25 February 2011

Back to Japan!

It has been a little while since I have written in this blog but it appears I am going back to Japan!!! It may have taken a little over a year but its finally happening and I will be able to stay in Japan for at least a year maybe longer depending on how things go!

I thought long and hard about it and decided that I should apply for a teaching job in Japan late last year. This was mainly due to my contract ending at my previous job. I went for two interviews, one was with Shane English School Japan and the other was with Peppy Kids Club (iTTTi Japan). I was lucky enough to get offered both positions. I found out that I was successful during my third interview which was with Interac.

I informed both SESJ and PKC that I needed to think about their offer and that I would get back to them in a few days. After deliberating for a couple days I decided to go with PKC mainly due to the hours that I would be working and that fact that my housing would be subsidized and I would only have to contribute ¥55,000 towards it as opposed to ¥78,000 if I had gone with SESJ. The only downside I guess to having chosen PKC is the fact that there is no guarantee that I will be placed near Tokyo (SESJ was in Tokyo). During the interview I had requested to be placed near Tokyo as my first choice and then near Osaka as my second choice. The recruiter also confirmed that I would be sent for the training session beginning April 11th in Nagoya.

In the interview with iTTTi Japan I was also told by the recruiter that I may not be given the job at PKC but could possibly be given a position as an ALT or as an Online English Teacher. I was a little surprised at this since I had originally applied for the job with PKC. The Online Teaching position has the same monthly wage as PKC at ¥250,000 (+commuting expenses) while the ALT positions monthly wage is ¥266,000 (+commuting expenses and enrolment onto Shakai Hoken). Both the ALT and Online Teaching positions are in and around Nagoya, Aichi prefecture. I am still yet to find out which one of the three positions I will be doing or my location but supposedly I will find these out around 4 weeks before I depart.

Once I accepted the position there was a lot of paperwork that I needed to complete before I can actually get out to Japan. I had to get a Criminal Record Background check done and also apply for my Certificate of Eligibility. My CRB came back in a few days and I have just received my CoE after waiting around 3 - 4 weeks. I went to iTTTi Japan's office in London and picked it up. I then took the CoE to the Japanese Embassy and they informed me that it would be processed by Monday 28th February with a processing fee of £20.

So far I have managed to buy the majority of the things I will need (want) for the trip such as my new camera the Panasonic Lumix DMC-GF2 and a new laptop. Unfortunately I knew the netbook I already had wouldn't be good enough for everyday use and so I decided to get something which was a bit more powerful. The only things I really have left to get are a pair of Monster Beats by Dre and a new iPod (160GB).

Once I have my Work Visa I will buy my plane ticket to Nagoya. I will probably buy my ticket with Lufthansa because at the moment they are offering the best price for a one way flight to Nagoya at £496. Although there will be a stop over in Germany for a couple of hours due to the flight not being direct. I was contemplating flying with Cathay Pacific because their stop over would be in Hong Kong. However their flight is £575 and I'm not sure its worth spending the extra money just to visit Hong Kong for a couple hours.

I will try and keep this blog updated about my time in Japan like I did when I was in China. But I am sure I will have a lot to tell you and it won't just be about the Dancehall scene in Japan because Japan has so much more to offer. I will keep you all posted!

Japanese Saukra at Himeji Castle

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