"Every situation is different." This was so much the mantra of the program that sent me to Japan that we participants had shortened it to a simple acronym that we invoked every time we were frustrated at the lack of clear or concrete answers to our questions. Still, no matter how maddening the repetition of that key phrase was, it bears mentioning here. What I write about school life naturally pertains only to my school and the specific situation that I found there. In fact, my predecessor at the same school had a very different experience, as she worked with a different set of supervisors, teachers, and administrators. My friends had different experiences at their schools, whether good, bad, or neutral.
Please read my memories here with that fact in mind, and do not assume that I try to speak for all of Japan. I can only speak to my own observations and experiences, and I do not presume to speak for others. Still, most other stories of English teachers in Japan that I have found are glowing and tell of wonderful experiences. They recommend the profession wholeheartedly. I simply aim to share my own experience as a counterpart to that, in the hope of adding another perspective to the larger tale of foreign teachers in Japan.