Lifer: How To Be A Bald Middle-Aged English Conversation Teacher In Japan

Every year thousands of young men and women travel to Japan to teach English. They usually stay a year or two before heading home and getting on with their lives. After qualifying as a lawyer in his native Britain, Carl Brotherstone joined them. But he never was much of a lawyer and didn’t fancy going back to that career. He wasn’t worried though. Surely, he thought, somebody in Britain would give him a good job when he returned. He was wrong. A couple of decades later and he still lives in Japan. He is bald and can often be seen in front of young children singing The Wheels On The Bus Go Round And Round. This is the story of what can happen when you stay abroad far longer than you ever expected. Can English teaching abroad be a reasonable career? Must you be a loser to decide that it can? And how hard is it to branch out and set up your own school?