#4 Preparing for Japan: Final Stretch

7 days…

Oh my gosh! I am so nervous! I haven’t even started packing anything up yet!

#3.5 Disaster in Japan

What happened in Japan was very unexpected and tragic. I have received a lot of questions regarding my employment over there. I waited a few days so that my company had a chance to figure everything out as they had higher priorities to take care of first. I got the e-mail from Amity this morning updating me on everything going on.

So here are your updates: All of the Amity staff and teachers in the affected area are safe and accounted for. Ten schools were affected by the disaster and the staff and teachers have moved to neighboring schools until further notice, and in the meantime those ten schools will be assessed for damages and checked to see how safe the structure is. The teachers won’t return until the schools are repaired and reopened.

So we can breathe a sigh of relief for that.

In regards to my departure: Nothing has changed and I am still set to leave on April 8^th EST. My branch school was unaffected by the disaster so I can still go to Japan just as planned. Kurashiki is pretty far south of Tokyo, whereas the disaster affected the east coast that is north of Tokyo.  Much like when hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans, everyone in Michigan still went about their day since Michigan was unaffected. So, what happened in Miyagi and Sendai didn’t really affect Okayama and Kurashiki.

So all is well on my end and I hope this post has put you all at ease. Please continue to send your thoughts and generosity to Japan.

#3 Preparing for Japan: Paperwork

This topic is probably the most touched on in people’s questions outside of asking when I am leaving. So I figured that a post on my basic paperwork would be appropriate. However, certain details of some my paperwork I cannot share online with the world. My employer wouldn’t be too keen to keep me around if they found out I was publishing all of their company secrets online to the world. So certain details will just be left out and if you have a particular question, feel free to ask about it and I’ll let you know if I’m allowed to say anything. Cause I might legitimately forget to touch on some things in this entry so I welcome any questions you might have. But all of the information I will talk about is already published on Amity’s website. I’ll just be repeating it here for your convenience if you choose not to check out the website (which has a link under my “Links” category on the right hand side bar.)

So, the paperwork; there is a lot of paperwork. It all started with the application process. I was required to write an essay with the topic being “Why I want to teach English to children in Japan” in at least 500 words; which was a simple enough topic, but I had a really hard time writing it partly due to writer’s block and partly because I wanted it to be absolutely perfect; concise but personal and informative. There was also an application to fill out and of course my resume and references were needed as well. All of this was done online.

For the group interview I needed hard copies of all the things I did online plus any letters of recommendation and copies of my lesson plan along with any props for my lesson. I was also given an extra copy of the contract stipulations and benefits along with more information about the company.

Some of the stipulations and benefits include: (copied right from the Amity site)

                1 year contract. The contract is renewable upon agreement by both the teacher and Amity. The length of a contract renewal is negotiable.

                Working hours are 40 hours/week. The working time is a five-day, forty- hour week from Tuesday to Saturday.

                Housing: A furnished, rent-subsidized, single-occupant apartment is provided. The key money and deposits are paid by Amity.

                All Amity teachers are enrolled into the Japanese Social Insurance System. This system provides teachers with comprehensive health insurance, which includes coverage of pre-existing conditions, optical care, and dental care. Teachers will also be provided with a pension insurance plan.

There are more stipulations (15 in total on the website) but I just wanted to give the ones that I got the most questions about. So after I was offered the job (of which I obviously accepted) I was sent a packet that included my contract to sign and paperwork to get my visa started and the company policy book. (Sorry, no details about that!) I was also provided a book called “Culture Smart! JAPAN: The Essential Guide to Customs and Culture.” It’s an amusing little book but it is also helpful. Along with the book there was a travel magazine.

