Pikatto

No luck on the job front yet. I have a feeling that everyone looks at my resumé and cover letter and see’s that I only have a temporary visa and then throws said resume and cover letter into the trash. The eikaiwa schools have been rather disapointing. I was sure that someone with my experience and skills would be able to easily land a teaching position, but I have had no luck. Hopefully I’ll get my spouse visa soon. Once I have that I can work legally for any company. Maybe I’ll get a job at a yakitoriyasan. Irashai!

The last time I lived in Japan, while on the JET Program, I was fortunate, unfortunate?, enough to live in a government subsidized apartment. The apartment was unbelievably old, but the rent was dirt cheap especially for Japan. This time I fully appreciate how expensive housing in Japan is. My wife and I have moved into our own apartment, which hopefully won’t wreck my visa application. We’re supposed to be living with her family right now, oops! Getting an apartment in Japan is a nightmare. We went through a real estate agency. I’m still not sure if that made the process easier or more difficult. We had to pay about 4000 dollars to move in. That includes one month’s rent, the “key money,” one month’s rent fee as payment to the real estate agency, and the rest was a deposit that we probably won’t be returned. For the amount of money we paid you’d think that we were living in a very nice apartment, but I would say that it is about average, maybe even a little old. It’s a 2LDK. 1 bedroom, 1 tatami room, 1 living, dining, and kitchen. Get this there were not any lights in the apartment! We had to buy lights for the place. However, we were lucky enough to get an apartment that had an air conditioner in the bedroom, which we definitely needed. Its been ungodly hot since we moved in. We have also bought a washing machine, a second air conditioner for the living room, a gas range, and assorted pots, pans, and other stuff one needs for day to day life. We were lucky to get a dining table as a present from Nobuko’s sister’s mother in law, and a rice steamer and hot pot from Nobuko’s grandma. The apartment’s starting to look more like a home, but money’s getting pretty tight. I’ll breathe a huge sigh of relief as soon as we both find jobs.

It’s been almost one month and no visa yet. Nobuko called Immigration yesterday and although the ojichan she spoke with was very nice we still have no idea when I will get the visa. i’m beginning to get a little worried. I only have 60 days left on my temporary visa and I’m not sure if that can be renewed. If it can’t and I don’t get the visa within the remaining 60 days I’ll have to leave the country. I definitely don’t want to do that. I am really getting tired of waiting with no idea when I can expect the visa. If I at least knew the status of my application that would help. I’ll keep my fingers crossed and hope to get the visa soon.