Imagine that you’re in high school. You have the biggest crush on the most popular boy/girl in school (e.g. quarterback or cheerleader). You have your eyes and heart set solely for your newfound crush. No one else matters in the world. Meanwhile, there is this not-so-popular guy/girl who is admiring you from afar. There are even days when you bump into this person or speak to him/her in the hallway. You don’t notice his/her love for you, because the only person who exists in your world is the popular kid.

Unfortunately, you slowly start to realize that rejection likely awaits you in the future. Your heart is on the verge of breaking until your line of vision broadens. Slowly but surely, you become more vigilant and finally notice your admirer. You still have your heart reserved for your crush, but you decide to open up to your admirer and give him/her a chance. Little did you know that your world would start to change.

Most of you are aware of my longtime dream of moving to Japan. I have been studying Japanese and conducting research about Japan for the past year, preparing to move by Spring 2020. That plan was going very well up until three weeks ago.

Expectations vs. Reality

For the past two months, I had Skype interviews with a few Japanese companies and schools. Of those job offers, I accepted none. As much as I wanted to jump onto an opportunity in Japan, I decided to listen to my roommate. She suggested positions recognized by the Japanese government.

The two in particular that I am awaiting results from are Awaji Youth Federation Fellowship and the JET Program. These two positions are extremely competitive. The Awaji Youth Federation is honestly the one I prefer. They, however, receive thousands of applications from around the world and only accept 24 fellows. The chances of me becoming a fellow are less than 5%.

I am hopeful for at least one of those positions, but it is best not to expect too much. Otherwise, my heart will break. Reality sunk in, and I became wise enough to know that things will likely not go as planned. Consequently, if neither job works out, I’m down to two options.

Become desperate by accepting a job offer that I do not want and stick it out during the one-year contract

Remain in America and try again for 2021

Everything became overwhelming, because I did not like either of those options. I’m futuristic, so every move I make is for my future. I constantly think about how I’m not getting any younger and want to live my life without regrets. My goal was to be in Japan before my 28th birthday next summer, so I can celebrate abroad. Hastiness is usually not a wise decision, but I’m ready to risk it all.

Why Japan?

As the days went by, my mind started to wonder. I suddenly remembered the most frequent question my best friend, family members, and others, including people on Japan-related Facebook groups, asked me. Why Japan? In case you were wondering the same thing, I’ll briefly tell you my background.

I grew up in a very poor region in America called the Black Belt, and I moved to the city after high school to attend a prestigious school. My college education helped me embrace diversity and brought out my adventurousness. Keep this in mind as you discover why I chose Japan.

I studied abroad in both Iceland and New Zealand when I was an undergrad. Iceland is a beautiful country, but I did not fully enjoy my summer there. I did not have the freedom to explore, and most of my time was spent with my study abroad classmates, who were all Americans.

I hosted a birthday party for my Singaporean friend!

New Zealand, on the other hand, gave me the best experience I ever had abroad. During Fall 2013, I recall only having one close American friend, and she was my flatmate. Everyone else were Kiwis (word for “natives of New Zealand”) or non-Americans studying abroad, mostly people from Singapore. I walked the streets of Wellington (and sometimes Auckland) regularly and walked over 30 minutes to get to destinations. I attended events at Victoria University and in the city with my native friends. Also, I joined campus organizations and conducted my Senior research. In short, I enjoyed New Zealand so much that I turned my back to everyone at the airport as I looked out of the window in tears. I didn’t want to leave.

When I returned to college in Spring 2014, I made a promise to myself. I promised that the next country I live in will be a non-English speaking country. Also, I wanted a country where anyone of European, African, or Hispanic-descent are the minority. Because of that, I knew that I needed to make a move from the West to the East. One of my classmates studied in Japan and immediately applied to the JET Program upon his return. His stories helped me consider Japan. I designated Japanese, one of the hardest languages to learn, as a challenge. Since I was an anime and manga fanatic, Japanese would be beneficial to me. I researched Japanese culture off and on since then. I also visited Japan for two weeks this past March, and it felt like a place I could call “home.”

Signs of the Universe

Photo by Chris Lawton on Unsplash

With that reminder, a strange question came to mind. Is there any other place in the world where you would consider living? I noticed that some people who have no luck getting to Japan or had a horrible experience in Japan usually move to China. I love China and my Chinese friends, but I can’t imagine living in a communist country. I’d rather visit China.

About a week ago, I browsed my Youtube feed and found this hilarious prank video. I thought, “Korean people are so hilarious!” Then there was the next question. What about South Korea? Allow me to explain where this is going.

If you’re preparing to move to Japan or another country, you will encounter suggestions for other places. That’s what happened to me throughout this year, and it was always South Korea. Every single time I encountered anything related to South Korea, I disregarded it. I only wanted and cared about Japan. There were many instances, but these are three true events for clarification.

I practice Japanese with language exchange partners on HelloTalk. Before I changed my settings to only receive messages from Japanese natives, I received messages from other non-English speakers. I recall a message from a Korean guy who asked if I could teach him English. I turned him down and said I was only speaking with Japanese people for language exchange.

