Gaijin in Japan

[Streeter]

I am in Osaka and teach... but really need to find some other way to make money... teaching just aint me.

[Demon Dave]

Streeter - welcome to the Japan Residents Club (Gaijins R US )

If you're in Osaka, you're not too far from Rezz and Evo_Lee.

As for work - unless you're fluent (ish) in Japanese there isn't a lot a foreigner can do in Japanese besides teach. If you're skilled in some trade, you might be able to get work for a big company that has operations abroad (i.e. outside Japan, in English speaking countries) though work like that would be difficult to come by. Just about all the Japan residents on here (myself included) work in Education - the only exception being Evo_Lee I believe. I know of several people in the Tokyo area, but again there either work for big multination corporations or the media/journalism.

Give the teaching job a bit of time - I wasn't too comfortable at first, but needs must and when all is said and done, I can think of a lot worse jobs to be doing!

Dave (in Yamanashi - the home of Mt. Fuji, me and many farmers )

[Streeter]

Thanks for the reply Dave... I must apologize I have been here for over 9 months now and have just been too busy/slack to get on these foums...

My dream is to get into some sort of exporting. I have been a mechanic for a few years and have been screwing around with cars for over 10 years so have a bit of knowledge and would like to think I could make a go of it.

Teaching was fun at the start but working for Nova is ghey... maybe I should start looking at teaching elsewhere?

[Demon Dave]

Teaching was fun at the start but working for Nova is ghey...  maybe I should start looking at teaching elsewhere?

You're not alone - most of the people I know of who worked for Nova didn't last more than a year before they got out. There are better schools/places to work - my advice would be to wait until the end of your contract and then start looking for somewhere else. They'll probably be a gazillion schools in the Osaka area - while most of them would have filled their teaching posts by now, a few might be looking for teachers. Getting into a school midway through the school year can be trickier, but it is possible. Most of the vacancies tend to be available from early March onwards.

You could try getting into the export business - there are a lot of companies working out of the Tokyo area, though not so many (that I'm aware of) based in Osaka. If you've got connections back home, setting something up shouldn't be too difficult. Again, it would probably help if you spoke some Japanese and had someone who could take care of all the paperwork on the Japanese side.

Good Luck

[Evo_Lee]

Mate good to see your back on-line, 9 months and in Osaka too, where you been hiding?

Replied your PM.

[Streeter]

Mate good to see your back on-line, 9 months and in Osaka too, where you been hiding?

Replied your PM.

Ive been on Shikoku in Kochi city for the past 8 months drifting and getting hitched! lol thats right getting married in Hawaii in June. Things are moving mighty fast for me in Japan. LOL

[Evo_Lee]

LOL...got your reply.

You certainly been busy, let's catch up before then.

But I won't be around during golden week.

[cobo_11]

you all are some lucky bastards! :-)