He complains that he can't find a job in his field of expertise because the Japanese are prejudiced against other Asians. On the other hand, he is afraid to go home because Burma has controlled by a military dictatorship for more than a decade. Vincent told me that he plans to go home next year because democracy will have been restored to Burma by then. I don't know of anyone else who thinks so. Vincent has been here for five years.
Some stories have a happier ending.
Tina is an American who first developed an interest in Japan when she had a Japanese pen-pal in high school. She spent her first summer of college in Nara on a Youth For Understanding exchange program. It was such a good experience that when the summer ended she changed her major to International Relations. After graduating from Mount Holyoke College in 1987, she came to Japan on the JET Program. In 1987, Tina began working as an English teacher in Chiba.