Calculating Highway Tolls in Japan

Driving on the highway can be expensive (though ETC cards cut that cost dramatically, as do changes made in 2011).

Here's how to calculate exactly how expensive your planned trip is going to be.

It's simple really, there's a website which tells you. The only problem is the lack of English options.

Never fear!

First things first, here's the website.

Now, there are three ways you can enter your route:


Firstly, on the English version of the page is a selection of PDF tables on which you can cross referrence your journey. It's a bit fiddly and annoying.


Secondly, and most easily, you can use the origin and destination input boxes on the front page of the Japanese site. You have to use kanji for this. Check wikipedia for your chosen cities to find out the characters if you don't know them. The next page will ask for a confirmation of which exit you want if you haven't already stipulated.

Page 1, with added English. 

Page 2

As per my illustration, the box below the destination on page 1 is "Via", so put in any stop-off points. The tickbox is for auto-complete which will automatically show you the alternate choices for your location. Not selecting them here will send you to page 2, if applicable.

The other drop-down list is for vehicle class. The default is regular white-plate car. Full options are:

• K-car (yellow-plate)
• Regular white-plate
• Medium sized vehicles (minibus, truck under 8t etc)
• Large vehicles (buses, bigger trucks etc)
• Massive great big huge vehicles

These options also appear on page 2.

Click the button and you'll be presented with a page like this:

The option I have marked in the image with "Check ETA" allows you to check the traffic congestion on your route. Input the time and date you will travel for an estimate of how long it will take.

The ルート１ section at the top will display multiple routes if available. The price quote (column 1) is the regular cost, and the blue circles are the various options when using an ETC card. See future posts on the dramas of aquiring one.

Translation and explanation:

IC名 路線名 Name of IC or road
通常料金 Normal price
ETC割引料金  ETC discounted price
○をクリックすると割引料金を表示 Click the circle to view discounted price
距離 Distance
所要 Travel Time

Columns:

2.
通勤
Commuter Discount

• Must begin trip between 6-9am or 17-20pm
• Trips under 100 km in length are 50% off
• Trips over 100 km in length can get up to 50% off on the first 100 km
• Can only be used once per time slot per day (once per day between 6-9am, and once per day between 17-20pm)
• A number of Japanese people thwart this limitation by owning more than one ETC card, and stringing the 100km discounts over a longer trip. To do it, you must exit the highway each 100 kilometers, take the ETC card out of your reader, put in a new ETC card, and get back on the highway. Apparently you do save a significant amount of money this way over long distances, though I have never calculated it.

3.
早朝
夜間

Early-Morning or Late-Night Discount

• Appears to be specifically for travelers in metropolitan areas
• Must start AND COMPLETE the trip between 22:00 and 6:00am
• Up to 50% off the normal fare
• Must travel completely across at least one "Ku" (as in, like, Tokyo's Shinagawa-ku) of a major metropolitan area
• The length of each trip must be within 100 km

4.
深夜
Late Night Discount

• Must begin trip between midnight and 4am
• Trips are 50% off
• You can start a trip in this timeframe, or in any discount time frame, then travel on the highway for multiple days, sleeping over in service areas. Only the time you started the trip matters.

5.
平日
限定
Weekday Discount

• Must begin trip between 6am-20pm on weekdays
• Trips under 100 km in length are 30% off
• Trips over 100 km in length can get up to 30% off on the first 100 km
• If trip begins between 4-6am or 20-24pm, 30% off any length

6.
休日
特別
Special Holiday Discount

• On Saturdays, Sundays, and National Holidays, all trips all day are 50% off, with an upper limit of 1000 yen.

7.
他の
割引
Other Discounts

• Varies between trips

ETC Discount Types

• To get ETC Discounts you must enter the highway through an ETC gate with an ETC reader equipped car, and an inserted ETC card. I have heard it is possible to get the ETC discount even if you leave the highway through a normal tollbooth; for example if the ETC gate is out of order or nonexistant in the place you exit from. You must hand your ETC card to the person at the tollbooth.
• If multiple discounts apply to any trip, they do not stack. The single largest discount to your trip is the one applied.
• There were some major changes to weekday toll costs. Read about how this affects you here.

And, the 3rd option for calculating your tolls is to click through the map on the main page of the NEXCO site. I can't think of a reason why you would trouble yourself with this technique, but this site over here has written an English guide if you do want to.


That's that.

Job Spotlight: ALT Spot in Houfu City, Yamaguchi Prefecture

Last year around this time, Houfu City in Yamaguchi Prefecture advertised two direct-hire ALT positions with a competitive remuneration package.


