Jobs, Japanese, Home on the Horizon?

The weather here has turned wet and a little sticky thanks to some leftover summer heat, and the border between summer and autumn has blurred a bit more. Kuniko had an epic workday yesterday, getting home after midnight (!) and heading off for more work at six a.m. today. As for me, I’m plugging away at my assignments and also dedicating a little bit more daily time to landing a big job in April.

I am taking advantage of my Japanese skills and searching for jobs on Japanese newspapers and web sites. This process takes an excruciating amount of time and often ends up with a sudden surprise – I spent 15 minutes deciphering a technical ad yesterday only to find out that they wanted a Japanese woman to fill the job. Doh! However, my speed is improving, and it gives me a (small) advantage over other job seekers that don’t have the Japanese skills.

Today I teach my last class of the week at Mitsubishi Shin-Caterpillar. Tomorrow I have the day off and I am meeting up with Inoguchi sensei at the local yakitori. It has been a long time since we’ve been able to hang out.

Kuniko and I will go over to a realtor’s place on Sunday and possibly pull the trigger on some property in Okubo that we like. Okubo is looking more and more like the best area to live because of the degree in which it is built up (the huge shopping center to the south pretty much anchors the entire town), the station is a rapid train station rather than a super-rapid station, and the price point is close to our sweet spot. Places farther east (towards Kobe and Osaka) would come with less train commuting time, but also with a higher price tag, smaller properties, and more noise.

Kuniko bought some books the other day so we can study up on the process, what things to look out for, etc, etc. Of course they are in Japanese – suddenly all those years of study while sitting at my desk at Takanan are paying off.


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