KristinHolly Wrote:What about JET? Have you already done that? A few years running around with Japanese kids could really help your Japanese and also give you some time to earn money while thinking about what you want to do in the future.

Not a bad idea, but unfortunately JET applications for 2010 closed about a week ago.

IceCream, if you want to get into the area of disaster relief, aid work etc, you need to gain relevant experience. I researched this a few years ago as I liked the sound of it myself.

Two ways:

1. Volunteer. This is expensive, but if you choose the right position and beat off the other candidates, AND have the money to support yourself for a year, you'll come out of it with a career. If you like the sound of the Peace Corps for Americans, check out the VSO (http://www.vso.org.uk/). It's as close as we get in the UK. There's also the UN Peace Corps, but see the next item for that.
2. Join the territorial army, or the army. I ended up deciding this was the best option by far (unfortunately I don't qualify). If you enter the army or TA as an officer (which shouldn't be hard if you have a good degree), you'll get a few years of awesome training, a good wage and you'll come out of it with experience that aid agencies are looking for. In the TA you can work part time and still do other stuff (e.g volunteer to get that experience under your belt).

http://www.aidworkers.net/

The first rule of Fight Club is, you do not talk about Fight Club.

Stop bitching and get a job.

I think IceCream should embrace 'superlegitimacy' and become a Tokyo train driver: http://imomus.livejournal.com/36990.html

Come to Japan and teach English
The yen is really strong against the US dollar right now so pay is about 1/3 more than it was two years ago when $1 bought 127yen. Not sure about the rest of the world's currency though. Just get a tourist visa and bring your degree in whatever to job interviews.
Or...You could get some practice volunteer teaching refugees in India volunteertibet

I love Japan! It is very cold now though. Or maybe I am just not used to wearing a jacket (or shoes) living in eternally springtime Hawaii for so long. I may stay permanently this time

IceCream Wrote:loool mentat. so true :p

Blahah: Thankyou so much!!!! That was exactly what i was looking for, but haven't ever found! jobs are listed online after all... now i just need to get the skills to get them

ruiner: i totally love the idea of super-legitimacy. ：） is the difference between super-legitimacy and just performativity just the consciousness / self awareness of the act for the actor?
well, i say i love super-legitimacy until i get micro-managed, anyway. then, i hate it ；）

I think essentially 'superlegitimacy' as Momus terms it is a portmanteau of Max Weber's 'legitimacy' and Takashi Murakami's 'superflat' as applied to his/similar theorists' exoticized analysis of 'role fetishization' in Japan (related?

):

Here's Momus describing it a bit more: http://imomus.livejournal.com/36990.html...82#t525182

I actually have a different perspective on it, now that I re-read what he wrote, but oh well, still good fuel for thought, if you get past his tongue-in-cheek, purposeful Orientalism.

bodhisamaya Wrote:I love Japan! It is very cold now though. Or maybe I am just not used to wearing a jacket (or shoes) living in eternally springtime Hawaii for so long. I may stay permanently this time

Glad to hear you made it back- it is cold now, isn't it? Today isn't too bad though- rainy, but about 14C down in Fukuoka.

FWIW- I just transferred all of my savings to the US from Japan yesterday- I didn't want the hassle of buying travelers checks, and since I'm a Citibank customer in the US I can send money from Japanese Citibanks for a fee. The mid-rate on Wedsnesday was 88.7, I paid a point on top of that + 4000yen, so 89.7+4000. So for every 9000 yen I sent I got $100USD.

Much better than when I was here two years ago and it was 110, but at that time I was converting into yen, so it was to my benefit

When I came to Japan almost three years ago I got 125 yen for my dollars. This time I arrived and the rate was 86=$1 ten days ago. I exchanged my money at the airport for 83yen. Maybe I could have gotten better elsewhere. I am not sure but it was a very sad moment

125 for a dollar is still pretty low I'd say. 5-10 years ago I'm guessing it was a LOT more.

bodhisamaya Wrote:When I came to Japan almost three years ago I got 125 yen for my dollars. This time I arrived and the rate was 86=$1 ten days ago. I exchanged my money at the airport for 83yen. Maybe I could have gotten better elsewhere. I am not sure but it was a very sad moment

86 was the lowest it has been in 14 years- you had awful timing! Airport kiosks are notoriously bad- go to a bank or somewhere not in the airport

Check this out! A chart from 1971 onward compared to the yen- it was 350 yen/dollar back then!
http://moneycentral.msn.com/investor/cha...CP=0&PT=11

The only other time it has been this low is the mid-90s.

Yesterday at the Keihan station there was some sort of demonstration with a poster size blowup of that exchange chart with lots of men in business suits wearing election type sashes handing out pamphlets. I kind of just passed by without paying too much attention but they seemed excited about something. I wish I would have stopped and took a picture.

futnuh Wrote:University doesn't teach skills, it teaches you how to think. As you've already got a degree - and a philosophy degree at that - you should now be pretty good at general problem solving. The above post shows you are reasonably good at written communication.

My advice (for what it's worth) ...
- Don't fret, 25 is young. If you were having the same dilemma at age 40, I'd worry.
- As you feel like you don't have any concrete skills, get some. Stay away from more university (especially grad school) until you really know what you want. In the meantime, take some targeted courses at a Tafe or community college.
- Find a mentor. Look around for someone 10 years older who you respect ... and get them to help you.

Don't worry about growing up. I'm 43 with two kids, and the feeling of not being grown up has never left ;-)

"teaches you how to think" ????? wtf????? that has got to be one of the dumbest statements I have read in a while.

Come on dude. That probably meant "how to think by yourself" (polysemy).
Anyway you can't disagree that thinking by yourself is acquired, a training, therefore, it can be taught. Sometimes it's self-taught of course.