Viewing profile — mattnumbe

I can second taking a language as the most useful elective...and it leading to moving to Japan, studying here, getting married etc.

Gods in America is done really well. I also enjoyed listening to the Game of Thrones series on the way to and from work every morning for like 8 months. Gave me something to look f…

Some people have notified me that someone is currently using an e-mail address visually similar to my company (located in Japan) mail address to scam people in the US. The mail add…

The one in Sapporo is a tourist trap.

Most of the time delivery problems have everything to do with the seller. The point is that the seller and the product should be separated in reviews of the product.

There's a good radiolab episode about American dialects http://www.radiolab.org/story/yall-youse-yinz/

I think it's mainly because you can't find a Yoshinoya in a town/road that isn't even on google maps but you can find 3 lawson's and a famlymart. (convenience≠cheap)

I agree 100%. I am currently an expat with local language skills. When other expats complain about getting treated differently because they're foreigners, and then you find out the…

As opposed to those who invest in time saving services.

I'd like to catch them off guard. Plus, I'll be moving from recruiting to sales, so I'm expected to know a bit more.

I'm currently working as a recruiter at a firm that dispatches engineers (IT, design, mechanical, etc.) in Japan. In the nature of Japanese companies, I'm going to be moved from th…

Quite right. Changing from a working holiday visa/travel visa to a residential visa is the grey area

For jobs teaching English (it's not really a career choice unless you end up getting a proper teaching degree or happen into something special) check out www.gaijinpot.com it's, de…

You definitely don't need TEFL to find a teaching job easily in Japan but it would give you more options. I taught in language schools, a junior high, and did corporate classes as …

Fair enough. I guess I should have posted it. If you do some google searches you can find a bunch, but a lot of them dont work any more. The one that worked for me was CRAB YORI GA…

Looks like you went to the same hiragana/katakana school I did!

I've been living, working, studying, playing in Japan for the last 8 years. I came here with no knowledge of the language (except "ohayou" because of that Sesame Street where Big B…

Although I was never a fan of Powers Boothe, I can highly recommend The Emerald Forrest, a movie that never got enough attention. R.I.P. Dah-day from my dreams.

I highly suggest reading the book Death in Yellowstone: Accidents and Foolhardiness in the First National Park. It goes over a long history of really stupid people (along with some…