Landed first real second stage interview for a non-English teaching job

This round I landed my first real second stage for a non-English teaching job. I wanted to write a bit about the experience while it is still fresh in my mind. While I did not end up with the job, I learned a good deal about the process (and that I did not want to work there myself) .

First, the process through which I was asked. I received an e-mail from a gentleman in their 総務 group telling me that the following "この度は本学の教員応募にご応募いただきまして誠にありがとうございます。さて、慎重に審議いたしました結果、第二次選考（模擬授業）へ進めさせていただきたく、ご通知申し上げます。" The e-mail was highly structured and related the range of dates that were available for interviewing which was a two week range "土日祝を除く" (excluding weekends and holidays). The e-mail told me my interview would have two components: a mock class of fifteen minutes (模擬授業：15分程度) and questions and answers for twenty minutes (質疑応答：20分程度). Moreover, it told me which of the class descriptions to prepare for. On this point, it was strangely detailed in asking for "講義計画のうち中間期（14週完結の講義のうち7、8週目）当たりの授業（ハイライト）を想定した模擬授業でお願いいたします。対象は、学部生を想定してください。" As I understand that, it wants a highlight class that is targeted to undergraduate students which occurs as the 7th or 8th week. I guess this is news to me, because I don't design my classes around this sort of time schedule. Maybe this is standard Japanese practice in teaching?

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I responded soon after with the days for my best availability and was told to go the University's city at my own expense for the earliest of the possible days. (Be careful of that if you need time to prepare!)

It took me quite some time to prepare the powerpoint (required) for the 模擬授業 and I requested help from a friend to get the Japanese right. So it took me several hours to figure out the right balance. I decided to what I believed was a bare minimum ethics course knowing how poorly they teach content on the average here including only a skeleton of the interesting questions Kant's ethics addresses. I also tried to anticipate some of their questions and think of what sort of ethics classes they want me to teach.

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I'll begin by saying that it all was a failure.


There were four guys in the room. I was treated like a guest but also ordered as to when to do different parts of the material. One gentleman was prompt and spoke good English having studied abroad at an ivy league school. The other gentleman was the president of the school (or CEO? it's hard to say considering the school is for profit). A third gentleman joined who didn't know English as well (he was that attack dog for the most part), and a fourth gentleman who worked for the education section sat back (I don't think he was teaching staff).

First, I spoke with the timely gentleman and had a good rapport. He hadn't been told whether I was going to present in English or Japanese. The attack dog when he arrived said since I submitted paperwork in Japanese that I should do it in Japanese. Before starting the powerpoint, their boss arrived and told me to introduce myself -- which I did (though hadn't thought to prepare for) -- with a one minute speech about my educational life story. In retrospect, I should have (a) anticipated this question, (b) had a response that emphasized business experience, and (c) practiced that response.

Second, I presented the PowerPoint in Japanese. Based on their responses, I went somewhat quickly to avoid over-using their time [next time don't worry on that point]. I did succeed in present the PowerPoint's basic contents  in Japanese, so that's a good start. Where things went wrong, however, is that I did (a) too quickly and (b) too circumspectly. I had assumed that the people I was presenting to [who I received no information about in advance] understood the importance of ethics and were hiring with that in mind. Instead after I made the presentation, the first comment from one of the was that he did not understand it. This comment was later echoed. I was told it was too technical, because it was not Michael Sandel. And that students are interested in injustice.

The questions were also not quite what I expected:

倫理はどのように私たちの学生に役に立つ. (I was probably asked this question several times). My lack of a good answer shows that I did not sufficiently prepare. I am guessing this is a pretty standard question in business schools for humanities or ethics. I suggested a two-pronged answer. Prong-one is the easy part: it's required, so it's kind of irrelevant how you feel about it. Prong-two is the one that seems to show how much distance there is between my thought process and theirs: being human is not about being useful, it's about being human.

I was also asked to explain what I studied: which is human relationships and how they help to undergird human selves and the "selves",etc. of social entities. [fair enough].

I was asked questions about a prize I won for a paper (prize money was only 100 bucks, but the prize offerer is famous).

They also said they had never seen teaching like that before and questioned my competency as a teacher. They asked what sort of teaching reviews I have had while in Japan. They said all schools must keep them as a legal requirement. This is not entirely true at my school (教員 are required to get reviews from one class each semester). I wouldn't be surprised if I'm not well-liked because I do bother teaching actual content.

I was also asked about how I would handle a critical thinking class. I explained how I had handled them in America and in Japan to internationals and in Japan to Japanese. I don't think they get that this is an especial weakness of Japanese students rather than a gross inability on my part to teach critical thinking. But on second thought, that might be right under a certain analysis. For the international students and Americans whom I've successfully taught, I'm really just formalizing something already in their heads. For the Japanese students, I have to put it in their heads, formalize it, and give them power to imagine. The latter is a way harder task.

From all of these factors, I'm pretty sure that I failed the interview, but what do I know about the Japanese education employment sector?

運営委員会

Japanese Universities, like their American counterparts, have committees. In my original position as the English department's 特任講師, I was not eligible to serve on committees due to the dedicated nature of the role. Since changing positions, I have been on two committees: the 国際交流・協力 committee and the committee for my program.

