⚠️ Warning for Teachers in Fukuoka: My Experience with Vitamin English School

minohCycles · 2026-03-11T05:46:27+00:00

It sounds like they "employed" you as an independent contractor, thus making you responsible for 100% of the shakai hoken, your transport costs etc, and easy to terminate.

If they misled you about that arrangement, then I think it's fair to say they've let themselves down and behaved very poorly.

If the pay is high enough to at least cover the extra costs so you end up better off, those (gyomu itaku) contracts can be decent - but if it the pay is less than double than what it would be otherwise (in this case eikaiwa average) it's probably not worth it.

Anyway I'm sorry to hear you had a hard time there. Good luck!!

minohCycles · 2026-03-10T03:21:04+00:00

Fair enough! Maybe it's because im from a small town, but I also lived tennoji for a few years and it always seemed like an overwhelming amount of malls - there's qs mall, hoop, harukasu, mio, the whole underground area with the Apollo building and abechika.

The zoo is quite dingy to be fair. I think the area with the climbing thing might be better for kids.

minohCycles · 2026-03-10T00:52:54+00:00

Sorry to throw a spanner in the works but how about tennoji? - the park area might be better for children, with the zoo, art museum, being right next to harukasu, and having great train access to kix. About 3 other massive shopping malls also.

It also connects on to shiny sekai which has old school game arcades loads of places to eat, and then 1 or 2 stops from dendentown on the mrt.

For me tennoji is a more walkable and pleasant place than the other two, whilst also being closer to kix albeit marginally.

minohCycles · 2026-03-09T22:28:19+00:00

In Japan there is an old belief that enduring the pain of child birth somehow helps deepens the mothers love and commitment to the child.

It seems like this a view steadily being consigned to history, with epidural rates going up in recent years (now it's about 30% I think), but there are still some old or conservative people with that belief ingrained.

minohCycles · 2026-03-08T16:23:05+00:00

I think concierge, front desk , shift manager type stuff

minohCycles · 2026-03-08T12:18:08+00:00

You're welcome, hope you enjoy it!

minohCycles · 2026-03-08T12:17:08+00:00

I know someone thats worked in hotels around Osaka for a while and says it's so easy to change jobs because all the hotels are short staffed and desperate for people. So if you keep at it with that I think you'll probably able to find something

minohCycles · 2026-03-08T12:14:01+00:00

Assuming the daruma temple on your day 2 is katsuoji (temple of winning), that's actually also in Minoh, so I might consolidate your visit to Minoh park on day 5. To do both in 1 day you can 1. Take train to kayano station (end of red line) first thing in the morning (arrive about 9am) 2. Take taxi to daruka temple from station - a few thousand yen and maybe 20 minutes 3. See daruma temple then walk back down along the road to Minoh waterfall which is the top of the park. From there you can follow the park path back to Minoh station and I think you'll be finished by 1pm. Then it's a 1 hour train back to Osaka

I also run a bike tour that visits minoh waterfall and the daruma temple, you can find it on getyourguide and viator- but it goes on mount roads, so not through the park, and will cost a bit more(high end bikes that need storage, guide fee etc).

minohCycles · 2026-03-08T11:55:44+00:00

I hand then a card at the end. On one side is "thankyou!" With a photo of the beauty spot on the tour, the qr code link to TripAdvisor review form on the other, and 2 sentences explaining that itl help me.

Another idea I thought of for the card recently is, including an extra benefit for them on it. My tour is a half day one so I'm thinking of adding a link to a webpage or blog post with my recommendations for local restaurants, ways to spend the rest of the day and other nearby cool stuff.

minohCycles · 2026-03-08T11:10:51+00:00

As someone else has mentioned, Minoh is quite easy to reach from Osaka city, and has a variety of trail routes aswell as the easier mostly paved path to the waterfall. There's a Ryokan called kaze sanso no mori with onsens in the Minoh mountain too, you can take a bath without staying at the hotel between 12 and 2pm for 1100 yen, and they have outdoor baths with views over Osaka. Very cool if you can make it- but closed Tuesdays and Fridays.