If you're looking for specific figures about ALT working conditions, or if you're looking for a direct-hire gig around Yamaguchi to apply for, here's the lowdown and the link to watch over the next couple weeks:

These are the details from last year's posting.


Job Title: 外国語（英語）指導助手 (Assistant Language Teacher--English)
Type: 12-month contract employee
Qualifications: Native of an English-speaking country, etc. [sic], and meets one of the following requirements: 1) English teaching certificate, 2) Early childhood teaching certificate, 3) Experience teaching English
Working Hours: At longest, 9:00 - 15:35, Monday through Friday; open for discussion
Remuneration: Hourly, 4,000 yen
Insurance: No


The site you'll want to check on is the Houfu City Homepage. The site's news feed is in the top center of this page, and all past ALT hiring notifications (usually titled 外国語（英語）指導助手の募集について) have appeared in this feed. The link to old posts (以前の新着情報（履歴）一覧) is at the bottom-right of the feed box.

Things To Do: Nagano Prefecture

This map is an on-going project. If you have any suggestions, please let us know in the comments.

We have included a couple of locations/sights just outside the border of Nagano-ken. It seemed like the right thing to do.



View Things to do in Nagano-ken (www.accessj.com) in a larger map

PT: Sleeping on Duty

I'll admit I have fallen asleep at my desk on occasion (I used to do it on the heated toilet seat when I got tired, but I got sick of falling off). These things happen. But the teacher opposite me manages to pull it off every single day.

She's the "special class" teacher, too. I've walked past that classroom and seen her asleep at the front of the class, asleep in a student's chair, and asleep in there alone with the Down's Syndrome girl (also asleep).

Being an ALT #7: Physical Resources

This week we'll cover some of the objects you can use in your lessons.

The 100 yen store is your friend for this one, but some things are also best bought in bulk from the internet.

Read on.

In the 100 yen store you can buy a multitude of useful school items. Just walking around one will give you ideas. Some useful items are play money, maps, dice (regular and big fluffy ones), flashcard containers (good for holding cards/counters for games), paper trays (keep that desk tidy!), chopsticks (see the Salty Snail game), paper plates and wool for mask making etc etc etc etc.

You'll need to do some legwork on this one to see what suits you, and of course you'll have to spend some money. My Board of Education used to give us a modest budget for this, but changed their minds a couple of years ago.

But you have to spend money to make money, right?... well, no, I guess you don't. But if your lessons are stagnant and repetitive your students won't respond and you won't grow as a teacher, and a couple of thousand yen a year isn't going to break the bank.

You may find the perfect tool for you somewhere else for a little more money. My advice is to buy it. Other teachers/the school will appreciate your dedication, and you'll feel good about yourself!

Also, stickers. Despite being potentially too old for a cute little sticker to motivate them, you'll find that students do actually respond to them. As a reward for bingo, some other game, or just a good piece of work they go down a treat. You can buy these in the hundred yen store, too. Or you can find them in massive quantities on eBay - big savings to be made there.

And of course for festive lessons - like xmas, easter, thanksgiving, things like that - it adds a lot to the class if you can bring in traditional decorations. If you can't simply make them, then having them sent over or bringing them to Japan yourself will make the kids happy and really impress your co-workers. That goes for other examples of your culture -clogs from Holland, Marmite from England, Twinkies from the USA, salt from Salt Lake City. If it's foods the kids can sample then you'll gain even more credibility with them.

Well, there was nothing revolutionary this time but I hope it was of some help, especially to those just starting out in the ALT/ELT world. If you have any other suggestions then please share them with us in the comments.

See you next week!

Being an ALT series: 

Part #1: Teaching English in Japan 

Part #2: Your Role

Part #3: A Typical Day

Part #4: Planning Classes 

Part #5: Getting Drunk on Duty (the Enkai) 

Part #6: 4 Japanese Teachers You May Have to Work With

Part #7: Physical Resources

Part #8: Making Activities

Part #9: Hopping Between Schools

Part #10: More School Hopping

Part #11: Getting Molested At School

Part #12: It Is Really This Easy?

Part #13: Brushing Your Teeth At School

Worksheet Sunday: 3rd Grade JHS Tongue Twisters and Some Useful Things

Quite a light-weight entry this week, but useful none the less.

Here's a sheet I made for third graders (15-16 years old) this week. The learn "The House That Jack Built" and "Peter Piper" towards the end of the year in New Crown, and this was a suppliment to that, but could also be used just for fun.

