#interac

Finally, in June, I reminded him that the next month was my birthday, and asked if there was any day in July I could see him. My birthday fell on a Thursday, so I knew that day was out of the question, but any other day, I’d make time for him.

“I don’t know,” he replied.

Two weeks from my birthday, I reminded him once more.

“I don’t know.”

One week from my birthday, I reminded him I’d moved to Tokyo for him.

He called me selfish, and told me once more he didn’t know if he had a single day in July to spend with me.

-

My birthday finally arrived, without fanfare. I got up. I got on the train. I wasn’t allowed to sit down in the early morning commute. I taught classes, which felt neither good nor bad. I took the train two and a half hours home. It was a normal day.

And I still had not a single message from him.

Finally, I messaged him that today was my birthday.

He replied: 素直に、ジルちゃんに誕生日おめでとうを言えない。

Honestly, I cannot say “happy birthday” to you today.

“If he’d said fewer words, he would have said happy birthday,” November commented later.

October went on to tell me he’d lost some data on his computer and was too sad to talk to me - he, who rents out an entire bar every year for his own birthday so fans can celebrate him by his side.

I was shocked. He’d never acted like this before. I asked if we should break up, and he never replied. That was his last message to me.

Though he did announce happily to Twitter later that he recovered his lost data.

Yay.

-

I cried a lot that night. I considered skipping work the next day, but I only had two classes that Friday. It was too easy a day to risk standing out to Interac and giving them a reason not to pay me again. All I had to do was power through those two classes (when I’m in front of kids, it’s easy for me to adorn the Teacher Persona and smile and laugh and forget my problems), then I had all weekend to cry and drink by myself.

I overestimated my ability to keep my feelings hidden after the two and a half hour long commute, most of which I had to stand for, leaving me nothing to do but think about the breakup. I couldn’t bring myself to listen to music, since most of the music I listened to was either things he’d written or things he liked. When I walked into the teacher’s lounge, the nurse immediately smiled and told me I looked like shit. I shrugged and told her I knew. She began pestering me, waving a thermometer in my face, threatening to call Interac and have me sent home early because she thought I might have a fever. I finally shoved the thermometer out of my face and told her I wasn’t sick, my boyfriend and I broke up the night before.

“Then you can move closer,” she smirked, then laughed at her own joke.

It was too much for me to handle. I ran to the bathroom and cried again, only coming out for class, and hid again once class was over.

-

I think it was that very same day Interac called me to confirm that I had indeed broken up with October. They then suggested the same thing the nurse had. I was furious, but told them I’d think about it.

-

April suggested we hang out that weekend to celebrate my birthday, telling me about a theme park she wanted to try out.

“What did October do for your birthday?” she asked.

I told her we’d broken up, and she immediately began demanding to know why I would break up with him. There was no question in her mind that it was I who broke up with him. I mean, I guess technically, she was correct, but she refused to accept the events that led up to it. That somehow hurt even worse to have her insisting he loved me more than anything and I was a bitch for breaking up with him.

That was the first ten minutes of the day. The rest of the day, she ranted to me about how her own singer boyfriend (different from the one who worked with October) had broken up with her and how all men were trash because these singers she dated weren’t exactly faithful. She also told me October hit on her when I wasn’t around. She’s such a narcissist that I don’t think it’s true, but I also do not care at all.

-

Monday, a woman from Interac came out to monitor my classes. She was at least nicer than Aya, so I didn’t mind having her there, and she was much nicer about telling me my long, plain blue skirt was too flashy (I thought I could get away with wearing more color than gray and brown now that I had escaped Osaka. Guess I was wrong). She talked to me a little about considering moving to Kamakura, and I agreed verbally I’d consider it, though my head felt full of perpetually buzzing bees that wouldn’t let me think clearly about anything.

She asked me if it was true that I only brought plain white rice to lunch for work. I told her it was true. She asked if I told my coworkers it was because I couldn’t afford anything else. I told her it was true. She told me to stop bringing only rice and to stop telling my coworkers I couldn’t afford anything.

Cool, now I’m not allowed to eat lunch, I thought, but did not say.

She suggested I might be suffering depression. I thought that was very likely.

