Making the move back home

[tokyochojin]

Having just turned 30 and after 10 or so years abroad in Japan I am thinking of making the move back home to the UK. As I have been away for so long I am interested in hearing the opinions of those who have made the return from living abroad back to the UK and how it all went (reverse culture shock, positives, negatives, ease of finding work).

I am constantly being told of the difficulty people have in finding work in the UK at the moment but is the situation really that dire? I understand my qualification isn't the most useful or flexible (Japanese 1st class BA with honors) but I am hoping my experience from abroad will help make my cv stand out.


Any tips, advice or past experiences would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers,

[dataDave]

I've just been back for Christmas after three and a half years in Singapore.

It was largely depressing. The place (Burnley) seemed deader than ever. The high street is all boarded up and what remains are pound shops, bookies, and pubs.

I'm looking at moving back to somewhere like The Netherlands or Switzerland. I'll be closer to home at least when it comes to visiting friends and family.

[dataDave]

Couldn't you work as a translator?

[tokyochojin]

I could if the work is there, unfortunately there is less and less work in that trade, especially as the Japanese gaming industry is on its arse.

[DeathAdder]

Watching with interest, although I am fairly sure that I will be seeing out my working life abroad. My wife is older than me, so when she retires, if we feel like it we might be able to move somewhere else in the world.

What do you do in Japan?

[Darwock]

Considering doing the same in around 3 years as I don't want my kid going through Japanese primary school and picking up the Japanese ways, but I am concerned about jobs myself. My only vague plan is to get a primary school teachers license back home and do that.

[tokyochojin]

I'm currently working in an office involved with translation and similar interpretation duties. I would prefer to live around the North West but I am guessing most of this kind of work will be in London (a city I have visited the grand total of twice!).



Darwock> Something similar cross my mind but out of interest, how do you intend to support your family and go back to school at the same time? Savings?

[DeathAdder]

Well, it certainly can be done. One of my friends did exactly that - he went back to the UK age 29 and trained as a teacher in Citizenship, which must be a new subject, as I never studied that at school. He had to retake his maths GCSE, as he only had a D in it. He did very well, and worked for about five years, until his wife, who is Japanese, decided she wanted to come back to Japan. Now he works at an international school, with his PCGE, and is doing very well indeed.

[kryss]

Reverse culture shock for me moving to Canada. Being around people who speak English made me really uncomfortable for a good few months. After so many years in retail/customer service, I generally don't like people so being left alone in Japan suited me fine. People ask you how you are as a greeting here but nobody really listens/cares which annoys the hell out of me.

[Darwock]

My last trip back home was a massive shock, we arrived late on a Thursday night in Glasgow and I went out immediately to get a sausage supper to take back to the hotel. 'Bewildered' is the best way to describe how I felt, and possibly even a wee bit scared. It's just such a weird experience to be walking down a street at night with folk shouting out "ya wee c**t!" and other random behavior you wouldn't see in Japan in a million years. Queuing in the chip shop was another wake up call as I desperately tried to remember if a single supper had chips or if you had to order the double to get those... It was honestly really jarring for me after so many years out of Scotland.

I also had to ask a sales clerk at the till for advice on mobile phone SIM cards as I was completely clueless as to how it works in the UK. Plus I mistook my 2p coins for 10ps because of the similarity to the 10yen coin and handed over the wrong amount.

Tokyochojin, its a worry, but I own a flat and could theoretically pay off the mortgage so we wouldn't need a massive income... thing is if I paid off the mortgage I would probably have no savings left to pay for the studies etc. as I said it's only a very vague notion. I worry a lot about upping and leaving and the consequences thereof... my wife seems to think it's just something you do.

[randombs]

It's funny - whenever I hear of someone going back to the UK I just assume they mean London, like me! My fellow ALT friend from up North talks about how depressing his hometown is and it reminds me that it really depends on where you came here from.

I'm hoping to stay here for 2-3 more years before thinking about going home. I want to get my Japanese to a good enough level to make it a skill but, similar to Darwock, I don't really want my future kids going to school here.

The company I just got accepted for mentioned they could transfer me to their London office in the future if I decided to go home so there'd be no job disruption.

@tokyochojin: Have you found any jobs back home that look like something you'd want to do? I'd just send applications for positions in whatever field I wanted(even without a set return date) and see what replies and feedback I got. I guess there could be an issue depending on what skills you've picked up along the way other than translation. Outside of gaming, and even translation, there were plenty of jobs that require business/native-level Japanese ability when I checked. I can't remember the name of the website I found but have a look at sites like this:

http://www.jac-recruitment.co.uk/

[dataDave]

My last trip back home was a massive shock, we arrived late on a Thursday night in Glasgow and I went out immediately to get a sausage supper to take back to the hotel. 'Bewildered' is the best way to describe how I felt, and possibly even a wee bit scared. It's just such a weird experience to be walking down a street at night with folk shouting out "ya wee c**t!" and other random behavior you wouldn't see in Japan in a million years. Queuing in the chip shop was another wake up call as I desperately tried to remember if a single supper had chips or if you had to order the double to get those... It was honestly really jarring for me after so many years out of Scotland.

Ha! I felt the same way. I got to Preston train station and decided to go and get a sandwich. The girl serving me was calling me "chick", "darling", and "love". It felt completely out of place.

Then when I got into Burnley I was walking through groups of chavs.

It took me about a week to comfortably fit back in.

Like others here, my wife is 30 now and we will want to be starting a family sooner rather than later. There's no way I'm having kids here, it must be one of the most materialistic places on Earth. All the young kids have iPads/iPhones and Vitas/3DSs when I can hardly afford that **** for myself. As a kid I had to grow up with **** trainers and clothes, and if I had kids here they'd go through the same only 100-fold.

We're currently renting a bedroom that's smaller than my bedroom at my grandad's old house and I'm paying more than I did for my one bedroom flat. How the **** are we meant to have kids?

[Yakumo]

I went back to the UK for the first time in 5 years right when those bloody riots kicked off a few years back. There I was in Heathrow looking at the TV thinking WTF! Luckily up in Liverpool everything was cool plus the new city center is fantastic. I actually enjoyed being back in the UK except at night when all the pricks come out of their slums. Still, I didn't have any culture shock but I don't know if I'd like to live in the UK anymore. I've been living in Japan since November 1998.

[Nijo]

Considering doing the same in around 3 years as I don't want my kid going through Japanese primary school and picking up the Japanese ways.

I came back for this reason last year, and since I work from home I trawled around all over the place looking for a somewhere to live that ticked all the boxes (nice town with decent shops & pubs, great schools, affordable housing, good access to London).

There is nowhere.

[Darwock]

I would be discouraged by that, except your last requirement is not required in any way... not for me anyway. it is easy to forget how crappy life in the UK could be though. I'd settle for a good school tbh.