After that, I've got some lined sheets for you (HOORAY!!!).


Here are the tongue twisters:

• Tongue Twisters worksheet
  As always, download to your computer to view properly, as Google Docs invariably messes with the formatting.

Obviously they will have a hard time understanding this kind of language, so keep explanation to a minimum - it's all about the challenge of reading fast anyway.

You can do what you like with this sheet, but my lesson followed this formula:

• Hand out sheets, give them a minute or so to have a look,
• Read out the sentences,
• Read and repeat, once slowly, then faster,
• Make pairs and practice for a couple of minutes,
• Challenge!!! - students battle it out to say the tongue twister faster than their partner.

And here are the lined sheets. These are very easy to make, but when you need them to print on the back of something/practice handwriting they're invaluable to have to hand. You may want to change some of the text on mine:

• Lined sheet 1
• Lined sheet 2
• Lined sheet 3
• Lined sheet 4
• Lined sheet 5
• Lined sheet 6
• Fancy lined sheet for handwriting practice

More
There is also a good site you can use for making practice sheets. Handwriting for Kids will allow you to create sheets like the last one in my list, using ghost words for students to trace. Try it. The site will format your page for you, and it looks kind of boring. But you can copy and paste the graphics they create into a Word document. Ethically sound? Who cares, they should have made them look better.

Job Spotlight: Gifu City CIR Position

Gifu City is hiring for a contract Coordinator of International Relations (CIR, 国際交流員) position beginning April, 2011. The application window begins soon. Judging by the compensation package, this job is tailored for someone who is already in the Gifu area and looking for part time work. If that sounds like you, take a gander:

Application Deadline: Feb. 28, 2011

You can download the official notice from Gifu City as a PDF here.

---

Job Title: 国際交流員 (Coordinator of International Relations)
Type: 12-month contract employee, starting April 1, 2011.
Qualifications: Native speaker of English or English ability equivalent to that of a native speaker. Advanced Japanese ability (at least equivalent to JLPT-2級/N2). Born before April 1, 1993. Proficient in Word, Excel, Outlook, etc. If not a Japanese national, must possess a valid working visa (landing permission) or be able to change current visa into a working visa.
Duties: Assisting foreigners living in the community through translation and interpretation at city hall, communication with sister cities, translation of community information (notices or pamphlets issued by the city), assist in organizing community international events, general office duties, etc.
Working Hours: 9:00 - 15:45, Monday to Friday. May be asked to work on holidays or after hours as community events demand.
Remuneration: Monthly, 152,200 yen. Travel expenses reimbursed. 10 paid holidays per annum, up to six can be used as sick days.
Insurance: No shakai hoken.

Application Deadline: Entries will be accepted from Feb. 15, 2011 until Feb. 28, 2011.

Apply by filling out the resume and the application to take an interview test, both included in the PDF linked above. Take the application in person to the International Department on the first floor of the Gifu City Hall Minami Chousha.

Or, mail the application by registered mail to:
〒500-8720
岐阜市神田町1丁目11番地
岐阜市市民参画部国際課
(Applications sent by mail must arrive by Feb. 28.)

Interview and Aptitude Test: Applicants who proceed to the interview phase will be interviewed and asked to take an aptitude test on March 2, 2011.
The interview and test will be held at the same address as above, and applicants must bring a 1200 character essay (Japanese) on "what characterizes a Japanese town that's easy for foreigners to live in."
All interviewees will be informed of the results of their application.

Being an ALT #6: 4 Japanese Teachers You May Have to Work With

A typical Japanese school staff room.
I'm sure all of these people are lovely.

Thanks to Japan's system of workplace transfers, every new year of work here is like a co-worker lottery. The grand prize is a team of socially adept, caring, hard workers with whom you'll spend a smooth year of work. The grand un-prize is a year-full of people you can't stand and an all-you-can-eat buffet of frustration and despair.

Here are some bread-and-butter stereotypes that may or may not be remotely accurate of the kinds of Japanese English teachers you may work alongside as an ALT:

The Batty Woman

Occasionally power hungry, often ostensibly insane, always annoying. It's not uncommon for this woman to be an extremely capable teacher (but certainly not always); and students usually don't dare misbehave in her class. But she's a crazy horse. Stay well back and thank the stars you aren't her husband.

