Should I Stay or Should I Go? (na na na na na na na)

Ok so sorry I haven't updated this in a while but I have been spending all of my time looking for a new job!  Here's the story:

Last Friday I told my boss that I had found an apartment that would allow me to have a cat.  Wait... let's go back a bit further.  In late July I had a telephone interview with Josh Maloney from Unitas.  After the interview he asked me if I had any questions about the position.  I asked what the accomodation situation was like and was told that I could live in a Unitas apartment for 43,000 yen a month.  I asked if it was possible for me to find my own apartment, to which Josh replied "yes."  I then asked if Unitas would sign as my guarantor if I were to find my own apartment, to which Josh replied "it wouldn't be a problem."  In Japan, foreigners are not allowed to rent apartments on their own.  Even if they have been living here for years with stable jobs and lots of money in their bank accounts, they must have a Japanese person sign as a guarantor.  The guarantor must sign the lease and agree to pay the rent if, for whatever reason, the foreigner living in the apartment can't (or won't).

Kocho's response was that it was easy, I didn't have to be homeless, I would just get rid of my cat.

Ok so now fast-forward to last Friday.  I asked Josh to please have the paperwork filled out so that I could use Unitas as my guarantor to get a new apartment.  He told me he would talk to Kocho Sensei (which means principal in Japanese).  I asked every day but heard no more about it until Wednesday when I was informed by my new boss, Peter (this was supposed to be Josh's last week but he just didn't show up), that someone from the Unitas office had called my landlord and told him that I have a cat so I cannot stay in my apartment.  He also told me that Kocho had decided he would not sign as my guarantor.  Apparently this is something that he has never done and said he never will.  I don't know why I was told in July that it would be no problem!!  The only Japanese people I know in Japan do not qualify as guarantors because they have only been back in Japan a few weeks and thus do not have stable jobs.  They also don't own property which Peter said would be another problem.  So I had very little option.  I had to move out of my apartment but couldn't get a new apartment.  I was basically going to be out on the street.  And Unitas, far from caring, were the ones who had put me in this position.  Kocho's response was that it was easy, I didn't have to be homeless, I would just get rid of my cat.  Yes that is entirely likely to happen!  I would rather live on the street with Byron than in a mansion without her!

So unable to stay in Kofu I started job (and city) hunting...

I have spent the last 3 days looking for new jobs.  I applied for several jobs in Tokyo as a hostess (for more on hostessing in Tokyo and to see why I finally decided this option was out go to this website: ttp://akasenkuiki.homestead.com/files/babies.html).  The information about how much this woman was paid is either really outdated or she worked at a terrible hostess bar.  The jobs I have been offered pay between 2500 and 3000 yen per hour plus bonuses and tips.  I could make about $3500 a month working only 30 hours a week.  I applied for several jobs teaching English in other areas of Japan.  And I contacted James English School which was the other job that I was offered in July when I took this one instead.  They offered me a job immediately in a small town called Joetsu in Niigata prefecture on the Western coast of Honshu (just a few hours north of where I am right now).  The town is surrounded by nature and just a two-hour, 2060 yen ferry ride to an island called Sado-ga-Shima which is "a very popular destination for its natural beauty and atmospheric hiking." [Lonely Planet]  This town sounded really good to me and was making me lean heavily toward accepting this position.

Yesterday I was told by Peter that Kocho had changed his mind.  He decided that in order for them not to lose a teacher, he would sign as my guarantor on the new apartment.  Although these seemed to have solved all of my problems, I still had a very bad taste in my mouth at the lies I had been told and the complete lack of support I had been given.

For the last 3 days I have been flip-flopping tremendously!  One minute I am sure I will go to Tokyo despite the degradation and sleaze and the next minute I am sure that I'm going to Joetsu, etc.  I just received an email stating that because I have a cat, JES would be offering me a position in a city called Osaki in Miyagi prefecture on the East coast on Honshu much farther north.  I don't know much about this city and have been able to find out very little about it online.

Anyway, this entry is just a quick (or maybe long, boring, and drawn-out) snapshot into the issues I have been contemplating over the last few days and the reason I have not yet written an entry about the rest of my weekend in Tokyo or posted the pictures of Tokyo yet.  At this point, given the unappeal of hostessing and my lack of attachment to Osaki, I am leaning toward staying in Kofu but have still not entirely decided and I am sure that my mind will change several times before I make a final decision on Monday.

But at the moment, I think I may try out the local gaijin bar (called The Vault) and drown my sorrows over some Asahi and bad Australian music...