I am bringing a charcoal and a blue summer suit (lighter fabric weight) from what I have heard, yes, you will be meeting your CO and Principle in a full suit in the height of summer.
Edit: I recommend trying to get a fabric weight less than 300 (270 and below if you can find it) if you are in a hot environment. My grey is 310 and my blue is 260 and it is noticeably cooler. Also uniqlo airism undershirts are awesome!
I believe black is generally required for school ceremonies. Navy is probably fine too.
I’m bringing separates instead of a full matching suit. A grey jacket, a black jacket, black trousers and a black smart dress.
It’s gonna be sticky when we arrive so definitely try and get a light weight suit. When you meet your school principals and other staff you will be expected to be in full formal wear. This may mean wearing your suit on the journey from Tokyo. So make sure you’re comfortable
I brought a black suit for formal ceremonies and a navy suit to be a bit more on the casual side. You’ll be expected to wear a full suit when you meet your supervisor and school. However, with any luck, you’ll be able to strip down to cool biz after your first day. I wear polo shirts, pants, and sneakers to my school. Though I do know some other ALTs who still have to dress somewhat formally to work in a suit or at least a dress shirt and a tie so ESID.
I’ve never met my principles.
I didn’t think it was possible.
Hey op, as you’re going into the education industry, and as you’ll be assisting teaching English, you should know that the head teacher is “principal”, not “principle”. When I was at school my teacher told us “The princi**pal** is your **pal**, and I’ve never forgotten it.
>Are we required to be in full suit when we meet our CO and principles etc in the dead of summer?
Yep, but rest assured, the first thing they’ll do is tell you you can take the jacket off. It’s all about making that first impression.
If you are concerned about your budget, I would stick with a black suit for now, and once you get to your placement you can see what everyone else is wearing and buy additional workwear from places like Uniqlo or Aoyama.
You wear the jacket until the initial handshake as a formality. Then if they are merciful, they allow you to remove the jacket but leave the tie on. Color doesn’t matter as much. As long as it is a full suit and it isn’t something crazy.
Black, dark gray & navy blue suits are good. Wear your suit for when you meet your CO supervisor when arriving at your placement, when you get taken around to get things set up with your supervisor (if they do that) and the first day of school. Will need for: 1st days of semesters, graduations, entrance ceremonies & last day you are working. Other than that, gauge how the other teachers dress & match to something similar – will likely be business casual or semi-business casual, depending on how laid back or rigid your placements are.
It literally doesn’t matter. Ignore any pressure to feel that the colour matters much, it doesn’t. Black suit, blue suit, whatever.
You are’t Japanese. You don’t need to follow the rigid Japanese rules to this degree. Even if there’s a black suit rule, if people see you wear a blue one, they’ll just go ‘huh, alt sensei is wearing a blue suit’.
Basically don’t worry at all.
I wear a bright blue suit and haven’t gotten shit over it. Don’t worry about “fitting in”. You never truly will, and thats OK.
What about patterns on suits? I really like my checkered suits will that be a problem?
12 comments
I am bringing a charcoal and a blue summer suit (lighter fabric weight) from what I have heard, yes, you will be meeting your CO and Principle in a full suit in the height of summer.
Edit: I recommend trying to get a fabric weight less than 300 (270 and below if you can find it) if you are in a hot environment. My grey is 310 and my blue is 260 and it is noticeably cooler. Also uniqlo airism undershirts are awesome!
I believe black is generally required for school ceremonies. Navy is probably fine too.
I’m bringing separates instead of a full matching suit. A grey jacket, a black jacket, black trousers and a black smart dress.
It’s gonna be sticky when we arrive so definitely try and get a light weight suit. When you meet your school principals and other staff you will be expected to be in full formal wear. This may mean wearing your suit on the journey from Tokyo. So make sure you’re comfortable
I brought a black suit for formal ceremonies and a navy suit to be a bit more on the casual side. You’ll be expected to wear a full suit when you meet your supervisor and school. However, with any luck, you’ll be able to strip down to cool biz after your first day. I wear polo shirts, pants, and sneakers to my school. Though I do know some other ALTs who still have to dress somewhat formally to work in a suit or at least a dress shirt and a tie so ESID.
I’ve never met my principles.
I didn’t think it was possible.
Hey op, as you’re going into the education industry, and as you’ll be assisting teaching English, you should know that the head teacher is “principal”, not “principle”. When I was at school my teacher told us “The princi**pal** is your **pal**, and I’ve never forgotten it.
>Are we required to be in full suit when we meet our CO and principles etc in the dead of summer?
Yep, but rest assured, the first thing they’ll do is tell you you can take the jacket off. It’s all about making that first impression.
If you are concerned about your budget, I would stick with a black suit for now, and once you get to your placement you can see what everyone else is wearing and buy additional workwear from places like Uniqlo or Aoyama.
You wear the jacket until the initial handshake as a formality. Then if they are merciful, they allow you to remove the jacket but leave the tie on. Color doesn’t matter as much. As long as it is a full suit and it isn’t something crazy.
Black, dark gray & navy blue suits are good. Wear your suit for when you meet your CO supervisor when arriving at your placement, when you get taken around to get things set up with your supervisor (if they do that) and the first day of school. Will need for: 1st days of semesters, graduations, entrance ceremonies & last day you are working. Other than that, gauge how the other teachers dress & match to something similar – will likely be business casual or semi-business casual, depending on how laid back or rigid your placements are.
It literally doesn’t matter. Ignore any pressure to feel that the colour matters much, it doesn’t. Black suit, blue suit, whatever.
You are’t Japanese. You don’t need to follow the rigid Japanese rules to this degree. Even if there’s a black suit rule, if people see you wear a blue one, they’ll just go ‘huh, alt sensei is wearing a blue suit’.
Basically don’t worry at all.
I wear a bright blue suit and haven’t gotten shit over it. Don’t worry about “fitting in”. You never truly will, and thats OK.
What about patterns on suits? I really like my checkered suits will that be a problem?