Another question I get asked quite a lot is how I manage to connect with the people around me? Especially when the language barrier is so high. The answer is pretty easy actually, though it requires some work on your part.
Music, food, and anime.
Music is the perfect way to connect with your coworkers. Ask them for music recs, have them play you their favourite songs, A LOT of your job will likely include karaoke so get to know who sings what. Your kids like music too so ask them what they listen to! Check them out yourself! I had some kids burn me a CD of their favourite songs and it was probably one of the best mix CDs I’ve ever received.
Food is another great way to connect to people. Especially if you live in Hokkaido. Talk about your favourite foods and get to know everyone elses’. Ask them what this is called and what’s that? Eat everything they give you and go to the resturants they recommend. Food is a HUGE part of culture and your interest in theirs will solidify your bond. You’ll get invited out to eat in no time!
Lastly, if you’re having trouble connecting with the kids, figure out their favourite animes (look at their pencases, clear files, etc.) and ask them about that. If you show up one day knowing the name of that obscure character someone has on their clearfile, you’ll be popular in no time. Make games that use the knowledge of their interests. Let me tell you, I knew nothing about One Piece and Osomatsu-san when I got here but now I’m a technical expert (I haven’t watched/read either of them, but it’s on my list) I just read the wiki pages and asked them a lot of questions.
You have to take an interest in the people around you, that’s what makes all the difference in whether your experience will be a life-changing one or a mediocre one.
And one last thing, DON’T disparage anyone’s hobby/interest. I actually hate Justin Bieber and Taylor Swift and Frozen but you know what? That doesn’t matter, I have an obligation to nurture my kids’ interests in other cultures and music is a great way to do that. I even learned to sing “Let it Go” for our staff Christmas party and WOW were they ever excited. You don’t have to like the things the people around you do, but getting to know what those things are and understanding that they are valuable to them, will bring you a long way.
Below is a handy list of things the kids are into these days to get you started but you’ll find your kids are into all sorts of weird things.
Foreign Music
Taylor Swift, Justin Bieber, Carly Rae Jepson, One Direction, Big Bang (Korean), High School Musical (probably just JHS)
Anime
One Piece, Dragonball Super, Osomatsu-san, Haikyuu!!, Yokai Watch, Pokemon, Parasite,
Other things
Snoopy and Charlie Brown, Disney (and Pixar), Trains, Bikes, Minecraft, Vocaloid
So in the beginning I had a lot of confusion over what my actual job was. Was I a teacher or a tape-recorder? A mentor or a desk-warmer? I’ve come to a couple conclusions since then.
My actual job is to try and inspire interest in other cultures and other parts of the world. Japan is an island country and their relationship with the rest of the world has been different than those of us who grew up in North America, for instance, and had a lot of exposure to other people from other cultures.
Hopefully it doesn’t happen, but it IS possible that the only foreigner your students ever meet is YOU. And you know what? I think that might be why we’re hired.
I know a lot of us came here hoping to be teachers and hoping to teach grammar and spelling and stuff. But I challenge you to leave those notions behind. You know what? Leave that stuff to their actual teacher, of course, help out when you can and make fun games to try and get the grammar points across, sure, but at the end of the day, try to be an experience. Try to foster a curiosity and a respect for other cultures because that’s something you are incredibly well-suited to by virtue of your situation and something their other teachers may not be able to do.
Get out of the classroom. Go to their soccer games, go to their brass band concerts, show an actual interest in them and they will become interested in YOU. Talk to them in English but also don’t let the tricky ones get away just because they hate English. There is more to learning about other cultures than having to learn English. (tbh a lot of this English-pushing rings very colonialist to me).
I personally take a special interest in those kids who hate English. I try to at least get them excited about foreign foods/candy or foreign games. I try to get them interested in ME because I don’t really care if they don’t learn English or think they’ll never use it. I just want them to take an interest in the world or at least the people in it. Why the hell else would a company pay to fly me across the world just to stand in a classroom three hours a day?
“Is it easier to learn Japanese in Japan?”
Let me tell you, it really depends on your definition of ‘easy’.
The easy answer is, you are certainly more ‘motivated’. Because you need to survive somehow and figuring out how to ask for help or order food becomes a necessity. But I don’t believe that that is ‘easier’ for some people. If you have social anxiety jumping in with both feet may not be the option you’re looking for.