When I visited Japan, I frequented Don Quijote. There was a TV that played a makeup commercial, featuring an all-girl group singing, “Hit you with that ddu-du ddu-du.” I loved the commercial so much that I looked it up on Youtube at the Airbnb. That was my discovery of the K-pop group BLACKPINK.

Most viewed MV in 24 hours?!

I borrowed Tomie by Junji Ito from one of my friends. In addition, she handed me a comic book that she thought I’d like to borrow, too. I wish I could remember the name of the book, but I remember the drawings being very trippy. It didn’t have any dialogue, but the background had Korean characters.

Another reason why I did not consider South Korea is because of the stories of violence against women. The first story I heard was about a female college student who was studying abroad. She fought off a rapist, and the guy filed a lawsuit against her. She remained in South Korea for over a year until it was over. Other stories are like these:

For the longest time, I chose Japan over South Korea for safety reasons. However, we had awful situations occur in America, including this recent kidnapping and murder. Another recent event was when a University of Chicago student ignored a man’s catcalls. and he proceeded to murder and rape her. I asked myself, Is it really any safer if I stay in America? That was when I slowly started opening my heart to South Korea.

My Move for South Korea

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I began by reaching out to people on social media, asking about their experiences in South Korea. I also joined the KOREA? KOREA! Facebook group. People immediately began noting the key differences between Korea and Japan, especially in terms of teaching English. I also confirmed this by looking up English-teaching jobs in Korea. The benefits shockingly outnumber the ones for jobs in Japan.

Here are the three key ones:

The cost of living in Korea is cheaper.

Most companies in Korea pay for your flight and apartment! So far, all of the jobs I looked into for Korea have these benefits.

apartment! So far, all of the jobs I looked into for Korea have these benefits. English-teaching jobs are less competitive in Korea and fairly easy to get. Some companies require or offer more pay for teachers with TESOL or TEFL. Unless someone teaches with the JET Program, teachers in Korea are generally happier than the ones in Japan. I confirmed this from comparing reviews against companies like NOVA (Japan) and recruiters in Korea.

I love the thought of more disposable income in Korea compared to Japan. There are some cons though.

You can quit your job and end your contract early in Japan, but you’ll have to pay the company lots of money for doing so. They invest in you by covering a portion of your rent, so I think that consequence is fair. In Korea, it is nearly impossible for you to quit your job. Unless your boss releases you in writing, the company expects you to work until the entire contract ends. They “own” you. (Source: The Fine Young Vagabond)

In Japan, you have the option of having a part-time job in addition to teaching. In Korea? It is not that simple. The consequences for working for another employer that’s not listed on an E-2 visa are so dire that I wouldn’t even want to risk it. (Source: Korea TESOL)

Most documents for South Korea require an apostille, which means you’re paying to apply for jobs. I complained about this at first, but it’s okay. Apostille means “authentication of documents.” While some jobs require an apostille on your diplomas, all of them require an apostille on your background check. Although it costs money to apply for jobs in Korea, it’s a one-time thing. You can reuse the same documents for many positions. There are several online companies charging $100+ per document to apostille. If you are a U.S. citizen, get your background check from the FBI for $18 here. The U.S. Dept of State charges $8 per document to authenticate. See here.

to apply for jobs. I complained about this at first, but it’s okay. Apostille means “authentication of documents.” While some jobs require an apostille on your diplomas, all of them require an apostille on your background check. Although it costs money to apply for jobs in Korea, it’s a one-time thing. You can reuse the same documents for many positions.

Based on conversations I had with foreigners who lived or currently live in Korea, I can see myself being happy there. It will be both scary and exciting, because Korea is completely new to me. I know 0 Korean. I never visited Korea nor will I have the chance to visit, if I choose to move this spring. The only K-pop artist I ever listened to is Psy, and I never watched K-drama. It is fun to learn all of this now.

*I found it funny that weeaboos are people who fantasize about Japan being like anime, and Koreaboos are people who picture Korea as it appears in K-dramas and everyone looks like K-pop idols.

My knowledge of Korean culture is still too low to do a thorough comparison between it and Japan. I started studying Korean recently with Korean Class 101, and it is definitely easier to learn than Japanese.

I can’t believe I’m saying this, but South Korea stole my heart. Right now, I’m leaning towards it over Japan. Needless to say, I have a conflicted heart. I haven’t made a decision yet, but I will apply for jobs in Korea soon. I’m studying both Japanese and Korean (1 hour each, daily). Feel free to read my review here. After a month of studying Korean, I’ll practice with Korean language exchange partners on HelloTalk. Pronunciation will be the biggest challenge for me.

Discussion

I challenge you to open your heart to other places. Don’t be the person with his/her eyes set only on the popular kid. You don’t know what you’re missing by lack of vigilance.

If you have your heart set on a certain country, is there any other place in the world you would consider living? Discuss below!