The committee duties for the two are similar in some respects and different in others. First, the two share that we get all the documents printed and provided by an admin staff. Second, the admin staff in both cases are from 学務グループ but it's a different admin staff for each person.

The program committee is very strongly top-down. We receive orders, and that's what we need to do. While there are topics in the meeting, it is rare for the topic to be a point of discussion. It's also quite common for the meeting to involve a document dump -- where a large number of Japanese-language documents appear in the nick-of-time.

The international exchange and cooperation committee is, in those respects, significantly better. We have some input into what will happen. But the are also some limitations. A further problem for me as a non-Japanese member of the committee is that I'm not always sure what my role is on the committee. By that, I don't mean that I don't understand what it is to be a part of the committee. What I mean is that sometimes there are just kind of gaps where we are waiting to see who will volunteer and I am not sure if I should do so or not.

Being "さん"-ed

Academic life in Japan includes both cultural misunderstandings and intentional slights. Despite having a PhD, I recently experienced the following phenomenon (I'm JA in the below quote):

※○○校のK先生，JAさんは札幌校での参加ということでよろしかったでしょうか？

Can you spot the problem? The problem is that while K先生 is referred to as 先生. The author of the e-mail intentionally calls me JAさん.

One differences is that I am 特任 and K is 常勤 (meaning I will only be at this university a limited number of years whereas K is full-time employed for fill). Moreover, I switched roles in November which lowered me from 教職員 to 特別研究員. But this should not matter on a normal analysis since I am still teaching university courses, still have a PhD, and still publish...

This action is an intentional slight -- there's no other reading of that. In e-mails about a month earlier, she did not engage in this sort of intentional slighting. I thought it was just me, but I ran it past several people. And no in fact it is quite rude and completely intentional.

What would motivate an office worker to do this? My best hypothesis is that she dislikes something about the foreigners working there. One possibility is that she is angry we make more than her. Or maybe she is angry that we do not work overtime the way she does -- though in fact I do work overtime. She is a 事務員 working in her own country -- with an undergraduate degree. I'm working abroad intentionally...

After you've gotten your letter about JP Bank's Yucho Direct Service

JP Bank (Yucho) does offer online banking. It's a pain the butt to setup the first time. I am going to assume you've already filled out the form and gotten your thick packet that includes a folded page with some codes. In the middle is the 初回ログインネットサービス ("first time login service") which is  jumble of capital letters and numbers. You will need this the first time you login. At the bottom of the folded sheet, there's a new number that you will need every time you login, your お客様番号 ("customer number") which is  a series of 4-4-5 numbers.

You will begin by clicking on "ログイン" from http://www.jp-bank.japanpost.jp/direct/pc/dr_pc_index.html. This will take you to a pointless intermediate page. Scroll down and click "ログイン画面に進む" (advance to login page). On the next page, you will see some really horrific web page design. In the middle, you'll see お客様番号 and a box for 4-4-5 numbers. Fill that in with your info and click "次へ." You will then be prompted to enter your "ログインパスワード" which is on  the middle of your page.

Since this is your first time logging in, you will be asked to change your password and setup some security questions ("初めてログインされたお客さまは、「インターネット利用者カード」と共にお送りしました初回入力時に入力するログインパスワードの変更および、画像と合言葉の登録が必要です。まずは、「パスワード変更」をクリックしてください"). Here's where the real fun will begin...

On the next page, there are several boxes.  In the top one ("初回ログイン時に入力するパスワード
（インターネットサービス") enter the first-time login password (middle of the cardboard sheet you got). In the next two boxes, enter your password. It must contain at least two English letters and numbers. It must be between 6 and 12 characters. It is case-sensitive (as is the first password they gave you). All of these should be entered as normal Western text (you'll see why I mention this in a moment). In the last box, enter your code that you used when you signed up (申込書に記入したインターネット用暗証番号（注2）). It should be between 6 and 12 characters. Then click "次へ" If you did this right, you will next see "ログインパスワードの変更が完了しました。"

Then click "次へ". Then click it again. Now, you will pick an image. You can take one of those 10 or you can click "別の画像を検索する" to see another random 10. Ultimately, pick one and click "次へ".

The next page is a lot of fun. These are your security questions. But note well -- you need to write them in full-width characters. Ｈａｖｅ　ｙｏｕ　ｅｖｅｒ　ｓｅｅｎ　Ｅｎｇｌｉｓｈ　ｔｈａｔ　ｌｏｏｋｓ　ｌｉｋｅ　ｔｈｉｓ？　This is what you need it to look like. Or you can enter things in Japanese. All entries must be less than 10 characters in length. Click 次へ. If you did it right, your options will change. First, you should copy that info down. Then click 戻すif is something is wrong OR click 登録する to record your data.　You should get a box saying that an e-mail will be sent etc, etc,. Click "OK."

You will now be asked to enter your e-mail address. First screen is just explanation. Click 次へ. On the next screen (enter it normal-style in both boxes) and click 次へ. The click ワンタイムパスワード発行. Then click it again. Now wait for an e-mail. Then enter the part that follows: "ワンタイムパスワード". It should be a number; mine was six digits. Then you will be asked to enter your code that was in the very first form you filled out (the 6-12 digit one) with the prompt "インターネット用暗証番号". Do so and click "実行する." A box will appear asking if you are okay with registering that e-mail address, press OK.

