At the teacher housing apartment they put me in, there were a number of ALTs there who had schools literally right across the street. My school was an HOUR away. I had ALTs telling me "Don't leave work when your schedule is done. Your coworkers will think you're lazy." And I'm like "Bitch, you work across the street from your school. It takes me an hour to get home! I'm leaving when I'm done and I don't give a fuck if they think I'm lazy!"

🥰🥰🥰

I agree with the work-life balance issue. It's self destructive to work at a job that pays relatively poorly, rewarding or not, and work yourself to death. It also sounds like when you accept a job like this and you are coming from another country that you should have an "exit" plan as a backup. Never feel like you are just "stuck" where you are. On the issue of "American English", however, it does make sense for the Japanese to want to learn American standard English, as it is more in line with business around the world. Fair or not, that's the way it is.

Been teaching in Japan for nearly 2 decades now. It is not for everyone. I had a background in education and once I got in country was able to connect with others and seek a better gig. Still here teaching English, but you need to be of a certain mindset. It is not easy here and you are not ever going to integrate into society here. No matter how good your Japanese gets spoken and written you are not ethnically Japanese. Some folk are slowly coming around to naturalized Japanese but that is probably 0.0000001% of the population. The work depending on your level and what kind of company/program you are attached to, can either be mind numbingly easy or absolutely dreadful. Tenured work is rarely offered and if it is you have to know how to play politics cause well, those environments are no different than those you'll find anywhere else.

Tomi, I just want to let you know that I miss you. Hope you doing well

you're my favorite living-in-japan channel - I love your energy and I learn so much!

How are they teaching english and they don't speak english? Wth

Happy to share my SOP to anyone interested! I used this a few years ago and was able to get and interview! As I sat on the Shinkansen from Kyoto towards Yokohama, I reflected on the promise I made to myself twenty years prior, to visit the town of Yokosuka. When I was ten years old, I discovered a game called Shenmue. A game that gave me a glimpse of life in Japan, a country vastly different to my own. It was this that sparked both my curiosity and love for Japanese culture. It made me seek out a Japanese pen pal, and eventually visit and travel across the country to experience the beauty for myself. Knowing what it’s like to grow up fascinated by cultures and countries other than my own, I hope to ignite a similar passion for learning and sharing of traditions amongst young minds. Through JET, I intend to bring a multitude of elements from my English culture to share with my students and the wider community, so someday they too may make their promise to visit. I come from a town called Tamworth, which while small now, used to be the capital of ancient Mercia - rich in history and culture. Currently, I in the county of Warwickshire, which hosts the town of Stratford-upon-Avon, famous as the birthplace of William Shakespeare - widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English Language. I have travelled across my own country and experienced the art, architecture, and traditions that are often missed by a casual observer. Pre-covid, I made a commitment to myself to visit a different country every month of 2019 until my 30th birthday in December. To push the boundaries beyond that of a tourist, I chose to spend a month travelling and living in India on my own with no friends or connections. I learnt to respect the beauty and deep meaning behind the beliefs and traditions of other cultures. I travelled to the sacred city of Varanasi. The River Ganges holds profound significance in the Hindu faith - as a place of bathing and worship, and also a place where burial rituals take place. Despite the stark cultural differences, I admired and respected the sacred connection people had to their traditions. The language barrier was especially challenging as I navigated through the regions of Lonavala, Amritsar and Ahmedabad. However, I learned to appreciate the unspoken communication, such as a sincere smile, that connects us all. This allowed me to build friendships with strangers in the most unlikely and unfamiliar circumstances. My most treasured memory is taking part in the festival of Navratri in the state of Gujarat. I became truly embraced by the community of villagers young and old as we celebrated the festival and danced the night away in the heat of the Indian monsoon season. This solidified my ambition to become a member of the JET Programme. I want to inspire passion in the young minds of Japanese grassroots communities to pursue their own international experiences. Equally, I hope to fully immerse myself and experience Japan as an active member of the community. I have been a full-time firefighter for nearly ten years now. I have been fortunate that my career has given me opportunities to develop my teaching skills and engage effectively with children of various age groups. I act as the lead Schools’ Coordinator for my fire station. My role is to design and deliver lessons on fire safety for up to as many as fifty excitable children at a time. This has greatly developed my communication and time-management skills in the classroom setting. I love the ability to generate enthusiasm amongst the children and create learning experiences that are compelling and educational. By responding to feedback and engagement, I have found that children learn best through a varied mix of teaching methods to meet individual learning styles. My teaching approach encourages children to actively participate through a mixture of storytelling, practical games, and writing activities. One of the highly effective teaching methods I utilise is role-playing. Children, especially at primary age, learn from engaging in situations they can apply to real life. Within the classroom setting, I create exciting simulations of escaping from a fire that would be easy for children to recall in a real emergency. Younger children respond particularly well when the lesson incorporates tactile and dynamic elements such as letting children examine our fire kit and equipment with their own hands and even dress up in it. I believe in positive feedback to any answer given, even if it’s wrong, as this will nurture self-confidence and establish the classroom as a safe environment to share ideas. Rewards and friendly competition are also a great way to encourage children to participate. If a class is overly excitable and beginning to disrupt the learning process, I find the best approach is the “hand up” technique. With this, I pause the lesson, go quiet and put my hand in the air. The children then have to mimic me. The class does not resume until everybody is silent with their hands up. This is a fun way to encourage team-working amongst the class, where all children share the responsibility to allow class to resume, and continue their learning. Beyond the teaching aspect, the JET Programme will allow me to inspire pupils to learn more about English culture by connecting through personal interests and extra-curricular activities. As a JET ambassador, I would be keen to start an afterschool cooking club to part my love of food with pupils through sharing foreign recipes. My hope is that children will present their cooking to their families, and introduce these dishes into the community. This acts as an opportunity for children to expand their English vocabulary and practice in real-world scenarios, whilst also establishing teamwork and practical culinary skills that can be applied elsewhere. With my genuine enthusiasm and love of cultural exchange, learning, growing, and teaching experience, I believe that I would be a valuable addition to the JET Programme, and I look forward to hearing from you.

