All the old posts from the old Your-Japan.com on the Your-Japan Blog Network

Not that anyone really noticed, but I skipped town for the last four days to head up to Nikko (read: cooler mountainous area) for some hot springs fun. I also brought my laptop along, mistakenly thinking that I would have a chance to post from a more natural setting than Tokyo. What I forgot (and this is entirely my own fault) was that while Tokyo is one of, if not the most technologically advanced city in the world, the rest of Japan somehow missed the boat. Oh well, even though I couldn’t connect to the internet I still was able to catch up on some episodes of House M.D. (one of the few tv shows I actually kind of follow). This also has the added fun of having my ladyfriend ask me to translate parts of the show to her ("How do you say sickle cell anemia in Japanese?" "……I think my dictionary s’over here…").

We went down to the main part of Nikko, which took a few hours by bus and train (it¡Çs a big area) in order to get to this place called Edo-Mura (or literally Edo-town). For those not ‘in the know,’ Edo was what Tokyo was called back in the Tokugawa/Meiji periods. It was pretty surprising to me though, because it was the first time I’ve ever seen Japan package its own culture and sell it back to itself. I mean, they had ninja training houses, geisha courts, etc., basically everything needed to cheese-out their own culture. It kind of felt like a renaissance fair back in the states, but more fake and marketed towards children. I can see them packaging their culture and selling it to foreigners (they¡Çve done that countless times), but this was the first time I’ve seen it ‘for Japanese, by Japanese.’ Go figure.

Job hunting seems to be a little slower this week because of Obon. I had an interview at hotel number two today which went well. Two of their hiring managers sat down with me and took turns asking me questions, one in Japanese and one in English. I have to admit, it was a little weird going back and forth every minute. Usually I feel more comfortable setting the dial internally and sticking with a single language for a little while, especially for sticky situations like interviews. It turned out well though, and they said they’ll get back to me in a few days (they always say they’re going to call but they never do. They don’t really love me.)

I have one other piece of really good news. I got offered a position at investment company number two! I only really know which department the position is in, so I’m going back on Wednesday morning to talk with them about the job specifics and hammer out the details. Nothing is set yet though.

I got an interview with another investment company (number five) through one of the recruiting agencies here in Tokyo, so I’ll be going to that interview before the one at investment company two on Wednesday.

So…Wednesday is pretty packed, but other than that my week is completely free. I’m looking forward to finding out the specifics on the offer so I can compare it to the first one and see what it is I’m actually looking for in a job, what is reasonable to ask for, etc.

As I’ve been writing this blog I’ve felt kind of bad for keeping this all anonymous. I guess it doesn¡Çt really help people figure out how to get a job in Japan unless I actually post the names of services I used and so forth. I’d actually post the names of companies if I wasn’t worried about you ambitious readers going out there and taking my jobs *suspicious face* I’ve actually tried (and failed) at several blogs throughout high school and college based on this whole ‘how much do I disclose’ issue. If you reveal too much, well, let’s just say there are some aspects of your life that others just don’t really prefer to read about. If you don’t tell enough of the story, well then, that’s just boring. I think I finally decided that a good rule of thumb is tell it like you would be telling a friend at a crowded bar. You can pretty much tell them the story, but just be aware that other people will probably overhear you and check yourself accordingly. Well, as soon as this job hunt is finished, I’ll give people the scoop of exactly what I did to get a job in Japan (with only a tourist visa no less). And of course, if people email me directly I¡Çll be more than happy to help.

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