Who would shoot at people trying to rescue and help them in New Orleans?

Many Japanese are shaking their heads and wondering why there is so much
shooting and violence in New Orleans? Why do the rescuers and
police have to fear for their lives? Why was the scene in Kobe after
the huge earthquake there so much different? I get asked these questions
by a Japanese friend or student almost everyday now? What should I say?

In Kobe, Japanese and the foreign community there were models of how one
should act after a major disaster. People helped each other, they shared
their food. I`m sure there were a few rapes or murders but I think the key
word is few or very few.

The Thais too were fantasic apparently after the tsunami. There are many
reports of people being helped by Thais, of poor Thais sharing
their food with rich Westerners with no questions asked. That really
says a lot.

I`m sure there are many people helping each other in New Orleans too.
I`m sure there are many heroic stories, however there are obviously
a lot of problems and a lot of violence now. They say that New Orleans
is very dangerous after dark.

The mayor of New Orleans is livid. He is disgusted with the slowness
of the relief effort. It does make one wonder, that had America not
been so heavily committed in Iraq, would more lives have been saved
in New Orleans?

Yet the relief effort in Kobe was criticized for being slow too.
There was a feeling that the Japanese leadership wasn`t sure what to do.
Moreover there was a refusal for foreign help initially that probably wasn`t
wise.

My feelings are that there are many desperately poor people in large
American cities and when a disaster happens, it is their chance to
rectify the balance. “The rich are gone, so let`s rob their homes,”
seems to be the feeling of many poor black Americans.

I also think there is an undercurrent of frustration amongst many
African Americans; and when a disaster like Katrina happens, and the
relief effort by a caucasian American president is slow, that frustration
boils over, and with guns widely available, it leads to
violence.

In Japan the living standard is more equitable. We don`t see the
extremes of rich and poor that we see in America. The poor in Japan
while poor, are not as poor as their American counterparts. They aren`t as
desperately poor and they don`t have access to the weapons that
Americans do. The police in Japan have done an excellent job of
limiting access to guns, but more importantly to ordinance. If you have no
bullets, it is impossible to shoot. America would do well to study
the Japanese example.

My Japanese friends point to a difference in culture. They say
“We Japanese are farmers. Americans are hunters.” Is that really true?
Anyone who fought in Okinawa against the Japanese I`m sure would
laugh at such a comment. My father while abhorring war (he fought in
Europe) admired the Japanese soldier. He said they were amazingly
tenacious soldiers. The farmers of Japan were able to through down
their hoes pretty quickly, just ask China.

I think American society recently (the last 60 years) has been more violent
than Japan–that is true. But I don`t think Japan has been an example of
peace either. I think Japan`s recent history has been one of little crime
and violence, but I feel that is due to economics more than anything, and
that fact that it is very difficult to shoot a gun here. We do in fact have
a rising crime rate in Japan, and I think
most Japanese would agree that it has to do with economics, though
some Japanese will blame the Chinese in Japan first, then economics
second for the rise in crime.

If you compare Canada and America, while there are over 7 million
guns in Canada according to Michael Moore, we don`t see the prevalence of
gun violence that you have in America. I think it is a difference
in culture. It is a difference in thinking. It is also a difference
in desperation. Some of the African Americans are desperately poor.
There is something to be said for the social economic programs we
have in Canada. While we may be taxed a lot at times, I think we
have a much better country to live in than America.

Kevin Burns
http://www.eikaiwa1.com/jp.html

I think we can all be comfortable and successful anywhere we want. Japan may seem unfathomable to you, but to me it is just home. I have two homes now–Japan and Canada, but really the world is my home.
To the drunk, redneck who accosted a friend of mine in front of a local station saying, “America go home.” I would say, “the world is my home. Piss off!”

I could see myself living anywhere. Of course there would be an adjustment involved, but that is half the fun. I have three small children, whom I love very much, but if fate had been different, and we were a childless couple, I could forsee us travelling the world and living and teaching in different places. For now I will
dream about it, and do it one day when my children are older.

Wherever you live, I`m sure there are places or circumstances that are special to you. For me, one of them is my tennis class. I have known some of the members for many years now.

Satoru has just had a baby girl! When I expressed surprise as he showed me Takako`s photo with
his cell phone, he joked, “what, didn`t think I could do it?”
“No but viagra is miraculous,” I should have replied. He is 48 so we bug him about his age.
I`m so happy for him.

It wasn`t long ago that we were all wearing black and going to his wife`s funeral. She died of leukemia at 40, the age I am now. Masami`s sister was asked to donate bone marrow in a last ditch effort to save her,
but being a Jehovah Witness she refused to help her sister. That has always been one part of their religion I really don`t agree with. She was a good friend of my wife. My wife cried many tears for her, as did Satoru.
For a few years he was not himself. I can`t imagine what it is like to lose someone so close to you.

Yet today he has had a baby! He remarried a few years ago and now he is a pappa. It is funny how life
works out, or fate I would suggest. I think everything is meant to be. It may seem terrible at the time,
but in the end there is a reason. There I have revealed my buddhist bias to you. Satoru is such a great
guy that he promised to take care of his former wife`s parents, so he and his new wife and baby, live with
his previous wife`s mother. I`m sure it all works out well. Japanese are even surprised when I tell them this story.
I can`t even imagine living with my current wife`s mother, the wildebeast! I hope she doesn`t read this!
She`s probably grazing as we speak.

Takahashisan is a funny man! If he hadn`t gone into sales he could have been a comedian. There are a lot of
people like that. Often the funniest people you know, live right next door. Takahashi is one of them.
He and I like to joke around with each other. Although he is almost 50 and I am grudgingly 40, we act like
elementary school boys. The other day, while waiting for our turn to play tennis, he put his head on my
leg and pretended to sleep. I called for the tennis coach to complain that Takahashi was bugging me again.
This seems to be our pattern. He will throw balls at me and hit me in the leg. I do the same. Seeing this it
is hard to believe that I own a business and manage people. How old are they? I`m sure people are thinking..
He and I are still such kids, I think that is why our wives married us. I think when I am 80 I will still be a child in many ways. Don`t mean to brag! My wife`s friends tell her it must be hard raising four children (I am the third boy).

Hiroaki is an example of what a man should be to me. He is gentle yet strong. He is humorous and willing
to laugh at himself. He is the worst player in our class but he comes, has fun, and doesn`t seem to worry
about it. He always has something funny or good natured to say. About ten years ago he was worried he
was going to die. A doctor said he had cancer. After many more tests it was found that he was in good health.
He quit smoking though, and still doesn`t smoke till this day. My father, a former doctor says the tests
are so good now, they catch everything–from unimportant to life threatening. Often what they
catch can`t be explained but it won`t kill you. “What`s this on my arm?”
“We don`t know, but don`t worry about it!” Doctors don`t usually say this, they will say “Nothing.”
And that`s what you pay them for.