I love how much fun you guys are having! Definitely if someone having a bad or sad day, they should watch your video... it will make their day feel happier for sure!

Professional people talk at the right time at the place. They talk less as well.

I am foreigner living in Hyogo Prefecture and Imsee many black people work as an English with no problem.

Girl miss ur videos😊

Congrats...on three yrs...............are the School s heated with a furnace, by boiler ,....etc?

sounds horrible. i don't know why people put themselves through it. the pay is so bad. the work culture and prejudice is wack. easy to make more money in more open minded countries.

Japan is changing and the so the mentality too. Do not be disappointed, you are a qualified Teacher and with a super accent.

Thank you for revealing the truth !!! Go ahead

Interac is a garbage company. They'll take 3/4 of the school contract and pay you 1/4, even though you will do most of the work. Avoid the dispatch companies like Interac and other parasites listed on Gaijin Pot as well as the JET Programme. Direct hire is the best way to go, but that will requite networking and connections with those who work for a school (mostly in the private sector). Yeah, do a year or two at an "Eikaiwa" (language school like Berlitz), but then leave once you make the right connections. If not, go home because the language school jobs are a dead end, and JET will toss you to the curb after 5 years (or less for those who get stuck in a civilization outpost in the countryside). University "teaching" is a joke since all you do is lecture in front of a large audience (which is not teaching--it's talking). Business English classes are hit and miss, and you will do better in a big city like Tokyo or Osaka. If you are a serious teacher, then teaching English in Japan will not be for you since it is a cosmetic position. Most junior and senior high school classes focus on "juken benkyo" or "English for the university exams"--and that is a joke since the "English" is based on archaic 1950s American English grammar rules and tests trivial knowledge of grammar instead of real communication. In other words, despite spending 5 years+ of learning English, most students in Japan cannot speak English to save their lives, and many certainly wouldn't be able to function outside of Japan. Therefore, do your research before you come here. The best jobs are with international schools, but again, you need connections or really impressive qualifications.