Then click "メインメニュー" and you're in!

The Orientation Process at a Japanese University

Now being gainfully employed means that I am busier in different ways than before. Japanese university employment is different than an American university employment in many respects. The process and paperwork are more complicated. It's not about language it's about culture. First things first. You will experience as 辞令交付式 where you are read and handed a letter that means you're an employee. Afterwords, there's an explanatory meeting. Most was relatively uninteresting, but it turns out they renewed a number of systems just in time for the new school year. Also one of the three 総務 people had obviously just started the job the same day but had to sit in the meeting. Moreover, the biggest set of questions related to using 研究費 for trips and what to do if part of the trip is personal and part business. Also, there's a weird rule: flextime but you're supposed to show up at least once on campus.

Mostly what you get from the meetings is forms. Mounds of forms.

I had to fill out all of the following in the first days of employment:

Documents you do see at American Universities
(1) Tax form regarding deductions (normal enough)
(2) (緊急連絡先 ) Emergency contact form  (odd detail: not my wife's info -- my own info)
(3) 振込申請書 for payroll (to receive direct deposits)

Maybe, (4) 通学費 - deduction for commuting. Less than 2km = none. Between 2km and 4km with a car is 2000円/month. It goes up if you're further than that. Nothing for a bike. Cost of commuting for buses.

Documents you don't
(1) Enrollment form for national pension plan for employees of public national universities
(2) Enrollment form for semi-governmental accident insurance both long and short term [2 forms] (文部科学省共済組合)
(3) Request for IP address for my computer (which will expire in 8 days when XP support ends).
(4) 振込申請書 for things other than payroll [I don't really know why ... but there were two different ones]

Documents I didn't have but others did [because I am employed as a 特任講師 rather than 準教授 or 常勤講師]
(1) 別居手当 - if you have to live apart from your family you get $.
(2) 扶養手当 - you get money for each dependent. Odd formulas: about 12000円/month for your wife. 6500 for non-wife living with you unless you're unmarried in which case it's about 10500円. 6500/kid or parent living with. but a bonus of 5000/month if they are a teenager.
(3) housing allowance - minimum of 1万 if your apartment is less than 2万7千円. Maxes out at about 2万 something if your apartment is over 5.5万

I'm missing a few, but to state it simply the wages they earn are weirdly configured. I probably earn more without all the weird 手当て and bonuses they get figured in.

Also, you need to write out everything in the forms by hand -- and there's often a furigana row to boot. Needless to say lots of fun. Also, I cannot recommend enough having a frixion pen (which I did not). If your Japanese isn't roughly as good as mine (I missed 1級 by 4 points in December), then it would be nearly impossible to fill out the forms and understand the 内訳(explanation) that you are told about your job things.

Applying for The Highly Skilled Professional Visa in Japan

I recently had applied for the "highly skilled foreign professional" visa from the Japan bureau of immigration, and I thought I would share some details about the application process. Information on this process is sorely inadequate from the Japanese government. What we do know is that they have gotten far fewer applications than expected and had granted less than 500 such visas in the first year or so if its operation (see here).

On to the procedure (or what I know of it). First, to apply you will need to fill out a  在留資格認定証明書交付申請書 "APPLICATION FOR CERTIFICATE OF ELIGIBILITY"    which can be downloaded here. On this form, you will fill out all the relevant information as you would for any other application. Under purpose, check Other. How will the immigration bureau know that this is the status you want?

This seems to be handled by the second submitted document, a "point calculation form." Here, you need to be able to substantiate at least 70 points to get the VISA. The calculation has changed since the initial version of the form, but here at the highlights for the academic version:

1. 学歴 ("Academic Background"):20 for any MA (修士又は専門職学位) or 30 points for a non-"professional" PhD (non-cumulative)　（博士（専門職学位を除く））
2. 職歴 ("Professional Career"): 5/10/15 points for 3/5/7 years of professional experience respectively  (again non-cumulative) with professional experience defined as follows: "Experience related to the research, research, guidance or education in which the applicant intends to engage" as a translation of 従事しようとする研究、研究の指導又は教育に係る事務経験
3. 年収 ("annual salary"): 10-40 points based on a chart that cross references age and salary. Basically, yet 10 get points starting from 4 million yen / year going up by 5 every additional million yen and capped at 40 points. If you are 30-34, you cannot get points for < 5 million, If you are 35 to 39, you cannot get points for less than 6 million, if you are 40+, you cannot get points for less than 8 million
4. 年齢 ("age") - 0-15 points. 15 for < 29; 10 for 30-34; 5 for 35-39
5. 研究事績("Research achievements") - 20 to 25 points (you get 25 if you qualify for 2)
1. Patented invention
2. Received competitive grants from foreign countries 3 times
3. 3 publications recorded in the database they search (学術論文データベースに登載されている学術雑誌に掲載された論文が３本以上) The database they search is http://www.scopus.com/. They don't seem to acknowledge the existence of anything else.
4.  Other achievements recognized by ministry of justice
6. Special considerations
1. Work for company that receives "Innovation" support = 10 points
2. Small or medium-sized business = 10 points
3. Small or medium-sized business spending at least 3% of its budget on research = 5 points 
4. Holder of foreign work qualifications recognized by the ministry of justice = 5 points
5. Passed JLPT N1 or majored in Japanese = 10 points
6. Graduated from Japanese university or completed a graduate course at one = 10 point

The next step in the process is that they examine your documents at the regional immigration office. In my case, this is Sapporo. 

