To Work in Japan

I sometimes see that non-Japanese people look at
only the upside of living in Japan before they come.
After living for a while, some people say that they have a really tough time here.
Some of them can't get a good job because
their Japanese language skills are not enough to work.

Because of that, English speakers tend to start teaching English to make money easily.
If you are young, and it's temporary, or you are interested in teaching seriously,
it would be a good experience.
However, if not and you are over 25 years old,
I think you should take on another more beneficial job for your future.
Two of my friends got tired of teaching English after several years of service and
returned to their homeland, but since the two guys had been working
as English teachers for a long time, it's difficult to get a new kind job.

I know some people are suffering from the gap between reality and ideal,
so I hope you know the downsides too.
Even Japanese people who can speak Japanese and
have some skills have to work in bad conditions or can't get a job.
Furthermore, it's notoriously known that we work overtime too much and
the rate of Japanese using up paid holidays is really low.

I think if it's possible, the best way of working in Japan is
to be hired in a company, which has a Japanese subsidiary in your country,
and to be transferred.

Good luck!!

Rush Hours in Tokyo, Japan

As you may know, frantic rush hour on trains has become synonymous
with Japan in general and Tokyo in particular.

I can enlighten you as to how crowded it gets.
In a nutshell, you risk jostled willy-nilly by fellow commuters if you are skinny.

The other day, I ran into this situation in Shibuya station.
(Shibuya is famous for its crowded pedestrian crossing where
up to 3,000 fellow people can be crossing simultaneously)
Before being jostled, it becomes hard to breathe
due to my lungs feeling contorted in the melee.


I imagine it's akin to being confined in a straight jacket
- the upside being, even train gropers have little room to manoeuvre in these situations
- they prefer other, slightly less crowded times.

The worst situation is when trains resume after stopping because of an accident.
Many accidents occur due to some one leaping in front of a speeding train.
As this happens every day on a national scale, we become regrettably blasé
- thinking "don't do this during rush hours".
Pity is in short supply until we see an actual accident scene.