Comments by "Gordon Graham" (@gordonbgraham) on "What is the Harsh Reality in Japan ?" video.

@ShikokuFoodForest I was an ALT in my high school for 15 years. It took a full 15 years to become literate enough to have taken a hiatus in order to obtain my teaching license from a Japanese university. As you know, a teaching degree from a foreign country is non-transferrable. My school gave me a year's hiatus and an interest-free loan for the tuition. Upon completion, I was promoted to full-time teacher status and my salary more than doubled. I also have 40 holidays a year above and beyond sick days and national holidays. As of 3 years ago MEXT has made it mandatory for teachers to have 2 days off a week (not included in the 40 days off per annum). I obtained my teaching license from Rikkyo University. A hand-written 2000 word essay in Japanese on 2nd language acquisition and its pedagogy was a prerequisite to satisfy the language requirement as all classes were in Japanese, including writing assignments. As a full-time teacher, correspondence with parents is a necessity. That requires the ability to communicate in written Japanese. There are also numerous tasks besides those related to the classroom that require written Japanese. Full-time teachers receive a bi-annual bonus of around 3 months salary, as well as a severance package of around $150,000 USD upon retirement, insurance etc. Your degree of literacy could have secured you the remuneration you had been denied.
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@atomixfang That's an odd perspective. What does being an outsider mean. I'm not an outsider to my wife. I'm not an outsider to the kids I coach in my ice hockey program (a program that has a 2 year waiting list). I'm not an outsider to my colleagues at work (my school gave me a year's hiatus and an interest free loan to get my teaching license from a Japanese university). I'm not an outsider to my good friends whose weddings I've attended and with whom I spend weekends with BBQing and hanging out. "You" may be an outsider...I don't know. Now, I'm not "Japanese", but I don't want to be Japanese. I'm perfectly happy being Canadian because that's who I am. What I'm not is "an outsider" to those who matter. To strangers I don't know or really care about...perhaps. But what is that to me? I'm very much "an insider" in my life.
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@capsulekitty I see your point. I can emphasize with you
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@ShikokuFoodForest Yes, I plan on remaining in Japan. I'm from Toronto where the winters are too harsh for me, despite my love for hockey and snowboarding. I recently purchased a 3 bedroom home on a 1/4 acre lot a 10 minute bike ride from my school. I'm in Higashimatsuyama, Saitama. I work for Tokyo University of Agriculture's Third High School. They've been absolute gold to me. As I've noted, they gave me a year hiatus and an interest free loan to obtain my teaching license. They've been very encouraging and supportive from the get go. Perhaps I have a skewed perception as a result of my good fortune to have found such a good school. I originally came here on the eikaiwa ticket, hired by a company called GEOS which is now defunct. I had no aspirations to come to Japan in the first place. I just happened to meet a friend from university who was working in Japan and was home for the summer in Toronto. I was working for Bell Mobility in a call centre...the job from hell. GEOS had a hiring office in Toronto. I got the info from my friend and a month later I was on a plane headed for Japan not even knowing "konnichi wa". I'd never given Japan the slightest thought prior to that. GEOS was a grind, so I can certainly empathize with you. They were a black company that treated their employees like crap. I got a mailing list of over 200 junior high schools and high schools and sent out my resume. I got 10 interviews from that and was successful in 3. I chose the school I've been at for the past 30 years. I absolutely love it here. My colleagues are friendly and supportive, the students are friendly and well-behaved (I couldn't imagine teaching in Canada) and we have a campus surrounded by greenspace on all sides, when you look out any window all you see is a wall of green. Anyway, I soon realized that I might stay so I got serious about learning to read and write in order to obtain a teaching license here. Most high school teachers only have 3~5 classes per day, 5 being a rare day, my heaviest day is 4 classes, so there was plenty of time to study...but learning to read and write at a native speaker level took a lot longer than I'd anticipated. Once you've invested so much time and effort it's difficult to let go, so I just persisted. Luckily I enjoy the aesthetic aspect of learning a 2nd language, so studying has been an enjoyable experience rather than a grind. Anyway, I think it greatly depends on luck and circumstance how one perceives Japan. I can appreciate the frustration of many foreigners here. Making new friends in adulthood is rare even in our own countries. With the language barrier and with most adults already ensconced in their own lives it's difficult to forge new, lasting friendships. I'm involved in coaching ice hockey, through which I've made some good friends, so I've had it easier than most. Now, I'm married with 5 kids so I'm very much like the Japanese in terms of not having any room or enough emotional energy left over to form any new close relationships. One of my sons goes to Tokyo International University where he has made some friends from abroad. He's made an especially good friend from Iran who spends a lot of Friday nights staying over. His father has had us over for BBQ. I think it's much easier for young people to make friends here. There are far more social situations for them to mingle and it's easier for young people to mingle as even I don't want to start up a conversation with a stranger. Anyway, thanks for your thoughtful and detailed response. I hope things work out for you whether you decide to stay or return to Canada. Cheers!
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You have a baby and a husband and you’re lonely?
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@a.s.1737 The biggest issue for a lack of advancement for foreigners in the workplace is the fact that most of them are functionally illiterate. Imagine not being able to read or write English and expecting to advance in the workplace in North America. Impossible
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Utopia is for children's books and dreams
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The harsh reality is unless you can read and write at a high school level, you won't be able to advance in the workplace. Which is the same in Europe and North America, but for some reason most foreigners don't think having high school level literacy applies to them.
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Japan ranks 27th in the world for hours worked per annum. Also, izakayas, parks, ski slopes, beaches, clubs etc. are packed with people socialising
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@ShikokuFoodForest Are you fully literate in Japanese. I don't mean can you read Sazaesan but can you read and write at a university level in Japanese. I can't imagine someone working in Canada who can't read and write getting promoted in any line of work that isn't manual labour.
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Canada has turned into autocracy...that's a harsh reality for Canadians who value their civil liberties.
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@67Stu I've never been to Osaka, but I've lived in Japan since 1988 and have found most Japanese to be very friendly. I've lived in Setagaya Ward, Tokyo, Chichibu Saitama and Kawagoe Saitama.
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