They got back to me in about 2 weeks from when I applied. The annoying thing is that they got back to me at 7:18pm the day before a holiday while we were shopping at AEON and that they had previously tried to call my wife twice (who had forgotten her phone). All of that aside, the phone call was a weird one. The gentleman with whom I was speaking (who could not speak English as far as I can tell) was calling with what to me seemed to be an odd purpose in mind and this is part of what made it a very aggravating phone call. He was calling to get me to agree to the following two claims contrary to my documents after which he would let them evaluate my application:

1. That it is unlikely that I would be considered to have five years of work experience

2. That it is unlikely that I would be considered to have three publications per their standard.

Initially, I thought he was asking me to agree to his claims that I lacked five years of work experience and three publications. Consequently, I was arguing with him about whether this is true. But what he was trying to do was get me to accept that it is unlikely that I would be considered to have these. This is a subtle but important distinction. He seemed willing to let my application be evaluated if I would accede to these two claims. But if both fall, I don't have enough points.

Regarding the first claim, I included some of the time during my graduate study. Why? Because the work I did before receiving my PhD and the work I do now and the work I will do at my new job next month are all identical, i.e. research and teaching courses. I doubt the gentleman I was speaking with has any sort of experience with graduate education outside Japan (I cannot answer whether he has any in Japan). From his perspective, you have only one 在籍 - either a student or a professional at one time. And during your "doctor course," you are primarily a student. More importantly for others, he seemed only interested in the time I spent teaching (restricted to in-class hours) and found it inadequate that this did not occupy more time than research. This is weird because my work obligations include both teaching and research.  I asked him where in law this is specified or if this is just a personal judgment. He claimed it was neither in law nor a personal judgment but the judgment of the 入国管理局 ... but then a judgment on what basis? He claims 常識 .

Regarding the second claim, his search method appears to be something related to Elsevier. Consequently, he found only one article bearing my name. The issue with this is that Elsevier might be really for articles in science, but it is by far not that popular in my discipline (philosophy). Thus, when they say in a database, understand that they mean just Elsevier. It was not clear to me if they would have done

After wasting quite a bit of time with him on the phone, I have decided to withdraw my application for the "highly-skilled professional worker visa." I don't expect the larger entity would differ in judgment from the individual. My complaint is that the process is not sufficiently clear. Admittedly, 職歴 makes clearer than "Professional Career" that this means only those times when Japanese people would call what you have 職 but this sort of barrier is why so few people have qualified.

Being hired by a university in Japan

On December 19th, I received a phone call from the chair of the 委員会 indicating that I had been selected and congratulating me. At that point, I still did not know exactly how much I would be making and called the 教務所 to figure that out. They were slightly confused when I  called, thinking I was inquiring prior to selection (a logical thing to do normally). Once that was cleared up. Turns out I will be earning a decent sum of money for the upcoming year.

But there are still several things I want to point out that are probably cultural differences. First, it is now the end of December and I have yet to receive any documents about my employment. Second, I was told that I was 採用. I was not asked whether I wanted to accept the position. I don't know what you do if you hear this from multiple places. Third, I doubt I had any shot without the right connections.

Thus, I am still waiting for the documentation that I will be employed. I will also have to move in order to have this job, which is a reality I face with a mixture of worry an しょうがない.

In Praise of Interac

I've heard a decent amount of negative things about Interac. I can't address whether these things were / are true, but I can say that my own experience with Interac has been quite good. I worked part time briefly for Interac as a substitute ALT entering elementary schools to do two-day gigs. I presented the English version of *Momotarou* (to sixth graders) and *What's This* (to fifth graders). Would I want to work for Interac my entire life? No. But that's because I can get a better job (Interac doesn't give raises -- but that's because you're basically replaceable if your work for them).

What impressed me more about Interac is how they treated my wife's aunt. You see she was working for Interac for a couple of years in her late 50s. First, I will start with the negative: Interac did not address her numerous complaints and let her go when she reached the 定年(retirement age). But now to the positive: many of her complaints, ,it turns out, were not due to a nearby 醤油 factory but due to her having pneumonia built on top of breast cancer that spread to her lungs. That's pretty terrible. But when she needed to be hospitalized, an employer she treated meanly stepped up to the plate and send people to visit her. They even provided her assistance (read money) for getting back to America and drove her all the way from Ishinomaki to Narita airport.

On the flipside, they left it in my hands to cancel her electricity and gas.  But that's not the worst fate in the world.

First Interview for a Position in Japan

On Friday, I had my first interview for a position in Japan. I applied via JREC to this position, but I was also recommended to apply by a foreigner who is friend and gainfully employed (tenured) at the institution presently (though she will be changing to a different university with tenure. Here, I want to briefly explain how the process went.

