The good news/ The bad news
There will be a train taking where you want to go when you want to go there/ It will seem like the whole world wants to get on that train too
Eating out is cheap/ Drinking is expensive
The students are nice/ But dull
The students will appreciate everything you do in class/ You won’t be able to tell the difference between a good lesson and any other
The students are very willing to learn/ But unlikely to do so
The students try very hard/ Which makes their lack of progress kind of tragic
The staff everyone put their heart and soul into serving you/ You might have to do the same for them
People bowing at you all the time makes you feel like a king/ Bowing all the time makes you feel like an idiot
Japan is very safe/ You’ll be afraid for your life every time you leave Japan
You can learn to read Italian restaurant menus quite quickly with just a week or so of studying Katakana/ You might still never understand what dishes names like “cream soda” and “hayashi rice” might be
Almost everyone can speak some English/ Almost everyone is too shy to do so
People don’t hassle you and generally leave you alone/ This can mean moving away from you on the train
The pay is good/ So are the shops
The kids’ classes are incredibly cute/ None of the parents will let you adopt their children
Eating out is quick, cheap and doesn’t have to be unhealthy/ You may never cook again
The bad news/ the good news
Your donut might be full of red bean ‘jam’ or curry/ You’ll probably get used to it, and might learn to love it
Some of your students will be rather dull/ But most of them will be very nice, and many will be nice to look at too
You’ll teach lots of low level students/ You’ll get very good at talking slowly and carefully to strangers
Japanese is a fiendishly difficult language/ It’ll always keep you busy
The Japanese are obsessed with cuteness/ ….which is kinda cute
Not many people appreciate decent music/ You can buy second hand decent music incredibly cheap
Japanese television seems to be written for morons with a 5 second attention span/ Even with minimal Japanese, you’ll have
no problems concentrating on it, and probably understand a good bit too
There are often no English language signs in the station/ At least that avoids the atrocious English
The western food is never entirely western/ That makes it much more amusing
As usual very funny and very true from my limited time there.
So very true,
I think the good far outweighs the bad. The Donut filling always caught me out so I turned to Melon Pan which never disappoints!
i agree… funny and close to my experience while in China.
best piece of writing I’ve seen in a long time!
I really hope for your sake that isn’t true, Kev. Are you a spammer?
Pretty much spot on!
Sometimes everything seems fine, but suddenly it turns on you & you find everything is not fine…. That smiling, polite student may well be totally disliking your teaching style, the lesson, and may well be complaining about you to your boss. Viceversa, that unhappy looking student may really respect you and your class.
What you say to your students may well be enjoyed & taken in confidence/What you say will spread like wildfire among the students.
In a nutshell do your best to teach good lessons, but do not trust the students.