You can get it all here (usually), but there are some things you will want to pack.
Clothes
Obviously, you'll need some, but in the summer you'll wish you didn't. Summer in Nagoya can be summed up in four words: VERY, VERY, HOT
AND HUMID! North Americans: think August in South Carolina or Texas with less air-conditioning. Aussies: think Darwin in a heat wave.
Brits: you'd have to go one of the old colonies for weather like this. Bring cool, comfortable clothing for August. Most of that month,
you'll be in and around the Kyoikukan office or out and about town. T-shirts and shorts are perfectly acceptable.
At the other extreme, winter in Nagoya is surprisingly cold — inside as well as outside, so all you Canucks, you might be right at home. Temperatures rarely get below freezing, but most Japanese homes and buildings do not have central heating or insulation. You'll need to have a winter jacket, hat, gloves/mittens, and probably a few sweatshirts or sweaters, especially for walking around the unheated hallways at school. The temperature doesn't really drop past 40 or so until late November, so if you don't have the room in the summer, you have a couple months to have your parents or friends back home send you a load of warm clothes. And unless you're huge, you shouldn't have a problem finding some clothes that fit somewhere, and at a reasonable price.
Work Clothes
Japanese schools are not as formal as you've probably been led to believe. Some Japanese teachers wear a suit/dress everyday. Others
come in their jogging outfit everyday. The same can be said for Nagoya's AETs.
There are times you will need to dress up — for example, your first and last days at a school, some official office parties, and your official welcoming ceremony in August. "Business" clothes in Japan can be defined as a suit and tie for men, and dress pants or a skirt for women.
For most work days, however, semi-casual dress is fine. Just use common sense: overalls, blue jeans, t-shirts, shorts, halter-tops, army fatigues, and leather chaps are not appropriate clothes for school. Neither are tuxedos and Cinderella evening gowns. But you might be able to get away with that olive green and bright orange leisure suit you've got stashed in the back of the closet — the one that goes so well with the pink polka dot tie and the cowboy hat. For women, anything with an exposed shoulder is sort of taboo and considered too racy for work in Japan, even if it's pinstripe and matches your suit. Just use some common sense and you'll be fine.
Also one thing that may or may not be overlooked: bring clean socks without holes. Since a lot of your time in Japan is spent with your shoes off, Japanese people are keen to notice if your socks are in good condition. If you're walking around teasing people with a glimpse of toe, Japanese people are likely to form a somewhat ill first impression of you.
Shoes
Yes, there are shoes in Nagoya, but they might not fit if you have "foreigner-sized" feet. Women with feet larger than 25cm (size 8
CN/US/AUS, size 6 UK) might have some problems with shoe selection; Men with feet larger than about 28cm (size 10 CN/US/AUS, size 8.5 UK),
might also find selection sometimes limited. If you have small or medium-sized feet, however, you will find an amazing collection of funky
footwear in Japan.
At school, shoes come off at the door where they are confined for the duration of the workday. These "outdoor shoes" are replaced by a pair of "indoor shoes", which are worn in the school building. Slippers are the main fashion, but trainers, Birkenstocks, or sneakers can also be "indoor shoes". Worry more about comfort than fashion in this department. In Japan, indoor shoes are considered a distinct and separate entity from the rest of the outfit. Armani dress suits can go with Birkenstocks. You'll see for yourself when you get here.
Other shoe thoughts: If you're into working out at a gym, you need to have a pair of indoor training shoes. Also, there are mountains near Nagoya , so if you are the hiking type of person you may want to bring some hiking boots. One last thing, do yourself a favor, be sure you bring shoes that are easy to slip on and off. Sandals or Tevas are great for summer because it's so hot. Trainers, though comfy, are a royal pain in situations like apartment hunting when one must go in and out of many places, taking on and off one's shoes a million times.
Toiletries, Medicines, etc.