A week and a half prior to the interview I was called by the 委員長 who suggested three changes to my documents that I had sent. First, he had me move a book chapter that I had put as a 学術論文 to the category of 著書 and then include the authors of the text in the list. Second, he had me add some numbering to the document. Third, he had me move presentations from one place to the list of publications under the category その他 (which did not agree with the directions but who am I to argue with the paperwork expectations of the interview committee chair?) At the time, he asked whether I would be available for an interview the next week if hypothetically such an interview were to be requested. I indicated I could do either of the days he suggested but indicated which I preferred.

Later that week, he called me to ask me to come into an interview for this week, indicating that I should arrive 15 minutes early and where to go on campus. One difference between the American system and the Japanese system is that the e-mail with the details arrived the night before the interview. He also provided some instructions for how to get to the campus.

The interview was conducted by the 委員会. This was five Japanese professors in the English education faculty at the university. The interview was conducted primarily in Japanese though I was told I could answer questions in either Japanese or English. I primarily conducted myself in Japanese doing my best to use 敬語. The questions I received were roughly as follows.

First, the 委員長 asked me questions about the documents I submitted. Here, they confirmed receipt of  the PhD, my current age (32), the fact that I received the PhD in question earlier this year, my current employment, and the status of my publications. Regarding one of my publications, which was published in a relatively minor journal and whether it could be consider national or international (to which I answered I did not think it merited that level of consideration). Compared to a US interview, the emphasis on rating my publications was different than what I expected. I think this matters because it determines ranking and salary in the Japanese system. They count the PhD thesis as a refereed journal article for these purposes, giving me two national-level refereed items and a book publication. Clearly, this is somewhat different from how an American university would assess things.

There were also several questions about which classes would be of interest to me to teach. This position involves me teaching as many as 8 courses in a semester which is no small feat. Moreover, I would be expected to proofread 10 or so 20-page senior theses. This sounds like a lot of work. But there are several mitigating considerations. The expectations for a college course in Japan are somewhat different than for courses in America. First, each course meets only 1x/week for 90 minutes. Second, many of the courses are such that I can work from a textbook and stick to that (or at least I expect to do so to reduce the preparation load). Second, the courses are more practical than some of what I might teach in America. Nevertheless, its hard to imagine how I will be able to get much research done at the same time.

This can also be thought of in a very different light: compare this with other work available in Japan. For foreigners, the primary types of work that are available are English teaching and translation (the latter only if you are good enough at Japanese). Some English teaching requires preparation and other English-teaching does not. Looking at the preparation kind, it pays maybe 3000 to 4000 Yen for one hour of face-time. University teaching pays significantly more (approximately 10000) for 90 minutes of face-time. So if I taught 8 lessons of this kind a week, I would be working almost as much as the college-level job (assuming 8 preps) for much less money. Adjusting for the preps and the time, I'd probably be working as much as 4 college classes for 8 lessons of English working out to a salary of 32000 Yen / week. All things considered teaching English at the university-level is a significantly better deal.

Since my major is not ESL. One question was how I could work together with faculty. I didn't initially understand the question since the way it was formulated was a little hard for me to follow. Here, I shared several of my interests in teaching about culture, but also the questions I have about bilingualism, whether specialists in English education (among foreigners) do lead to better learning outcomes, and about differences between Japanese students and others. I think I answered their question successfully by integrating some of my experiences here teaching English.

This particular university also has a requirement to live nearby, and I was asked whether I understood this. I think they were greatly relieved that the interview could be mostly in Japanese, so it was beneficial to be able to speak. There were no questions about my research content per se, just a comment at one point listing Kant, Hegel, and Kierkegaard.

Success Tip #3: Ask Sympathetic [and Employed!] People to Look at your Resume

I have met with basically no success in my recent applications. I have yet to hear no from every school, but I have certainly heard several nos. I am not sure if the system is any different elsewhere, but they do not announce who they hired so much as s end an empty e-mail or letter explaining that you did not get the job.

What I have succeeded in doing is expanding the amount of university work that I have. In addition to teaching one English communication course at a nearby university, I was able to help teach part of an Environmental Ethics course at the University closest to me. This position also was one that became possible due to connections.

Here's how: I asked my now current boss to look at my resume, and he noted that my title was part of the problem. A little while later he suggested that he could bring me on for a few hours a week to upgrade my title. It's work and a resume improvement all at the same time. It is not full time, but it's a start and could grow into a full course or more in the upcoming semesters.

I still have one or two good shots on the job market, and I will post any useful information I learn through this process.

Bogus 公募 Sign #1: Impossibly Difficult Application Criteria

While sorting through the jobs that I could apply for in Japan this year, I ran across this gem. First, here is the posting information. Please pay careful attention to the publication date:

Data item number	D113101179
Date of publication	2013/11/09
Date of update	2013/11/09

Then consider that the deadline listed is a follows:

Deadline for applications

2013/11/15 Dealine for applications is Friday, November 15, 2013 (12:00 noon) (late applications will not be accepted)

So you are supposed to complete in less than 5 days. Now, if you read the PDF for this Nagoya University Young Leaders program, it seems like a pretty great job. But there's a few further details that make it impossible to apply for in such a narrow timeframe.

