/jp/ - Otaku Culture

I'm in my third year of studies at Brock University here in Canada; my program is concurrent education with English as my major.

I've been offered admission into an exchange program to one of many countries, and Japan is on the list of available countries alongside Germany, New Zealand, France, and The Netherlands. By studying abroad I can get first hand teaching experience, and my program will be finished 3 months before it normally would. My scholarships will cover it so money isn't an issue.

/jp/, do you think it would be worthwhile to go to Japan and do this? A friend of mine who's finished his studies did a working holiday visa in Japan for 12 months and he said he was treated like a barbarian and often physically assaulted when walking around taking in the sights, so I'm slightly inclined not to.

What does /jp/ think? I was leaning towards New Zealand but Japan seems pretty cool. PS: I don't like anime, manga, videogames, and know fuck-all about Japanese culture.

I'm a Canadian university student studying English with a minor in East Asian studies (broad term for culture, language, media, etc). If my marks stay strong I'm going to end up with a BA/BEd double degree. This entitles me to teach in Canada, but this is far from what I want to do.

I want to teach in Japan. A professor of mine taught in Japan for six years before returning and he shares his stories with me because he knows I plan to do the same.

It's still a ways away which is why I'm not worried about housing, transportation, etc. My courses on Japanese culture and media are shit because there's no examples of real life experiences. All of my practical information comes from a professor of mine.

Long story short: what are your experiences with Japan? Any insight?

I'm a Canadian highschool graduate who is going to university next year to (hopefully) get my BA/BEd (double degree) in English with a minor in Japanese.

My goal is to teach English in Japan, and I know of the JET programme, but I don't think it's for me. I may have misread, but skimming through pages, what I gather is that you become a teacher's assistance, not a full fledged teacher. Not what I want.

I know in Canada, you need to take something called "concurrent <subject>" to become a teacher (in my case, I need to take a concurrent English program and get my BA in that. A bachelor of education isn't enough to teach, even if you're a qualified teacher. The problem with this is that it's different for other countries, and for Japan I don't know, but according to JET, you need only a BA in any field to qualify. I would get the concurrent program done, because for sure I would qualify, but the cut-off is average of 85% or higher, and my average is hanging around 79-80, something I cannot improve, but I do qualify for the BA/BEd program I mentioned because the cut-off is high-60's, low-70's.

Can /jp/ help me get things right? The university I plan to get into is Brock University (with secondary choices Lakehead University and University of Toronto), and it has no exchange programs for Japan. I was contemplating trying for Temple University Japan, but OSAP (think of it as a company that gives you free money for tuition) will not cover it, as it's out of their jurisdiction = not a possibility for me.

tl;dr: Canadian wants to teach English in Japan. What is the best way to do this?