Job Discussion Forums

[Black_Beer_Man]

Today as I was passing a convenience store and a gasoline station, I was thinking how both of these businesses pay their workers somewhere around 900 - 1000 yen per hour.

In Canada, the minimum wage is somewhere around $11 / hr. In the U.S., Washington state has made the bold attempt to raise it to $15. Plus, very recently, there have been national fast food worker strikes / protests in the U.S. with workers demanding a minimum of $15 / hr.

Given the higher costs of living in Japan, I wonder when Japanese businesses will raise the wages in the service sector (specifically - fast food, convenience stores, gas stations...)? Nobody here should be earning less than 1,500 yen / hour given the high costs of living in Japan.

Meanwhile, salaries for foreign ESL teachers continue to go down. Some high school ALT positions are only paying 220,000 yen a month. 20 years ago, the lowest an ALT would be paid was 250,000 yen.

[Maitoshi]

And don't forget that the number of hours worked has gone up!

[rxk22]

Honestly, it seems that Japanese corps are benefiting from Abenomics, while not contributing to it. That is increased profits from overseas, due to a cheaper yen. While not cutting down on illegal unpaid OT, nor raising wages any perceivable about.

[rtm]

[Black_Beer_Man]

rtm, you mean the number of teaching jobs has decreased relative to the number of teachers.

I doubt that the number of foreign teachers in Japan is so high compared with 20 years ago when the language schools had a booming business.

Someone else in another thread said it correctly that Japanese schools are paying less and less, but the foreigners still come.

I wonder how much is rock bottom? Maybe 160,000 yen / month?

At such low wages nowadays, I guess the turnover of foreign teachers will me faster. And it seems that the Japanese care less about quality than price.

[Maitoshi]

[GambateBingBangBOOM]

[Maitoshi]

Guess the interpretation of comfortable takes on new meaning.

[marley'sghost]

[Black_Beer_Man]

[mateacher]

If I was back in my 20s I would do it. People don't do it for the money. They do it because they want to live in Japan no matter what. I was one of those people, I won't lie I was addicted to Asian girls. I would have even worked for free at a conversation school or ALT position just to live in Japan and be able to have a chance to be around Japanese girls and hopefully have sex with them, which was actually much easier than expected.
And the only reason I would do it is there is no better place to be young and single than in Japan and Omiya has some of the hottest girls in Japan. If you don't believe me go to Omiya station and hang around the malls there and you will see thousands of cute girls. It wouldn't matter if I had to eat discounted bentos from Aeon after they stick on those 50% stickers on them at 7p.m. in the evenings and fight with the homeless guys for the best one. For breakfast you could eat some bread with chocolate spread and probably eat school lunch for about 250 yen. At least that's what I did. Occasionally I would have to ask my parents for a bank transfer to get me through the month after heavy drinking sessions at the hub and wasting money taking girls to Tokyo Disneyland in the hope of some sex. I had a shitty mama chari that I used to get round and just enough money to pay for my summer and spring vacations back home. I would usually go and spend Christmas with various girlfriends traveling round Japan. But, I guess I am basing on my old ALT salary which was 270.000 yen per month about 15 years ago. Still I lived paycheck to paycheck and it was some of the best times of my life, just because of the amount of girls I could date and all the drinking I would do with fellow ALTs or eikaiwa guys. I guess there are more white guys around now, so dating white guys in no big deal anymore, but 15 years ago even the fattest ugliest loser you could imagine could get a semi-decent girlfriend.
So there is the answer to your question, not everyone does it for the money, most guys do it for the girls. Now I earn about 15 million, drive a Porsche go on 4 exotic vacations a year, have some properties and I am no happier than when I was living in a shitty leopalace with mold all over the bathroom. I had a futon whose bedsheets I never changed, drank happoshu and went to all you can eat yakiniku with other guys and got so drunk we could hardly drag ourselves out of the bed in the morning.
Like it or not, I wouldn't be surprised that if they just paid for food and lodgings and no salary (which is probably not much less than 170.000 yen) they could still get candidates if did some clever re-branding as some sort of volunteer cultural experience. So, the bottom line for ALT jobs is 0 yen salary and people would still come. Why do they need high quality candidates to stand in a room full of screaming kids and write "Suzy is a girl" on the board or read 3 sentences from the badly written textbook. I know that is basically all I had to do as an ALT, sometimes I had to stamp their textbooks with a 100 yen stamp. Face it anyone with half a brain could do that, I know some days I came to work straight from the bar or clubs in Tokyo without time to come home and I still managed to get away with it, completely drunk.
ALT companies lower the wage to 60.000 and take anyone who applies and it will still work, believe me.

[The Fifth Column]

[mateacher]

whatever at least I am honest and most of the people I have worked with in different situations have not been any different than myself. I am glad you are perfect.

[rxk22]

Ignore the troll, nothing to see here.

[Jagariko]