The Nervous Youngster

This teacher is either a first- or second-year newbie, or he/she is starting to realize that "teacher" was not an appropriate career path. Deathly afraid of the classroom, the Nervous Youngster will use any number of terrible teaching tools (word searches, connect-the-dots, subtitled (or even dubbed!) Disney movies, giant jan-ken games) over and over again just to cling to some shred of comfortable ground. Students' progress through the curriculum may be months behind other classes, and when it becomes absolutely necessary that the students move ahead in the textbook, instruction generally comes in the form of worksheets and 30 minutes of awkward silence.
You know when one of your classes goes badly, and you feel ill and wonder how the JTE sees you? That must be what it's like every class for these teachers.

The Verge of Retirement

This guy is in his last few years of teaching, and he knows that he's in an important enough position that no one could actually fire him. Whether he's lost interest in teaching or is simply too busy with all the other ridiculous non-teaching demands of a Japanese school teacher, his classes start to slide downhill into uselessness. When you're in the classroom with him it feels like he just doesn't care anymore, and it rubs off on students fast: Heads get buried in folded arms, and the classroom is filled with the familiar sound of hands fumbling around in pen cases to find Xacto knives--a sound always preceding the appearance of intricate and inextinguishable anime character faces all across the desktops in your classroom.

The All-Star

Thankfully, it's not all bad. Occasionally you'll find yourself with a fairly young but talented, rising-star teacher who you wish all your classes were with. This is the teacher with whom the whole concept of "team teaching" seems to make sense. You play off each other in the classroom, reframing boring textbook dialogues as dramatic soap-opera re-enactments and peppering lectures with interesting tidbits. The students absolutely love your classes, and even the ones who slept through class last year are awake, alert, and enjoying school. Nice.

That's your lot for today. If you have anything to add please let us know in the comments. Otherwise, see you again!

Being an ALT series: 

Part #1: Teaching English in Japan 

Part #2: Your Role

Part #3: A Typical Day

Part #4: Planning Classes 

Part #5: Getting Drunk on Duty (the Enkai) 

Part #6: 4 Japanese Teachers You May Have to Work With

Part #7: Physical Resources

Part #8: Making Activities

Part #9: Hopping Between Schools

Part #10: More School Hopping

Part #11: Getting Molested At School

Part #12: It Is Really This Easy?

Part #13: Brushing Your Teeth At School

PT: Matsumoto Castle Ice Festival

I couldn't find what I wanted this week, so instead of a thrilling installment about Japanese cars and related blog posts, here's a picture of the beautiful Matsumoto castle. I went there last weekend and witnessed the "ICE FESTIVAL!!" they had there (festival is a bit of a strong word, but it was a nice day trip).

Matsumoto (in Nagano prefecture), like pretty much all cities in Japan, has a lot of events year round. If you're in the area be sure to check out the Matsumoto tourism site to see what's going on.

Update: Here are some more photos of Matsumoto castle and the ice. Click for a bigger picture.

Sending Flowers and Gifts in Japan

So, it's Valentines Day in two weeks, and you haven't thought of a present yet for your special someone(s). Oops!

Don't worry, it's going to be OK. You've still got some time to buy a gift, and today we're even going to show two shopping options you can check out without even brushing your hair and getting dressed.

And it gets even better if you're a guy! In Japan, guys don't usually send Valentines gifts to girls anyway. Valentines is a day when women send stuff (mainly chocolate) to men. Men return the favor with a gift of sweets, flowers, diamonds, cars, houses, etc. a month later, on a Japan-only holiday called White Day.* So, for our male readers, there's a whole six more weeks left to procrastinate!
*White Day, March 14, is technically also observed in China, South Korea, and Taiwan.

Anyway, back to the point: If your special someone(s) is/are far away from you, you can always use a gift service to send a gift when you can't deliver it personally. Here are two great florists who deliver nationwide:

Japangift.net provides full English service for shipping a wide selection of reasonably priced flowers and goods across Japan. They also offer patrons the option of paying for gifts through Paypal, meaning even gift-givers outside of Japan can place an order. The downside of this arrangement is that the gifts you send may cost more or less than normal depending on the exchange rate of the currency of your Paypal account.

Flowerfarm.co.jp is a Japanese-language only service, but they have some of the most conservative prices I've found among delivery florists. Simple arrangements run just under 3000 yen, and more exaggerated arrangements can be tailored to a number of occasions, including birthdays, seasonal events, and condolences. Flowerfarm is primarily intended for gift-givers who are in Japan, because their methods of payment are limited to credit cards (denominated in Yen) and post-pay bills. The post-pay bill service is particularly nice; after your order is placed, a bill is sent to your address, which you take to a convenience store to pay. (However, orders above 10,000 yen must be paid by credit card.)