Mr. Yamaki talks to me about bushido and the samurai spirit. He is 60 and old enough to be my father.
He has a teenaged daughter and his wife is 40. He lived in California for 6 months picking (and mostly eating)
strawberries. He recently ran for the town council and lost. I would have voted for him had I been given the chance. He tells me I should get my haircut at Mr. Osada`s barber shop. I think he means my hair is too long now. He also wants to get across to me that in Japan loyalty is very important.
Mr. Osada is the team captain of our Tuesday tennis group, and by being a member of that group, I really owe it to him to have my haircut there.

In Japan there are all of these reciprical relationships that are sometimes hard to understand in the West. A friend calls them the three circles. In the first circle is your family, friends and co-workers. In the second
circle are potential people you may have a relationship with at some point–neighbours, or other employees at the same company for example. In the third group, are people you really don`t need to give a damn
about. Bang their head with your briefcase on the train “forget about it!” You don`t need to be polite or kind to these schmucks, you will never need them. You will never have a relationship with
them so why bother. That is the thinking here. That is why the rate of charity is so much lower in Japan than in the West. I won`t give to them, because I don`t know them. Homeless people– I could never be like that. Forget about it!

But if you are a member of the first circle, they will go to bat for you. They will help you if in need. You are one of the group, congratulations! You belong! Be you black, brown, Korean or caucasian, you are member of the first inner circle and you have made it.

So if you need a haircut, you come to me, if I, or my mother, or my neighbour need English lessons, we go to you. “Do ya get it?”

“Yes I do. A little off the sides please. Can you cover up that annoying grey?”

Times are tough now, I will get my hair cut at Mr. Osada`s. Hopefully I can gain a student or two through the relationship. I am still small town Canadian, when I bang someone on the train I say
sorry. Some Japanese do too, but often in Tokyo it gets ignored. I have been bodychecked and not heard a sorry. That`s big city Japan and sometimes small town Japan too if the relationship is one of the third circle.

In the West we pride ourselves on how we treat the most pathetic people. In Japan they don`t. It is all
about relationships and connections. If there is no relatioship between you, you are on the outside looking
in. It is all the more tragic to be homeless in Japan. I flub my backhand and send it into the net. I have got
to concentrate on tennis I tell myself.

Mr. Yamaki is another comedian. He frequently tries to embarrass me in front of my tennis mates.
Unfortunately for me, he usually succeeds. I enjoy being the centre of attention though.
As usual he speaks a very rapid dialect of Japanese I can`t understand and then asks me if I agree with what he just said. I either answer “yes I do,” or “I don`t understand what the hell you are
saying,” both always get a laugh. When I make a great shot, “He yells out, samurai spirit!” or “Lasto Samurai!”–the Japanese pronunciation of the English name of the Ken Watanabe, and Tom Cruise movie. I wonder if I have ever lived here before? As a young child, I really wanted to go to Japan.
“Bushido,” Mr. Yamaki yells before a big point for me. He was born in China during the war. But emphasizes that he is Japanese.

Naoto takes another drag on his Lucky Strike. He is my tennis instructor and philosopher. He is my friend. He`s a few years older and wiser than I. He seems to hate his own country. At first I found it refreshing that a Japanese could actually say something negative about Japan. It is rare to hear a Japanese put down Japan but he does so often. In fact that is almost all he does these days. I worry that he is depressed. His mother died a few
years ago and maybe that is still affecting him. Yet I remember he has always put down Nippon. I myself have been criticized for being too negative about this country at times, and ironically I find myself defending my adopted homeland from my tennis coach! Life is a comedy! Never doubt it! In my case a comedy-drama starring moi! Japanese are rude, Naoto will start. He tells me the story of how a Japanese assumed he was Indonesian and banged on the back of his chair during a flight to Tokyo. Instead of politely asking Naoto to raise his economy class seat because it was driving his legs into the cargo compartment, he chose instead to pound Naoto`s seat to send the message. Naoto turned around and in perfect Japanese said, “What the f— are you doing?” The man astonished said, “Oh you are Japanese, sorry!” Naoto took this to mean that, if he had known the person in front was Japanese he would have been more polite. I think he`s right. Some of the Japanese are like that unfortunately. Asians are one rung lower than us elite Japanese folk is the feeling of some. But many Japanese are not like this I will add.

You learn a lot about yourself and your own country by living elsewhere. Japan is a good place to grow up. I am still working on that. It is also a great place to live and work. Japan has given me so much. In spite of the complaints I have at times, I have much to be thankful for. I better stop, Takahashisan has a ball in his hand, I had better defend myself!

I remember a fog had developed on the river (the one you would havebeen jumping into), and that didn’t help matters, either. There areforces “out there” against which a perfectly rational, scientific mind is of no use or comfort. No. Really!

Trust me, folks, Minami-ashigara is Japan’s answer to Dunwich. No onecomes away from KevCon unchanged. When I said “life” I guess I really meant “sanity,” which amounts to the same thing.

Must dash - *they* are coming”

- MG

This area is amazingly old. People have lived here forever it would seem. Odawara is an old castle town and Minami Ashigara has seen many samurai battles for supremacy
over her hallowed ground.

Some people say they can still hear the clang of swords in theforest at night.Some people say those screams are just cats. Can cats speak? Iknow there are forces out there, perhaps there are portals where the universesmeet,
time stands still and the samurai live and ride again. Einstein himself said time does not exist, everything is now, now is all there is.

A twig snapped, I looked behind me and nothing was there but the mist. What`s that? The horn of a samurai`s helmet? No just a tree branch. No more “Blair Witch Project,” I have been watching too many scary
movies.

Not only that but I had been interested in the topic for a while now, doing layman`s research on ghosts. I had just finished reading Joshua P. Warren`s famous book, “How to Hunt Ghosts.” Then my wife told me this story:

Takushi had been only 6 when he crossed the road without looking. His death was
painless. His parents agonized over it. Why weren`t we there? Why didn`t we teach him about looking both ways better. Arguments followed. Remorse. Depression. They nearly divorced, but time slowly healed. Still there was a hole in their hearts. A sense of a future lost.

Finally acceptance followed but then a strange thing happened. Takushi was sighted running in front of the same tunnel. This couldn`t be possible. Takushi was dead. Or was he? No of course he was, we saw the body. We saw the blood. Our little boy was gone. It must be someone else.

