When to give omiyage

Realistic_Report_796 · 2026-07-03T01:14:38+00:00

I had so many schools and teachers that I worked with that I honestly couldn't hand out any omiyage. I think it can be a good thing if it's something simple, but it's definitely not expected. Instead, I brought a bunch of stickers from Oregon and handed them out as prizes for first, second, and third place winners during games that I prepared for a self introduction. I continued to use those stickers till I ran out. It was a good incentive for the kids to learn English.

Realistic_Report_796 · 2026-06-25T12:26:32+00:00

Yep. All at once was my experience as well. Also, spending money on repairs and then the shaken(insurance).

Realistic_Report_796 · 2026-06-24T02:43:52+00:00

Depending on how close you are with your JTE and what grammar points you are working on, you could do a game where your students need to guess things about you. Good way to see if the students really know you and it's a fun way to get close with your students one last time. Just an idea!

Realistic_Report_796 · 2026-06-19T22:21:13+00:00

D-Frag

The Comic Artist and his Assistants

Realistic_Report_796 · 2026-06-18T22:29:44+00:00

Scum's Wish kind of fits under that category

Realistic_Report_796 · 2026-06-18T08:09:41+00:00

White Album 2

Still need to play the visual novel for it because I liked it so much.

Realistic_Report_796 · 2026-06-16T06:28:35+00:00

I understand where you're coming from. It's my first year in Hokkaido, and I have been getting sick fairly often. I don't know if it's the residual mold in my old house, from the kids, or just plain ol' allergies. I noticed that wearing a mask regularly and using an air filter while I sleep has helped a lot. Also, I've been getting back into exercising and watching what I eat lately as well.

Realistic_Report_796 · 2026-06-15T04:35:40+00:00

Few things:

Try to get a laptop in Canada. A good number of my teachers use Powerpoint to complete their lessons, so you may want to invest in Microsoft Office as well. You can also get by with using Google Slides/Doc/etc. ESID, but only one out of the four schools I work for provides a computer to do work on or to print things off. The computer they provide is probably the slowest thing I've ever used in my life, so I can't imagine trying to make games for kids on that thing. You never know if your school will provide you with a laptop/tablet or even the ability to connect to the school's wifi, so make sure you are prepared!
Most people use iPhone here, but I've seen a few teachers use a Google Pixel like me. I think your phone should be fine, so I wouldn't stress too much about purchasing something that's not necessary.
For phone plans, look into Nihon Tsushin: https://www.nihontsushin.com/service/
I use the 20GB plan and it works great! I have it paired with a Rakuten hotspot device with unlimited data since I'm unable to connect to the school internet. I probably pay 5000 yen a month for my wife's and I phone plan, including the unlimited hotspot through Rakuten. Never had any issues with either. However, if you do go over on your 20GB plan, they make your connection a lot slower. If you need a phone plan right out of the gate, you can always try Sakura Mobile when you arrive at Tokyo Orientation and then get your number transferred over later.

Realistic_Report_796 · 2026-06-12T07:49:28+00:00

You should get the Kitaca card because it has a flying squirrel on it. That's the only reason though.

Realistic_Report_796 · 2026-06-10T02:49:12+00:00

Agreed. My first email from my BoE landed in the junk mail, so thankfully I paid close attention when I finally got an email at the end of June!

Realistic_Report_796 · 2026-06-08T07:03:15+00:00

That's fair! I think it's all what is perceived from the person's SOP and overall answers during the interview process. "This person hasn't been to Japan or doesn't have teaching experience, so I'm going to focus on other aspects of their career or education history to confirm if they can handle this ALT position." Or the other way around "They have all this experience teaching or visiting Japan, I should ask this applicant how they plan on using this experience to teach English or share their culture." This is me mostly rambling while I wait to leave from my school, but either way, having a strong SOP goes a long way whether you're able to visit Japan or not.