2. Two letters of recommendation, one from the prospective host faculty at Nagoya University and the other from the Dean (Head) of the graduate school to which the appointee will belong (Forms 2 and 3) [original and six copies]
3. Three scientific papers authored by the applicant that represent significant achievement [seven copies]

Mind you that this is a early career job. How could one possibly obtain a letter of recommendation from someone at the university without already having connections Moreover, how will they rate "significant achievement"? To make matters better, the job application is not available on their website or at least not in any way that I could find it.

Moreover, the scientific achievements claim is dubious considering that many of the scholars they have hired are not in the sciences. Looking at the list of recipients, this is clearly a way to postdoc many of the people that graduate from Nagoya University until they find a tenured position elsewhere...

The moral of the story: making connections is far more important to your job search than monitoring JREC.

Failure Tip #2: Uninformative and Informative Rejection Letters and Next Steps

The last week of September was a peak time for receiving responses from colleges (all rejections). These letters differ pretty strongly in terms of how they sound and how much English they involve (and how correctly they use it). One university helpfully indicated how many applicants they considered in total: 11. So that means I failed in a one for eleven application process -- not terrible considering I did not perfectly match what they were seeking to hire. Another college wrote in the actual letter "you did not make the short list." A third college said I failed "among other qualified applicants" -- clearly an attempt to copy the Western rejection letter (but one that may have missed that their statement did not imply that I was qualified).

My prediction is that this year will be a total bust on the Japanese job front -- but that's fine. I learned a great deal about the process and will be much better positioned for next year. In terms of positioning for next year, I am teaching a course at a university about an hour away as the instructor of record and I will teach part of a course at the nearest university on logic and normative thinking.  Moreover, I will be taking the JLPT N1. I think I still have a ways to go in studying for it, but I'll do what I can.

Japanese universities only value teaching experience in Japan. I cannot fully blame them for that sort of bias. It is not as if American universities would accept teaching anywhere but America, England, Australia, and New Zealand as having equal merit. (At the same time, I greatly question the quality of Japanese university teaching on average since faculty start with tenure and have no incentive to teach well).

申込 Challenge #4: 書留 and Price

Nearly all applications have a common set of requests regarding how you send them to the university. 1) They ask you to write application-specific information about the contents 朱書 (in red). Almost all (but not all) end this with 在中. With only one exception they either ended with　書類在中 or 書類. For kicks, I always threw on the 在中 . I think there are two purposes for this: (1) it helps the post office know what you are sending. (2) It probably helps the administrative staff at the university know what to do with these packages.

Now onto the more annoying (and expensive) feature common to applications. In Japan, you are not allowed to walk over an application. On the one hand, I get that -- you shouldn't be trying to schmooze up the faculty and waste their time. On the other hand, the Japanese solution I don't quite get. This is that you need to send applications by registered mail (書留). The problem is that this makes applications expensive. The price to mail one approaches 800 yen for me.

In the States, registered mail is relatively cheap -- but it's also something rarely used. Instead, you would probably just mail your documents or fedex them. There is a cheaper solution -- one I had mistakenly been using, but which may hurt my chances for jobs where they care greatly for procedure -- Letterpacks. A Letterpack lets you mail something for a fixed 350 yen or 500 yen fee. But it doesn't qualify as 書留 to the schools -- even though it lets you track your package.

I'm not sure what the obsession is with 書留 for job applications (it's not like I'm sending cash or something), but there are two variants of this: 簡易書留 and 書留 where the latter has more features and I believe additional cost. I will be sending out several applications this week and next and will use 簡易書留 where asked by schools -- otherwise I will use up the remaining letterpacks that I bought!

Failure Tip #1: Deciphering Rejection Letters

The same basic rule applies in Japan as elsewhere: a thin envelope after you've applied somewhere means rejection. So if you get a think envelope, you might as well not bother opening and cross that place off your list. In the even that you do open it, expect a letter like this:

[date]

[hand-written my name]
[university position]第１次審査結果
　このたびは本学の○○募集にご応募いただき、心よりお礼も仕上げます。
　ご提出いただいた書類に基づいて第１次審査を行いましたが、残念ながら不用過となりましたことを知らせいたします。
　末筆ながら、今後のいっそうのご健勝とご活躍を祈りあげます。
...
  We are very thankful that you responded to the post for applications about ○○.
  We made our first round of decisions based on the documents we received from you, but we are sorry to inform you that you application did not pass.
  Finally, we want to inform you that we are praying for the health and success of your activities.

...

For the record, (1) these letters are generally typed. (2) This one is actually clearer than many which don't necessarily state clearly that you were rejected -- rather you need to decipher it from a 残念 that is nowhere near any verb. (3) They don't come on letterhead -- as is the case with this letter, it's often just unspectacular cheap paper. The better ones put a seal or two on for effect. But basically understand that letterhead is not used in Japan.

Rejection in this process should not be surprising. 公募 (public announcement of positions) is sometimes a mere formality in Japan [and for some job postings in much of the world for that matter]. I was reading at one point an estimate that half of all posted positions are bogus -- as in they already have their winning candidate picked. One thing that amplifies this is that Japan uses an "or equivalent qualification system" that enables universities to hire MAs ahead of PhDs if they like them better for other reasons.