-

Four trains to work. Four trains back. Standing for most of the two and a half hours.

One day, I stood. As always, all the seats were full. The train started, abruptly stopped, then started again, throwing me off balance, and my foot moved back and onto the foot of another person.

I turned around and met the glare of a dark-skinned foreigner who sat directly behind me.

Do I say “sorry?” What if he doesn’t speak English? Do I say “gomennasai?” What if he doesn’t speak Japanese?

I dipped my head and bowed, then turned around again, readjusting my grip on the handle above my head.

After a moment, I felt a foot harshly kicking in the back of my knees. If I hadn’t been holding onto the handle, I would have fallen onto the people in front of me. I turned around and met the gaze of the same foreigner.

Okay, we’re even now. I step on your foot (with flat shoes, I might add), you freaking kick in the back of my knees. Even steven. Asshole.

He continued to glare relentlessly at me even after I squeezed away from him. I pulled out my phone and began messaging my friend, glancing up occasionally to see if the other foreigner was still glaring at me.

He was.

Finally, it was my stop. I let go of the handle and moved toward the train doors.

At once, someone grabbed my arm from behind. I lost my balance and fell on my knees as my assaulter pulled my arm upward painfully. A voice began screaming at me, words I couldn’t understand. He kicked me once more and I fell to the ground, in tears, as he jumped back on the train before the doors could close.

I ran, crying the entire time. No one stopped me, no one helped me. I made it to work and dissolved into a mess of tears as my coworkers offered to call the police for me. The also called Interac, a company famous for its empathy and understanding.

When the teachers came back, the had only this to tell me:

“You should have apologized.”

-

I got warned again about arriving to work in tears, as Interac clearly began viewing this as a thing I just did on the regular - you know, for shits and giggles. Sorry, I just have bad habits of breaking up with my boyfriend of three years and then getting assaulted on the train. It’s thrilling, you know?

-

Japanese schools only take the month of August off, but it was a welcome respite, even knowing I wouldn’t be paid for it. Mid-August, Interac called me into the office to ask me to move. I said I couldn’t.

At the end of August, they made me think I was being fired.

Breaking up with October made my head spin, even almost two months after it happened. Suddenly, being told to sign paperwork terminating my contract with Interac, I felt like the floorboards were being tilted and I was being told, dizzy and disoriented, to walk across the room without falling over and crashing into the wall and making a fool of myself. It was easy, you know? Everyone else was standing up straight as they watched me. Everyone with their healthy relationships and normal families, people who didn’t have to eat plain white rice every day because they couldn’t afford other food because their paychecks weren’t prorated every other month, people who didn’t get assaulted or harassed regularly or were big enough to fight back.

My first priority was not crying again, not letting them know just how fucked up my head felt, not falling over in my dizziness on the angled floor. I didn’t even think to ask why I was being let go. My ears filled with a high-pitched ringing sound that blocked everything out. I signed the paperwork in a daze. The office seemed so dark. Why was it so dark? The Board of Education allotted $3,000 every month for every single one of us ALTs, even months where we didn’t work every day, even for August, but Interac only let us have a little over $2,000 each month, less if they felt like they could get away with it. Couldn’t they afford lights with that thousand they stole from every single employee every month? From the $3,000 they stole from everyone for August?

A woman, the nice woman who told me my blue skirt was too blue, caught me on the way out. She handed me a paper she’d printed for a service in Japan helping people with depression.

I thanked her. I got on the train.

You would think that because you have been given a job that wouldn’t have to worry about readying any cash to bring with you on the trip, but depending on what company or program you sign on with, you should prepare yourself to have some cash on you for initial living expenses, potential setup costs, and even emergency situations. 

Bring 500,000 yen to Japan? Whoa, whoa! I don’t have that kind of money! I can’t speak for every company or program available, but I can relay my experience with Interac, which is one of the most popular companies for dispatching ALTs out there. Unlike the JET program which pays for your plane ticket and maybe some other expenses I’ve forgotten about, Interac requires you to pay it all. They strongly recommend that you bring a total of 500,000 yen (or about $5000 equivalent depending on the exchange rate). 