The trick is, many Japanese people make use of these services, too, so to make sure you can get a gift, you need to order one well in advance. Valentines, White Day, Christmas, etc. are big seasons for florists, and demand habitually exceeds their supply. Finding and reserving your White Day gift now may not be such a bad idea... NHTVZ2CP9UDJ

Worksheet Sunday: 2nd Grade JHS Homestay Letter (New Crown ch8 DIW2)

If you use New Crown, you'll find this on page 77 of NC2.

Otherwise, this is a lesson which teaches the use of "I'm looking forward to..." and "I hope to (see)..."

This activity requires about 20-30 mins prep, several envelopes or containers, and some different colour sheets of paper. It should last about 25 mins from handing out the cards.

Here's what I do:

1. Students are given one hint card at random from each of the various sets (see links below). The sets I most commonly use are character, country, activity, food/drink, month/season, sport; but you can use more or less as you like.
2. Students must then write a letter to their future homestay family/character about what they want to get up to, using the hint cards.
3. The hints are deliberately unrelated. I think it's funny to have "I hope to play golf, eat spaghetti and see Tokyo Tower in Afghanistan" But explain that to your JTE. If they are as old and confused as mine, they may need telling twice. It needs to be relayed properly to the class, too.

If you don't use New Crown, the example e-mail reads like this:

From: Kentaro
Subject: Homestay in March

Dear Mr and Ms Smith,
My name is Fukuda Kentaro. You will be my host family this March. I am happy about this. What is the weather like in your town in March? What can I do to help you on your farm? I hope to see beautiful mountains in New Zealand. I look forward to seeing you soon.
Sincerely yours,
Kentaro

You can get them to simply reword that, or (of course) you can write a better example on the board, taking into account the cards you have chosen to use.

The hint card sets

Here are the sets I use (will open in Google Documents and may not look right. Save and open in MS Word and they should be fine):

• Characters
• Countries
• Dates
• Sports
• Food/drink
• Sights

And you may want to use:

• Family
• Blank sheet

It's best to print/copy these onto different coloured papers (much, much easier for re-sorting at the end of class). Give each student one card out of each set (give them out to each row of students, don't let them take their own out of the envelope. The JTE I was team teaching with did that and it took longer for her to give out one set that it did for me to give out five.)

As always, feel free to use this in any way you want, but please don't redistribute.

Job Spotlight: Kanuma City ALT Position

Kanuma City in Tochigi Prefecture is currently accepting applications for an ALT Position. This is an elementary-level position with remuneration comparable to JET, and it is open to people who are not currently living in the Kanuma area but are willing to relocate there. The deadline on this one is coming up fast, so if you're interested, take a look below then get cracking!

Application Deadline: Feb. 7, 2011

The official notice is available at the Kanuma City homepage. The links at the bottom of the page expand on the listing, including an English explanation and application form. (The English explanation lets out crucial details, like salary, that the Japanese explanation politely avoids.)

Job Title: 外国語指導助手 (Assistant Language Teacher)
Number of Positions: 1
Type: 12-month contract, beginning April 1, 2011
Qualifications: Born in a country that uses English as its primary language. At least a Bachelor's Degree. Experience teaching English at a school in Japan or TEFL/TESOL certificaiton. Conversational Japanese ability (enough to handle daily communication and lesson planning with school faculty). Interest in Japan. Living in Kanuma City or intent to live in Kanuma City. Able to commute to any location in the city. Ability to maintain own lifestyle in Japan without any serious impairment.
Duties: Standard ALT job, spread across 4 elementary schools.
Working Hours: 8:15 - 16:00, Monday to Friday.
Remuneration: Monthly, 300,000 yen. If you choose to live in their provided apartment, they will pay half of its rent.
Insurance: Shakai hoken. (健康保険、厚生年金保険、雇用保険, Enrollment is mandatory.)

Application Deadline: Feb. 7, 2011
To apply, send in their application form, filled out, a copy of your passport (including your current landing permit), a copy of your Alien Registration Card, a copy of your diploma, and a recommendation from a previous employer, if possible.

Applications may be delivered by hand to the Kanuma City Board of Education (located at City Hall, on the second floor of the East building). Or they may be mailed to:

School Education Division
Kanuma Board of Education 
1688-1 Imamiya-cho
Kanuma City, Tochigi Prefecture 322-8601

Interview: Applicants will be informed of interview time and place if shortlisted.

The interview will include a mock class demonstration.