A few weeks later I was sent a processing fee receipt (The fee was $200) along with the address to my branch school and directions about how I should go about looking for a flight. There were specifications I needed to adhere to so that I would arrive in Japan at an appropriate time. They also listed a very helpful travel agent that sometimes could find some super amazing rates. Normally what I do is that I go to Bing.com and click on their travel tab and just put in the information and it’ll search all of the major airlines. I have gotten a lot of really amazing flights that way.  So when I looked up a 1-way ticket leaving from Detroit it was about $1200-$1500. When I went through the travel agent they found a flight plan for around $930. Needless to say I was going with the travel agent. Along with the flight instructions I was sent my visa application and directions for how to get my visa and where my nearest consulate was. I had to wait for a Certificate of Eligibility (COE) from Japan to arrive before I could apply for the visa. The COE helps you get the visa, and in order to enter Japan you need both the visa and the COE. So I brought my visa paperwork and my passport to the consulate in the Renaissance Center in Detroit. After about a week it was ready to pick up. I did not have to pay a fee for the visa, I think that may have been covered by the $200 fee I had to pay before.

All the rest of the paperwork sent to me was via e-mail. And what I received was a guidelines book (different from the company policy book) which gives you just about all of the information you’re going to need to prepare for Japan all the way down to how to pack your suitcase. It was very helpful. I was also sent these adorable newsletters every week about language brush-ups and culture tips. I got a letter from the main office with information about where to meet at the airport and what to bring to my first training along with a map.

Most recently I was sent a Departure Checklist which I reviewed with my recruiter over the phone so that nothing was misunderstood or missed and all questions could be answered.

I’m still receiving more paperwork as I have a month left before I leave, but it will involve study materials because I have to complete online quizzes before I leave and probably more newsletters. And so far that is all the paperwork! For not telling you much about the details there was still a lot to tell you!

If I suddenly get a ridiculous amount of paperwork in this last month I may make a “Part 2” to this post to keep you all updated the best that I can. What I have told you is information that is provided on the Amity site plus anything else that I figure any person would have to go through in order to obtain a visa and go work in Japan. If you have questions feel free to ask!

#2 Preparing for Japan: Wardrobe

So I figure some of you are wondering about what kinds of things a person is going to need to pack for Japan. I figured that this would make a pretty interesting entry because I’ve kind of had to start from scratch. Post college, my wardrobe consisted of jeans and t-shirts and a couple of black pants that had been destroyed from working in the school cafeterias, maybe a couple of nice sweaters here or there, but overall; not much.  It definitely wasn’t enough for a job that required “business professional” wear every day.

So herein is my wardrobe overhaul…

In November I bought two skirt suits for my interview; a brown one and a black one. They were on sale at Sears for a really good price. I can’t remember what I spent on them, I do remember the jackets being about $50 each and then everything else being around $15 or $20. Overall it was a good buy and I had 2 suits for my interview.

Just recently I purchased 2 more pant suits,

3 pairs of trousers, 3 short sleeve blouses, 4 long sleeve blouses, 3 cardigans, 1 sweater, a few dresses (one of which is the specifically designated “company party” dress) The shoes I got were 1 pair of black conservative heels, on pair of flats, and a pair of indoor shoes. It worked out really well because all of the winter clothes were on clearance and the spring season clothes were on discount because the holiday rush is over as well. So I got a lot of my wardrobe on major discounts. But I bet you’re still wondering “How much did all of this cost?” And my answer is:  Way more that I am comfortable admitting online. While I did save a lot of money, I still spent a lot as well. But it is your basic post-college-new-career wardrobe overhaul.

All the suits I bought.

Blouses, all 7 of them

3 cardigans, 1 sweater

2 casual dresses and the company party dress on the right.

3 pairs of extra pants to mix and match with the suits.

I found this wonderfully frilly prize at Marshall's. It was too cute to leave there.

3 pairs of shoes. A bit hard to see because of all the black.

Things are a little wrinkly right now since they've been sitting in a bag since I purchased them. There was one more dress I purchased, but it was too wrinkly to post a photo of it. But this is what it looks like on the Kohl's website: Adorable pick-up dress

This is not the entire wardrobe that I will be bringing to Japan. This is just all of the new stuff. I'll be bringing a lot of my older clothes as well because I can't break out of my love for t-shirts and hoodies. I just hope everything fits into my 4 suitcases!

Lessons learned from intensive shopping:
1. Try on all the pieces of your suit even if it is the same size but in a different color! It may not always fit the same.
2. Sears has amazing deals on suits. 3 of my 4 suits came from Sears.
3. Always check Coach for ridiculous deals at the outlet mall. ;) I found a passport holder for 70% off.