They need to use a hotel which has the facilities to host such an event. You are probably not going to get such facilities at Khao San Road Guest House. Stay down the street somewhere cheaper.

If you book directly with the hotel then the associates will get nothing from you.

"Will your offer be coming before this date?" Is not positive. It is overconfident and arrogant.

Try applying to K International School or the Tokyo Canadian School. These are two schools which are on their last legs. They like to hire inexperienced teachers to save money on salary. Both are PYP certified.

Spot the American.

I am not sure about your definition of a normal school. I wouldn't want to work in such a school. It must be horrible trying to get those teachers who have been there since before 1995 to try something different.

I take it you are new to international teaching.

Good luck then. There is often quite a bit of money with these types of positions. Some universities (Doshisha, Tamagawa) run their own international programmes and the salaries are quite high.

Also, you may luck into getting IB experience as the Japanese government is pushing a version of it into many of its public schools. Who knows, maybe your school will decide to take on the full IB programmes in English.

It has been a while since I was a paid member but from what I recall most schools in Tokyo were on the paid section. Be careful not to get trapped in an international preschool/kindergarten, many of which are glorified babysitting services / language schools. You will have almost no hope of getting a job in decent school directly from one of these.

Edited to add: according to the preview section of this site the following schools have been reviewed on the paid section:

• Abroad International School Sendai
• AICJ Academy for International Community
• American School in Japan
• Aoba Japan International School
• Canadian International School
• Christian Academy in Japan
• EMS International
• Fukuoka International School
• Gunma Kokusai Academy
• Hiroshima International School
• K International School Tokyo
• KAIS International School
• Katoh Gakuen
• Kyoto International School
• Linden Hall Elementary School Japan
• Makuhari International School
• Marist Brothers International School Kobe
• Nagoya International School
• Nishimachi International School
• Okinawa Amicus International
• Osaka International School Kwansei Gakuin
• Sacred Heart
• Seisen International School
• St. Mary's International School
• St. Maur Intl School Yokohama
• Tamagawa Academy K-12 Tokyo
• Tohoku International School Sendai
• Tokyo International School
• Tokyo Korean School
• Tokyo YMCA International School
• Waseda International School Tokyo
• Yokohama International School

The only school I can think of not on that list is Columbia International School, which I don't know much about, apart from it is in Saitama and not Tokyo.

Be careful...

Again, I am not sure this is true. Both myself and former colleagues have had quite a bit of experience job searching within japan and wether we were international hires at our current schools never came up. With most schools you will be an international hire, even if applying from within japan.

I would be more worried about a lack on IB experience.

In a previous job search I got the impression that somebody applying from outside of japan who has IB experience has more of a foot in the door than someone already in japan without IB experience. All but one or two high paying schools in Japan are IB schools.

I wouldn't say most. I know from friends' experience that several of the decent paying ones will give you the same benefits as an international hire (housing, flight etc.). I have friends who have even got the settling in allowance when they changed schools, even though they were already settled and didn't have to move anywhere.

Many schools yes, some schools no. For example, Canadian Academy says that you will not receive all the benefits that an overseas hire receives: http://www.canacad.ac.jp/page.cfm?p=565&pback=367

This could just refer to the relocation allowance, incoming airfare etc. or maybe it refers to more such as a flight home every year, the housing allowance etc. Who knows?

I am surprised that the school is treating you as a local hire just because your wife is Japanese. My Japanese wife gets all the benefits that any dependent of a teacher gets, including flights to my home country, worldwide health insurance etc.

You can move to another school within Japan and get the international benefits.

The only school in Japan with a six day working week is Katoh Gakuen, where you will work approximately every other Saturday until lunchtime.

I think the list of countries where this does happen will be much smaller than the list of countries where it doesn't happen. I have never encountered it.

The workload at schools in Japan is no different than the workload at schools in any other country.

Only Americans seem to be concerned with the number of preps. Five is completely normal.