Yay! I have my confirmation number.... Now for more waiting....
Hangebokhan wrote:

One thing that anyone thinking of teaching overseas should do is request to talk to a current employee. There are many places that will screw you over. In Japan you are a bit safer as you own your visa so if your employer leaves you out to dry, you can still hunt for work and not worry about deportation.

That is different in Korea though. For anyone looking in Korea, be aware that your employer 'owns' your visa. Once you are fired, let go, whatever they do, you no longer have the ability to stay in the country (I have heard conflicting reports about how long you have). Furthermore, Korea is infamous for employers screwing you over in a big way. Be on alert. Ask to talk to employees!



my answer to that would be to search youtube. there are tons of ppl who vlog about the international ALT experiences and they will tell u the harsh and smtms scary reality from racism they've experienced to taxes and insurance payts going up after ur 2nd yr. they show what to expect when looking for apartments and most are nice enough to respond to questions in comments or emails. for instance i learned from a black ALT in japan that most hair dressers can't handle black hair and are ridiculously over priced and i won't find black hair products outside tokyo so i need to be prepared to come to japan with my stuff and handle my hair on my own. as always take anything anyone says with a grain of salt as u don't know their motivations. and probably good to avoid overly negative vlogers.
oh yeah i wouldn't have thought of that... even here it's hard to find hairdressers that can do black hair. my sister in law travels 4 hours to a bigger city to get her weaves. they found a local person claiming to know how to relax it so they went to her to save money and she burned her hair so bad it all broke off almost at the scalp in some places. her hair finally, after 14 years, had grown past her shoulders and was really nice and healthy after regular conditioning treatments and trims down south, now this woman totally ruined it. so back down south they went and luckily it was just long enough to do the weave. felt so bad for her.. asian hair is totally different i can't imagine there'd be many hairdressers who know how to handle black hair or even just curly hair in Japan or Korea
I'm not sure how relevant this is to the main topic, but I just wanted to give a little advice about curly hair in remote locations. If you can't handle your hair on your own, you may want to look to other cultures as well. Greek and latino salons have always been able to do my hair.
nothin like that around here unfortunately but good to know in case her weave falls apart when we're travelling haha
well i've never had a weave. my hair has always been thick and course so it relaxes really nicely and has always been either neck length or just past my shoulder(where it is now). i've got an excellent hair dresser that has been showing me a few tricks to do my hair on my own but i'm not looking forward to it. the one thing i will not do on my own for sure and which should not be hard for japanese hairdressers is getting my bangs cut every 6-8 wks and maybe trim my ends every 4-6 months. i don't trust myself with a scissors near my hair.
haha i don't blame you. yeah they should be able to do it, just maybe ask them to do it dry so they don't accidentally cut too much off, it's hard to tell when it's wet
For all JET hopefuls, the interview lists should be posted sometime this week!!! (or next, knowing JET)
Did not get JET, oh well.
Hangebokhan wrote: Did not get JET, oh well.


aww never mind..there's always a next time ^_^...fighting oori han-ah :)
aww they don't know what they're missing
:-/ I'm sorry. But like Jeanie said, there's always next time, and you can try to get in at an eikaiwa.
commiserations Han dont let it deter you from pursuing ur goal - ganbatte - is that japanese for fighting ?? I hope so lol
Kawaikochan wrote: :-/ I'm sorry.

But like Jeanie said, there's always next time, and you can try to get in at an eikaiwa.


Those are scary :O
Former JET here. Sorry it didn't work out for some this year, but there are lots of other options, and there is always next year! If you can get it, it is a really great experience. Most of my current colleagues started with Interac, which is similar to an ALT on JET in some ways. They are certainly a popular and safe choice for coming to Japan. When you first come to Japan, the country is totally the place to be. Fewer people who speak English (foreign or Japanese) and people are generally more interested in you because they don't get many foreigners out there. Plus the city you can experience well as a tourist, but to really experience the country you need to be a part of it. All around it is just the better choice (I think). I would avoid putting "urban" as a preference on your JET application because realistically speaking there is a very small chance you will get an urban placement, and thus they'll be looking for people willing to be out in the boonies. Good luck to everyone!