The Shizawas waited in front of the tunnel one Saturday night. It was hot and humid, those nights that Japan is famous for. Out of the tall grass a boy appeared, he darted not looking, wearing the same shorts and T-shirt that
Takushi had worn that night, the taxi had no time to stop. Except for rubber on
asphalt there was no sound, no horrific sound of car meeting little boy. The taxi driver, extremely distraught
got out and looked front and back of the taxi. There was no body. He looked to the side of both sides of the road but no bloody corpse was to be found.

There was no body.

The Shizawas consulted a man who claimed to be an expert on ghosts. He had written several books and seemed to know what he was talking about. They hired him. Kobayashi said that Takushi doesn`t know he is dead, so he is staying close to where he died. “Sometimes ghosts can manifest on humid nights, when the electrostatic energy is high. I have seen this many times. Yet some people don`t see it, but they sure do feel it and
you can draw that energy to yourself by using a Ouija board or by even playing a scary boardgame. Maybe you have felt a strange tingling going up your spine while watching a scary movie. That`s the same thing. There are many things we still don`t understand with our technology.”

Kobayashi said, “Somehow we have to let Takushi know that he is dead so he can go on to where he is meant to go. Could Takushi read?”

“Yes a little,” his mother replied. “He couldn`t read much kanji but he could read hiragana.”

He thought to himself. “That`s what we`ll do then, we`ve got to contact him and let him know he is dead.”

English teacher Shibuya rounded the corner with his wife and child, “Damn! Traffic jam!
Looks like we won`t reach Tokyo for a while now. Darn it I gotta work tomorrow.” They approached the tunnel. Look someone has left flowers near the tunnel entrance and there is a painted message on the tunnel.

“Takushi, you don`t have to die anymore.”

Yet, teaching at English conversation schools (”Eikaiwa”) seems to be a much-maligned profession, especially on certain websites. One of those is Arthur Caversham’s The Truth About Shane and Nova Pages at
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Academy/6455/

Let me examine some of his claims.

1. “Eikaiwa” schools employ teachers with no teaching experience.

So what? Some of the best teachers in the world are like a diamond in the rough. If you hire people who have an aptitude for teaching, train them and help them along the way, they will be better teachers than many teachers who have an advanced degree.

2. “Eikaiwa” schools employ teachers with no teaching qualifications.

Again, so what? Famous Japanese companies do the same thing. They employ people with no specific qualifications and train them to work in departments which have nothing to do with their university degrees. “Eikaiwa” schools have their own in-house training programs and they train their teachers, too.

3. “Eikaiwa” schools employ teachers with NEITHER teaching experience NOR teaching qualifications.

So do many other businesses in every industry imaginable. Do you believe that university training is the only thing that matters? Many successful people have no formal education beyond college, yet they are now company
presidents. Some of the worst teachers in the world have a PhD.

If the schools train them to teach, isn’t that sometimes better than a university education that is full of theory and sometimes a waste of time? Isn’t practical on-the-job training sometimes on a par with or better than a
university education?

4. Some “eikaiawa” schools demand that students pay a huge amount of money before beginning their lessons. This money is not refundable.

Yes, but so do many other businesses. There are also many “eikaiwa” schools that allow students to pay by the month. They don’t pay up front. Most schools are run by trustworthy people. How do I know this? Because if they weren’t trustworthy, they couldn’t stay in business for very long; the word would get around that they are shady operators.

5. Nova’s pay and conditions for teachers are among the worst in Japan; therefore Nova teachers are usually so bad they cannot find a job elsewhere. This is also why Nova advertises for teachers every week in the Japan Times.

Perhaps. Or maybe they have so many schools ???over 500 now ???that they constantly need new teachers. If Nova is so terrible, why would anyone choose to work there? Some Nova teachers would be hired anywhere. They are very good teachers, they enjoy working for Nova and they care about their students.

6. Nova uses the same boring textbooks (American Streamline, available from most bookshops) for every lesson.

Some schools allow their teachers to choose which textbook they use, others don’t. For some teachers, choosing the textbook for them is a good thing. For others, giving them more freedom is better. It really depends on how
independent the teacher is.

7. Teachers are not given time to prepare for any lessons.

Most schools do give their teachers time to prepare. As a professional, you are expected to show up to work and give yourself enough time to prepare or to prepare at home. This is similar to public school teachers in North
America.

8. Nova teachers are not allowed to prepare their own lessons for students.

For some Nova teachers, giving them a structure to follow, I’m sure, is a good thing. For other teachers, allowing them the freedom to plan their own lessons is better. That is what we do at our schools.

9. Nova teachers are not allowed to fraternize with students outside the classroom.

True. However, most schools have no problem with students and teachers becoming friends. I have never understood Nova’s non-fraternization policy myself. I like it if our teachers become friends with students. I feel it
helps the school.

10. Some “eikaiwa” schools fire teachers who talk too much in class.

It isn’t the teacher who is supposed to do the talking. The students are supposed to talk and the teacher is supposed to listen and correct. Some experts suggest the teacher should try for only 15% speaking time and allow the students to speak 85% of the time. I think that is a great goal for all
teachers.

11. Some “eikaiwa” schools claim to specialize in teaching English to children, yet most of their teachers have no qualifications or background in teaching children.

I think you can train people to do many things. Isn’t this complaint a tad picky? The person who wrote this comment seems to think people can’t learn anything new.

12. Some “eikaiwa” schools’ sales pitch persuades students they can learn English in just one hour a week (or in some cases, half an hour). Unless a student is also studying elsewhere, this is totally inadequate for learning
anything.

I think that it will take a very long time to learn that way. That is what we tell students when we meet them for the first time, and on our homepage in Japanese. We let them know that learning English is more akin to learning
classical piano than like learning how to swim. Classical piano and English take a long time to master. Why hide that from them? Some schools do hide that fact. I don’t agree with that personally and don’t follow that business
practice. We try to be honest with students about what they are up against. I think a lot of “eikaiwa” schools are like ours that way.

13. Shane’s sales pitch persuades parents to send children as young as two years old to its English lessons. Unsurprisingly, these poor kids learn nothing.

I think that children this age can learn with the right teacher. Of course, the parents have to do their bit at home though. Unfortunately, few parents are willing to help out. Teachers also need to explain to the mothers when
they come with their children what they should do at home to help their kids learn. The school also needs to explain this.

