It was suggested to me before I went that the Japanese in general were really good at English. This isn't true. Most people there know a bit, but often accents were almost indecipherably thick. I had much better luck speaking with my broken Japanese than I did attempting to talk to people in English - even if I only could understand some of what they said, and what I said was nearly indecipherable, はい (hai - yes) was generally acceptable response to most things that were said to me. ;) That said, there were some memorable flops - I went to the Ueno Keisei train station, trying to get to Narita airport. I didn't know which platform I needed, and I was lugging around a heavy bag, so I asked a lady who worked there something along the lines of どんな 電車 は 成田 へ 行きます か. (Donna densha wa Narita e ikimasu ka - Which train goes to Narita?) She politely told me - 三 (san - three) and I went to the train and got on the one she said. But it was the wrong train - she didn't assume I meant Narita AIRPORT - which I hadn't asked because at the time, I couldn't remember the word for Airport (it's 空港 - kuukou - I've now memorized it) and I was on the wrong train, and it was a huge pain in the end, I barely made a flight that I'd left myself three hours to get to. So yeah. But over all, the language stuff got easier with time, mostly because I have good reading skills in Japanese, though poor listening comprehension. Note that I studied Japanese for five years, though I was almost two years out of practice when I went.
I lived in a Japanese style apartment (http://www.flickr.com/photos/unforth/1388649533/in/set-72157602041321989/) which I rented through Sakura House (http://www.sakura-house.com/), which was really great even though I had to share a bath room. I would live there again in a heartbeat, or in one of their other properties if that one wasn't available.
It's worth noting that I love big cities - I'm from Manhattan, and I thrive on the energy, the noise, the light, and every thing else in big cities. However, there are lots of other types of places - unfortunately, I don't know loads about them, cause I didn't get out of Tokyo.
I went on a tourist visa. It's VERY difficult to get a visa to work once you arrive, and a tourist visa is only good for three months; if you leave the country and come back again you can get another three months, though they gave me a hard time when I returned trying to get at what I was going to do on my second stay, and if you don't have an obvious means of supporting yourself they are very suspicious. If you want to stay for a long time, it's much better to get a job, preferably before you go. The main job for American's is, unsurprisingly, teaching English. Anyone who has graduated from college is eligible for a job teaching English, and though it helps if your background is in education, it ultimately doesn't matter much. Jet (http://www.jetprogramme.org/) is the main program that I know of - I have three friends at least who have done it and all have good experiences. The downside is that you don't really get to pick where you go - you can end up in a very small little middle of no where place - and, of course, you have to work!
The other easy way to get a visa is as a student - especially one studying Japanese. You'd have to speak to a university of your choice in order to do a study abroad program, though.
Note that many of these programs - both to teach and to be taught - have long application processes that have to be begun way in advance.
So that's all I can think of on a first go through - questions?
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timeasmymeasure
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Date: 2009-01-03 05:16 am (UTC)I lived in a Japanese style apartment (http://www.flickr.com/photos/unforth/1388649533/in/set-72157602041321989/) which I rented through Sakura House (http://www.sakura-house.com/), which was really great even though I had to share a bath room. I would live there again in a heartbeat, or in one of their other properties if that one wasn't available.
It's worth noting that I love big cities - I'm from Manhattan, and I thrive on the energy, the noise, the light, and every thing else in big cities. However, there are lots of other types of places - unfortunately, I don't know loads about them, cause I didn't get out of Tokyo.
I went on a tourist visa. It's VERY difficult to get a visa to work once you arrive, and a tourist visa is only good for three months; if you leave the country and come back again you can get another three months, though they gave me a hard time when I returned trying to get at what I was going to do on my second stay, and if you don't have an obvious means of supporting yourself they are very suspicious. If you want to stay for a long time, it's much better to get a job, preferably before you go. The main job for American's is, unsurprisingly, teaching English. Anyone who has graduated from college is eligible for a job teaching English, and though it helps if your background is in education, it ultimately doesn't matter much. Jet (http://www.jetprogramme.org/) is the main program that I know of - I have three friends at least who have done it and all have good experiences. The downside is that you don't really get to pick where you go - you can end up in a very small little middle of no where place - and, of course, you have to work!
The other easy way to get a visa is as a student - especially one studying Japanese. You'd have to speak to a university of your choice in order to do a study abroad program, though.
Note that many of these programs - both to teach and to be taught - have long application processes that have to be begun way in advance.
So that's all I can think of on a first go through - questions?