Scores of hair/body care products are available here, including many Western brands you know and love. If you are extremely attached to
some product and are worried about its availability in Japan, e-mail us and ask. We'll be happy to give you
any information that we can. For the guys though, bring an ample supply of deodorant. I have yet to find an actual rub-on stick type
deodorant here in Japan. So if you don't want to use some sort of weird spray stuff that apparently is "made for a man" but "should be
for a women", bring enough to last you.
Most over-the-counter medicines from home can be brought into Japan, but you should be careful. A few are strangely forbidden — e.g., Sudafed. It's not like you'll be hauled off to jail at the airport, but if you do get caught with one of the banned over-the-counter medicines from your home country, it will likely be taken away. If you have prescriptions, make sure you bring them along.
As for illicit recreational drugs, this cannot be stressed strongly enough: Don't try bringing any! If you are caught with illicit drugs in Japan, the BEST scenario is that you will lose your job and be kicked out of the country. You will probably also do some time in a cage, and have to shell out a pretty hefty donation to the Japanese government. Japanese police come down hard on foreigners with drugs, and they can hold you for the better part of a month before even filing charges! This is no joke or overstatement. Remember, you're no longer in your home country, and breaking the law can often be punished quite a bit worse than what you may be used to. On top of that, your embassy can't do a lot to help you out. Please, don't bring illicit drugs into Japan — it's not worth the risk.
Contraception, Hygene, etc.
Condoms are the most widely-used form of contraception in Japan. Like shoes, condoms run in smaller sizes here — really! If you are
(or if your partner is) "foreigner-sized" in this sense too, bring some from home.
If you're on the pill, try to bring a year's supply from home. Japan is not a big pill-taking culture, and Japanese women usually take birth-control pills only for medical reasons. It can be a hassle to get here.
Women (or men with a feminine side) who are a b-cup or over will have difficulty finding a bra that's not padded. Quality feminine hygiene products are available, but maybe not the brands you're used to, so if you're fussy, stock up from home. Tampons are usually without applicators, but you can find tampax with plastic applicators in most big stores. Waxing is difficult to find and REALLY expensive. Those who are not immune to pain might consider using one of those electric hair depilatories (such as Epilady). If not, razors are easy to find, or you can just "go European" for a year or two. If you like, one of us would be happy to field any questions you might have about women's products or issues in Japan.
School Stuff
In truth, there really isn't much you have to bring, but a few things from home are quite helpful. Pictures and slides of your home,
family, friends, etc. are probably the most common things to bring. Even what seems like silly photograph material to you is fascinating
to the students (e.g. the food at the dinner table, the outside of your apartment/house, your backyard, a barbeque) All schools have
slide projectors and overhead projectors. If you have the time and access to the equipment, you might even consider making a video while
you're still at home. The video system used in the US and Canada is the same as Japan (NTSC). The system used in the UK, Australia, and
New Zealand will have to be converted to NTSC when you get here. (This is fairly easy to do.)
Don't feel like you have to bring any TEFL books or English textbooks. There's quite a good TEFL section at the local bookstore, and materials on teaching at the office, so unless you come across a particularly useful books before you leave for Japan, don't bother bringing any. It will just take up space and weight that can be used for something else.
Many AETs offer prizes to students as rewards for a job well done or for winning a classroom game. You are not obliged to do this, but a little bribery goes a long way. Among the most popular prizes of recent years are stickers/seals, low-value coins, low-value stamps, and postcards. The fact that these things came from abroad, and from you, greatly increases their (negligible) value in the eyes of students. Also, (sad but true) students revel in the fact that they have something exotic that their friend's don't — "I got a 1 cent postage stamp that can't be used in Japan, and you don't! Na-na-nana-na!!"
Electronics
Electrical equipment designed for North American voltage works fine in Japan, but electrical equipment designed for Britain and
Australia/New Zealand requires adapters. Japanese manufactured electronics are sometimes cheaper here than back home. So if you must
choose between packing the shoes and packing the video camera, you might want to go with the shoes, because those may be harder to
replace when you're here.