14. Shane recruits teachers in England with the promise of providing them with company accommodation. In practice, Shane provides sub-standard accommodation (e.g. apartments with neither shower nor hot water in the
kitchen) at inflated prices. Shane leases apartments from landlords and rents them to teachers at a profit.

Are these apartments furnished? I assume they are. We also provide furnished apartments to our teachers and the cost of upkeep is astronomical. Shouldn’t the teachers share in that cost if they are using the facilities? If they
break the TV, shouldn’t they contribute to the repair? The Shane apartments I have seen have had a bath. They were no worse than what Japanese nextdoor were living in. They may charge more than the rent to cover for damage to the furniture and other utilities. The company shouldn’t have to pay for
damage.

The alternative to this is having to furnish your own place. Believe me, that isn’t fun either. Apartments in Japan come with nothing usually, sometimes not even a light bulb. Our apartments are very clean and average to above average when compared to Japanese apartments in general.

15. Should a teacher, recruited 6,000 miles a way, realize that Shane’s methods of operation leave something to be desired, the company requires three months notice of resignation.

Recently, it has taken well over four months to secure working visas for our last two teachers. Staff at Panache, a recruitment office for companies, report the same thing. Three months are not long when you consider that it
usually takes over four months to get a working visa for the next teacher. You could only hire people with a working holiday visa, or another proper visa but then it restricts your choice of teachers.

In Vancouver, when I worked for Pitney Bowes in sales, I knew I wouldn’t do it forever. The job was not my cup of tea; yet I respected the fact that my colleagues thought of it as a career. I never once uttered, “I’m only doing this until I get a real job.” I would never have thought to make such a crass comment. It was a real job in spite of the fact I didn’t like it.

I think good English teachers make Japan a little more open if only in a small way. I have taught well over 2,000 Japanese. They meet me on the street with a greeting. They tell me, “thank you, for teaching my son, my granddaughter, my husband.” It is a nice feeling. I have touched people’s lives in a way I never imagined. What started out as simply an English class has grown to mean much more over the years.

Not everyone can catch a touchdown pass in the Super Bowl. Not everyone can teach English in Japan. Good teachers are born. It is a God-given gift. Sure, you can refine it, but either you are or you aren’t a good teacher.
All the PhDs in the world can’t change that fact if you are a lousy one.

Good teachers are personable, caring, sensitive, intelligent, well-read, curious and have a sense of adventure ???to name but a few characteristics. They care about their students and want to help them improve. If you have the gift, I encourage you to use it. By using it in Japan, you are making the world a better place.

The writer, a Canadian, is the owner of Kevin’s English Schools, The Canadian Schools in Japan (http://www.eikaiwa1.com/jp.html). There are four schools.

To a great extent, leaving your friends and family and going to Japan to teach English engenders some of the same feelings as that of teenagers rebelling from their parents in the West. Teenagers rely on their parents, yet resent and rebel against them. Of course they complain to their friends about them too.

Foreign English teachers in Japan must rely on their Japanese bosses for: their work visa, in some cases their apartment, and of course their salary. Some teachers come to Japan with virtually no knowledge of the country. Childlike, they ask questions about Japan that many six year old Japanese know the answers to. The new teacher can feel embarrassed at times having to ask such basic questions as how do I use the Japanese toilet in my apartment? Can you open a bank account for me tomorrow? How do I get home from the school? To someone used to being independant, it is an uncomfortable, flashback to the teenage years.

Japan is a beautiful, interesting, yet daunting country for the newcomer. Some people thrive in the adventure that is teaching English in Japan and others don`t. For them it is the toughest thing they have ever done. The new arrival to Japan is faced with three alphabets to learn just to read her pay cheque! One comes to feel pretty helpless and childlike at times. Going to the doctor for your first cold can be intimidating. You don`t understand her questions and she doesn`t understand your answers.

Paranoia is common amongst immigrants the world over. Experts argue it is a symptom of not understanding what is going on around you–linguistically and culturally. The isolation this can lead to, causes the paranoia.

Resentment can set in if you are not prepared for this kind of culture shock. The possible symptoms of culture shock are many, and of course different levels of culture shock can occur over many years. If you are not a member of the majority, culture shock can hit you at any time. One symptom we often see in Japan is that of foreigners lashing out by complaining. They complain about the food, they complain about Japanese people, if they work for a Japanese company, they complain about how they are mistreated, and if they work for an Eikaiwa school, (which comprises most Western foreigners in Japan), they complain about the Eikaiwa school they work for. Some complain about all Eikaiwa schools as if all of them are the same, and all are bad. Some expats in an attempt to beef up future sales for the book they are writing, even set up a whole website to complain about Eikaiwa.

While there are certainly problems in Eikaiwa, there are many great things happening too. You only have to open the pages of an ETJ magazine, ELT Journal, or read the latest article at ELT News to see that. No this prevalence of complaints is something more. Indeed culture shock is one aspect of this phenomenon.

At many of the big schools the working hours are about the same as they are at public schools in North America. Yet the teachers of GEOS and Nova complain about their 28 hours of teaching and 40 hour a week shifts. (They
work a 9 hour shift, five days per week at GEOS, with a one hour lunch break which equals eight hours of preparation and teaching). One Canadian elementary school teacher said: ” I don`t know what they are complaining about. That is what I do every week. That is what we all do at the public schools in Canada.”

At many schools though, the shifts are much shorter and they don`t require you to be in the office. The work time of around 20-25 hours per week, would be considered part-time work back home. At Kevin`s English schools the teachers work between 20-25 hours per week with no requirements to be in the office when they are not teaching. Under the contract they can be asked to work as many as 28 hours per week but none are currently doing so. The current average is about 22 hours per week. They are not required to
put in any office hours, so when they don`t teach their time is their own.

Many of the Eikaiwa teachers miss their friends and family back home. Some were not happy in their home country and escaped to Japan to try to sort out their lives–only to find they are not happy here either. The old saying: “Where ever you go, there you are.” springs to mind.

I assert that the rampant negativism on the internet about teaching at Eikaiwa schools is only in a very small part due to the schools, but is a symptom ofculture shock and the difficulty adjusting to life in Japan for some
teachers. It is a reaction to the sense of dependancy some teachers feel as they have to rely on their bosses and Japanese staff for many things.

The boss who is in some cases also the landlord, is cast by the teacher (unconsciously) in the role of parental figure, and the Eikaiwa teacher, the star of our show, is the rebellious teenager with a need to get it off his or her chest. The internet forums provide the perfect venue for that.

While most Eikaiwa teachers are well balanced and make the most of their time in Japan, it is the vocal minority we see on the internet complaining about how unfair their Eikaiwa school is. Whilesome of these complaints are legitimate and the Eikaiwa school should be taken to task, others are merely venting a teenage like rage, as they rale against what they fail to understand is simply culture shock.

