Teaching in Japan

[Nicktendo]

Circumstances have led me to the point in my life where I have the ability to take a year out starting September this year. I would like to fulfill a dream I've had since I was about 6 years old and move to Japan.

 

I have a Bachelor's degree and Master's degree and a high level CELTA qualification. I have 3 years experience teaching English as a foreign language in Russia in language schools, kindergartens and huge companies such as Oracle, Gazprombank and Rosneft... so I guess I'm pretty qualified when it comes to what Japan expects from a native speaking English teacher. Russia was an experience which I thoroughly enjoyed, but one, as a student of Russian language and history, I was thoroughly prepared for before I made the move over there. I spent a month in St. Petersburg prior to making the leap, checking out the schools in person and scoring face-to-face interviews with numerous school directors. That made my decision where to take a job fairly easy.

 

Japan is obviously the opposite. There are so many different ads, schools and companies online that I don't even know where to start. I've heard good things and bad things about teaching English in Japan, ranging from outright scams to schools that will pay a good salary, help with the visa and flights as well as offer subsidised accommodation. My idea is to spend a year there, no more, and preferably work outside of the big cities, but still within reasonable reach of one or two of them. Obviously getting a decent salary and reasonable / subsidized accommodation (if this sort of thing is even attainable for a new teacher) is what I'd be aiming for. I know some forum members have lived and worked as teachers in Japan and if any of you would be happy to give a few pointers on what to look for, or more specifically what to avoid, I'd love to hear it.

 

I figured four months was enough time to arrange everything if I'm looking to sort out a job prior to departure, though if I'm wrong and a September start is unattainable at this stage of the year, please do let me know. On the other hand I've also read (even though most stuff online seems to be 3-5 years old) that it's much easier to get a job once in Japan, and that with £2000 to survive on for a month or two you can enter the country on a tourist visa, frantically shop around for schools with a CV under your arm and then decide what you like the look of best. The school will then make all the necessary adjustments to your visa without you having to leave the country.

 

Any comments on typical salary expectations / bonuses / insurance or pension schemes would also be welcome. One of the big ways I managed to earn money in Russia was teaching private students outside of school hours, how easy is this to do in Japan, what are the legal ramifications etc.?

 

Any advice at all would be greatly appreciated! Cheers.

[sumo73]

When I was younger, I could have had the opportunity to travel and teach in Japan as I also have a CELTA but never did so I wish you all the best.

 

I think you need to work out if you are going to Japan to be the main English teacher or to become an assistant language teacher(ALT)? What age group you want to teach and where in Japan do you want to teach....?

 

There's so much information about teaching English in Japan from just a google search so I can't give you any advice that you already have seen before however this is a quick read - https://transferwise.com/gb/blog/teaching-english-in-japan

 

and

 

 

 

 

As you have already mentioned there are other forum members who have lived or live still in Japan and I think they can give you more advice than I can.

[dwarf]

Weird you posted this, as I just finished my TEFL course today. Leaning more towards Korea rather than Japan, but not ruling out Japan altogether. Thinking of going through the British Council or SeoulESL, but I'll be interested to see who you'll go through if you end up going to Japan.

 

(Can't speak a lick of Korean or Japanese and I haven't taught English before, so I might be barking mad. TA is probably the best option)

Edited May 4, 2017 by dwarf

[Nicktendo]

Weird you posted this, as I just finished my TEFL course today. Leaning more towards Korea rather than Japan, but not ruling out Japan altogether. Thinking of going through the British Council or SeoulESL, but I'll be interested to see who you'll go through if you end up going to Japan.

 

(Can't speak a lick of Korean or Japanese and I haven't taught English before, so I might be barking mad. TA is probably the best option)

I had a friend who spent 2 years in Korea from 2009. He had a great time as an ALT, started in Ansan, close to Seoul for the first year then moved down to Busan for his second. He also went there right after completing his TEFL. He met his American wife there via the lively ex-pat community in Seoul. They managed to save up a deposit for a house while they were there, in addition to travelling most of the South-East Asia region.

 

I spent 2 weeks visiting him in 2010. Korea was a country I'd never really thought of visiting before, but combined it as part of a trip to China. Despite having a great time with my friend and managing to fit a lot of interesting tourist activities in to the two short weeks, I didn't really feel much of a connection to the country. Growing up with Nintendo and anime has given me a much greater personal connection and affiliation with Japanese culture and history and I guess that's why I'd prefer to go there. My Uncle also lived in Japan during the 80s and I've heard numerous stories about life there which I'm keen to see for myself. All in all though I don't think there's much difference in terms of quality of life or opportunities in either country for a native English teacher.

[Iun]

Well, I hit China in 2007 with about 2k in my pocket and it was barely enough to get me going. I imagine 10 years later, Japan would be tough.

 

I can recommend these guys, as they found me my first job:

 

http://www.footprintsrecruiting.com/

[Will]

I would want more than $2k to get going. If you want somewhere half decent to live you're going to need 2 months rent deposit + the first months rent in advance just to move in somewhere, that will eat up the majority of your money. I was in Tokyo so maybe it's more doable if you're outside of the city somewhere.