This may depend on where you’re placed but if you’ve imagined a big welcoming group of people welcoming you to their country and eagerly offering to help you learn Japanese... you might be horribly disappointed. Teachers, offices, and people in general are very busy. No one really has the time to teach the newcomer Japanese, especially for free. You can hire someone probably, but you can do that in your home country as well.
Obviously being ‘immersed’ speeds up the process. You will learn faster than in a classroom but again that is because you HAVE to. For some people (myself included) it certainly ‘seems’ easier. I didn’t like classroom learning and so this was a better option for me. I’ve reached the point where I can communicate with anyone on simple topics, BUT I work hard everyday and take the (yes, I know awful) JET language course, because I realized communicating isn’t good enough for me anymore. I want to UNDERSTAND the language and you really can’t do that without an actual teacher.
Immersion works because you put yourself in a ‘sink or swim’ situation. If you’re not able to handle pressure well or the isolation of the first few months, it’s definitely not ‘easier’ than learning in a classroom.
I found a Walmart-Esque shop in Japan! It's called Apita and it's a 5 minute train ride away and so worth it. It also has a Daiso in it. It was actually my first time going to Daiso and I bought so much stuff ^~^"
One of the hardest things to come to terms with on JET was that the people in your community might not help you out at all.
For some reason I was under the impression that I would have this load of people to practice Japanese with and get tons of advise from the locals. But the reality is no one really wants to be the new JET babysitter. For the most part you are expected to adjust on your own. The sooner you understand that, the easier it is to get accustomed to your new life, gain your independence, and the easier it is to realize when you actually should ask for help.
In the beginning, don’t worry about it. The first two weeks are a bit of a write off and the people around you (BOE, coworkers, other JETS) SHOULD be helping you settle in. But after about a month, if you haven’t asked all the questions you need answers for, it gets A LOT harder to ask. Just because everyone is busy and everyone thinks you’re someone else’s responsibility. This was the hardest part for me because I felt like I was completely co-dependent and at the same time, no one had time to help me.
Believe it or not but a lot of the stuff you have to learn is through trial and error. Your lesson plans with go through this process and so will your life in general. For example, I had to try four different times before I finally got the hang of asking for stamps (this is because my Japanese level is low).
Some people WILL get an incredible BOE with people who are more than willing to help you or do you favours, but just don’t come like I did expecting everyone was going to hold my hand. Try to solve your own problems first and try to prioritize. Then when you actually DO need someone to hold your hand, you might have a better idea of who to ask. (Sometimes it’s your BOE, sometimes it’s other JETS, sometimes it’s your JTEs).
If you need a way to get around this, I suggest spreading it out. Don’t always go to the same person to ask for help unless you really feel like you can.
So that bittersweet feeling I was talking about the other day is finally kicking in. Only 26 days left in the US and then it's Japan and I'm so excited but I also had my last day of work on Friday and I cried saying goodbye to my coworkers. They are all so genuinely nice and caring and they made me a card wishing me all the very best and found me on FB to keep in touch and I'll really miss them T-T it was my first real job outta retail and they treated me like family and I know they know that this is so I can advance my career in the future and they are supportive but I still felt it when I said goodbye. I'm almost positive that's how it's going to be like for the rest of month with everything. A complete mix of "Yes! I'm living the dream :D " and "Fuck it, I'm going to miss everything T-T"
Short answer: maybe. Should you? I dunno. But here’s my experience NOT knowing Japanese. One thing is for sure, you WILL learn Japanese. Hopefully that is one of your goals in moving here.
So long story short, I took a university Japanese class once and then several years later I moved to Japan. But hey! I’m surviving!
The first month was hard. Not so hard I wanted to go home, but it was frustrating to have all your independence stripped because you can’t even form a coherent sentence. I couldn’t go to the bank or post office alone, I could barely go shopping for groceries, I couldn’t understand my bosses or most of my teachers, I couldn’t answer my phone, and I had no idea what anyone expected from me (other than what was in my contract) because NO ONE in my area spoke English. There were many, many, many misunderstandings on everyone’s part. Usually there is at least ONE person who knows English, but I wasn’t that lucky.