If the person is your friend, you need to listen to them and sympathize, but at some opportune moment, you may want to suggest to them, that couldn`t their negative feelings about their boss or school be due to something else? If their complaint is legitimate then talking with their union, labour relations board or finding a new job with one of the many great Eikaiwa schools here, might be the answer.

I worked for Nunoike English School and St. Mary`s College in Nagoya. As well I registered with the best talent agency there. I called them everyday, and was told there was no work; everyday. But one day they called me at the college, and said to come to the agency on Friday morning, there was a modelling job that would pay me 15,000. This was a lot of money in 1989!
The work took only one hour and then we got paid. It was an ad for a pharmaceuticals company and the work consisted of standing there and smiling. The ad appeared in some magazines in Japan.

In Vancouver, I was laughed at when I suggested that I could be a model. I have a big honkin` nose and at the time, had a baby face that my mother loved! Thanks Mom! I love you! Tissue please!

In Japan though, your big honkin` nose is an asset man! Big Nosers Unite! You are admired in
the Land of the Rising Nostrils! My Japanese friends often tell me, “my husband admires your huge nose.” They talk about your huge probuscus over dinner! Don`t be ashamed, flaunt that Snoz! Flaunt it!

About a month later I saw an ad for a radio commercial. I went to another talent agency, and auditioned by singing into a tape recorder along with some canned music. I got the job! I showed up at the studio at the appointed time and met my duet partner, a beautiful African lady from South Africa. She had a great voice to complement my hoarse one! I have occasionally been told I am a good singer. My brother who is honest to a fault, has told me I have a pleasant voice.
This woman though, was a singer!

In the studio, they can make even Avril Lavigne sound great. I sounded great too once they flipped
a few switches and turned a few dials. “FMA Morning Energy Traffic,” came my baritone. (I`m actually more of a tenor type dude.) “FMA Morning Energy Weather,” wow I sounded great.

Then came the singing. Angels came out of the speakers! I was singing with this great lady, but angels were filling the studio. Anyone who is not tone deaf, can sound like a major star with what they can do! Just ask Avril! (Whom I happen to like, but recognize that she is not the singer live, that she is in the studio. It`s like listening to two different people!)

The agent for this job left early and paid us early, but it wasn`t enough. I had to go to their office and demand the correct payment. This was a hassle, but I got paid the full amount in the end. Some of the agencies are pretty bad. If you plan to get into this kind of work, ask around to find out which agencies pay, and which don`t.

After I had moved to Kanagawa, I decided that I wanted to be on the radio some more. I sent off a demo tape to a radio station (don`t laugh!) called FM Banana. They were on the USEN 440 radio network. This is the cable radio network in Japan, and they have 440 stations! It`s actually very good if you can afford to subscribe.

I didn`t hear anything from the Banana folks so I contacted them to ask why I wasn`t hired and if I could improve somehow. Tomitasan pealed off his best English: “You need more energy.”
So I made another demo tape, just on a regular tape recorder in my Atsugi apartment and sent that off. It had lots of energy. I was a Kevin version of Wolfman Jack. I was hired the next week!

This caused me joy and extreme terror! I had lied about being a DJ at UBC! I had never Dee Jayed in my life except for having a canned music business where I played songs at weddings, parties, and wakes! I never spoke on my mike though. I just played songs. I wasn`t the greatest DJ but I would learn I told myself. I would learn in front of 800,000 listeners nationwide. Oh God, I gotta go to the toilet again man!!!! OUtta the way!!!!!!!

I called the Mitsubishi Car Plaza FM Banana office and asked if I could be in the studio with some of the other DJs, just to brush up on my skills, as it had been a while since I had Dee Jayed, I lied yet again. They said, “no problem.” I trained with a pleasant American woman who was a very good DJ for two days. I asked a lot of questions, while trying not to appear like a total dork. Just a slight dork!

I started work that Monday and I was to be on three days a week from 9-12 noon Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. The pay was only 1,000 Yen per hour, and Mitsubishi used the station to advertise their cars. We were played in homes that had cable radio, in stores throughout Japan, and at all the Mitsubishi Car Plazas
from Kushiro to Kagoshima. My husky voice blared out throughout Nippon, extolling the virtues of Eric Clapton and George Harrison. I learned how to be a DJ, hopefully not annoying too many Japanese mimi (ears) in the process!

I think it was Woody Allen who once said that “80% of success was just showing up.” That is definitely true in Japan.

When I performed standup comedy in Tokyo and was active in improv comedy workshops, I met a man who
proved the above statement. Not only did he show up, he would give whomever it was, what they wanted. He played the game, whichever game it happened to be at that particular moment.

He told me about an audition for a TV commercial where they wanted a guitarist. He had never played guitar in his life. Yet he auditioned! All of the other musicians were very good guitar players. They played very nice melodies on the guitar to polite approval from the panel of interviewers sitting behind a table. My friend though, he came into the room and went crazy on the guitar. He imagined himself to be a Jimi Hendrix. It sounded terrible but it looked great. He got the job. The producer was going to dub in the music anyway, so what was important was the look. Boy were the other true musicians upset with him! But he laughed all the way to the bank.

There`s another lesson there. The look you give is extremely important here. If you are going to teach English, you must look like an English teacher, and the same goes for every other job, be it guitarist on TV or computer programmer for Sony. If you look suspicious to Japanese eyes, you will be stopped by the police and interrogated. So it swings both ways.

I think it is important to be yourself, but it is important to play the game too. You live in Japan now, so the game has changed. You are now playing Parker Brother`s “Gaijin in Japan Game!” Roll the dice and move around the board. Pay 20,000 to get out of the cockroach infested gaijin house you are living in! Take a Chance Card! Congratulations! You have become a radio DJ in Tokyo! Congratulations! A beautiful girlfriend!

You can harp all you want about how unfair it is to be called a gaijin. You can complain that you got stopped by the police on your bike. You can also say it is unfair that some schmuck from Canada who had never been a DJ, gets to be a DJ just because he can speak English and put together a silly demo tape.

In the end though, maybe it is better to ask yourself, if I get a hair cut, would my life be easier in Japan? If I play the game, would my life be smoother? Sure protest when you need to. Speak up about discrimination in Japan, but play the game too. The dice often roll your way as well. That`s what I`ve found.

–A.P., USA–commenting recently on a very popular forum about teaching English in Japan.

