Coming to Japan - 1 year working Visa

[dutchy1978 0]

Hey guys,

My girlfriend and I are coming out to Japan in August on the 1 year working Visa but don't have any jobs yet. Just a couple of questions really. I want to get into working with an outdoors adventure company, I've no experience but am willing to start at the bottom and then in winter do a snowboarding instructor course. My girlfriend wants to teach English. Anyone know of any good places to go that has good snow in winter, a nice ex-pat community and is generally a nice place to live for a year? Thanks guys! Looking forward to it!

[midnightcharger2 0]

I have been out in the Nagano City area for about 3 years now. Nice little place, pretty close to about any mountain you would want to go to. There is Evergreen outdoor company which does year round sports. Not exactly sure but from stories of the place you would need some type of certification for different areas of expertise. Maybe some of the other regulars on this site can chime in on this.

 

Some resorts do also require certification for ski/snowboard instructing, but this does not go for every place. Having strong Japanese skills may help also.

 

Also for the teaching thing. One thing to be cautious about is that many schools are just starting up the new year. Most likely many schools will have full staff in august due to everyone signing on with companies and fullfilling a years contract. This may or may not make your search for English teaching jobs slightly more difficult. Make sure your gf has her degree as many schools require some college background. Once again this is not 100 percent for all schools.

 

 

Try to start looking for the jobs from your location first. Some companies will pay for your expenses to come to Japan, setup your housing, and utilites prior to you arriving. Best of luck to you both though.

 

FRANK

[dutchy1978 0]

Thanks alot for that! I'll look into anything i can on that..... Nagano....... how long does it take to get to the closest mountain, lets say for an evening run or whatever? What do you do out there? What kind of jobs do most people do when they come out there on the one year visa?

[big-will 7]

Hello and welcome.

 

You really do sound as though you know almost nothing at this stage. A bit of research will answer some of your main questions. Use the search on this forum and find out lots of stuff that way. Spend a while reading.

 

Do you speak Japanese? Being able to speak Japanese and having relevant qualifications will most certainly be a huge advantage.

 

http://www.snowjapanforums.com/ubbthreads.php/ubb/search

[dutchy1978 0]

You've hit the nail on the head! We were planning on going to South Korea to teach English but on our way their last year they changed the Visa legislation that meant we had to do an interview in our home country! Therefore we had to come all the way home even though we had flights booked to go to Korea. We went to Korea and figured we didn't like it so now we want to give Japan a go as it has an easier Visa process and we've heard lots of great things about the place!! Thanks for your advice, any idea where to start?

[big-will 7]

There's a page called start here on this site, it's a good introduction

 

http://www.snowjapan.com/e/start-here.html

[dutchy1978 0]

Thanks...... looking into it now!

[midnightcharger2 0]

I myself, like probably 90 percent of the foreign community are english teachers.

 

From my experience, there is no skill needed as a new teacher. The most important factor to most ET`s is being an entertainer while teaching English. Many schools will pick you up if they are hurting for a teacher without any problem, but your timing on coming here may leave you at a disadvantage as i previously posted. You have to be willing to work with kids as that is the vast majority of students that come through cram-schools (eikaiwas)

 

I would recommend that you have your priorities in order first. This country can suck your funds dry in a month if your not properly prepared. Worry about the snowboarding after securing a job. But to answer your question, the closest mountain from my home is about 30min away with others in the vacinity of less then an hour to just over an hour away.

 

Nagano area is stacked with mountains, but the issues you would run into is that majority of the learners are Japanese. Foreigners that either visit or live here are usually accustomed to skiing and snowboarding. So once again, if you plan on trying to work for an outdoor rec. company, your Japanese should be at a conversational level in order to communicate instructions to whom your teaching.