I don’t know, but I’d guess so because they have a few bowling alleys in Beijing. It’s expensive though, but it is becoming more popular. Makes for a good date that most people here have never tried before.
My average goes down when I do that, I just want to bowl on another continent
Hah. I can’t blame you for thinking I was still in school. I did actually graduate last september, after 6 years at UCLA. But in most ways, it’s like I’m still in school. I still live at the frat house (we’re a small house, so we always have rooms for alumni) and I still have the same job I had as a student.
Yeah, I really need to move on with my life.
Well, if you love Japan so much and really want to move on from things, why don’t you look into getting a job teaching English in Japan? I normally try to discourage people from teaching in Japan for a couple reasons. First, the market is totally saturated with teachers in Japan. There are more teachers willing to go than there are positions. This doesn’t mean it’s actually hard to find a job, it isn’t. Many of the people who want to go don’t even have a degree, which is essential for teaching in Japan (you can’t get a VISA without it). But you can earn more money for less work in Korea or Taiwan. And of course, for the more daring, there is also China (but I’d read my last thread pretty closely before coming to work here, heh). But Japan is the most “advanced” of the Asian societies, and probably the easiest to adjust to, and of course many people simply like Japanese culture.
It’s not a bad gig. I have a good friend working there now in a smaller city called Niigata. He’s quite happy and will be staying another year. If you’re interested at all, toss me a PM. I know most all of the agencies by now, and of course my friend would be more than willing to give some advice. May or June is when you’d want to start applying, because positions tend to start around September (obviously). Anyway, see how you feel on the vacation, it’s at least worth thinking about.
Yeah, you pretty much talked about what was going through my mind as I was nearning graduation. The one thing that put me off somewhat about teaching in Japan was stories my dad would tell me about working for a Japanese boss, who apparently ran the company pretty Japanese-like. The manager probably thinks he was very permissive and Americanized, but my dad says it was still pretty bad. The way the Japanese companies run, they are like your family. True, there are benefits, they really look out for you, but like your parents (in Asian cultures) their word is final. If they want you to stay late at work into ungodly hours every day, you do it. If you’re not super-ecstatic and grateful to them about even having a job, you’ve got an attitude problem. He tells me their method of “motivation” is to constantly put you and your work quality down, in the hopes that you’ll feel ashamed and then try to work even harder.
Of course, I should have realized this is just one person’s point of view. It probably depends a lot on where you work. I imagine a foreigner teaching English would be treated differently… and maybe the difference would wind up being a net positive. Supposedly the kids are very well-behaved.
At any rate, I think a first-hand visit to Japan would tell me a lot. Maybe not that much about the workplace environments, but I have a friend who’ll be starting an English-teaching job there (coincidentally starting on the same day I’m arriving in Japan) so I’ll ask her about her experiences.