Many forums are too negative and distort the reality of teaching in Japan. At one popular forum, one of the moderators dispensing advice is a university professor, who presumably has been out of the loop of looking for a teaching position in Japan for many years, yet he is telling people incorrectly how to get a job in Japan.

In one forum, he stated that schools here won`t hire you unless you are already in Japan. In fact, most schools will hire you while you are outside of Japan. Why? They have to.

If you have a school in one of the -sized mid to smaller cities in Japan–(which comprises most of Japan), you don`t have many teachers banging on your doors to teach at your schools. This same moderator was listed for a forum talking about teaching in Africa, yet he lives in Kansai.

My point is that some of ths so-called experts are anything but. Yet they are espousing their opinions on the internet and you are reading them, and sometimes taking them at face value.

The people who post at forums rarely post anything positive about any of the schools they work for. There must be some positive stories but you won’t read them there. I think it would be a great idea to set up a forum that has a positive story only section. As this would help to redress the balance and restore some reality to the debate about is working for an eikaiwa school a good idea or not.

Have a separate forum where people can only post positive stories–just to give some balance. If your purpose is to educate people, that requires balance. Even if you are “Debunking Eikaiwa,” as the LJ quote reads, surely you should alert people to some good schools to work for?

Unfortunately, I just spoke with a teacher from America-quoted above, and she felt the site was so negative that she was debating whether to even come to Japan. If the situation were so bad here in Japan, then the forums would be doing everyone a service. But it just distorts the actual reality of teaching English here. Many of the teachers who post have had a bad experience at one school, yet in many cases still continue to teach there, and rant about it–ad nauseum at one of the forums. Can you say, “Get a life?”

You won’t find the people who enjoy their jobs posting much. If they do, they will take a lot of abuse from the complainers already ensconced there, and they are too busy enjoying their lives to log on and post. Happy people don’t usually rant.

Two somewhat famous webmasters did not enjoy their time at Geos. Yet I have a friend named Lee who loved Geos. He loved the fact that he had his own classroom, would brag about the fact in his animated way, and enjoyed teaching and his students. Lee doesn’t post at Let’s Japan to my knowledge though.

At times some of the teachers seem to want to pick a fight over things so inane. In one story, a teacher said “Sayonara,” to his students as they were leaving. Being an English school he should have said, “goodbye.” His manager told him not to do it again.

Had it been me, I would have simply said, “Sorry,” and said “goodbye,”to my students the next time. But this teacher argued with his boss over it. A person was called from head office to have a meeting with him. I gather his local manager felt she couldn`t get it across to him that what he had done was enough to make some students quit. I can see both sides, but a simple “sorry it won`t happen again,” would have sufficed.

I agree with the author that it is a pretty silly thing, but students quit over silly things, and a lot of arguments are over them too.

I enjoyed my time at ECC and the YMCA. I modelled Kevin’s English Schools after the ‘Y’ to some extent. My point is we all have different experiences and we have to be careful about what we read, especially the negative stuff. Don’t spend too much time at any one site, even here! Don’t take my word! You need to explore many websites and read many books. You shouldn’t jump on a plane and not be prepared. It is your life you are thinking about, so read all you can so you can select the right place for you to work. Both you and your employer will be happy for it.

By all means read as many articles as you can about teaching in Japan. You may relate to things you wouldn’t like, but keep in mind that all Geos managers are not the same. Personality conflicts occur everywhere. I’m not defending Geos, and it definitely is not in my interest to do so, they are my competition for students and teachers. Indeed there are many things about Geos that I don’t like.

My point is, I am in favour of being fair and I am worried that some people believe the negative postings at forums. I am concerned that it affects them to such a degree that they choose to teach in another country. That really is a shame when there are many good schools here, and it is a great, safe country to live and work in.

I have a conflict of interest having my own school so could not do this, but someone really should start a website about the good schools in Japan. It wouldn’t be easy and small schools like mine would have a tough time, not having as many teachers to vouch for us as some of the bigger schools, but it is a badly needed site. So someone with some internet savvy, here’s your notice.

There is a need for an unaffiliated site like this. Many people abroad are going prematurely grey trying to decide for whom to teach. Help them! There are many sites like Gaijin Pot.com but schools pay to advertise. You can find jobs there but don’t have any independent reviewers who can tell you about the schools. We need some independent reviewers who can give the unbiased low-down on various schools–ideally a few reviewers would be needed. It wouldn’t be easy. Perhaps it is a needed service? Perhaps some teachers would be willing to pay for such a service to avoid getting into a situation they wouldn’t like.

Maybe even an independent site like Ohayo Sensei should consider offering this. They are well respected, independent and have been around for a while now. If they or some other site already does offer such a service please let us know here.

In the meantime, I interview teachers by phone and face to face. If by phone, I try to reassure them that we are not one of the horror stories they have read about at such and such forum on the internet. Prospective teachers sometimes ask to contact one or more of our current teachers to ask questions about what it’s like to work at our schools. I feel uncomfortable with this, never having asked any of my prospective employers for the same privilege and because I don’t want to infringe upon the privacy or free time of our teachers. Our teachers are kind though and allow me to give out their Email addresses to prospective teachers. It’s a bit sad that this is necessary, but some of the internet forums and the bitter negativity that a minority of teachers express, seem to help make it so.

Kevin Burns Owner, Co-Manager and Head Teacher of Kevin’s English Schools-”The Canadian Schools in Japan”

I have lived here a long time, I`m a good organizer, so I have started many groups over the years. One of them was the Tokyo Comedy Club, which is now known as The Tokyo Comedy Store. I still have a little pride in knowing that I started the whole thing! Maybe someone would have done it eventually, but I did it!

Many years ago now, I decided that I wanted to perform stand-up comedy again (foolish lad). I had performed on CBC radio, and at UBC (where I majored in Theatre), Punchlines and Yuk Yuks in Vancouver. I had even performed Improv comedy at the University du Quebec in French! That was an interesting experience.

So I sat in my apartment pondering the possibility of starting some kind of amateur club that performed comedy in Tokyo. The Tokyo Comedy Club was born when I decided to stop thinking about it and put out some ads in the forerunner of Metropolis, The Tokyo Classifieds. I eventually attracted a group of about 15 performers, most of them stand-up comics, a few improv performers and even a hypnotist named Tony Paget. Many people Emailed me to tell me they wanted to come to the show.

I was interviewed by the Mainichi Daily News about what kind of crazy person would want to stand up all by himself, in front of a large crowd, and try to get them to laugh. I think you have to be a touch crazy to do it.

Our first show was to a full house at the Tokyo American Club. The next show was to an even more raucous crowd at the Tokyo British Club. We also put on an improv comedy show one night.

