summarize this video? Japan day in the life of first in the
morning I face day in the life of an
English teacher in Jaan in the life of
Engish so I
[Music]
quit to be totally honest I've always
always been kind of scared to film this
video because after a year of filming my
life as an English teacher and going
massively viral for that I felt like no
one would understand why i' leave that
life behind and I get messages every
single day probably thousands in the
past two years asking how to get the
exact job that I had and live the life
that I live but honestly I get why
because I also wanted it for the longest
time and as a caveat this isn't meant to
be some kind of expose discouraging
people from moving to Japan or becoming
English teachers I don't think anything
could have changed my mind before I came
here uh but I think telling the full
truth outside of these 30 second Blog
videos might help people understand why
I made the decision I made finally one
of the most famous and also kind of
annoying phrases here in the English
teaching Community is Eid every
situation is different this means my
experience is not the be all end all but
it is my experience as as an English
teacher and ultimately why I left my
dream job first things first let's uh
pull back the curtain these Vlogs were
from over a year ago some of them like 2
years ago now hence the mask uh hence
the old meme references and also why I'm
able to talk about it more freely now so
how did we do it we being me and Ben so
let's start with me I came here through
the jet program which is supposed to be
the best way to come to Japan and teach
English so basically how that works is
the Japanese government places you in a
random town somewhere in Japan and you
become an assistant language teacher to
a native Japanese teacher in their
English classes with a relatively High
salary compared to most other English
teaching jobs in Japan but all the
details the school the community the
location the exact details of your
contract aren't revealed to you or at
least to me until you get there pretty
much so you're kind of just rolling the
die hoping that you get a good life and
you luck out on some of these things but
uh as you might be able to guess
spoilers I I didn't I didn't get a lot
of good luck okay but then how did Ben
do it well let's ask him come on so I
was placed as an alternate on the jet
program which basically means I wasn't
pick to teach but I would be a backup if
someone else quits and in case no one
else did quit we wanted to be sure that
I would still be able to come so I
applied for the freeloader Visa sorry
the dependent visa and the plan was for
me to start looking for jobs once I got
there see
you so why did I personally do it
uprooting my and Ben's life for a life
here well because like many of you I
also grew up watching J vloggers what's
good Chris Broad and I took a trip here
in 2019 and absolutely fell in love with
it I took Japanese language and culture
courses at my University and uh by the
time I graduated I was just a little bit
sick and tired of the Midwest and wanted
something polar opposite so when jet
came a call in I was in there was no
question and I was lucky enough that I
found an amazing partner and Ben who
came with me through all the crazy stuff
we were about to endure and it was about
to get crazy which is why we're thankful
for today's sponsor better help before
they ever approached us to be a sponsor
we actually use better Help Services
because it's a resource we can use while
we're abroad and we found a great
therapist who aligned with our needs
whether it be family issues trauma or
just needing to vent to someone who can
give good advice therapy is a super
powerful tool to give you perspective on
life you probably already know that
better help is an online therapy
platform that millions of people use we
especially recommend it if you have a
busy life if you live abroad or if where
you live doesn't have as many Mental
Health Resources and you can choose to
do therapy whichever way works for you
whether that's messaging calls or video
video also if your therapist isn't right
for you then it's really easy to get
match with someone new to find the right
fit if you're interested it's an easy
process of using the link in our
description answering a few questions
and getting a quick message from a
therapist match to your needs it took us
like 5 minutes to get signed up and we
were matched with a therapist the next
day so it's super convenient and very
quick so if you'd like somebody to work
with you on your mental health or you
just want to support us then click the
link in our description and take the
next step on your mental health Journey
today so the beginning in the story is
uh kind of traumatic at least for me it
was so if you like a messy story then
here you go we'll start at the train
station where I was supposed to be
meeting my new boss and I noticed very
quickly that he was less than
enthusiastic and honestly probably super
overworked whereas all the people around
me were being met by their coordinators
with open arms having these great
conversations about how wonderful their
life was about to be for us it very much
felt like we were just really being
shuttled around and put up with and