Step one: DON’T PANIC. and get good at charades. I don’t think I understood a thing my first week here and everything was mimed. Anything anyone said is as good as gone. I survived by observing everyone else and doing what everyone else was doing (in terms of greetings, bowing, paying for items/shopping, etc.) You become very good at watching. This will be your life for a while.
Step two: Start studying! The Jet Programme should have given you a small book of basic Japanese pre-departure. If you didn’t, I suggest learning hiragana and katakana first. And write down common phrases/words you hear on a daily basis. Teach yourself words that are relevant to your life right now. The phrases I heard the most were “narimashitaka?” (basically: have you adjusted to life in Japan?) and “atsuidesune?” (isn’t it hot?). Small talk is small talk. Weather, hobbies, food. Arm yourself with small talk. It’s easy and it’s useful.
Step three: Take the Language Course. You will hear all sorts of nay-saying about the Jet Language Course, but I have largely noticed it’s only the people who’ve already studied a lot of Japanese and aren’t very self-motivated that find it unsatisfactory. It was a LIFE SAVER for me. It was nice having a focus for my studies and vocab lists I could practice. Every time I learned a new word, I would hear it the very next day in casual conversation! Obviously I was very self-motivated because I couldn’t stand being helpless. I passed the course with flying colours while my friends didn’t bother because they already knew enough Japanese to get by and couldn’t see the point in studying.
Advantages of NOT knowing Japanese?
Believe it or not, there ARE some. For one thing, I got to skip the awkward ‘polite’ stage. I got to skip all the formalities and move straight to casual speech. This might not seem like a lot, but in Japan, the way you talk means something. And lucky for me, my friendly speech (because it was the only thing I could manage) meant everyone was more friendly to me. I got to call people by their nicknames and be ‘friendly’ faster than any of my peers who were good at Japanese. Some told me they were jealous I got to come out of the gate ‘friends with everyone’ already.
People will help you more. My friends have told me their BOEs assumed they spoke perfect Japanese because they could say basic sentences and then left them sort of to fend for themselves. At least in my position, they had to hold my hand the whole way lol.
Everyone witnesses your progress. I’ve gone from zero to JLPT N5 in 9 months. If anything, it’s proven to all my coworkers that I’m a hard worker. My coworkers are always delighted when I can make a joke with them or understand their questions now. Hard to believe that just 9 months ago, I had no idea what they were saying.
(Might) improve relationships with students! In my case, it’s ‘humanized’ me. They are struggling to learn English while I struggle to learn Japanese. Sometimes we help each other and sometimes we rag on each other for not understanding something ‘simple’. It can be pretty fun sometimes. I love getting the kids who hate English to help me with kanji because it becomes a relationship outside of “English class” where they would otherwise be reluctant to talk to me.
It’s easier to meet English speakers. Because people will feel sorry for you and think you’re lonely, they will introduce you to people in the community who can understand English. The people are really nice, they just want to make sure you’re okay. I also personally think the said English speakers get a kick out of being the only person around who can understand you. It’s validating, I imagine.
Instant forgiveness! Sometimes I mess up and no one ever lectures me because they know I’m not going to understand. I’m not sure if this is a good thing, I try hard to not mess up but when I do, I quickly apologize and things continue as normal. I can’t help but feel that if I understood more Japanese, I would get an earful every time I did something wrong. (At least I know my pred got this treatment. They were fluent in Japanese and got lectured quite a bit)
Get out of awkward things. Drunk guy trying to talk to you? Sales man trying to sell you unwanted stuff? Weirdo hitting on you? Cold calls on your phone? I just say “nihongo dekinai” (I can’t speak Japanese) and that usually cuts the conversation off immediately. Very handy. Maybe even try it if you CAN speak Japanese.
So I know I don't leave until the end of July and I still got, pretty much, a whole month before I leave but it still hasn't hit me yet. I still have not felt that sense of feeling when you pick up your whole life and move away from all that you've known. I've packed my bags but I don't feel like any of this is actually real. Like ok maybe in the upcoming days it'll hit me but as of now, I don't feel like if I'm moving across the world on my own to Japan. I'm excited at the thought of adventure, of getting to know another culture, of being able to help people learn a language because there is nothing I can think as more satisfying than helping people out but the excitement isn't completely there. I just feel meh right now