 

I had a good amount of friends who were teachers in Japan and even the best paid were earning very little. For a year I'd say it's fine but if you change your mind and want to stay longer then do your best to learn Japanese as much as possible so you can move on to something better paid as soon as you can.

 

The tourist visa is fine and will work as you plan, but you have a limited time to get it all sorted out and need to change visa before working. Are you under 31? If so get a working holiday visa instead as that will allow you to work as you please for a year which fits exactly what you want to do. This is what I did and allowed me to do whatever I wanted with no stress or time limit during that first year.

 

If you have any specific questions about living in Japan I'm happy to answer them for you. It's a great place and you will have an awesome time, I'd thoroughly recommend doing it!

[Nicktendo]

I would want more than $2k to get going. If you want somewhere half decent to live you're going to need 2 months rent deposit + the first months rent in advance just to move in somewhere' date=' that will eat up the majority of your money. I was in Tokyo so maybe it's more doable if you're outside of the city somewhere.[/quote']

 

Yeah, I was hoping to avoid Tokyo. I'd much prefer a city of 100,000-300,000. I've done the big city thing and I fancy a change. Eating out a lot and going drinking 2-3 times a week quickly burns through your cash. I'm ready for a change of pace and a lot more home-cooked meals. How do rents compare in less populated areas? Is it comparable with London and the rest of the UK, or less extreme?

 

I had a good amount of friends who were teachers in Japan and even the best paid were earning very little. For a year I'd say it's fine but if you change your mind and want to stay longer then do your best to learn Japanese as much as possible so you can move on to something better paid as soon as you can.

 

Very little in what sense? As in they were underpaid or the amount they were earning didn't really exchange into much in pound/dollar terms? 250' date='000yen a month seems to be the sweet spot in most places, something I'd be ok with for a year of work.

 

The tourist visa is fine and will work as you plan, but you have a limited time to get it all sorted out and need to change visa before working. Are you under 31? If so get a working holiday visa instead as that will allow you to work as you please for a year which fits exactly what you want to do. This is what I did and allowed me to do whatever I wanted with no stress or time limit during that first year.

 

I'll be turning 31 this September! So I'll be out there before that happens, all going to plan. I'll look into this, seems like a good compromise, thanks.

 

If you have any specific questions about living in Japan I'm happy to answer them for you. It's a great place and you will have an awesome time' date=' I'd thoroughly recommend doing it![/quote']

 

I don't doubt I will love Japan, but I'm still mulling it over. My old job in St. Petersburg is safe, plus I have lots and lots of contacts where I can get really well paid private work. Plus the ruble is much stronger now than when I left, which bums me out as I left with practically nothing, but also provides a good incentive to go back.

 

Summer work in St. Petersburg is almost non-existent as most people leave the city for the countryside, but I'm still open to the idea of working my old job until May and then heading out to Japan for a month plus, just as a tourist. Obviously I won't get the full experience of living there for a year, but I should have enough time and money to do what I want by then. It's a really tough decision. I'm worried about going to Japan and losing my fluency in Russian due to almost no everyday interactions which I do have at the moment, furthermore I think a year is not enough time to learn Japanese to a satisfactory standard. I'd love to learn it, but time dictates I won't get very far in one year, even though I'm not too shabby when it comes to languages. Plus, I won't be there to reap the benefits of being able to speak Japanese as I can't stay for more than a year. Part of me thinks it will be a slog to start from nothing again, but then again, that's part of the joy of moving to a new country and discovering everything for yourself...

[Will]

Yeah, I was hoping to avoid Tokyo. I'd much prefer a city of 100,000-300,000. I've done the big city thing and I fancy a change. Eating out a lot and going drinking 2-3 times a week quickly burns through your cash. I'm ready for a change of pace and a lot more home-cooked meals. How do rents compare in less populated areas? Is it comparable with London and the rest of the UK, or less extreme?

 

There is a difference, but it's much less extreme than London to other areas of the UK, though my experience is very limited outside of Tokyo. Potentially there would be less options outside of big cities which may mean the savings are somewhat limited, it's tough to get a regular place in Japan as they don't like renting to foreigners. As long as you get a job relatively quickly I wouldn't worry about the rent/living expensed side of things though.

 

Very little in what sense? As in they were underpaid or the amount they were earning didn't really exchange into much in pound/dollar terms? 250,000yen a month seems to be the sweet spot in most places, something I'd be ok with for a year of work.

 

The were underpaid quite significantly in comparison to a 'normal' job there. It seems like you have your expectations set correctly though so I don't think this will cause you any issues.

 

On the other stuff it seems like all the normal apprehensions of going off and doing something new. I always think the best way to make decisions like this is picture yourself in 10 years time and see what you think about having gone either way. Ultimately things balance out over that period of time so for me it always comes down to do I regret not doing the new thing? Usually I do, so I've ended up taking every opportunity that's come out of nowhere.