Top 5 things you hate about living in Japan

[DCD]

If anyone has any private job/international school contacts... LET ME KNOW!

Try my old school in Tokyo. St. Mary's International School in Setagaya. They pay really well (seriously well!) but I have no idea if they have vacancies. Plus I haven't really been back there in ages to hava a chat with my old teachers...Great area of Tokyo though, very quiet.

[Rezz]

Rezz: re: 'the chime' - no, not a warning, some programs (maybe only on bs2, but I can't remember) have a constant, just audible, 'ding' 'ding' 'ding' - it kills me

Thats truly wierd... never had it happen. Anybody else hear this?

[Evo_Lee]

I also thought it was calculated from the first year but I think it's now calculated on the last 3 years. It would be absoultely bullshit if it were the case. Because people's salary increase over the years.

Brian, you know I'm strongly considering leaving end of the year. It's not worth me staying here no more. Paying the expensive myself and having to run a car is far more expensive now then when my gf then was here. Plus I been doing the sums lately, I could work much less hours in Aust and save the same amount...not to mention I have save nothing expect for my car and the mods to it. Another thing is the Australian economy is picking up compared to a couple of years back.

Do your sums and check if your better off going home mate. But if your still considering coming to the mainland - Kansai I can hook you up with a few jobs even non-English teaching jobs.

17)The way companies cover sh1t up and then go on TV and cry while apologizing.

I know this all too well, no matter how respectable a company is too much shit happens here and they just sweep it under the carpet...while every now and then catch someone to show they actually give a shit.

[Evo_Lee]

Just following on, in my 3rd year my company had agreed to let me go home to get my 3 years of pension paid out in full then. Thinking we can beat the stupid system. After I had recieved my pension I would return to Japan, but little did we know then that you don't actually get your pension back from the Japanese Govt until 2years after...they obviously aren't that stupid. Also my company didn't actually like the idea as they would be paying for my apartment while I would be in Australia.

But most importantly from everyone that I have spoken to is once you go home you will not want come back to Japan.

[InspectorGadget]

- that sort of wage would pay the bills - then I could do a private ALT job or eikaiwa - or be a bum    

You do know that you can collect the dole here don't you? It pays between 60-80% of what was you regular salary, it has no effect on your pension refund, and you can collect it for up to 6 months before it buggers up your visa.

It's called the Employment Insurance Law.

You down in `nawa? JET? If so, say hi to Ian Laidlaw for me if he's still around. He's a mate of mine.

EVO_LEE

No changes have been made to the refund system since the amendments went through in April 2003. It should still be your first 3 years here that counts. If it had changed, there would have been a hell of a noise from the JETs about it.

IG

[Evo_Lee]

IG, well another colleague just quit last month and another this month and they are speaking to general affairs in our company, funnily we are talking about this same topic on here and he said it was the last 3 years now. He recieved the forms to fill out the pension return today...I tell you what I was happy to hear that.

edit: we may not be talking about the exact same pension? I'm on a company employer pension, company union and shit! Where every employee in the company needs to have, and like in Australia the company contributes a certain amount also to my pension.

[InspectorGadget]

but little did we know then that you don't actually get your pension back from the Japanese Govt until 2years after...they obviously aren't that stupid.

On average the refund comes through in about 3-6 months once you've completed all the forms. I believe that you have 2 years from your departure from Japan to actually apply for the refund.

IG

EDIT:

Here's the formulae for working out your refund as issued by the Japanese tax people:

Average Monthly Salary X Number of months BEFORE April 1st 2003 x 1.3 = (Number A )

Average Monthly Salary x Number of Months After April 1st 2003 = (Number B)

Number A + Number B = Number C

Number C / (Total number of months) x 2.4 = YOUR REFUND!!

Less 20% Withholding Tax, which you can usually claim back later.

[InspectorGadget]

edit: we may not be talking about the exact same pension? I'm on a company employer pension, company union and shit! Where every employee in the company needs to have, and like in Australia the company contributes a certain amount also to my pension.

I'm talking about the legally required state pension system. That should be the same one that you're thinking of. Is usually the ony one that people have round here.

IG

[CerealKiller]

this thread is funny.

I love the comments about the bozosuku

[Evo_Lee]

I'm talking about the legally required state pension system.  That should be the same one that you're thinking of.  Is usually the ony one that people have round here.

IG

should be the same but IIRC there are 3 different type all depending on your work status that is p/t, f/t and a special case...this was all back 2 years ago when I looked into ways to beat the system.

but I will ask my colleague again exactly as he is now going through the process to any minor changes us...

again any which way the J-govt is out to short change us.

