Open Letter

It's general New Years letter time! I've done a pretty poor job communicating for the past few years, so I wanted to make sure I got this out before the new year. You know... clean slate? I sent this letter out to lots of people in email form, but I don't have everyone's email. Basically, if you've taken the time to visit this blog and read this letter, you're somebody I wanted to send it too... but I'm afraid I don't have your email address.

The letter is a bit long and maybe too detailed, but it may be of interest. Even if you don't read the whole thing (or stop reading right now), I'd love to hear from you and learn what you're up to. If you don't feel like reading the whole thing, here are the cliff notes:

(1) I still live in Japan, but I'm now living in Osaka. It's second or third largest city.
(2) I work at a kindergarten, an afterschool program, and a bar.
(3) I'm a full-time Japanese student. I'll be full-time for at least another 3-9 months. I'll take private business lessons after
that.
(4) I'll return to America in 2010 as a graduate student of something or other.

Now on the longer version:

I moved to Osaka around 3 months ago. It really doesn't fee like that long ago. Osaka has been good to me. It's a wonderful city (despite the fact that the city planners used Upton Sinclair's "The Jungle" as their blueprint). The people are lively. The restaurants are decently priced. And most importantly, there are people my own age!

Around 10 weeks ago I enrolled in a language school. I finished my first 10-week term around a week ago. The term was rather intensive. 5 days a week for around 3.5 hours a day. Overall, I think that it was worth it. It's hard to pinpoint exactly why it was worth it, but I signed up for another term, so it must have been good. The next term starts in around 2 weeks and I'm getting excited. In anticipation, I've been spending my winter break reviewing material and trying to polish off some weak points of mine.

The school itself is a nice place. The teachers are kind and dedicated. And my classmates are interesting. Most of them are Chinese, and I'd say 90% of the school comes from an Asian background. Since I don't speak Chinese and they generally don't speak English, we communicate in Japanese. Notice I said "communicate" and not "speak." None of us are fluent, so the conversation can sometimes get a bit murky (especially with accents… if you think the Chinese accent is difficult with English, you should hear it in Japanese!).

Regarding the job front, I've had around 4 or 5 different jobs since coming to Osaka. After bouncing around and trying to find the best fit for me, I finally settled on the following 3 organizations.

(1) Kinderkids: This is a kindergarten I work at on Saturday mornings (which, thank goodness, forces me to keep my Friday nights both cheap and tame). It's a 4 hour gig and I get paid around $150 for the entire shift. Since it's an immersion program, the kids are more or less fluent in English. Though they have trouble speaking, they're quite good at listening. It's a pleasure to teach here.

(2) Sunshine Kids: I teach here on the weekdays for a total of 22 hours. The pay isn't as good as Kinderkids, but the classes are easy, well-planned, and there is a very low level of stress. I really enjoy their program. And they're one of the few schools that actually dedicate time to phonics, which is something I'm proud of. Phonics is completely left out of the Japanese public school English program, so it's nice to be part of a school that actually believes in proper pronunciation.

(3) Mahi-Mahi: This is a bar down the road from my apartment. I work here around 3 nights a week. The shifts are all at night, so there is no conflict with my teaching jobs. The owner is friendly, the staff is quite easy to work with, and our regular customers treat me with respect. For the most part, I get paid for hanging out and practicing Japanese. Here and there I have to speak English with a customer that "enjoys speaking English," but that's just part of the gig. It's a regular job for regular people, and it makes me feel like more of an insider than an outsider. At most of my teaching jobs I'm unable to use Japanese because of various rules, so having a job where I can use what I've learned is quite comforting. After all, why learn a language if no one wants to speak it with you?

The social side of things has been a bit less exciting. Because I had so many job changes, various bills and uncertain income for around 2 months, I haven't really had the chance to go out and have a good time in the city. I've had fun for sure, but I haven't made quite as many Japanese friends as I'd hoped. Luckily, this has started to change. The bar job gives me a chance to build my confidence in casual chit-chat, and I then use what I learn at the bar to start conversations with strangers. I see things getting better and better with the coming of the new year.

That all being said, I'll focus the remainder of this letter on what I plan to do in the future. Besides, with new years coming up, I figured a few semi-public new years resolutions wouldn't be such a bad thing. So here we go.

(1) First, I'm going to take and pass the JLPT in June of this year. I'll take the level 2 exam. The JLPT is a Japanese proficiency test that's given twice a year. There are 4 levels. Level 4 is a basic proficiency, level 3 is a low-intermediate level, level 2 is "business level," and level 1 is the highest. A person at level 1 can attend Japanese university and go about all aspects of Japanese daily life and work as if they were a native. I'm quite far from this, but I'm getting closer and closer to the 2nd level with each passing day. If I fail in June, I'll take it again in December… which means I've got two shots at it this year.

(2) I'll also take the JETRO test in June and December. This test purely tests one's business aptitude and one's awareness of Japanese business customs. To prepare for this, I'll start taking private business classes during the week.

(3) I'm going to start applying for graduate school. My target entry date is August of 2010. I realize that's quite far away, but it means that I'll really need to do my best and figure out where I want to go, what I want to study, etc. It's currently looking like a 1-2 year business program. Perhaps an MBA or a MA. It's really hard to decide. I thought about trying to go in August of 2009, but I simply feel like that's too soon. There is still more I want to do before I head off to graduate school.

It's weird being aboard. Though I've gained a lot of transferable skills (cross cultural awareness; language skills, etc.), my resume hasn't changed too much since college. I still don't have a set of "hard skills." Without that, I simply don't feel like I could find a job in America that I'd be excited about.

Then again, I haven't tried, so know knows?

Then again, I don't think anyone is having an easy time finding a job in America, so maybe I'll just stay here a wee bit longer.

So I guess those three goals of mine are all really tied together. If I return to America with high scores on those standardized tests, I feel like I'd have a much easier time hunting for a job. In addition, they'd boost my resume for graduate school. It's all one nice little package.

All that being said, I find that I'm no longer tied to Japan. In other words, I've been thinking about making a move and seeing a different country and perhaps a different culture. Lately I've been thinking about China and India. If I went to either of those countries, I wouldn't be there nearly as long as I've been in Japan (I'm bouncing around the idea of being in one of those places for around 3-6 months). If I were accepted to graduate school, I would likely head to one of these countries for the period of time between getting the acceptance letter and the first day of school.

So I guess that's it for now. I'll try and be better about sending letters and stories. I hope this finds you happy, healthy, and looking forward to the coming year.

I hope this letter finds you happy, healthy, and looking forward to the year new.

Best wishes,

tom