Comments by "Gordon Graham" (@gordonbgraham) on "Why Foreign Women Struggle Dating In Japan" video.

@CWalthallBrand There's your answer as to why foreign women aren't taken to be serious relationship material in Japan
20
I highly recommend focusing on becoming functionally literate in Japanese. If you do you can enter a teaching licensing program at a Japanese university, which upon completion would give you the credentials for a full-time salaried teacher. The pay is far greater than that of ALTs
19
@yourlocalhuman3526 Japan ranks 25th in the world for hours worked per annum. Not everyone works in the corporate towers of Shinjuku. High school teachers get 40 days paid holidays a year above and beyond national holidays...and there are a lot of national holidays! As of 3 years ago, MEXT made it mandatory for teachers to have 2 days off a week, which aren't included in holidays. Times have changed
9
@brianc21324 The key is to get a teaching license from a Japanese university. However, it took me a full 15 years to become literate enough to do so. If you can manage to get a teaching license from a Japanese university your pay will substantially increase and you will have the same remuneration package, including bi-annual bonuses and 40 days paid holidays per annum above and beyond national holidays.
8
@VanillaCoke1956 The key is to parlay your ALT job into a full-time teaching position. However, to do that you have to become fully literate in Japanese in order to obtain a teaching license from a Japanese university. My school gave me a year’s hiatus and an interest free loan for the tuition. Once you become a full-time teacher your remuneration is commensurate with your experience retroactively. It took me a full 15 years to do that but it was well worth it. I now make the equivalent of $70,000 USD with bi-annual bonuses, 40 paid vacation days above and beyond national holidays and will receive a severance package of more than $100,000 upon retirement. It’s a struggle to attain native speaker literacy, but the reward is worth it. In the meantime being an ALT is a kind of kush gig with very little responsibility.
7
@yourlocalhuman3526 Most Japanese work standard 40 hour work weeks. That's the general way of life here. Myopic videos or "documentaries" point their cameras at sectors such as finance, marketing or agriculture in which overtime is rampant throughout the world and make the claim "this is Japan". Well, that is Japan for a small percentage of Japanese. To extrapolate that to "the Japanese" or "work-life in Japan" is either naive or outright disingenuous. Work life in Japan is pretty smooth actually, primarily because most Japanese take their duties seriously so others don't get bogged down due to co-worker lag etc.
6
@miss.paula1111 Whatever sector you are in I recommend becoming functionally literate in Japanese. Otherwise, don't expect to advance in the workplace. Imagine not being able to read and write English and expecting to advance in the workplace in the UK or North America.
5
@Jonah Whale Houses in Japan are inexpensive and not that small. You can see an example of what you can buy for $150,000 USD, 50 minutes from the heart of Tokyo on a 1/4 lot if you click on my face. Also, my son, a university student, rents an apartment in Ikebukuro for $400 a month! Imagine renting an apartment in the centre of London, New York or Toronto for that! Impossible for even 3 times that!
5
@miss.paula1111 Just shut out the noise and follow your heart. I absolutely love it here. I originally planned to come here for 2 years. That was 30 years ago. I loved it so much I stayed for good. Moving to Japan from Canada was the best decision I've ever made. I was an ALT with low pay of the first 15 and loved it in spite of the salary. As some have pointed out, there are other opportunities here. I also run a youth ice hockey program. You may hear a lot of negative things about the work culture in Japan, but working as an ALT is a walk in the park and with the low rent in Japan, there's plenty of money left for travelling etc. Don't let other people's negativity dissuade you. The only advice I have other than to keep your positive attitude is to learn how to read and write as it will open up opportunities for you that otherwise wouldn't be available. Gambatte!
4
@mnmaddict37532 That all depends on your qualifications and what sector you are in. There are plenty in finance who have 6 figure salaries. I have two foreign friends who have done very well, one an engineer from Nigeria, another a Canadian who became the national marketing manager for EPSON. If you are a manual labourer or an ALT who can't read or write Japanese, then you will most certainly not get rich...in any country.
4
@matteoferrandino3348 Houses in Japan are inexpensive and not that small. You can see an example of what you can buy for $150,000 USD, 50 minutes from the heart of Tokyo on a 1/4 lot if you click on my face. Also, my son, a university student, rents an apartment in Ikebukuro for $400 a month! Imagine renting an apartment in the centre of London, New York or Toronto for that! Impossible for even 3 times that!
4
@imanifestedthat ALT pay sucks, but not full-time teacher's pay.