[DaiOni]

troy: Perhaps you have the same pension, but slightly different rules governing it (in this case - civil servants vs industry) - we've done the paperwork for other people who have left (you have to have a nominated resident to fill out paperwork for you - I can't remember exactly how it works, but, IIRC, it's something like claiming back the tax on the pension)... anyway, their full refund was completely in well under a year.

[Evo_Lee]

Brian, yeah the bastards tax us twice! Making us having to claim the tax back after. The nominated resident will probably be the secrectary for me as she has been doing it all for us foreigners here. Reimburse within a year sounds more like it.

We all know that the pension is going up due to the increasing aging population here, even my Japanese colleagues feel there will be no money for them when they retire because the younger generation will not be able to support the even larger population of senior citizens.

[yukz2daizzo]

well ill just post my experience from the past:

1) bozusoku's passing by at 12 midnight just in the middle of the only english show on tv.

2)how the expressway gets crowded for no reason at all.

3)train transfer (hehehe)

4)(this one just happened recently)(my wife looking like japanese but shes not and cant speak the language at all) when ordering in a restaurant, i was already talking japanese, they will listen but still look at my wife because i look like a total gaijin and cant believe i can speak the language.

5)where all the people coming from during 7-8 am and 4-6 pm, i know not all of them wearing suits and ties goes to work.

as far as things go nowadays i dont really have any problem, im pretty much living in 2 countries, for me being on an air base, i can get away from the japanese life and stay on base or vice versa. its a great life.

6)everything being so expensive and still getting a low a$$ GI pay.

[akeenan]

1.) THE SUMMER... IT WAS A KILLER

2.) UNEXPLAINABLE RIDICULOUS FEES FOR CHANGING APARTMENTS....

3.) EVERYTIME I WANT TO WALK SOMEWHERE THERE IS ALWAYS SOMEONE THERE.

4.) STARING

5.) JAPANESE PEOPLE AND THEIR WALKING... i dont know if anyone else has noticed this but it seems as though no japanese people (that I an aware of) can walk straight... always an angle... and they will bump into you.

7.) the bloody post offices not selling envelopes, but they seel stamps? what use is an stamp without an envelope..

8.) speaking japanese and you get cut off somtimes in mid sentence.

9.) If you speak Japanese to a person who can speak English they will always talk to you in english....

[Evo_Lee]

The sentence thing everyone has picked up is true, and I find it very rude that they keep cutting in my conversation. Especially when I have been waiting patiently for their conversations to finish, and it has been so hard to catch the chance to speak to the Katcho!

I will one day but so far have controlled myself from rudely snapping at them..."excuse me!" or STFU!...

Oh that brings me to another point which I should mention in the other thread, I can swear as much as I want in the office and no one will understand or even know I'm swearing and my Katcho sits 3 metres away from me :D...believe me there are days I've yelled out f**k me dead and no one looks up...because like us they too need to switch on their English ears else its just background noise to them.

[Rezz]

5.) JAPANESE PEOPLE AND THEIR WALKING... i dont know if anyone else has noticed this but it seems as though no japanese people (that I an aware of) can walk straight... always an angle... and they will bump into you

Yes, this happens to me too, all the time. I always put it down to me walking faster than everybody else, but seriously, you get to the point where you try and second guess where they're gonna go, and you take evasive action, only to have them bump into you... 80% of the time I think they do it on purpose coz I'm a foreigner! :sly:

[InspectorGadget]

34) Scuffing shows

35) Pidgeon Toes

36) Imitating US gang fashions, even though they don't have a clue. IE One rolled up pant leg.

37) Constant automated warnings. IE "Watch your step when you get on/off the escalator". "The enormous truck is backing up"

38) The village fire department getting on the town speaker system to announce that there is a fire in a house on the other side of the village . . . . . . at three in the morning.

39) The same fire department getting on the speaker system 45 minutes later to proudly announce that they've put it out.

40) The village fire truck 'racing' to an emergency, and waiting in line in the traffic under my apartment for 10 minutes.

[Rezz]

...156) B.O. on trains! The Japanese proudly tell all foreigners that they "don't smell"... total bullsh1t! How many times have you guys been on the 9pm rush hour train out of a big city station and had 5,000 salarymen just stink up the whole train? I'm not just talking about the intoxicated nihonshu smell, but the really bad "I-haven't-taken-a-shower-since-10pm yesterday-and-not-used-any-deoderant" B.O.

and 157) Haletosis. Say no more.

[yukz2daizzo]

7) hole in the ground bathrooms

[Rezz]

158) Rotten teeth...