Welcome to Black Tokyo!
Part 16: Safe?! No I am not!
5-minutes before the beginning of the class and I am still unable to find one of the teachers. I had assumed that she was in homeroom, the bathroom or late but i could be mistaken. I decide to wait in the class. I double check [...]

Part 15: One of the more annoying situations that the foreign English teacher can find himself in is being stuck between a disorganized company and an even less organized school.
I rotate between schools, with the end effect being that I have the schedule for the next school sent to me before I’m scheduled to go [...]

Part 14: The new semester is in full swing and naturally it almost seems like taking a vacation was a bad idea; now I have to slowly work myself back up to the level of intensity and tolerance that I was at prior to my vacation. 

With that said, I’d like to discuss another aspect of teaching English [...]

Part 13: Guava Jelly writes: “Great stories everyone. I am truly enjoying this thread. I taught in a public jhs in rural japan several years ago (on Sado ga shima). 4 of the 5 schools I rotated through were amazing. The students were very sweet and respectful but one was horrific. 
The first day I got [...]

My early feelings of disdain for the school were cemented when one of the Japanese teachers rushed out to meet me and then had me wait outside while the staff meeting was in progress. I took this to mean that the staff strictly adhered to the rules and that I would probably be stuck here [...]

My time at the previously mentioned school has come to an end and since then I have worked two weeks at another school. This school wasn’t bad; a bit dingy and rundown, but the students were by far the “genkiest” group of kids I have ever taught and the teachers quite dedicated.
The interesting part of working [...]

Part 8: So I’m walking along the fence of the new school and see a lemon chuhi tallboy inside the fence. I think to myself, It can’t be that bad…can it?

The neighborhood is pretty nice and it’s unlikely that someone tossed the can in there. Hmmm!   
The school itself actually doesn’t turn out to be that bad; it’s [...]