One day, one of the members, an Australian lawyer, offered to take over as co-manager of the club. This seemed strange to me as he had never offered any help in the past. Suddenly he not only wanted to help, but to be my equal. He wanted to make the club a professional club, which I wasn`t thrilled with. I often feel that the expats in Japan, are into making money too much, and should give back more to their fellow man by donating their time. So I wasn`t too happy about this offer.

I thought about it though, and realized that all the hard work it had taken me to start the club, and get it established had also burnt me out. I was tired and didn`t really want to manage the club. I said to this lawyer a week or so later, that he could be the sole manager, provided that I was allowed to perform at any show I wanted. He agreed. I should have had this in writing, but it was just a verbal agreement.

Ironically, he told me that after the second show I wouldn`t be able to perform. Perhaps I should have seen it coming. A friend of mine came over and excitedly said, “Kev, you have to read this. That lawyer dude is taking all the credit for your club.” Sure enough I read the interview and either he had been misquoted, or misunderstood, or he was taking full credit for starting the whole thing. At the time I decided to give him the benefit of the doubt. I wanted to perform comedy, That was what I tried to focus on.

He had gone from being a performer to stealing my club from me. I felt raped. I thought of suing, but figured it would be a waste of time and money. I was very bitter, and sad, but I learned a valuable lesson. Be careful whom you trust, and be careful who you put in charge. Just because you would never do something, and just because you are kind-hearted, doesn`t mean the next man is, especially if there is money to be made.

A fellow actor who eventually took over the club Michael Naishtutt, lamented the loss of my club, and sympathized with me. I tried to downplay the whole thing, but it was a huge loss for me. I have never performed stand-up comedy since. It was always a tough thing to do, but I think this final incident, sealed it for me.

I still toy with the idea of doing it sometimes. I don`t think I will though.

Recently I visited the Tokyo Comedy Store`s homepage, and in their history of the club section, there was no mention of me. Even ten years later, I felt angry and promptly Emailed them, telling them if they are going to have a history of their club, it should be a true history. One of the members assured me this would be changed to reflect the truth. I hope they do change it. I feel a bit like Trotsky at the moment.

At their state of the art recording studio, the Kawaguchi Gumi branch of the yakuza (Japanese mafia), have a meeting and talk about how they will pull off this latest furikome sagi crime. Toshino kicks back in his chair. Piece of cake he thinks. He`s been doing this kind of crime for five years now. He`s a veteran. He can`t count how much money he has earned for his yakuza branch, indeed his boss is very proud of him.

It was Toshino who broached the topic with the boss of getting high tech recording equipment. “It will pay for itself in the long run,” he pleaded. “We will make the money back with two calls!” “Boss the initial impression is paramount when making the call to the parents. Those sounds, that miserable sobbing, that is what gets us 90% to the bank. Have I ever let you down before?”

The equipment was purchased and Toshino`s monthly proceeds had increased 50%. A new sports car from the boss followed. Crime does pay Toshino decided.

The wheels were set in motion. Aoki, one of Toshino`s colleagues repeatedly calls Hiroyuki Yoshida. “Moshi, moshi.”(Hello) “Do you wanna suck my cock!!?” Aoki screams into the receiver. After the fifth call to *Hiroyuki, Hiroyuki turns off his cell phone.

Aoki calls every few minutes just to be sure that Hiroyuki Yoshida`s cell phone stays off. They can`t have him answering his phone. It will destroy the operation; and the boss doesn`t tolerate many failures.

Yoshida is needed to unwittingly play his part in the drama the Kawaguchi Gumi are enacting. Most people switch off their phones after about five calls the yakuza have discovered. Things are working perfectly. Almost as perfectly as Toshino`s brand new cherry red Fairlady Z.

It`s 4 PM. Tonegawa picks up the phone and dials Hiroyuki`s 45 year old mother. It`s Friday, a workday for both Hiroyuki and his father. So they are out. Only the mother is home. The Yakuza like it better when only one parent is home to receive the call. They can`t think as clearly on their own. There is no one to confer with. Like an isolated wildebeest, the lions will make their kill.

These Yakuza know that Hiroyuki`s mother is always home at 4PM on Fridays. They`ve been watching her. Their eyes for the past month has been what most in the neighbourhood have assumed was a pizza delivery boy, but who actually is a “chimpira” or low level yakuza. Atsuko comes home after tea ceremony at about 3:30PM. Most people are as predictable as Atsuko Yoshida.

The phone rings. Mrs. Yoshida answers it. She can hear sirens in the background, crying, traffic noise, and was that a scream? It sounds like there has been an accident!

“Am I speaking to Mrs. Yoshida?” asks Tonegawa very officially.

“Yes.”

“Your son has been in a terrible accident.”

“Is he okay?”

“Yes he is, it is the gentleman he hit who isn`t. He`s dead. A father of three. I don`t know what we are going to tell his wife. What a tragedy.”

“Oh my, that`s terrible.”

“Yes it is. Your son was driving recklessly. I`m afraid we are going to have to arrest him on the spot. I`m very sorry to have to tell you this, but Hiroyuki must go to traffic prison immediately.”

“Why?”

“Well Mrs. Yoshida because of the magnitude of what he has done. I`m happy to have caught you at home, Hiroyuki said you would be back from tea ceremony by now.”

“I`d like to speak with my son.”

“I can put him on if you`d like?”

“No that`s okay, I`ll call his cell phone number.”

“Okay I`ll call you back in a few minutes,”

Tonegawa says. Atsuko Yoshida in a gut wrenching panic calls her only son, but his cell phone is still turned off. Tonegawa calls back.

“Mrs. Yoshida, did you talk with your son?”

“No I couldn`t get through. His cell phone appears to be turned off or something. Is he there? Can I speak to him please?”

“Yes of course.” (Aoki one of the best “actors” in the Kawaguchi Gumi comes on the phone) Wailing, he can`t even speak he is so upset. Mrs. Yoshida tries to comfort who she thinks is her son but he continues to cry. Tonegawa comes back on the phone.

“As you can hear Mrs. Yoshida, he is extremely upset. I`m sure you can understand.”

“Doesn`t he at least get a trial, he is only 23.”

“No he doesn`t in this case. A man is dead, a father of three. Hiroyuki has admitted that he was speeding, it really is cut and dry Mrs. Yoshida. There is one thing though. Governor Ishihara in a special motion last month, granted leniency in cases such as your son`s.”

“What is that exactly?”

