Quote from: T-man on June 15, 2014, 03:42:49 AM
I would like to stay a bit longer and work, people have told me I could find a job easily. But you never know. I don't speak japanese so it might be a bit difficult. Surgery yeah I would be excited too. 
How long are you on T? And know of any good spots to visit you would like to share?
Sorry for the late reply. I had to do some errands and banking is weird here. Lol. Where abouts are you from? I'm 2 years and a few months on T. My doctor is back in America so my hormones have been a source of stress. She's been awesome, but now I have to find someone here to issue my hormones and it's been a huge pain in the rear, honestly.
Places to go here? I'll put it this way, I've only scratched the surface in two years. Since I live here, I avoid the big tourist areas. It's a whole separate issue that I won't get into. But, in Kansai there are a lot of places. I've been to Kyoto, Kobe, Hyogo, Nara and all over Osaka. It depends on what you are into. I'm not huge into pop culture, but if you like anime and manga, Den Den town here in Osaka and Shibuya in Tokyo are pretty big Meccas. Fashion is huge in both major cities and the area around me is Shinsaibashi. If you like affordable pubs and karaoke, Juso is the place to be. For shopping of all kinds downtown Umeda is awesome. In Kyoto there are museums and galleries everywhere. Even just walking through each major area you can find amazing things. My town of Settsu has a temple that survived major bombings during WWII that's about 500 years old, and it's a lovely place. I came here when I was 15 on a school trip so I saw a lot cool things then that I haven't gone back to yet. The golden pavilion and Osaka castle are really interesting. You can see the old imperial castle in Kyoto. I would highly recommend the Kaiyukan in Osaka. It's one of the invests aquariums in the world and their main attraction is Yuu-chan the whale shark. She's adorable. Bampakku park is really nice and they have flea markets all year, which is a great place to get hand made things. Hiroshima is really neat. I haven't been to the war museum yet since we are going with my father-in-law when he visits. But, there is a town in Hiroshima-ken that is nothing but temples that survived the war and about 200 cats. I've been there and it's really, really cool. Shikoku island is pretty nice too. I would personally avoid Okinawa right now. There is a lot if anti-American sentiment and if you are not Asian it might not be a good place to go.
As for work... I dunno. I can't speak to everywhere for sure but in Osaka in it can be difficult. If you don't have a requirement of where you live, you can find work. After the Tohoku earthquake a lot of foreigners left. in places up north and inaka (countryside), it's easier to find jobs. Here in Osaka it can be hard, since there are a lot of foreigners looking for work, some when standing visas and 20 years of work experience. It isn't impossible by any means and if you want to find something start looking around early. Gaijinpot forums are very useful. I was hired by a Canadian couple who operate their own school, but I had my fair share of rejections. There are two big issues facing people looking for work: visa sponsorship and contact laws. A new law went into effect in 2013 that basically said that anyone who works 5 years for a company is given tenure automatically, whether they are Japanese or not. Visa sponsorship is a long process and is very costly to the company providing it. I have a spousal visa, but because I am not covered on insurance I can work up to 29 hours a week. 30+ means the company has to sponsor me, so I am not scheduled as salary and when I work more than 30 hours I have overtime. It's every week for me, but I don't get the benefits of being full time salaried. I don't mind it and it is possible to work 28 hours a week and live fine. There is no shortage of capsule apartments (efficiencies) that only cost $100 a month and food is cheap. Again, I'm not saying you can't get work but you want to look before you get here if you want to live in a major city. I love it here and my husband may get a deans position at his uni. If he does we are here for 20 years or more.
If you want to visit Osaka I would be more than happy to show you around. We may not be able to host you since we have a lot of family visiting over the next six months, but I would be happy to meet. You can also email me about anything you want to know. My email is listed on my profile. I would keep talking, but it would end up a few pages if I keep going.
