7.3 Earthquake Hits Eastern Japan - December 7, 2012

A 7.3 magnitude earthquake has hit eastern Japan again friends. This one was off the coast off Touhoku again and was felt in Tokyo Town. I am safe friends, and I hope you are too.

Say, when y'all came over and signed up for that ESL professional job making 200,000 Yens a month, did y'all expect you might die one day in an earthquake? I sure hope y'all at least considered it.

THE LAST MEMORIES OF AN ESL TEACHER IN JAPAN: 

I'M GOING TO DIE BECAUSE OF A FUCKING EARTHQUAKE I WILL NO LONGER BE ABLE TO BE AN ESL TEACHER

 OH SHIT

Stay safe out there my ESL teacher friends. And don't forget to listen to my podcast about how to survive the big one that's overdue to hit Tokyo Town.

HOW TO SURVIVE THE FORTHCOMING TOKYO EARTHQUAKE

WITH WHISKEY, GOOD FOOD, AND BITCHES.

AND MORE WHISKEY.

Voted by ESL Teachers in the Kansai Area as Their Favorite Japanese TV Show

Just in time for that weekly event that the ESL professionals in Japan look forward to every week ie Saturday night to Sunday night - otherwise known as 24 hours off - Mud diving J girls in outfits. And for them ESL teachers who especially love this kind of thing, a warning: don't beat off too much to this video because remember, you will need to get back to class on Monday to pay the rent for your closet sized paper thin walled 'room' at your gaijin house. It is from the famous Japanese game show entitled simply "泥の水たまりに飛び込む" or "Jump Into Mud Puddle"

Enjoy.

OOH NOO TOKYO JOE YOU BAD BOY, 

DON'T HURT ME OOH NOO!!!

Living the Lost in Translation Life is Lost for Many Who Come to Japan

If you liked this film then that is great, because I am with you. I liked it too. But friends, Tokyo aint like this in real life

No it aint. And let me tell you why. If you listen to some of my podcasts you will see but let me explain it here.

Tokyo is full of a lot of people who come over with 10 dollars in their pocket and frankly are struggling to survive here as ALTs and English Teachers. They do not do very well.
Lost in Translation has characters with time, money and a taste for luxury much like me. See, when I first came to Japan there was gold in the streets and you could make money. I was lucky had the contacts and made money even before I cam here but did very well years and years ago and have been retired for some time.
Today? I see these kids coming over, staying practically on the street or with a friend if they are lucky, some of them live in Gaijin Houses where there are 10 people sharing 1 toilet and bathroom and kitchen and they are struggling! They can barely pay rent, and they work as teachers (but really are nothing more than clowns/babysitters/entertainment for the people they teach) and make very little money. We are talking about 1.5k-2k a month if they are lucky which will buy you nothing in Tokyo.

Bob and Charlotte types? Well I never really see them except people who come and visit for a few days, but not even at Charlotte's age, as they tend to be older to have the money to burn on hotel rooms like the Park Hyatt in Shinjuku. Of course, there are very few people like Bob. Only Brad Pitt or Arnie or someone of that fame is anything like Bob. Even Tommy Lee Jones didn't get paid as much as Bob for his Boss Coffee commercials. 

So before you come to Tokyo friends I have some words of advice. Save your money and come and live like the characters in this movie do. Spend when you are here but do not expect to earn or live the dream here. It happens to very few people and I would say about 1 in 10,000 actually get wealthy here in Japan these days. If you want to know why you can see the direct link here.

Any questions will be answered without a problem. Take care and enjoy Japan, just do it with some sense of who you are and money in your pocket, like the characters in this movie. Then you will have the real LIT experience which I can tell you personally is like no other. It is much like the movie, dreamy, bittersweet, strange and wonderful.

How to get an ESL job in Japan

A lot of you folks have wrote me and asked me how to get the dream English teaching job in Japan so here are my tips - even for those of you who think you can't get an eikaiwa job. "GETTING AN ESL JOB IN JAPAN 101 PART 1" on YouTube Leave your comments and questions below as always friends. Peace Tokyo Joe.

Know your Tokyo - Ikebukuro, Toshima City

Whenever I take the metro to Ikebukuro, Toshima City and emerge from the east Seibu exit onto Meiji Dori into the twilight, I feel alive. Why friends? Because it is like stepping out into a set from Blade Runner. The claustrophobic atmosphere of the east part of Ikebukuro (which has no fewer than three Bic Camera stores - all each with their own building), a LABI (Yamada Denki) and others will give you a real feeling of being on the deck Battleship Tokyo, more so than even parts of Shinjuku, which isn't quite as claustrophobic and imposing around its station. Toshima City is one of the eight central wards of Tokyo (out of the 23 special wards) and Ikebukuro is the second busiest train station in the world, at about 2.8 million passenger transits each day (Heathrow Airport, London, England has only 60 million a year) and the busiest metro station in the world (Marunouchi, Yurakucho, Futokushin lines). The Toshima City entotsu (translation: chimney)is something to behold friends, and it is the third tallest structure in all of Tokyo (after the Tokyo Sky Tree and the Tokyo Tower). It is the distinctive gleaming white polygonal column, an ode to the great wonders of the ancient world, with flashing red eyes that sits above the cavernous confines of the streets of east Ikebukuro. I will take you on a tour of Ikeburo in my forthcoming podcast, so stay tuned and ask your questions below.
Peace
Tokyo Joe