mattnumbe

I can second taking a language as the most useful elective...and it leading to moving to Japan, studying here, getting married etc.

Gods in America is done really well. I also enjoyed listening to the Game of Thrones series on the way to and from work every morning for like 8 months. Gave me something to look forward to in the morning.

The one in Sapporo is a tourist trap.

Most of the time delivery problems have everything to do with the seller. The point is that the seller and the product should be separated in reviews of the product.

There's a good radiolab episode about American dialects http://www.radiolab.org/story/yall-youse-yinz/

I think it's mainly because you can't find a Yoshinoya in a town/road that isn't even on google maps but you can find 3 lawson's and a famlymart. (convenience≠cheap)

I agree 100%. I am currently an expat with local language skills. When other expats complain about getting treated differently because they're foreigners, and then you find out they've been here 10 years and have no local language skills, it's easy to understand why.

As opposed to those who invest in time saving services.

I'd like to catch them off guard.

Plus, I'll be moving from recruiting to sales, so I'm expected to know a bit more.

Quite right. Changing from a working holiday visa/travel visa to a residential visa is the grey area

For jobs teaching English (it's not really a career choice unless you end up getting a proper teaching degree or happen into something special) check out www.gaijinpot.com it's, despite the name, one of the most credible sources for English teaching jobs. For universities, public universities in Japan are incredibly cheap when compared to universities in the US. Tuition for the university I went to was less than 5,000usd/yr (a tenth of what I paid in the us/year for undergrad) and there are scholarships a plenty. Check out the MEXT scholarship or JASSO. I ended up getting both which paid for my living expenses as well as school. Like I said, working part time on top of that I was living very comfortably. So, going to school will grant you a very affordable apartment, gym membership, very good intensive Japanese lessons, an education, friends, the chance to work up to 28 hours a week, and if you get a scholarship, spending money, on top of the education of your choice.

Search for the G30 program. There are a bunch of public universities here that participate in G30, which is made for foreign students, in English and it's very well funded.

You definitely don't need TEFL to find a teaching job easily in Japan but it would give you more options. I taught in language schools, a junior high, and did corporate classes as well. It's also quite easy to get hired from abroad, and getting a job while on working holiday/travel visa is a bit of a grey area, although I know plenty of people who have done it.

If I can suggest, from experience, skipping the initial 'just teaching English' thing and apply for undergraduate/graduate school here and teach on the side. I made more money from scholarships (very easy to get) and teaching than I'm making now as a salary man.

Fair enough. I guess I should have posted it. If you do some google searches you can find a bunch, but a lot of them dont work any more. The one that worked for me was CRAB YORI GATOR

Looks like you went to the same hiragana/katakana school I did!

I've been living, working, studying, playing in Japan for the last 8 years. I came here with no knowledge of the language (except "ohayou" because of that Sesame Street where Big Bird goes to Japan). Learning katakana and hiragana took an afternoon of riding the train and reading signs. The first 3 years I didn't really study much, but talking to old men in bars and spending time in the hospital boosted my communication level a ton. By year 6 I had business level spoken Japanese but had never been able to get into kanji, so I was basically illiterate, but stilled managed to get hired by a Japanese company (with no use for my English skills). I've been using WaniKani for the last half year and it has massively improved my kanji level. It's definitely aimed towards native (american) English speakers, but if you want to learn Kanji, I can highly recommend it. It's actually the only online service (other than Netflix) that I've ever paid for ($50/year with a coupon). Most of the other free apps I've used have been like gym memberships, but for some reason this one sticks.

Although I was never a fan of Powers Boothe, I can highly recommend The Emerald Forrest, a movie that never got enough attention. R.I.P. Dah-day from my dreams.

I highly suggest reading the book Death in Yellowstone: Accidents and Foolhardiness in the First National Park. It goes over a long history of really stupid people (along with some extremely sad stories) who have died in the park.

The main reason I found this interesting is that recently my wife and I started eating Shyojinryori (the food the Japanese monks eat) quite consistently. The food is vegan and also contains no onions, spiciness, or garlic. It was a first for me to leave these out. I noticed within a few days that I could smell multiple times better. My wife had a work party where she broke her diet. When I came home, the entire house reeked of garlic and alcohol to the point where it was uncomfortable to breath. I had to open the windows in our room despite the freezing temperatures. I ended up also breaking the diet because I just couldn't stand the smell of people in the subway. Popped a bit of garlic and onions in my food, and I could no longer smell the people around me.

At least when AI takes over we'll still have our precious horseradish cookies!

What happened to downvotes?

I also speak Japanese and English, but I learned Japanese while living in Japan in my 20's. Did you grow up in Japan or in a western country? I'm wondering if, as the blog post implies, that the situation/period in life in which you learn the language changes your personality in that language.

I actually ended up in the same article because VX is related to オウム真理教(Aum Shinrikyo), the group that was responsible for the gas attacks in Tokyo. They were also manufacturing VX and are the only ones on record to have used it to commit a murder, until now I guess... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aum_Shinrikyo