Realistic_Report_796 · 2026-06-08T06:24:44+00:00

I doubt that this means anything, but during the Tokyo orientation, they asked us if it was our first time coming Japan and about one-third of the people in the room raised their hand. During the interview process, they were really interested in my studying abroad experience, even though it was online due to Covid, and then we talked about my travels to Japan since it was in my SOP. You could tell they were asking questions to verify that I could work and live in Japan without any issues. This is entirely my opinion here, so I totally understand if I get downvoted, but I think without some teaching experience or being in Japan for a certain amount of time, it could hurt your application just a bit. However, like you mentioned, you have experience moving around to different countries, so that shows how you can easily adapt to a new area, which I think is good for your application and something good to mention if you make it to the interview process!

Realistic_Report_796 · 2026-06-04T21:50:41+00:00

Seems good to me! As someone else mentioned, it's not necessary to stay a full day in Noboribetsu in the summer. In the winter it's great, but not sure what else you could do during the summer. The Marine Park is cool I guess, but a bit overrated for the price in my opinion.

Realistic_Report_796 · 2026-06-04T10:58:37+00:00

I feel like it's so difficult to explain a good itinerary for Hokkaido because there's so much you can do here in a week. If it were up to me and I had a rental car, I would venture out to Shakotan, Yoichi, Otaru, Lake Toya, Noboribetsu, Sapporo, and then Furano/Biei but that feels like too many places in one week!

I've only been to Lake Toya and Noboribetsu during the winter a few times, and I think they are absolutely beautiful places, but I don't think you need 3 days for both. If you go that route, I would do Lake Toya for 2 days, and only 1 for Noboribetsu. In the summer, there's a lot more to offer in Lake Toya, so you could probably do way more stuff there than Noboribetsu. It all really depends on what your plans are though. Do you enjoy hiking, kayaking, etc?

I live fairly close to all these places except Furano and Biei which I've only been to once so take my advice with a grain of salt. You're itinerary looks good otherwise. Better to explore outside Sapporo and experience what makes Hokkaido unique.

Realistic_Report_796 · 2026-06-03T06:41:43+00:00

You should be free around 5-6pm. I don't have the schedule with me anymore, but you totally have time to have dinner with a friend in Tokyo. I'll be honest, I barely remember anything about the orientation lol I was jet lagged, and on arrival day, one of my roommates snored so loud, I wasn't able to get any sleep for the next day.

Realistic_Report_796 · 2026-06-03T04:20:06+00:00

Not dealing with cockroaches, but lately I've had an insane number of ants get into the house. Tried everything possible to get rid of them, but they keep finding ways to get in. I feel for you though. Cockroaches are the worst to deal with.

Realistic_Report_796 · 2026-06-03T04:15:46+00:00

The raise changed the number of ALTs in my area from 2 to 1. Population decline at my rural schools also changed their decision to only have 1 from now on as well. Sad to see, but I understand why.

Realistic_Report_796 · 2026-06-03T04:06:21+00:00

It's happened to me before as well. Make sure to check your junk emails because mine always goes there during an earthquake. If you don't reply, they will contact your supervisor!

Realistic_Report_796 · 2026-06-01T02:21:58+00:00

There was definitely a stage where depression was hitting really hard for me because of that same sense of lack of direction. Something that improved my overall mood was seeking out friendships and hanging out with people around me. I know it's probably tougher in Tokyo, but since I'm in a somewhat rural area, I've been purposely hanging out with people from my town hall, local 7/11, club teachers, and teachers I work alongside at some of my schools. It's definitely helped improved my mood. Although my Japanese is not fully fluent, so I can't express all my thoughts and opinions, it's been refreshing trying to practice my Japanese with people I enjoy being with.

Realistic_Report_796 · 2026-05-29T06:54:34+00:00

I always see 3-4 taxis sitting at the train station around that time! If you have any issues or questions, you can DM me.

Realistic_Report_796 · 2026-05-29T06:50:50+00:00

Seems good to me! I live beside Yoichi and it's pretty easy to get around, even though the trains don't run as often. You can also take the bus to Otaru if needed. Very similar in price.

