The School Experience

What is it like to work as an ALT?  Before coming to Japan, it seemed everyone had a different opinion on working at schools in Japan.  I found this odd since everyone had the same job as an ALT.  Seven months in, it all makes sense: your experience depends entirely on the school for which you work.

What Should I Pack for Japan?

There's one very important thing to remember: If you're moving to Japan, you can't constantly ship stuff from the States.  Although you're comfortable with a variety of brands, realize that people in Japan (and other industrialized nations) have comparable alternatives, if not identical.  It's nice to bring some things--toothpaste, Advil, etc--but at some point they may run out and you'll have to make do.  So I provide this list as mere suggestions at what to pack, and ask you to bear in mind Japan does have most things you need.  You might just want to make settling in a tad more comfortable.

First School Visit [ALT]

Wondering what to expect on your first school visit with Interac?  I'm currently an ALT for Interac, working in the city of Toyama within the similarly named prefecture of Toyama. (In fact, when I tell people I live in Toyama they have no idea where that is. I tell them it's a prefecture and they get very surprised!)

Interac's contract directly forbids any mention of my schools by name, so although I can't share exactly where I work, there are a few things I can say--my impressions of the schools, what levels I teach, and so on.

Moving to Japan (Officially)

To inject a personal post into a personal blog, it's time I mentioned that I am actually moving to Japan in the very near future.  As in Sunday.  ... Which is in a couple days.  Holy crap, where did the time go?

Applying for a Japanese Work VISA

Applying for a Japanese work visa involves a trick any alchemist would be proud of: transmuting a CoE (Certificate of Eligibility) into a VISA (Very Impressive Script of Actuation).  Okay, visa isn't actually an acronym, but you do need a CoE before you can get a working visa for Japan.

Click 'read more' to unravel the secrets of the secrety things!

The Cost of Moving to Japan

I did a post a little while ago which showed the cost to get to my then-current point of Interac's placement process.  The post was largely uninformative and probably a large disappointment to anyone thinking they could actually learn something.  Fortunately, I have decided to make it up to any and all future ALTs by creating a brand new chart!  So if you're thinking about applying to Interac and you're curious about how much money you need, from start to finish, look no further!

JET vs Interac: An Objective Comparison

When comparing JET vs Interac, there are many different factors to take into account.  For the curious, enterprising ALT, I'll give the short answer:  If money's your game and you're feeling lucky, apply to JET.  Or go to Las Vegas.  Is there really a life changing difference between JET and Interac?  No.

In the first collaborative post between myself and The Sushi Complex, read on for the full comparison between JET, a government-run ALT provider, and Interac, the representative for private ALT dispatch companies!