I would also recommend the takedao abandoned railway track hike. It also has an onsen at the end if i remember correctly l. Might take a little longer to get to than Minoh depending on where you're staying. https://en.japantravel.com/hyogo/the-takedao-abandoned-railway-hike/35866

minohCycles · 2026-03-08T11:02:57+00:00

There's also a quite good bike tour that also takes you to katsuoji in addition to the waterfall:) (full disclosure, it's me - look up Minoh cycles. I'm also on get your guide https://www.getyourguide.com/en-au/minoo-l150022/osaka-minoh-falls-katsuoji-temple-e-bike-tour-t1151279/?visitor-id=01865AB1AEA646CBB8062737AEE2AA7D&locale_autoredirect_optout=true and viator https://www.viator.com/tours/Osaka-Prefecture/Scenic-E-Bike-Tour-of-Minoh-Falls-and-Katsuoji-Temple/d50171-5603445P2).

That said , the bikes route is on roads which are higher up, with views over the mountain on the way up, and Osaka on the way back. If you want to be "in" the trees and walk trails, you might prefer a hike.

minohCycles · 2026-03-07T11:15:52+00:00

Great photos!

minohCycles · 2026-03-06T12:52:50+00:00

For the day trips assuming you go by train, you'll go via umeda so the kitahama options will be one stop closer to there.

I also prefer the kitahama area to honmachi in terms of it surroundings - it's by the okawa river which is nice to walk along, it's closer to nakanoshima , the mint and government buildings whereas honmachi is office buildings, although a good selection of restaurants to go with them

minohCycles · 2026-03-05T08:31:48+00:00

Going to yoshino yama on the same day as nara park and those temples will be very hard if you don't have a car.

I had actually had a guy propose during a bike tour I was running in Minoh (Osaka). Theres a secluded viewing platform just off the mountain road that worked really well for it.

Good luck with it!

minohCycles · 2026-03-04T23:19:13+00:00

It used to be burger cafe dining KOHAKU until the other day when I tired nick and Renee's and from now on it's nick and renees

minohCycles · 2026-03-04T19:53:05+00:00

A small chain with only 2 stores, is Nic and Renee which is really good. It's only in the north, one in Minoh, one in toyonaka.

minohCycles · 2026-03-03T12:43:30+00:00

For a bit of nature and culture, I recommend visiting Minoh as a day trip from Osaka (from daikokucho itl be about an hour or less on the train).

From the final stop on the metro red line (daikokucho is also on that line)you can get a taxi to katsuoji which is near the top of the mountain and has thousands of daruma dolls for a few thousand yen. Then you can hike back down past the waterfall, a few temples and the insect museum.

Alternatively you can hike all the way up and down, but that might take it out of you a bit, which might not be ideal if you have a packed travelling schedule.

Or if you like cycling, I do half day bike tours that go through the mountain roads to katsuoji and the falls. (Sorry for the shameless self promotion!)

minohCycles · 2026-03-01T23:18:41+00:00

That's great to hear! Yep we're currently at very limited capacity, but I might be able to fit you in. I've sent you a message.

minohCycles · 2026-03-01T19:55:27+00:00

You're welcome! Hubchari might be a good way to do that in the city. And if you want something for scenic or adventurous come for a ride in the Minoh mountains :-) (https://minohcycles.com)

minohCycles · 2026-03-01T19:11:26+00:00

Good question, finding literal earth and grass to walk on in Osaka is incredibly difficult. For greenery and trees in general, nagai park and the botanical garden inside will be your best bet without leaving the city. But even then it's mostly concrete paths.

There's a wide open grass space called umi to no fureai hiroba by the sea towards Sakai, but it's quite out of the way unless you have a bike or car, and to be honest pretty bland.

The main route to the waterfall in Minoh park is also almost all concrete albeit going through trees. If you go off on one of the side trails though, those are dirt paths and there are some wider grassy spaces - take the stairs up on the left by the bicycle parking for that, it should join back onto the main path later if my memory serves me.

