Multilingual Web’s version of an international exchange paper for the new generation, “SENSEUP,” created by the joint cooperation of Japanese and overseas students!

multicultural living in japan I started an English conversation school called the “Patny Language Link”, one year after I got back from the UK in 1978. It was on the second floor of an old building located in between Ikebukuro train station and the Yamanote line at Mejiro station. I am not sure if it was the name of the school or if it was the fact that I did not have the potential to be a business manager, but the school closed its doors in less than two years. At the time, there was a female British teacher with blonde hair called Chris. Her actual job was being a model but she helped us with classes during her free time. She had already been in Japan for almost a year at the time and she was renting a room in an old house in the residential neighbourhood, around five to seven minutes away from Mejiro station. She had to share a common kitchen, toilet and bathroom yet the rent was unreasonably expensive. After hearing that story I said to her, “With that price, you can rent a normal apartment with a bathroom. Why don’t you move out?” She shook her head from left to right and said, “No way! It is so hard to rent an apartment in Japan. You need to have a guarantor and pay key money and all that, plus, I can’t speak Japanese very well so I can’t go to the real estate agent by myself. I don’t want to ask my friends to come with me either. Considering that, I only have to pay for the rent for the place I am living in now and I can speak English at home as well!” Small space or common utilities did not matter to her. In fact, the complication of renting an apartment seemed to pose more of a problem to her. Not every English teacher in Japan lived in a place like hers. At the time, there weren’t many foreign residents in Japan compared to the 760000 Japan has today. Furthermore, if you don’t include the permanent residents, new immigration would not even have reached an estimated 200000. Therefore, there was a shortage of English teachers in Japan and the pay was better than it is today. The standard of living for those English teachers was even higher than Japanese people. I wonder if there is any recent change to their living standards today. For English teachers today, some of them choose a place which can be rented using a simple procedure (e.g. guest house) like Chris did, and is also well-suited for their purpose or duration of stay. Others, especially those new to English teaching, choose a place where they can communicate with Japanese people so they can get used to being around them. The increase in the number of English teachers today must have some kind of effect on the variety of living styles. written by Masao Ogino President of Ichii Corporation Japan Property Management Association Executive President of International Exchange Organisation

｜ Summary of our company ｜ Topics ｜ Website policy ｜ Inquiry ｜

Managed by the SENSEUP Corporation
Supported by GapyearJapan (specified nonprofit organizations) gapyearjapan
Copyrights c 2005 Senseup Co.,Ltd. All Rights Reserved.