  

  

申込 Challenge #3: 研究概要と研究計画

In one recent application, there was a rather challenging pair of terms "研究概要" and "研究計画". Making sense of what these terms by themselves mean was a bit of a challenge. They seem practically the same to me by generic meaning. The former means "Research Outline" and the latter "Research Plan." What then distinguishes the two on an application form (made by merging some cells so that the formatting looks odd in excel mind you)?

I left this to the side for a bit and then went back to it after starting another application -- and there was the hint.

これまでの研究・教育の概要　（2000字程度）
着任後の研究・教育の計画　（2000字程度）

Thus, we learn that the 研究概要 refers to what you have already done -- an outline of previously completed work and the 研究計画 refers to what you intend to do.

Hope this helps future applicants!

New Phrase of the Day: 職務の状況

I am presently filling out a 履歴書 by hand as this preferred in Japan. They imagine it shows that you are serious. At a minimum, it shows that you don't mind spending a lot of time doing something and facing the frustration of mis-writing a single character and then having to start over twice. But I digress.

At the end of said 履歴書, there's a request for 職務の状況. This is a first. To make matters worse, the instructions are wrong beneath it. They refer to a 教育の状況. It's hard to fathom how the two are the same except insofar as most academics work as teachers. Still, the question for me is what to enter. Right now, I expect from October to teach one course due to connections at a university nearby. Other than that, everything is flexible -- who takes full-time employment conditioned on the ability to keep working part-time?

A little googling finds the same term with better instructions at another university's website (http://www.juen.ac.jp/050about/080recruit/010teacher/attention.html):

「職務の状況」について

• 記入日現在における職務の状況について記入してください。

• 「毎週担当授業時間数」については，下記の算出方法による授業科目の1週1人当たり時間数を記入してください。

• （注釈）算出方法：本学の例を下線で示してありますが，授業を実施している大学の単位数の計算の基準に基づき算出してください。

• 授業科目の単位数×時間数（講義・演習 1単位15時間，実験・実習・実技 1単位30時間）

• ＝授業科目の年間時間数

• 授業科目の年間時間数÷年間週数30週（前期又は後期のみの場合は15週）

• ＝授業科目の1週当たり時間数

• （前期又は後期のみの場合は，備考欄に「前期」又は「後期」と記入してください。）

• 授業科目の1週当たり時間数÷担当者数

• ＝授業科目の1週1人当たり時間数(小数点以下第3位切捨）

• 2年以上にわたる授業科目の場合は，総単位数を年数で除し，1年間当たりの単位数で時間数を算出してください。

• 集中講義の場合は総時間数を記入し，備考欄に「集中」と記入してください。

• なお，同一大学の専任学部（又は所属）以外の学部の授業を担当している場合は兼担の欄に，専任大学以外の大学の授業を担当している場合は兼任の欄に記入してください。

• 大学以外の学校，研究所等に勤務しているときは，様式に準じ職務内容の概要がわかるように記入してください。

Translated for your ease:

Concerning "職務の状況" (work conditions)
* Please enter your present working conditions
* Concerning the amount of time spend running classes, use the following rules to calculate for a course that you are the sole instructor for.
  Calculation method: An example for our university is presented below, but calculate according the rules established for the school at which you are teaching.
  [number of classes] * [number of hours of classes] (for lectures and seminars, 1 credit is 15 hours; for labs practicums, and skill courses 1 credit is 30 hours)  = this is your yearly course workload
[yearly course workload] / [30 weeks in the academic year] (if only for one semester 15 weeks) =  this is your weekly teaching load (if only teaching for the first or second semester please enter this).

 [weekly course load] / [number of instructors] = your personal teaching load for one week (cut things off after the second decimal place)

If you are teaching a course that lasts longer than two years, look at the single year portion to make your calculation. In the case of an intensive seminar, enter the total time but indicate it is an intensive. In the case that you have responsibilities for courses in other departments or are co-teaching, please enter this in the co-teaching column. If you are doing other things, like research groups, please write this information as well.

Needless to say, this sort of question does not appear in Western application processes.

Working with Japanese Collaborators: Pitfalls and Success Stories

So far, I have had fewer opportunities to work with Japanese collaborators than one would hope. There are  several reasons for this. First, this is not a front door process per se so much as you get the word out and meet people and things happen behind the scenes. Second, much of the Japanese academic process is different. For instance, many PhDs -- even in the humanities -- are contingent on publishing. That's right -- if you don't publish 3 articles you don't get your PhD. There are further rules complicating when and how you can publish these concerning "national" and "regional" journals. But odds on as a foreigner, you have not heard of any of these.

Much of the faculty publishing also depends on a similar Japan-internal ranking system that seems like it was designed to copy impact factors. But then it was turned inward to make it so that national level publications in Japan are seen as equivalent to say Nature and Science for promotion purposes. Moreover, submitting to these journals and getting accepted is more an invitation-process than a peer-review process here. As a junior faculty member or graduate student, you get told when you can submit something. Often the inroad is a presentation. In fact, the Japanese faculty I have met by and large believe that this is the standard route of publication -- you present, you are asked to submit this for "peer review," and you turn that in.Thus, people are defensive about letting foreigners in -- because they see you as competition.