trying to make small talk about our new
home was met with uh pretty jaded
responses about how dull Island life was
so let me recreate the conversation that
we had you guys like movies yeah we like
movies yeah we don't have any movie
theaters around here oh okay you guys
like concerts yeah we we like concerts
yeah we don't have
concerts oh you guys like partying uh I
guess so yeah nobody ever gets together
around
here so we hopped in my boss's car and
we drove further and further away from
civilization across a bridge that like
symbolized a little bit too closely
moving away from the life that we had
pictured in Japan this fun energetic
lifestyle cuz that's where we were
placed by the way an island far away
from any of the big cities in Japan but
it only got worse when we got there we
pulled up on our new apartment
absolutely in shambles covered in cat
hair and piss and smelling like mold and
mysterious stains on the walls broken
furniture and just like a mountain of
trash I'm the trash man I come out I
throw trash all over all over the ring
as background in the jet program you
typically inherit your position and all
that comes with it from a previous
teacher that means their job their
apartment their responsibilities and
their messes all become yours and
unfortunately mine did not set me up for
Success we walked in on her throwing
away loads of garbage and broken glass
the very same day that we were supposed
to be moving in talk about
procrastination at that point the only
question I had was damn you live
like this they were stressed we were
stressed but it only got worse see we
were really encouraged by the program to
trust our predecessor before we had even
met them and take their hand-me-downs or
even buy stuff from them like our cars
so we did now that might seem just
straight up foolish to some of you but
you have to understand we uh weren't
exactly given many resources to buy a
car on our own on this island nor would
we have known anything about how to do
it but we were ever so swiftly informed
by one of the local car guys that we met
that she had scammed us out of about
$52,000 on this car that was actually
worth nearly nothing the car was also
about 10 years older than my predecessor
said it was which also brought down the
value oh and that was also full of cat
hair and pee did I mention I'm allergic
like super allergic yeah and in our
Midwestern Spirit we had used some of
our precious luggage space to bring this
big old bottle of ranch to her because
that's the one thing she wanted from
back home needless to say that uh never
made it to her you may take our dignity
but you won't take our Ranch I think
just the cherry on top was my
predecessor was live tweeting about us
even though we only met once just to say
hello uh because she heard we were quite
upset about getting scammed and she said
she wanted to send a bunch of crows to
poop on the
car to punish us for what a weirding
thing to say yeah but this is part of
the gamble you take with an English
teaching program like this I mean I was
reading group chat messages from other
people who were already having big
potluck dinners with everybody around
them and I don't know singing like
Kumbaya with their neighbors and
honestly good for them like that was all
I ever wanted but that was not us as you
may be able to tell our first impression
was not good and having just moved there
we didn't really have a community to
fall back on for any of these problems
so with those two L's right in front of
us we hunkered down for a night full of
jet lag tears and exhaustion and an
apartment that was still full of trash
that we would now have to deal with
ourselves so only a couple days after
touching down I was now expected to show
up to school loaded up with caffeine if
that's what it took and and desk warm
through summer break until school's
started oh yeah in Japan teachers don't
often get Summer break off so the whole
point of being a teacher is like half is
appealing here but because I was stuck
at work most of the day let me turn it
over to Ben to talk about the island
that we were quickly learning so very
much about tap me
out hello everyone awajishima is
inarguably a beautiful island there is a
lot of amazing nature in history from
the beautiful simoto castle to the
iconic Naruto World Pools yes that
Naruto the people are gracious funny and
loving and the vibe can honestly be
amazing if you get accustomed to it
however imagine living somewhere where
the signage the streets the menus at
restaurants the instructions on the
toaster that tried to electrocute you
are all in a foreign language the
officials truly did not think about
where they were placing People based on
their language abilities whatsoever now
this might seem obvious of course it's
all in Japanese it's in Japan but the
thing is other boards of Education
actually do provide resources for the
Jets that are coming in we had read a
ton of stories online about how jets are
just living their dream life like it's
just so Studio jibbly my board of
education was so nice and helped me so
much they set up my apartment for me
frankly I don't feel like I lived a life
before I came to Japan I hate all the
other countries we were in a
particularly rural Place With No
guidance on who to talk to how to make
