On Oct 30, 2:50 pm, Travers Naran <tna...@googles.mail.com> wrote:
> Jim Breen <jimbr...@gmail.com> wrote:
> > Travers Naran wrote:
>
> >> I'm suspecting ESL teachers get the raw deal
>
> > Yes, but they're not alone. When it come to the food-chain of
> > gaigins-living-in-Japan, ESL teachers, especially those employed
> > by shonky outfits like NOVA, are close to the bottom.
>
> It's frightening to think of anyone living lower than NOVA teachers.

There would be quite a large proportion of Japan's population with a
lower standard of living than eikaiwa teachers. Apart from the low
incomes of unskilled labor (of both the native and immigrant
persuasion), the situation with many of the elderly and chronically
ill in Japan is not something to be proud of.

> I've read web pages posted by ex-NOVA teachers that make their lives
> sound less appealing that an illegal hostess bar worker.

Are you wondering who gets laid more?

> >> and everyone else are treated more humanely.
>
> > Er, no. Japanese society has a lot of people who are treated badly.
>
> I did try to use a relative comparison. :-)
>
> But I meant compared to the Japanese.  If you are a fluent Japanese-speaking
> gaijin, how much worse are you treated compared to the native Japanese?

If you are fluent, I think it would be very unusual to be treated in a
such a way that you could be "worse off" than a native speaker with
similar education/skills etc.

There is the almost daily irritation deriving from the low
expectations many Japanese have of their long term foreign "guests",
and finding good housing can be a real bitch, and the new
fingerprinting regime pisses me off, but about the only things I can't
do that irritate me are things that could only be solved with
citizenship (not voting, but being able to obtain a daihyouken when
establishing a company etc).