Resource Research
The internet is an awesome place. As well as all the porn and prescription drugs you want, it also provides all the information you need when doing research about things like travelling to a foreign country. There is a huge chunk of the internet dedicated to Japan and not all of it is illegal to download.
For the information relating to living and teaching English in Japan, there are a few good sites with articles, photos, links and forums to educate yourself with. Of course, 3yen.com is the most superior! But, here are some others for you to look at as well:
Metropolis is the major English language magazine of Japan. It focuses on the elements of Japan that foreign English-speakers would want to know: such as the American or Australian bars to visit, gaijin accommodation, how to get a Japanese citizenship – even what English TV shows will be showing this week. It also has a classifieds section, so you can find students or schools to work at. It’s a valuable resource for any English-speaker in Japan.
Dave’s ESL Café is for English language teachers (and their students) from all around the world, although there is a strong Japan presence. The forums seem to be the best place to get information, with very specific and wide-ranging sub-forums to get opinions from.
Gaijinpot is a resource site dedicated to foreigners living in Japan. There are a number of articles about teaching and living in Japan, although many of them are short and seem to be all written by the same person. Also on the site are links to finding accommodation and jobs in Japan, plus a classifieds section.
A warning, however, about the forums on Japan Today, Gaijin Pot and ESL Café: I don’t know why, but for some reason, forums for foreigners in Japan are filled with the most bitchy, vicious, cynical and outright rude posters anywhere on the internet. There are trolls and general idiots on forums everywhere, but for some reason, all the bullsh*t is concentrated in gaijin forums. These people often say you’ll need a thick skin in Japan to ward off a huge list of horrible things, so perhaps they’re trying to prepare the newbie by ripping their souls to shreds online? Who knows. All I’d like to know is, if life in Japan is so freaking unlivable that these posters feel the need to spread it to the uninitiated on the internet – why are most of them still in Japan?
It must be a conspiracy!
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