Long story short, I lived in Kyoto as a JET a few years back, had bad culture shock during the Visa re-up process and turned it down, but very quickly came to regret that decision. There are several things tying me to Japan, specifically the Kansai region, and I feel I really need to try my best to get back over there and actually stay.
I've been looking for ways to move back to Japan, but it seems companies that'll do a COE Work Visa for those outside of Japan, aside from the main ALT deals, are few and far between. I have a masters degree in TESOL, as well as a year of Adult ESL teaching, one year as an ALT, and two years as an English teacher in an American Public High School. I'm also fairly conversational in Japanese (somewhere between N4 and N3? I haven't tested in a minute).
I guess what I'm asking is, should I just bite the bullet and reapply for JET or a different dispatch company, or are there other options out there? I'd like to have a bit more control over where I actually end up, I know those tend to just place you where you're needed…
I keep up on gaijinpot, but any other advice or sites etc would be greatly appreciated.
by AtarashiPunk