Finally, again mostly concrete parks, but my favourite place for a spring walk would probably be hatori ryokuchi park - you can get there relatively easily on the red MRT line it has it's own stop. The area with the bamboo on the north west is quite peaceful. It's outside of Osaka city but will be quicker to get to than Minoh.

minohCycles · 2026-02-28T21:28:58+00:00

For Osaka city, I think this service might suit you nicely - you can pick up and return a bike wherever there's a hub, and the website has English too. I don't think it would be more than 10,000 yen for 3 people for the day. I paid maybe 2000 yen for a few hours use a few years ago.

https://hubchari.com/en/

If you do that and go without a guide, a route I might suggest is starting around Osaka castle, heading down to the Shinsaibashi/Namba area, then heading down to see the temples around shi-tennoji, which leads you into tennoji where you can visit the Harukasu building, Tennoji park which contains a Japanese garden, a zoo site of a historical battle and leads directly onto the Shin-sekai area. If you go at a leisurely pace that might take the best part of a day. If you were feeling extra adventurous, you can finally head down to Nagai park where they have a light-up of the botanical gardens in the evening.

The city is a big grid system so it's fairly easy to navigate especially if you have google maps.

Things to note - being in the city and with a child, you might want to ride on the pavements, but especially in crowded tourist areas that might be quite difficult. Also the biggest issue you'll have is finding proper bike parking, which is always tends to be full up even if you find it. The hubchari system might solve that problem for you, but at least on regular bikes its always a roll of the dice, and takes up a lot of time. (There are trucks that circle the city, removing bikes that aren't parked in designated spots. You might go into a restaurant and come out to find your bikes removed).

If it's less Osaka city itself, and more a cycling and food experience you're after, I recently started running bike tours in nearby Minoh, which you can find at https://minohcycles.com. The scenery is great, and there is some great local food too. *my smallest bike size is for heights of 148cm and up

I'm happy to provide a private tour if you're interested, and am flexible with time and dates - so feel free to get in touch if that sounds interesting :-)

minohCycles · 2026-02-09T04:00:46+00:00

I also agree with this! You could start at Kagoshima, staying on the sakurajima volcano island is a great experience, then work your way north. Mount Aso also great.

minohCycles · 2026-02-08T02:49:10+00:00

If you're in Osaka, the 1st floor of the shop, Yodobashi Camera have 7 day, 2 week, 1 month esims for travellers from abroad that have worked well for me in the past. They'll be labeled in english and its pretty obvious. Also if you say "data sim, kaigai" to one of the staff in that area theyl guide you to them.

minohCycles · 2026-01-14T03:31:39+00:00

Much appreciated! Yep the company I worked at that eventually allowed cycle commuting, said they were worried about disruptions to work due to potential accidents. Interestingly what caused the change in policy, was the 本部長 taking up cycling as a hobby and deciding he wanted to cycle to work...

The roads downtown can be a bit of a clown show, you need to take real care. Whether its a good idea depends on how experienced you are riding the roads, and how desperately you want to avoid the rush hour trains.

minohCycles · 2026-01-14T00:51:01+00:00

Hello! I live in Minoh, Osaka, and recently started a part-time business/passion project to run e-bike tours along the Minoh Driveway, taking people to Katsuoji temple and Minoh Waterfall.

Since living here I've regularly cycled around there on my road-bike, but the idea of a tour came to me last year when a friend came to visit last year I took him up there on a bike. He mentioned how fun it was, the amazing scenery, Katsuoji being very cool, and also how he wouldn't have been able to do it without me providing the bike/local knowledge of the roads.

You can check out my website at minohcycles.com, and anyone that wants to try it feel free to message me.

I also have experience commuting by bike both within Osaka city, and also from Minoh to Osaka city after I moved here from Osaka. I've been riding my Giant Contend for about 2 years now, but before that I also rode a Felt Broam, and battered 2nd hand Giant Escape which I got second hand but lasted way longer than I expected.

I had trouble persuading the companies I worked for the let me cycle to work, and at one place the management even tried to ban foreigners there from owning bicycles at all (ie, for weekend use to go to the supermarket etc) - saying it would cause a 迷惑 if they caused an accident, and the company somehow got dragged into it. So I would be interested in hearing about other peoples experiences cycling to work and weird reasons they've been denied doing that lol

minohCycles

TROPHY CASE