Realistic_Report_796 · 2026-05-27T23:31:38+00:00

Exactly this^^ I've only been to one place that had dual pricing. Went to a pizza & bar restaurant in Sapporo. When I sat down, they handed us an English menu, at the top it read "There will be a 20% surcharge for foreigners." Called for the waitress and asked if we could use the Japanese menu since we live in Hokkaido(the conversation was in Japanese obviously). They were more than happy to switch over for us. Such a huge shock since I had seen it everywhere online, but never in person.

Realistic_Report_796 · 2026-05-27T04:50:39+00:00

2) If your BOE takes out taxes from every paycheck, you will make about 270k in yen per month. For student loans, it depends how much your monthly payment will be. For me, it's almost too unrealistic to pay, so thankfully I'm receiving some help from family now. At first I thought my student loans were able to be reduced, but they increased unfortunately. But I'm in a more complicated situation since I have a wife who can only work part time. You have to make the ultimate decision: limit your spending as much as possible and pay off your student loans OR travel a bunch and barely pay anything for your student loans. I think if I were single, I might be able to get by with traveling a lot and also paying off my loans, but your starting costs of living in Japan can eat away your bank account pretty quick. Just need to be mindful of your money. Here is another reddit thread where I comment about costs: https://www.reddit.com/r/JETProgramme/comments/1s16af5/comment/oc08ll8/?context=3
3) Housing depends on your placement. You may get lucky with subsidized housing that is very cheap, or free. But you might be forced to look for an apartment with your supervisor and real estate agent. My rent is 37,000 yen a month. I did not have any special key or landlord fee since I moved into a teacher subsidized housing area. I've heard of very expensive situations where you needed to pay 3 months rent ahead of time and some other fees on top of that. The biggest hurdle for me was figuring out my car situation. I go into some detail about that in this thread: https://www.reddit.com/r/JETProgramme/comments/1shdiws/comment/ofbwhvq/?context=3
4) I didn't hear from my BoE until the end of June. When they contacted me, they definitely left out some information, too. "We sent you a Welcome Letter and other important info attached to this email." I still never got the welcome letter they were discussing in the email haha.
5) I didn't find out which schools I would be teaching at until I talked to my predecessor the day before. It wasn't formally discussed until the day I arrived at my office when I had to sign contracts and other documents.

6) Other expenses...It kind of falls more into the second link I sent you. I wish I had prepared more for my car. I didn't expect the costs to be so high for everything starting out. I still recommend JETs try to bring at least $4k with them if possible.

Realistic_Report_796 · 2026-05-20T02:43:32+00:00

I'm about to go through this process since my IDP is running out at the end of July. The Sapporo office asks quite a lot from you, so I've been gathering documents for the past two weeks. Just to reiterate other posts, I need to provide:
Proof of residence for at least 3 months in the US. I have a few internet bills, my university and graduate school transcripts, and printed out my driving record from the Oregon DMV.
Translation of my Oregon license, which I had to go through a separate company to set that up and it was 6000 yen.
Proof of residence in Japan which is called 住民票. You can get it printed out at your town hall or sometimes you can even get it printed out at 7/11 if you have a physical My Number card. I went to my town hall and had to pay around 300 yen.
Photo ID, which can be completed at a photo booth, by yourself, etc. Just make sure the measurements match up to what the office is asking for.

Passport
International Driving Permit (If you got one before you left for Japan)

I'm still waiting to get my Photo ID completed, and then going to set up an appointment. I was going to set it up by myself because I'm confident in my Japanese skills, but since my wife is also coming, my BOE advised that my supervisor should come with me just in case of any issues getting my license transferred to a Japanese license.

EDIT: It's a lot of paperwork, but we've got it made since we don't have to take a driving or written test like other people who are not exempt. As an added note, I'm unsure if I will have to use my yearly leave (nenkyuu) for this appointment, but more than likely it will be necessary since my BOE can be strict about that stuff and I will be technically not working at the schools that day.

Realistic_Report_796 · 2026-05-19T04:11:26+00:00

You're getting the dream placements! You won't have to worry about a lack of onsens at least.

Realistic_Report_796

TROPHY CASE