u/RedditStoryTella

Hello! As the title says I'm an American with an American passport but I live in Japan. I'm wanting to take a trip to South Korea but just wanna know if I need to do any immigration stuff like I had to do when coming to Japan.

When I moved to Japan, whether you're visiting temporary or moving here you have to fill out this travel form telling them where you'll be staying and for how long and prove you have a flight back to America (if you're visiting). Is there an immigration form like this for South Korea that I need to fill out online before coming? And does me currently living in Japan change anything/make me have to fill out something extra by chance?

Also, is there anything else I need to do/know about before visiting South Korea? Thank you!

I recently found out about the bulgarian rose capsules that make your poops and farts smell like roses lol so I'm wondering what other unique products are in Japan as I'd love to try them

I will be visiting Osaka for the first time on a few weeks and want to bring back omiyage for all the teachers at school! Since this is my first time going to Osaka I have no idea what is popular there. Any suggestions?

I will be visiting Osaka for the first time on a few weeks and want to bring back omiyage for all the teachers at school! Since this is my first time going to Osaka I have no idea what is popular there. Any suggestions?

I just want to encourage those of you who are thinking about coming to Japan to teach English whether you plan to stay short term or long time to definitely just go for it. You'll always find posts here being super negative about the experience, though I do think its important to have a well rounded POV before deciding to come so the "horror stories" are somewhat necessary, but I've noticed positive encouraging posts are a little more rare

For one, teaching in Japan is such a unique opportunity for you to be able to live like the locals, experience the culture, learn a new language, and meet new people.

At the end of the day we all only live once and I was one of the people that came to Reddit for answers before deciding to move here and so many people tried to talk me out of doing this and even would get mad when I said I was still going to Japan. Had I listened to those people I would have never gotten the experiences I've had here so far.

Traveling to different prefectures has been so fun, partying in Tokyo from time to time has been a blast, the other English teachers I've met and made friends with have been great, and some people will say the pay is absolutely garbage but I disagree? Maybe thats because in America its more of a struggle to pay bills but here in Japan with what I make teaching I'm able to pay rent and all of my bills and have over 100k yen leftover. To some people thats nothing but I don't feel that way. I've gone to Tokyo for a whole weekend multiple times with that and still had money leftover lol so to each its own I guess

As for the job itself I love my school, I love all my JTEs and I love the kids they're soo funny. So many people told me I'd hate the job itself and I havent felt that way

Moral to the story is, don't solely rely on what you're told on Reddit or any social media platform when it comes to making your decision to move here. Just do it and experience it for yourself and then decide how YOU like it. Your experience won't be the same as someone else's experience. Go for it!

I'm an American thats about to complete my first year as an ALT in Japan! I'm very interested in working in different countries every few years or so, and the next country I'd like to work in is China. I've already looked up some information on being an ALT in China already, but wanted the thoughts/opinions/advice from real people that have already done it or are currently doing it to compare how accurate in info I found is.

So I've read things like the requirements are similar to the ones expected of you to have in Japan, except a TEFL certification seems to be required for China rather than optional like in Japan. I do have a TEFL certification already that I got before moving to Japan, so either way its fine for me. Another requirement I saw is having at least 2 years teaching experience. By the time I'd be ready to make the move to China (which will be after next year) I will have over 2 years experience working as an ALT.

The main questions I have are about what I read about housing for teachers being provided. Is this true? I also hear you can possible make more money in China as a teacher vs Japan, is this also true? I'm also wondering where a good place to start to look for job openings would be for China. Which websites should I visit and which companies are good/bad?

Any advice/information you're willing to give me would be super helpful!

(I will say, if your advice is going to be something like "dont go to China" or something, please keep that to yourself. I had those same types of comments on my posts asking about being an ALT in Japan, I love my job here and I love living in Japan. I'm wanting these jobs for the experiences, good or bad, I cannot be talked out of going altogether so dont waste your breath. If you're just itching to convince someone otherwise, then find a post thats open to that type of advice. This post isnt one of them.)