Experiences dependent on branch, school and BOE

I have an interesting perspective on this company. Overall my experience has been highly positive. The professionalism and support of the company staff is better than many other companies offering the same thing in Japan. I have no negatives in my situation but many of my friends do. If you have a regular 9-5 contract you're golden. But many BOEs(boards of education) want ALTs to work extra hours for different reasons. The BOE believes interac will compensate you and interac often skirts responsibility for extra hours. That is where many of the complaints I hear about stem from. I myself have a pretty standard contract and only worked a few weeks extra hours for a local speech contest. My school is lovely and the interac company even comes to drive me to places if I need to commute far for a meeting since I don't have a bike. I would highly recommend although I do also realize that my circumstances are quite lucky and standard. Deviation from the norm causes issues.