn't progressive as Western countries.

It's a curtesy thing... taxi drivers started doing it years ago in order not to blind oncoming cars and pedestrians. Eventually (as alot of stuff happens here) everybody starts doing it. The trouble is, people forget to turn the lights back on after they start driving again, so it's not really a good idea. I don't do it myself. Another thing people may have noticed is that Japanese use their hazard lights to park... or change lanes... or illegally double park... almost like they can do whatever they want *IF* they put the hazard lights on.