friends where to go how to sign up for
subscription
how to get involved in social activities
or weekly groups or anything the only
way to get off the island was a bridge
on either side that cost like 20 bucks
to go either way which is a lot on an
ALT salary and worst of all we weren't
in one of the connected areas of the
island so we were physically as well as
socially isolated so we didn't have the
resources that we were relying on her
board of education for and the geography
of the island made it pretty difficult
to adapt to life there now we thought
back at this moment to the term Eid
every situation is different but we felt
at this point like we just kind of got
one of the bad ones so she was always
pretty good at Japanese but I didn't
have enough time to study before jumping
the boat and coming here and socially
probably the worst part was the fact
that when we finally met other people on
the island we were immediately informed
that the social environment was very
very clicky every time we met someone
new came a list of gripes and drama
about them there was like a D and D
group there was a catg girls group and
there were some climbing people and I
like love cats and d and d but we never
really got invited it seems like they
weren't really keen on new people
joining and I want to stress most of
these people seem super nice but the
climate just wasn't super welcoming
overall so we ended up going climbing to
get our social batteries filled shout
out toirir we love you so much you are
just a sweetheart and honestly there was
so much drama from before we arrived
that we don't even know the full
capacity but suffice it to say the mess
that Megan's predecessor left us made it
so that we also weren't sure who to
trust now at my lowest I found myself in
a bar embarrassingly speaking the worst
Japanese you've ever heard to try to
make friends when I ran into the
sweetest Japanese DJ to exist and he'd
become a great friend and and a
lifesaver honestly he invited me to his
studio and introduced me to his friends
and we ended up making a couple songs
for my music project Benji and he was he
was truly a light in the darkness for me
cuz as you can tell Megan and I were
really struggling to adapt to life there
between the loneliness the dirty
apartment the car troubles we had a lot
on our plate so I'll forever be thankful
to him and his band MMS we'll link that
below if you want to listen during this
time I started to scour the internet for
jobs to see if there was a way out of
this mess and eventually I met a
businessman online who offered me a
part-time position at one of his
companies turns out LinkedIn actually
can be useful and isn't just a cringe
site for people to brag about how rich
their parents are this way I could start
a new season and start working remotely
on the island back to Megan Megan it's
your part all right so I want to talk
about one of the hardest parts of of
everyday life in Japan it's got to be
Japanese bureaucracy there was this
expectation that we fully know and
follow these rules that we had never
grown up with Without Really Ever
Getting to fit in and reap the benefits
of knowing these rules and what I mean
by that was there always seemed to be
issues with our very presence here like
our existence was disrupting the flow of
things like I distinctly remember going
to the bank and being told I might not
be able to make an account because my
name was too long to fit in the amount
of blanks that they had and really every
single time we had to go somewhere and
do paperwork it felt like we were such
an anomaly there were generations of
English teachers coming through these
offices enough that this wasn't in any
way a new phenomenon that they needed to
deal with it is a pretty constant
reminder and when you're in an old
school part of the countryside it gets
pretty exhausting sorry if it sounds
like I'm complaining a lot but you know
how the story goes I mean I did quit
after all but the good news is I did
enjoy my work some dads get five or more
schools ones that can be hours away so
I'd like to say that I rolled high on
that one like I said before I came I
didn't know anything about the school
I'd be teaching at but I was pleasantly
surprised that I was only teaching at
one school that was fairly close to
where I lived my students were engaged
and funny the staff didn't speak too
much English outside of the designated
English teachers but they were kind the
school was pristine and the job was easy
so I could really see why people would
want to stay in this job for years and
years the salary is pretty low compared
to the US you're making about $22,000 a
month before taxes but the cost of
living was also pretty low so it wasn't
a bad setup also at my job in particular
there was a lot of downtime so I could
spend some of my time doing stuff like
improving my Japanese or more
importantly to me was enjoying my hobby
of filming my life in Japan and to be
super honest we didn't think anything
serious would come from it it was kind
of just a way to keep friends and family
back home updated on our lives in Japan
and uh it brought Ben and I together
while we edited them so we certainly
didn't expect this but here we are as
far as what life would look like after