3
How many types of foreign women are there in Japan
2
@Jonah Whale 30 years old, no mould, no foundation cracks, hardwood floors throughout, except for tatami rooms, tiles in bathroom and kitchen in mint condition with no mould in the grout, brand new stainless kitchen counter and sink, deep jacuzzi tub with bay window,two toilets, 3 bedrooms, an extra study, two living rooms, a western style and a Japanese style, a kiwi vine that bears more fruit than I know what to do with a blueberry bush that does the same, two tangerine trees, 4 persimmon trees parking for 10 cars, a 15 minute walk to the station and yes, reliable train service 50 minutes into Ikebukuro, and the buzz and throng of the hive...for $150,000 USD...roughly the cost of a new Land Cruiser.
2
@Jonah Whale 30 years ago. 50 minutes from Ikebukuro, the heart of Tokyo. 50 minutes from Manhattan or downtown Toronto, where I’m from would have cost at least 10 times as much.
2
@MFSPORTS There's also $1 a plate sushi with free green tea, $3 beef on rice bowls and under $5 lunch sets throughout Japan.
2
Most white women in Japan are fat, so the "Hollywood" image of Western woman soon gets replaced by "Woahh...Yappari...Japanese women are lovely". While Japanese women tend to see white men as a ticket out of Japan.
2
@Landoverse Check out OECD, hours worked per annum by country. Japan currently ranks 28th on the planet for hours worked per annum. Those hours reflect the national average (not everyone works in the corporate towers of Shinjuku in sectors like finance or marketing in which overtime is rampant throughout the world). Those numbers dovetail well with Japan Rail's numbers that show the busiest hour in train stations throughout Japan is between 5~6pm...indicating that's when most people are returning home.
2
@Landoverse Have you checked out those OECD stats? Japan ranks 28th in the world for hours worked per annum. All of North America, much of South America and Europe work more. There's a reason train stations throughout Japan are busiest between the hours of 5~7pm. That's when most people are returning home.
2
@Landoverse Yes, from 5:30 to 7:30. One look at any video regarding rush hour in any train station in Tokyo with the clock reading 6pm will show platforms full of suits. As for my own anecdote, I run a youth ice hockey program with 70 kids. I’ve run the program for 20 years. I can say in all honesty roughly 80% of the kids are driven to practice, games and tournaments by their fathers. We practice at 8pm on weekdays and 7 am and 9pm Saturdays and Sundays year round. For tournaments and games we travel and stay at Yado, Sports specific inns. Clearly, the fathers on our kids’ hockey teams aren’t working a lot of overtime. Certainly, there are sectors in which overtime is rampant, such as finance, marketing and agriculture, but that’s true of anywhere on the planet. On average Japanese work standard 40 hour work weeks.
2
@Jonah Whale The house has been through several earthquakes including 2011. Traditional Japanese houses are built with interlocking joints that move and absorb the shock, so the buildings don't collapse like more rigid structures do. We're living in the property, not in the garden, and it's a nice comfortable property at that. The 2 main reasons housing is so cheap is, one...Japanese women are very particular about personal space, "lived in" is anathema to most of them (they're like felines who mark their territory), they want brand new homes, cars, etc. (which is why I could buy a 1988 Nissan Laurel in mint condition with only 80,000 km for under $5000, and two...the ageing demographic, meaning many homes are left abandoned due to the elderly dying off. There are perfectly good homes in excellent condition for $200,000 or less. Certainly, one needs to be discernible and have the house inspected for termites, wood rot, mould and structural damage, but that's a given. There are countless homes in excellent condition on premium lots less than an hour from the centre of Tokyo.
1
@Jonah Whale my home has been built with interlocking joints, in the traditional manner. We humans are all animals, men and women alike and we have our traits. Anyway, I’m thrilled with my home, humble though it may be. Coming from Toronto, Canada from a working class background I never imagined that I could own a home. The beauty is, we have no mortgage payments because it was so cheap we bought it flat out. We paid half and her parents gave us the rest. Sweet! Anyway, that’s my home. There are plenty of new homes that can be bought for under $300,000. The average cost of a new home in Tokyo is $400,000. The average cost of a new home in Toronto is 1M
1
@Jonah Whale There are plenty of decent 1LDK apartments within a half hour from central Tokyo for around 4万 ($400) per month in places like Kawagoe.
1
@adventurousdaydreamer I'm from Canada where the taxes are twice as high
1
@thetruth9952 Well, I planned on staying in Japan anyway so either it was a matter of looking back after 15 years wishing I had done something (to improve my status in the education system in order to make more money) while just remaining in an ALT position making less than half as much as I do now or being pro-active and actually doing something like getting a teaching degree from a Japanese university which put me on another rung in terms of remuneration (teaching degrees from a foreign country are non-transferrable). The time and effort was well spent. Besides, I enjoyed the entire process of learning. I find it aesthetically rewarding as well as financially beneficial.
1
@kristinab1078 Teachers make more money...ALTs make the same. Certainly, one could make far more teaching private lessons.
1