Not so obvious advice for new ALTs

[SomePeopleJustSaySnow]

Then you're going to make some small business owners very happy.

[Gizmotech]

Ya, they'll give you 2k before you come, because it's familliar currency to most foreigners, but to Japanese they've probably never seen a 2k note before.

[Randomgirl]

Same here: Fresh from the bank of canada a stack of 2,000yen notes, even though I specifically requested 10,000's. Annoyed.

[sharpinthefang]

Sounds stupid advice, but put some weight on before you come out here. The stress of a new job/country/food and the heat will help you lose it when you get here. I started at 9 stone, went up to 10, and now within 2 weeks of being here am back down to 9 again.

[Jiggit]

Sounds stupid advice, but put some weight on before you come out here. The stress of a new job/country/food and the heat will help you lose it when you get here. I started at 9 stone, went up to 10, and now within 2 weeks of being here am back down to 9 again.

Ban this foo.

[webstaa]

You'll probably end up with a man-bag if you don't already have one. Keep a second wallet in your bag (in a closed pocket) with your excess cash in it.

I don't like to keep my wallet in my pockets (in the summer) because it inevitably becomes soaked with leg-sweat. Keep a piece of paper with your information on it in their too. Won't help you if its stolen, but might if you drop it somewhere.

EDIT: Put on weight? Hah - don't try to. But eat all your favorite foods one last time before heading out. It might be a couple of months or more before you can scrape the less common ingredients together to make your favorite comfort food.

[jwkelley]

There is a car tax that will hit you around march if you drive.
Make sure your local taxes are being taken out if you are not American or on your third year.
You will get a little slip of paper around January this is your Tax info.
Make sure your pension is being taken out.

[therealwindycity]

There is a car tax that will hit you around march if you drive.
Make sure your local taxes are being taken out if you are not American or on your third year.
You will get a little slip of paper around January this is your Tax info.
Make sure your pension is being taken out.

On a related note, when something official-looking comes in the mail written in Japanese, it's probably important to actually figure out what it says. I can't believe the number of ALTs I know who just tend to assume "eh, it'll be fine!" only to result in crisis later when they realize they didn't pay their taxes/didn't renew their driver's license/are no longer covered by insurance/etc.

[Gizmotech]

On a related note, when something official-looking comes in the mail written in Japanese, it's probably important to actually figure out what it says. I can't believe the number of ALTs I know who just tend to assume "eh, it'll be fine!" only to result in crisis later when they realize they didn't pay their taxes/didn't renew their driver's license/are no longer covered by insurance/etc.

See my first three water bills where I didn't realize the front AND back pages peeled open :P

[SomePeopleJustSaySnow]

See my first three water bills where I didn't realize the front AND back pages peeled open :P

Same. I started seeing A lot of red ink very quickly.

[azguitarist]

Indirect communication is king here. Learn to look beyond obvious signs like some of the previous posters said.

''you must be cold'' means you are under dressed.

When you come into work with a tie (in December) and the local office ladies are screaming about how cool you look, it means you should've worn one earlier.
Likewise if you wear a tie in July and your coworkers are telling you how hot you must be, it's cool to take it off now.

''muzukashiii'' from your supervisor means ''no'' or ''I'm not going to help you with it''
Similar phrases are ''kangaetemimasu''、 an unenthusiastic (and longer and usual, volume slowly fading) ''Haiii''

''I'm washing my hair that day'' She doesn't want to hang out with you.

''Hai'' does NOT mean that they agree with what you said, only that they understood what it means. Too many ''hai's'' probably means they are done with the topic at hand or just don't want to listen to your boring trip to (insert Southeast Asian country here).

[spman2099]

''難しい'' from your supervisor means ''no'' or ''I'm not going to help you with it''
Similar phrases are 考えてみます...

The majority of the new hires aren't capable of reading kanji, so writing those words using kanji isn't super helpful. Just sayin'...

[azguitarist]

Those are really common words, and the majority of new hires can probably use a dictionary if needed. My bad, I'll edit the post.

[webstaa]

There is a car tax that will hit you around march if you drive.
Make sure your local taxes are being taken out if you are not American or on your third year.
You will get a little slip of paper around January this is your Tax info.
Make sure your pension is being taken out.

If you have a car - SAVE ALL THE RECEIPTS FOR EVERY TAX YOU PAY ON IT. You'll need them come Shaken time. If your town hall is staffed by assholes, they'll make you pay to get a copy of the receipt (that says you already paid.)

[Kamirose]

You can walk faster than the automatic doors can open.

[5100]

You do walk faster than the automatic doors can open.

Fixt

[Gizmotech]

Fixt

Do... Nah always. I swear I had bruises on my shoulders for the first year here cuz I kept judging the doors wrong.

[Page]

Remember that their job as your supervisor is a very small part of their job and because Japan rotates people it might be their first time and they might not know what to do. There are guidelines as to how they can support you and some supervisors are willing to stretch it while others aren't. There are a lot of things that ALTs expect supervisors to do when it really isn't their responsibility to do it (though it would be nice if they'd help anyway). I know ALTs whom have gotten upset because their supervisor wouldn't help them set up internet (and then there's always the same about buying/selling cars) but it wasn't technically required of them and as it turned out the supervisor in question didn't have internet in their own home and didn't know the first thing about going about it. In those situations talk to people at school (JTE, BOE, etc.), fellow ALTs, PAs about how to get it taken care of.

Re: writing in Japanese in here. It's not a rule that you can't write in Japanese but as this is the aspiring forum it's a lot more likely that there are posters who can't speak or read Japanese so try to keep that in mind, even if it's just the romaji in parentheses, when you post here. Someone whom doesn't speak Japanese wouldn't know the first thing about how to look up kanji (or even kana).

I know a lot of people who come to Japan and do the opposite of fang so I don't know that I'd recommend bulking up before coming but definitely eat all the food you'll miss before coming and maybe invest in a book for making your favorite recipes from scratch.

[ihatefall]

I definitely wouldn't recommend bulking up either. (Fang was in Japan less than a week when she wrote that, I am imagining she will re-visit that thoughts free being here a year.)
Most people, especially girls, put on weight here.

[Jiggit]

I definitely wouldn't recommend bulking up either. (Fang was in Japan less than a week when she wrote that, I am imagining she will re-visit that thoughts free being here a year.)
Most people, especially girls, put on weight here.

Women put weight on more easily than men, so yeah.

But yes, unless you are an absolute waif you probably don't want to put on weight before you come here, since a lot of women have trouble buying clothes here as it is. Also it would be nice if we could have some foreign ALTs who didn't weigh twice as much as 99% of Japanese girls and spend half their time having nasty conversations about how Japanese women need to eat a sandwich.