jet I quickly found out there's one
problem endemic to this sort of
occupation which is not being able to
find a career after you finish it you
see you can't stay in jet forever in
fact the longest you can stay is up to 5
years
and your true job title is assistant
language teacher which most employers
have no idea what that means or what
skills that entails so they don't know
what to do with you so either you have
to be really good at selling yourself or
be able to get some skills in your
downtime that you can use to Market and
find a new job some people learn a code
or learn Japanese to become an
interpreter but oddly enough my hobby of
filming goofy little videos was starting
to be seen as a legit skill by employers
by this point we had been on the island
for nearly a year and even though things
were a lot better than they were in the
beginning we still knew we weren't as
happy as we could be and sure enough
after Ben tried sliding into the DMS of
enough business owners in Japan he found
one that was willing to bite and got a
position at a startup and being the
power couple that we are we leveraged
that connection to get me a job too
which meant we had an out from the
island our dream of a city life in Japan
was still alive and we didn't want to
let it go but that did mean letting our
Island go that meant no more Oceanside
drives along the highway no more hiking
through the mountains no nature right in
our backyards and I had to leave my
school too which felt like it came
straight out of a studio jly movie but
we did gain trains and ultimately that
was the biggest
push We Love Trains but we're not
through the worst yet because quitting
was the ultimate pain and proved to me
that this wasn't really the place that I
wanted to be and Now understand why some
people hire an agency to quit their jobs
in Japan because it honestly felt like
some kind of humiliation ritual to leave
my position I will say it's especially
hard to leave the jet program because
it's almost treated like you're the one
in school and you can't leave until
school's over but it was and is a job
and if you're in this situation then
just remember it's a job and if the job
or circumstance isn't filling up your
tank then it's completely fair game to
go and find something that will and I
saw the people who were loyal and stayed
the full 5 years and guess what happened
at the end of it they were told that
they had to leave their positions and
even if they had built a life on the
island it didn't matter their time was
up and after all my job had proved it
wasn't going to go out of its way to
make my life easier so why should I be
the one that's ever loyal to it some
people may disagree with quitting and
that's fine but I have had enough
therapy that I realize I am allowed to
have this boundary but go going through
the
bureaucracy of quitting sitting down
with my principal my supervisor everyone
and their mothers not just to explain
but what seemed to be asking for
permission to leave it was a huge
cultural difference for my little
American brain cuz I knew people that
wrote their resignation on napkins on
their way out and were never bothered
again but that was not going to be
tolerated that is not the Japanese way I
think the hardest part was how invasive
it was requiring me to tell everyone why
I was leaving where I was going what
company I'd be going to what position
I'd be fulfilling how I'd be moving
where I'd be moving to everything they
wanted the full story things that I
didn't even know yet I do now understand
why people in Japan stay at jobs that
they hate out of fear of quitting
because the emotional toll and guilt
that they make you feel is no joke again
coming from the land of napkin
resignations it felt like they were
interviewing me in a assessing whether
or not I had a good enough reason to go
but after enough bowing and saying our G
Mena eyes we finally were able to pack
our bags and leave one hell of a guide
for the next teacher coming through
leaving them with an apartment that had
probably been cleaner than it had ever
been in the last 40 years and we were
able to cross over the bridge one final
time we got to tell them the end it's
the end of the story y you rat as of
today we still haven't gone back but to
be honest I think this video gives us a
certain level of closure now that we're
where we want to be and we can enjoy all
the good parts and now I feel like we
can make plans to go back and visit and
have fun and kind of enjoy the beautiful
nature and culture of the island without
all the negative stuff people might
wonder what I do now
and this is it
videos we're doing content creation and
yeah I feel like I stumbled and fumbled
my wayed bumbled probably no we didn't
need on Bumble and humbled our way we
humbled our way into this life kind of
the dream life that I've always wanted
but never thought I would achieve so w
wooo thank you you guys are the reason
that we're here yeah the people who are
liking and commenting and subscribing
and stuff like that are the people who
are allowing us to continue making
content about you know Japan and even in
the world so thank you guys so much for
your uh support and we're looking
forward to making more long videos
woohoo uh check our description for
bonus content woohoo
[Music]