Teaching Japan: Why Did I Go?
This is part of a series of articles about the experience of living abroad and teaching English for AEON. These represent only my viewpoint and are not sponsored in any way. I will present both the positive and negative.
Ask questions! I tend to gloss over some details while going too far into others.
One question I always get when I tell people I taught English in Japan is: “Why did you go to Japan?”
So, why did I go?
In the 6th grade I took a Japanese language and culture course. It lasted one term. And that was all it took, I was hooked. Both the way the course was conducted and the information presented was so different than what I was used to that I had to know more.
So no, I am not one of those odd Japanophiles who can cite the past 30 years of anime. I have watched a good bit of anime, but my primary interest in Japan was that the culture is so very different from my own. let me let you know right now, that is by far the most masochistic reason possible to like a country. Regardless, that was the main part of my reasoning for going.
Other than my infatuation with Japan, I went for lack of other things to do. I had made a half-hearted attempt to go into a Ph.D. program, failed, and was having a hard time finding work as a soon to be college graduate. So a thought occurred to me. “I’ve always wanted to travel… I have no cash… I wonder if someone would pay me to travel!?” Being that I wanted to go to Japan I put “Work in Japan” in The Google and all results pointed to “be a teacher.”
So I applied to the top four companies. I scheduled three interviews, and before I made it to the third I had two job offers.
Being that my failure to get a job in the US was at a close to 100% fail rate and I was now batting 1.000 for jobs in Japan, the choice seemed obvious. I accepted the offer from AEON and began looking for a job to fill the time from late Summer to late Winter when I would leave.
So there you have it. I went to Japan because of a 6th Grade class and Google.
Haha, your reason behind going to Japan are similar to mine except throw in a bit of “had no idea what to do with my life” into the mix and you have it.
How long were you there for? Which year was this? Did you work only for Aeon while you were in Japan? Would you ever go back?
I am asking questions because you asked!!
[Reply]
Chris Schaffer Reply:
September 18th, 2008 at 8:24 am
Thank you for asking!
I also had a bit of the “no idea what to do next.” Travel is an excellent way to find answers or at least a very interesting way to avoid the question.
I was in Japan for most of 2007. I was not there for a full year though, my mother was having some problems so I returned before my full contract ended.
I did only work for AEON. I had a friend who worked for Nova while they went bankrupt, it was hard, but she ended up working for a few different places and staying for another year. But, for the most part I knew other AEON teachers.
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