This is the best. Vid ever. ❤❤

Tomiiiiii where are you

the american spelling thing is hilarious to me....I have never once in my texan life been told that we HAVE to use one or the other between american or british spelling since theyre both correct. nobody here cares.

You're cute, dear❤

I feel like this story was very one sided. I recognize a bias story teller when I hear one. You were very descriptive on the parts you didn’t like but the part where you took weeks off, you slid that important info in towards the very end and quickly glossed over. It’s literally written on the ALT to try not to take too many days off but you did and that speaks volumes at any job. Even in America. And worse in Japan. I looked at the ALT and it honestly wasn’t even anything to be combative about. Not a single thing. Rather than be cooperative and immerse yourself in Japanese culture with a “I’ll do my best” attitude which is such a temporary part of your life. You resisted and was very egotistical and solely self serving. Is it really that hard to greet kids at the gate, which you didn’t want to do. Or learn Japanese (official language), which you didn’t want to do. Japanese culture is a collectivist mindset culture and you chose to resist. In many elementary schools, students often walk to school in groups, called "han," which are organized by neighborhood. An older student, usually in the higher grades, may be designated as the leader of the group, ensuring that everyone gets to school safely. And you’re here being a sourpuss about just greeting them at the gate. I know for a fact there was an accumulation of things you were unfavorably doing that you selectively chose to gloss over or omit - is the reason why they stuck you up there with the parents during graduation. You don’t see the connections do you. Coz in your head it’s always about you. You gave them reasons to not like you. But you’re the victim in the story, am I right? 💀

yea japan is horrible country to live in...nice video ....thank u

Good on you. Go where you're loved and wanted. Ain't no time for toxic people.

Teaching kids to me seems like a way at the end of the day to put me in a fetal position in a corner sucking my toes.

Did you ever express these issues to JET Alumni?

I think JET would benefit from watching this video. Especially regarding providing support for the ALTs

Lets gooo you can do it!!!

This was very helpful. Dang!

Im free. 😁

Glad you feel better now. Greetings from Scandinavia :)

What is your degree in?

How do you say “don’t touch me” in Japanese?

Hi Did you handwritten your application form ? Or you electronically filled it ? Your response will be appreciated

2000 usd a month is so little money for the cost of tokyo. i got three times more as my starting salary teaching in hong kong

What an amazing content. I wish you the best.

Hi, in Asia, we likr to ask plenty of personal questions. Is it offensive wull be fired and be sued in the West?

I find it wild that you were working in Japan but couldn't speak Japanese, then would spend your free time at work playing games on your phone and not studying Japanese, then get upset when someone suggested that wasn't a valuable use of your paid time. 🤦‍♂

Nice video. Coming up to my 23rd year now lol. With family here and property etc. I would struggle to live back in the UK now.

Tomiiii make more videos! I hope you’re better now 😭🩷

lol @the ignorant questions. so Google nuh deh over Japan?

so Japan dont use whiteboard and marker in their classrooms? Mi cyaan deal wid di chalk ting enuh!😭

The ALT Do and Don't list tek me out!!! lol😂😂😂😂

Your so beautiful queen and your energy is adorable, keep living life

Hey girl just want to let you know I am patiently waiting for your return.

Yamaguchi seemed so nice, but Kobe is like everyone wants to be here vibes. 😈😈😈🥷🥷 But yeah, you gotta take care of you. And yes, it’s ok to have feelings. Living in Japan 🇯🇵 is fun yet tough cause the culture is so different. I feel when you’re in your native country you’re on autopilot. But take your time, and I’m looking forward to your update update video. 😙😙

Japan is an island that is a closed society that lives by tradition. Why all the foreigners so surprised? The woman with her nails talks like trash.

😂😂🤣 😂. You are funny. I have an interview tomorrow with borderlink.

Merica!🤠