All of this serves as background for my experience. My experience so far is that faculty members are great and easy to work with. So are MA students. PhD students have been another story. I've made one presentation at a Japanese conference in Japanese. I was recently asked to be involved in an important translation project by a faculty member here. I asked him if he had a suggestion for a Japanese collaborator... So far so good.

Earlier last week I met with this collaborator. He has supreme confidence in his English ability -- unfortunately not matched by his ability. Our task is to translate an upcoming paper so that it can appear in a prestigious journal. I understand that I cannot produce such high quality work on my own, but he seems to imagine he could translate it to English that well on his own. I've seen his outline -- it's not that good. Meeting with him was probably the rudest experience I've undergone in Japan since I arrived. So as basic rule, avoid working with PhD students.

申込 Challenge #2: 教育計画

Another key challenge for foreign applicants is going to be writing the 教育計画. While on the US market, the standard is to provide a teaching portfolio that contains student evaluation information, taught course syllabuses, statement of teaching philosophy, and syllabuses for courses you hope to teach, I only see this for some applications in Japanese. Other applications in Japanese ask just for a 教育計画 or worse -- nothing.

It won't work just to translate the one you've got in English for a very simple reason -- much of the courses you will teach are already decided. Consider this recent listing from JREC under 仕事内容:

担当科目：
「ヨーロッパ研究」、「卒業研究（ヨーロッパ研究）」、思想と人間」、「人間と文化」、「第二外国語Ⅰ・Ⅱ（ドイツ語又はフランス語）」、「新入生ゼミナール」、「共通教養演習」

It is not uncommon to see what looks like a kitchen sink list of courses foisted onto one person.  Note, it is listing the courses you will be responsible for and not merely the courses you *might* end up teaching. So in this case, you will teach introductory French or German, Thought and Humanity, Humanity and Culture, contribute to the cooperative general education lectures, and guide graduation theses in Europe research and other courses in Europe research.

When applying for such a position, it is important to mention that you can will teach these courses. I haven't mastered this task as of yet.

申込 Challenge #1: 研究計画

Over the next couple of months, I will be applying to about 30 jobs. Two-thirds of the jobs have applications in English. The downside for that is that this means most of them are just for teaching English. The big upside is that I can write and edit all of the documents by myself. For the applications in Japanese, the following type of document request is pretty typical:

(4)採用後の研究計画（それぞれA4版1枚程度）
(4) これまでの教育・研究及び社会貢献の概要をふまえて、今後の教育・研究及び社会貢献への抱負を述べた文書（任意の様式で3000字程度）
(3)担当可能科目及び現在の研究テーマ（指定の用紙に記入）
(7) 研究の抱負（1,500字以内、A4判縦）
4）研究概要と研究計画書（本学所定の様式）
４．これまでの研究・教育の概要（２，０００字程度、様式随意）１部

[The numbering is as they are enumerated in the requirements on JREC].

The great part is that this feature is not that different from an application in America. One minor difference is that they seem to emphasize the research you have already done more in some of the possibilities. Also, some of them seem to want you to mix the research and teaching statements together (???). The frustrating part as a non-native Japanese speaker is that it's quite difficult to edit all of this together. Note that one says A4-length, another says within 3000 characters in their form for both teaching and research. Another says 1500 / A4. Another says to use the provided form. Still another is 2000 characters.

I am approaching this in the same way that I would a Western university when applying for positions that closely fit my abilities. I made documents outlining my teaching philosophy and my research program last year as part of the pre-application phase for jobs over the  summer. But this time it helps that I've spent several months actually working on these projects -- in two cases successfully (1 for 4 in Western journals / 1 for 1 in Japanese conferences) and in one case very unsuccessfully (I have restarted that project after doing significantly more reading -- including trying to do some of it in Japanese).

For jobs outside of my field, I am modifying what I write somewhat. Instead of "哲学者として", I write "思想学者として." And I emphasize my flexibility for 教養科目(general requirement courses). I am not sure what voice this should be written in, but I have been writing my materials in である instead of です体 and received assistance from a tutor at my school until the semester wound down at the beginning of August.
As a consequence, I have a basic version of the research statement. In it, I outline (a) what I have already written [primarily in terms of the dissertation] and (b) what I am looking to write as two new projects. I will probably have another Japanese friend or friend look it over and see what they think.

A slightly less common feature in Western applications that is pretty common here is to ask what contributions you've made to society. I've seen that as a section on the school-provided 履歴書(CV) documents and as a separate required document. For one university, their English application asks you what your "Social Contract" with the neighborhood would be.

Success Tip #2:Making Connections in Japan: Joining Academic Societies

In the Japanese employment system, a key task is to build connections. While this can be said to be  valuable in all contexts, it is  invaluable in the Japanese context. You will not (unless you are already well-renowned and hired by a fan) find a good job in Japan without first developing connections. The good news is that , in my experience, most of the academics in Japan are quite good sports.

Over the weekend, I participated in two conferences. In the former, I presented a paper in my specialization in Japanese. In the latter, I merely attended as a member. Through both, I was able to talk to several professors at the 総宴会 and 二次会. Basically, if you want to connect with Japanese professors, you need to go out drinking with them. The academic world in Japan is still largely a playground for old men who enjoy drinking (and possibly smoking). But really without doing so, you will not succeed in building connections.

Moreover, you should join academic societies and let your face be seen around and about the town.