I personally brought $5000 which happened to be 491,300 yen due to the exchange rate at the time. For those of you coming from America in the spring, you’re in a bit of luck because the current exchange rate will work in your favor because you will receive about 114 yen for each $1. Not bad huh? But don’t get too excited! Your plane ticket is a separate expense from the recommended amount they ask you to bring, and chances are, you’re going to have to pay a large amount for a one-way ticket because Interac will only tell you about your orientation date no sooner than a month before you leave (thanks to the rules with the COE). It can’t be helped though, so don’t lose any sleep over it.

First expense: Training Week Training will be one of the first things to eat away the hard-earned money you bring over. Depending on your placement, you may first arrive in Narita or Hamamatsu and begin your week-long training in Tokyo. Since you’ll be stuck in a hotel room during your training, you will have to rely on the convenience of eating out, which means a lot of money spent right from the get-go. 

How much did you spend during training? I personally spent a little less than 20,000 yen, and I relied on free breakfast at my hotel, but purchased convenience store bento for lunch and water from the lowest price vending machine in the city (the one located at your training building). I also didn’t go out partying with any of the ALTs, just mainly ate out for dinner by myself at Sukiya most nights. So what I’m saying... I spent the least amount of money I could during that week, and it still added up. 

I think my biggest purchase was a couple of omiyage I got at the Tokyo Dome for my Kochosensei and Kyotosensei, but let me just emphasize that they were completely optional. I had brought back small omiyage for all of the staff anyway, but I figured it wouldn’t hurt to show a little more respect to the principal and VP. 

Second expense: Initial housing cost Now onto the biggest purchase you should have to make during your first month: the initial housing cost. The time when you have to bring this money to training will be different for every branch, but for Kita Kanto, we made our payment within the last or second to last day of training (after the actual ‘training’ stuff was over). Everyone’s housing cost is actually different because most if not everyone will be in different apartments (even if you and some others will be heading to the same city). Chances are you will be put into a Leopalace unless you specifically made arrangements for something else. 

How much is the initial housing cost? I paid a little over 200,000 yen for my initial housing cost, which included the first two and a half months of rent (I didn’t have to worry about paying for Aug through Oct), key money, and whatever else was included. 

Potential expense: Transportation fee to your placement Now after training is over and you move onto your actual placement, you may have to pay for transportation to get to your city. Apparently our group’s placement was so far that they needed us to take the Shinkansen to get there in time to set up everything that they ate the cost of our transportation fee, but not everyone gets that lucky. I recommend using Hyperdia to look up the cost for train tickets from Tokyo to to your city if you’re concerned.

Third expense: Apartment utility deposit fees There’s a lot you have to do before you can finally settle into your apartment. One of the first things is ensuring that your utilities are set up, so expect to make a deposit for at least one of these things: gas, electricity, water, and sewage (the last two are often combined). In my case, I only had to pay a 10,000 yen deposit, which worked well anyway because I didn’t have to worry about that bill for a few months. 

Fourth expense: Your cell phone, aka the necessary evil Your phone is also a necessary evil that you have to get settled. Me being the type to be picky about technology, required the latest Galaxy Edge smart phone, and it wasn’t exactly cheap, obviously (100,000 yen it says). (You can read more about that adventure here.) Let’s just say that if I had opted for a more reasonable phone, I would have been able to survive on the money that I brought without having to withdraw more from my bank back home. 

Sometimes you have to make sacrifices if the situation calls for it, but you have to make that decision to cut back certain costs on your own. (For me, I’m bad with directions and I wanted to ensure I had a new model that wouldn’t lead me into the depths of the inaka where I would get lost and have to embarrassingly call my company for help, but hey I’m not that knowledgeable about phones in general, so I just stuck to what I knew. You can probably do better if you research ahead of time.)

Fifth expense: Mode of transportation (Bike or car) Anyway, moving on! You also have the cost of your method of transportation whether it’s a bike or a car (unless you have a placement in a town that’s so small that you can get to everything by walking). If you do have a bike or car placement, do know that Interac gives you a monthly allowance for both, but you won’t see any of it until your first paycheck which isn’t until the end of September for some and the end of October for others. My bike was a little under 30,000 yen for me, and it came with three gears. It’s basically a normal commuter bike, but it’s a little over the basic design and came with all the bells and whistles (and was also discounted at the time). Our IC didn’t really give us a choice as far as where we could buy our bikes - we were taken to the nearest Home Center with the expectation that we would buy our bikes right there, but if you have already done your research ahead of time and are planning to buy a cheaper used one from someone, remember that you have to get it registered at your prefecture (either at your local city hall or the police station - don’t remember which because they do it for you at the store if you buy a brand new one). 

