The getting there is getting there. Then I'll get there.

Time flies as it crawls

Current deal is this:
I've been e-mailing back and forth with my recruiter, who provided me with the e-mail addresses of the teachers currently teaching at the school, as well as the ones who had my job before me (it was a couple). The previous teachers e-mailed me back telling me not to teach at the school. I'm still going to teach there, and the reason for my insanity is this: the main issues that the couple had with the owner have already been handled by my recruiter. Hagwon owners, as a rule, tend to try to cut corners. That's part of why so many native speakers have crappy experiences teaching in South Korea. The owner tried to get them to work on tourist visas, which is a big no-no (resulting in fines and deportation when you're found out). Also, they got a craptastic apartment(s) - among the tamer problems were a non-working sink, shower, and toilet. Finally, they worked a split shift that made their days too long and exhausting.
Duff Recruiting (as I've said before) is just about the only recruitment company that I could find that didn't have any negative comments about it, mainly because it's run by an Australian (Michael Duffy) who went to Korea to teach and ended up having a family there. He was an active voice in the EFL Law forums, and that's the main reason I went with him. He knows what the main issues are and how to deal with them.
He has promised that I'll have a visa run to Japan as soon as I arrive, he has personally seen the apartment I'll be living in and says everything is in working order, and as I've told him flat out that I won't work the split shift, he's writing a clause into the contract stating that I will not work a split shift. When I raised my doubts as to whether the contract will make much of a difference, he sent me a copy of Duff Recruiting's contract with the school - and it's pretty solid. If contract is breached (and breaches are clearly defined) with me, contract is breached with Duff Recruiting. He set out the rules for the owner (mainly that everything has to be above-board and he has to abide by the contract) when he started doing business with him. We'll see if this actually takes care of the problems.

In the meantime, I'm getting ready to go. My friend Marie, who visits her grandparents in Japan just about every summer, has advised me to take nylons in bulk - they're apparently really pricey in Asia. Other than that, I've been stocking up on business casual wear and prepping as much as I can. More when I know more.