“Well you can get a waiver by making a payment of 2 million yen, but it has to be agreed to while your son is still at the crime scene. This will get Hiroyuki off on probation, but he will lose his licence for one year. In order to do this, and get the paperwork processed, we would have to act fast. Oh look at the time, it`s 4:05, the office stops processing paperwork at 4:15. ”

Yes of course. What should I do?”

“You must go to the bank now, and transfer the money to account…..”

Mrs. Yoshida did as she was told. She sent the money by express. She was very surprised when Hiroyuki came home from work at the usual time; and complained as soon as he had gotten in the door, about some jerk calling him at work and screaming very rude things into the phone.

“I shut if off after the fifth call.”

Atsuko Yoshida started to cry.

Afterword: This story was based on a lecture given by the Matsuda Police of Kanagawa Prefecture. In the lecture the police detective attempted to describe how intelligent people can be duped by a crime like this. It happens all the time he stated and the criminals are very professional. By knowing how it is done, he felt that perhaps we could avoid being victimized. My wife attended the lecture then told me all about it.

*First names are rarely used in Japan. To make this story more understandable, the name of Hiroyuki was used. In an actual furikome sagi call probably “Uchi no musuko” or some phrase like that would be used. Uchi no musuko means literally “your home`s son,” or “the son of your house.” In plain English: “your son.”

Many forums are too negative and distort the reality of teaching in Japan. At one popular forum, one of the moderators dispensing advice is a university professor, who presumably has been out of the loop of looking for a teaching position in Japan for many years, yet he is telling people (incorrectly) how to get a job in Japan.

In one forum, he stated that schools here won`t hire you unless you are already in Japan. In fact, most schools will hire you while you are outside of Japan. Why? They have to. If you have a school in one of the mid to smaller cities in Japan–which comprises most of Japan, you don`t have many teachers banging on your doors to teach at your schools. These schools must accept resumes by Email or post, and interview by telephone, or they can`t hire teachers. I am talking of course about the smaller schools like my own.

My point is that some of ths so-called experts are anything but. Yet they are espousing their opinions on the internet and you are reading them, and sometimes taking them at face value.

The people who post at forums rarely post anything positive about any of the schools they work for. There must be some positive stories but you won’t read them there. I think it would be a great idea to set up a forum that has a positive story only section. As this would help to redress the balance and restore some reality to the debate about is working for an eikaiwa school a good idea or not.

Have a separate forum where people can only post positive stories– just to give some balance. . If your purpose is to educate people, that requires balance. Even if you are “Debunking Eikaiwa,” as the LJ quote reads, surely you should alert people to some good schools to work for?

Unfortunately, I just spoke with a teacher from America-quoted above, and she felt the site was so negative that she was debating whether to even come to Japan. If the situation were so bad here in Japan, then the forums would be doing everyone a service. But it just distorts the actual reality of teaching English here. Many of the teachers who post have had a bad experience at one school, yet in many cases still continue to teach there, and rant about it–ad nauseum at one of the forums. Can you say, “Get a life?”

You won’t find the people who enjoy their jobs posting much. If they do, they will take a lot of abuse from the complainers already ensconced there, and they are too busy enjoying their lives to log on and post. Happy people don’t usually rant.

Two somewhat famous webmasters did not enjoy their time at Geos. Yet I have a friend named Lee who loved Geos. He loved the fact that he had his own classroom, would brag about the fact in his animated way, and enjoyed teaching and his students. Lee doesn’t post at the forums though. He is too busy enjoying life.

At times some of the teachers seem to want to pick a fight over things so inane. In one story, a teacher said “Sayonara,” to his students as they were leaving. Being an English school he should have said, “goodbye.” His manager told him not to do it again. Had it been me, I would have simply said, “Sorry,” and said “goodbye,”to my students the next time.

But this teacher argued with his boss over it. A person was called from head office to have a meeting with him. I gather his local manager felt she couldn`t get it across to him that what he had done was enough to make some students quit.

I can see both sides, but a simply sorry it won`t happen again, would have defused the situation. I agree with the teacher that it is a pretty silly thing, but students quit over silly things, and a lot of arguments are over them too.

I enjoyed my time at ECC and the YMCA. I modelled Kevin’s English Schools after the ‘Y’ to some extent. My point is we all have different experiences and we have to be careful about what we read, especially the negative stuff. Don’t spend too much time at any one site, even here! Don’t take my word! You need to explore many websites and read many books. You shouldn’t jump on a plane and not be prepared. It is your life you are thinking about, so read all you can so you can select the right place for you to work. Both you and your employer will be happy for it.

By all means read as many articles as you can about teaching in Japan. You may relate to things you wouldn’t like, but keep in mind that all Geos managers are not the same. Personality conflicts occur everywhere. I’m not defending Geos, and it definitely is not in my interest to do so, they are my competition for students and teachers. Indeed there are many things about Geos that I don’t like.

My point is, I am in favour of being fair and I am worried that some people believe the negative postings at forums. I am concerned that it affects them to such a degree that they choose to teach in another country. That really is a shame when there are many good schools here, and it is a great, safe country to live and work in.

I have a conflict of interest having my own school so could not do this, but someone really should start a website about the good schools in Japan. It wouldn’t be easy and small schools like mine would have a tough time, not having as many teachers to vouch for us as some of the bigger schools, but it is a badly needed site. So someone with some internet savvy, here’s your notice.

There is a need for an unaffiliated site like this. Many people abroad are going prematurely grey trying to decide for whom to teach. Help them! There are many sites like Gaijin Pot.com but schools pay to advertise. You can find jobs there but don’t have any independent reviewers who can tell you about the schools. We need some independent reviewers who can give the unbiased low-down on various schools–ideally a few reviewers would be needed. It wouldn’t be easy. Perhaps it is a needed service? Perhaps some teachers would be willing to pay for such a service to avoid getting into a situation they wouldn’t like.

Maybe even an independent site like Ohayo Sensei should consider offering this. They are well respected, independent and have been around for a while now. If they or some other site already does offer such a service please let us know here.
In the meantime, I interview teachers by phone and face to face. If by phone, I try to reassure them that we are not one of the horror stories they have read about at such and such forum on the internet. Prospective teachers sometimes ask to contact one or more of our current teachers to ask questions about what it’s like to work at our schools. I feel uncomfortable with this, never having asked any of my prospective employers for the same privilege and because I don’t want to infringe upon the privacy or free time of our teachers. Our teachers are kind though and allow me to give out their Email addresses to prospective teachers. It’s a bit sad that this is necessary, but some of the internet forums and the bitter negativity that a minority of teachers express, seem to help make it so.