B Anderson wrote:
> > Hmmmm... never heard of it before, but I'm not sure what the mere
> > existence of a jobs portal tells you. Of course, the relatively
> > high-paying foreign language trade (teachers, editors, rewriters, etc)
> > is a relatively unique aspect of Japan's employment scene, but what
> > does that have to do with people dreaming about living in Japan for the
> > sake of living here? I think we've all met people who came for work,
> > but that's not quite the same thing, and in any case, it looks like
> > 90+% of the jobs there are limited to people already in Japan.
>
> There are discussion forums there... look and you will see post after
> post of people scheming to get into Japan by any means necessary.
>
In my case there were a couple of reasons why I originally went to
Japan. One was very definitely fascination with the country; this was
in the early 90s, and back then a great deal of time and energy was
spent focusing on Japan, mainly Japanese business but the culture as
well. Books by the truckload were written on the subject. So as a young
college student it was natural. I also had many Japanese friends; my
college had a strong exchange program with some Japanese universities,
and I made some lifelong friends in those days. Money also factored in;
it was well known that you could go to Japan and make a killing
teaching English.

I like to peruse Gaijin Pot myself. I don't read through their forums
all that much, though.

John W.