First Time for Everything - The Hook

"Gettin' Hooked"


"If you want to catch more fish, use more hooks."
George Allen, Sr.


For more posts similar to this one, see The Series of Firsts

Many people will say that they moved to Japan on a complete spur of the moment decision -- but I never really believe these people. Everyone can look back at something that motivated them long before they pulled the trigger, so to speak. Moving to Japan is a huge decision that has to have developed from somewhere inside one's brain.

I'll tell you how you know when someone is getting close to the on-ramp to the Highway to J -- Oh yeah!! This person may or may not have known it at the time, but the hook was probably just about set right in their lip. What is the hook exactly? Just like the bait, it's different for everyone. For many, the time between the planting of the first seed of the idea of moving to Japan and the time the seed actually takes root can be quite considerable (well over 5 years for me).

For me, the hook was in my mouth when I was looking on the internet for a job and I saw a job posting about teaching English in Korea. I really started to read and look into it -- uh-oh!! Then I thought about my interest in kanji those few years ago.... uh-oh!!!! Then I thought to myself, "Hey, I wonder if I can do this in Japan?"

OH GOOD GOD MAN!!!  The hook was set on me at that moment, I just didn't fully realize it at the time.

Let's take a quick look at some common ways to get hooked:

• Internet ads (Jet program/conversation school/ALT -- much more on those later)
• College job fair
• Literature in a job placement office
• Magazine ads
• Having a Japanese girlfriend/boyfriend (at some point the conversation is gonna come up)
• Spouse is Japanese
• Stationed in Japan when in the military

There are a million ways Japan can hook you.

Most people see an ad, get intrigued due to some life experience and find themselves thinking about it at odd times during the day. Then one day they take it to the next level somehow by actually researching different positions and, perhaps, asking questions to friends and family. Those are the first signs that someone is getting close...........

                         ...............oh yeah..............

They're getting close to the final stages of "The Decision." The signs are starting to manifest themselves in strange ways: they're doing intense research about Japan, they're having strange thoughts, fever sweats, strange unanswered questions, they're jumping on internet forums......They can't sleep.... They can't eat..... It's almost there......The bait is in the mouth.....BOOM!!! The hook is set...... the final stage of the journey to Japan comes........ at this point, the fish is out of control and the fisherman is..........."reeling you in"

Do you have a question about Japan or a topic that you are interested in that you haven't found on this blog? If so, please tell me about it in a comment. I will get a post up about it as soon as possible. Thanks for reading!!