Love Japanese Culture? Want To Live There?

[MisatoCrush]

Do you love Japanese culture beyond anime/manga?
Have you or do you want to live there at some point?
Have you learned the language? If so what was your method?

I've thought of teaching English in Japan. Basically a paid vacation (though I hear you might make crap money the 1st year until you build relationships/a network).

I'm of Korean descent and I currently live in Seoul teaching English.
But honestly I'm way more fascinated by Japanese culture.

I made my 1st Japanese friend last summer, a woman from Nagoya.
Her father has a katana that's over 1000 years old.
It's stored in a special type of bank vault because it's so dangerous and valuable.
So he only views it there at the facility where it is housed.

I just really like how Japanese people do things. Clean neat and tidy. Very respectful.

[delispin25]

There's a Japanese culture outside of anime? Woah.

I've thought of teaching English in Japan.

Yeah, I've thought about it, in fact that's what I was going to school for, but then I thought, "Fuck it", I'll just go to school for something stupid, and go into JET which is basically the same as ESL, but you don't need a fucking bachelors degree for it. So hopefully I'll be able to do that, but I'll settle for some shitty desk job.

[UrsusArctos]

Do you love Japanese culture beyond anime/manga?

Oh, yes. Japanese culture and aesthetics are in a class all of their own. Quite frankly, they're amazing.

Her father has a katana that's over 1000 years old.
It's stored in a special type of bank vault because it's so dangerous and valuable.

If it's a thousand years old, it's not a katana. It's an older type of sword - probably a ken or a tachi if those existed back then. Katanas were really created in response to the trouble from the Mongols about seven hundred years ago, when the existing Japanese sword types proved to shatter or lose their edge or tip too easily when struck against hard armor.

[MisatoCrush]

Ah well I don't know the exact age of her father's sword.
I just remember it was really old. Not 3,000 years old, but not 500 years old either.

[AR-99]

Thought about doing JET after I graduated a decade ago and regret not at least applying for the program. Been wanting to visit Japan since I got into anime when I was around 13. Finally visiting this year in October after wanting to do so for 20 years.

[Fireball]

Sadly never been there but Japan's culture and history has always fascinated me. Not sure about living, I have this dream of wandering through the country one day though.

[caragnafog dog]

My pipe dream is teaching English there. I've only studied the language for a semester though.

[Reichu]

If I ever refine my practical and conversational Japanese to the point where I could do anything with it, I might want to visit. But living there sounds like a nightmare. I'm not just a gaijin, I'm a female gaijin.

And those yearning to be English teachers, beware, your students may attempt to grab your junk and stick fingers up your anus. (Chronicled somewhere here, for those unfamiliar.)

[Gorbatschow]

I really like to dally with the idea of living in Japan, but I'm pretty satisfied with Europe. What attracts me most is the enormous availability of mangas, animes, etc., the (apperently) huge tolarance on sexual topics and the food ... god I love the food.

So if I had to decide between living in Japan (with instantly proficienting the language) or making a trip every few years (with instantly proficienting the language) I'd choose the trips.

[MisatoCrush]

Re to a few different posts:

Speaking the language is not a requirement for the entry level English jobs. Sure some high end grammar jobs ask for Japanese proficiency, but most 1st year teachers can't speak or read super well.

The junk grabbing and anus poking is also a phenomenon in Korea, but almost never happens.
Korean kids can be total brats but I chatted with a teacher who has lived in Japan for 30 years and he says students respect and honor teachers bigtime. It's their way.

Once you get up there in age, 30s+ (at least for me) one year's nothing. Time flies by fast. Might as well live abroad and have an adventure at least 1 year before the kids/mortgage...

[Gorbatschow]

Re to a few different posts:

Speaking the language is not a requirement for the entry level English jobs. Sure some high end grammar jobs ask for Japanese proficiency, but most 1st year teachers can't speak or read super well.

Still knowing more than ten words would be pretty helpful for living rather comfortable and unsophisticated in a country. ;)

[CJD]

Live in Japan? Ehhhhhhhhh I don't think so. If I understood Jap fluently maybe. It would be nice to have easy access to all the anime stuff we can't get over here, but I'd also rather not deal with the whole work culture, not to mention the racism and probable shitty living conditions if I wanted to live in the Tokyo metropolitan area.

Honestly, I'd rather reach a point in my life where, financially, I can afford to visit Moonland, and other countries, as often as I'd like.

And those yearning to be English teachers, beware, your students may attempt to grab your junk and stick fingers up your anus. (Chronicled somewhere here, for those unfamiliar.)

As long as they're hot no objections from me.

[A.T. Fish]

I'd love to visit Japan but not live there, the working environment seems to be way too oppressive.

[Reichu]

As long as they're hot no objections from me.

I hope you're joking. I really do. :p

[InstrumentalityOne]

I'm not just a gaijin, I'm a female gaijin.

Elaborate, pls

[CJD]

I hope you're joking. I really do. :p

Honestly I'd be more concerned with another teacher seeing and thinking I instigated it, and then ruining my career/life with a sexual assault charge case. Or if someone snapped a picture and did the same or blackmailed me or something.

But if some good looking gal came up and grabbed my crotch? Awkwardness aside I don't exactly see it as a negative thing.

[caragnafog dog]

And those yearning to be English teachers, beware, your students may attempt to grab your junk and stick fingers up your anus. (Chronicled somewhere here, for those unfamiliar.)

Steel is my body, and fire is my blood. Therefore, my body is ready.

If everything goes well I'll be spending a year abroad my junior year so we'll see what happens.

[Blue Monday]

So if I had to decide between living in Japan (with instantly proficienting the language) or making a trip every few years (with instantly proficienting the language) I'd choose the trips.

I'd love to visit Japan but not live there, the working environment seems to be way too oppressive.

Pretty much this.

I mean don't get me wrong, I love the place - Next trip is the seventh time I've been now or something stupid like that. But actually living there would probably damage my infatuation with it. You work really, really long hours, and it is hard work, and you get paid meagre wage or whatever. So unless you're really lucky and get a good job or a great employer; that's a thing. My speaking/reading skill have gotten terrible since I've stopped attending classes as well so that wouldn't help.


I do have my own little daydreams though - Like working in a record store in Tokyo.
Might even still wind-up doing one of those working vacations at a ski/beach resort one day too.

[Dream]

I have a strong fascination with Japan as well as the Japanese culture and language. I also have a fascination with Imperial Japan and the IJNAS, but it's probably for the better not to talk about that.

However, to my embarassment, i must admit i don't know much about Japanese culture and history and can't speak even a bit of the language. I would like to live there for a bunch of years (maybe 5 or so) partly because of the long hours and low pay, as well as the possibility of either taking in or more closely appreciating the Japanese culture and mindset.

I also have a deep appreciation for the tidyness and respectfulness with which Japanese act. Truly admirable.

[pwhodges]

You work really, really long hours, and it is hard work,

Maybe it was different in 1981 when I went there on business (I was training my agents to install my software they were selling). They worked hard, but for them the end of the working day was absolute - no thought of overtime when it was time to go to the bar (not home...). When we had taken a trip of over an hour to the other side of Tokyo, they got really antsy when I insisted on staying twenty minutes longer to finish the job in one trip rather than going on time but having to do the whole journey again the next day just to finish up. That twenty minutes was out of their drinking time!

I'd love to visit again with the greater knowledge of their culture that I've gained in mind.