Sixth expense: Apartment furnishings Then you have all the house supplies that you need to furnish your apartment with. I have 50,000 yen recorded for all of the initial furnishings which included toiletries, kitchen appliances (only the necessities), necessary food stuff, a trash can, rod for hanging up clothes to dry, hangers, two futon (you’ll need two, trust me), blanket set, rice cooker, and a few other small things. My apartment already came with two chairs and a table, so that kind of furniture wasn’t necessary. My apartment also had curtains, which not everyone is blessed with so keep that in mind. Again, we didn’t have a choice in where to buy ours, so keep in mind that you can probably spend a lot less if you find a used furniture store or buy stuff from one of the ALTs that are leaving. You can actually buy a lot of useful kitchen supplies in 100 yen stores like Daiso or Seria, so keep an eye out for those places. I strictly buy my bowls (and other things) after getting my first 500 yen bowl stuck in my rice cooker and having to break it up to get it out (it’s a long story).

7th (mini) expense: Paperwork for employment Also keep in mind that you have to take care of other kinds of paperwork too including getting your residence card (zairyu card) which is about a 300 yen fee and depending on where the capital city is in your prefecture, you might have to travel a ways to take care of other paperwork. Since we get to visit kindergartens once a year, we had to get a special permit for that which could only be taken care of at the capital city. 

8th (continuous) expenses: Groceries and bills After all that, you still need to keep buying groceries (and make actual meals, not just buy the ready-made stuff), and you may be tempted to do some traveling or taking a peek at a local festival (which you will definitely spend money on, the food is irresistible). Plus, you have monthly bills to pay for utilities that you didn’t make deposits for, so yeah, in most cases, you’re going to be needing that recommended amount if you want to have any fun during your first few months in Japan. I also highly recommend that you start keeping track of your spending on an Excel spreadsheet. Record how much money you have and what you spend it on, and see where you can cut back on your spending if it seems high. I can guarantee that helps make the reality sink in a lot more so you don’t run into any dangerous situations.

How much did you spend before your first paycheck? As for me, this is how much I ended up spending for my first two and a half months in Japan: about 580,000 yen. As I mentioned before, if I had gone with a cheaper phone, I would have had no problem keeping under budget. I also had a few opportunities to travel around, and since I had the ability to withdraw more money, I didn’t want to miss out on them, so I ended up spending more than I expected. 

Where did all that money go? In just two and a half months, I visited a different prefecture twice: once for a festival and another for a bus tour, then I also did a short homestay in a nearby town and made a great connection there, and then traveled to Nikko with a group. I also went to a local festival in my city, but I didn’t spend much there, but all those things added up and all of it was worth it. 

Here are some extra big expenses I had to make to help put the amount I spent in perspective: two doctor visits (one that required an x-ray so it was costly), a nomihodai, a trip to Uniqlo for some clothes, and purchased a printer and some ink. Don’t forget that you also have to pay for lunch at school if you decide to eat their food! 

What is your average spending per month? Now that I’ve settled in my placement for a while, my spending is a lot more consistent, so if it helps at all, I spend about 90,000 yen a month on average. The least I’ve spent in a month is 45,000 yen (and it was actually a pretty fun month with activities and travel too, so it’s possible!) and the most expensive month (besides the first month) totaled up to 130,000 yen. I should maybe clarify that I always cook at home for dinner, I never drink alcohol (even at nomihodai) nor do I smoke. I also drink water and green tea mostly, but I’m also a Pokemon collector so a lot of my funds goes to my hobby as well. If I travel to Tokyo, I don’t make more than one trip, but I have done multiple trips to different (local) prefectures and somewhat faraway cities in one month. I’m also having a wonderful time (more so than I’ve had in the U.S. even when I was living comfortably with my dad), so I can’t say I’ve had to make any sacrifices to afford living here.