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lugubregondola
Joined: 01 Sep 2016
Posts: 92
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 Posted: Sun Sep 11, 2016 9:24 am Post subject: Can I make more money in Japan? |
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| I am currently in Korea working and I obviously get free accommodation here as well as free flights to korea. what do eFL teachers make in Japan nowadays? I worked there 20 years ago and got 250,000 yen a month. I had to pay rent out of this. Would I be able to earn more in Japan than Korea? I can do privates in Japan but it's a risk in Korea. If you get caught, you ca get deported. |
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victory7
Joined: 22 Mar 2016
Posts: 68
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| Posted: Sun Sep 11, 2016 2:06 pm Post subject: Re: Can I make more money in Japan? |
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| lugubregondola wrote: |
| I am currently in Korea working and I obviously get free accommodation here as well as free flights to korea. what do eFL teachers make in Japan nowadays? I worked there 20 years ago and got 250,000 yen a month. I had to pay rent out of this. Would I be able to earn more in Japan than Korea? I can do privates in Japan but it's a risk in Korea. If you get caught, you ca get deported. |
Are you kidding? Not paying rent in Korea (tho I hear this is not true in some cases for foreign English teachers these days) is a huge bonus. Eve if the rent is cheap which it is in many cases as the accommodation for teachers is pretty poor, the accommodation costs at least 350 US dollars a month.
That is around 4 grand alone per year that you save. As for your experience in Japan 20 years ago, many teachers are not even earning that now 20 years later.
I have read comments here that this is still average but it's not if you look at the job ads. Most of them pay around 200,000 yen with zero benefits. In Tokyo too, unbelievably, as you'd think the expense factor might mean the employer factors at least 10,000 yen more per month into the salary. But no.
There is even a 'wonderful' school here with multiple branches that pays zero to teachers unless students choose their lessons. Isn't it swell, teachers can hang around waiting to be chosen and don't even receive one yen in a base salary. This is how low it's going and it will get worse as the Engrish 'language institutes' fall over themselves to give spoilt Tokyoites who can afford to pay a real price a huge discount by wrecking even minimal salary standards.
These apologies for educators keep yapping that the prices are being lowered by online English teaching via Filippinas and others. Therefore they have to go lower and lower too. A race to the bottom and an unashamed one.
Tokyo professionals can certainly afford to pay more for English lessons so teachers can make more than 200,000 yen (even less going by too many ads) and there is a lot of money in Tokyo. People who study English aint poor here but so long as the Engrish excuses for schools do this, it will keep getting worse and worse.
And why would you give up the very fair Korean penson system that does treat foreigners equally for the huge sucking sound that is the public pension (kokumin nenkin) where after 2 and a half years or so of paying 15,000, soon to be 16,000 yen per month, you get less than that back if you leave at that time and if you stay longer it's just money down the drain?
Reality check right here if you want to accept it. |
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Ferto
Joined: 01 Feb 2016
Posts: 17
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| Posted: Mon Sep 12, 2016 12:52 am Post subject: |
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It's true that the overall pay and benefits have dropped for the majority of language teachers in Japan over the last 20 years. The ones hurting the most are in the language schools, or are working as ALTS.
How bad is it for most of those at the bottom? Yes, salaries, on average, appear to be lower than the old 250,000 baseline. Yes, rent is gone. Yes, non-native speakers, mainly Filipinos, are being hired, online and otherwise. And, in general, the rates for private lessons have dropped a lot.
So, can you make more money in Japan than in Korea? Well, that depends. If you are teaching at a Korean university with some Japanese language skills and publications then, well, maybe. If you are at the other end of the market in Korea and hope to make more here, maybe not. |
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lugubregondola
Joined: 01 Sep 2016
Posts: 92
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| Posted: Thu Sep 15, 2016 4:24 am Post subject: |
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| Apparently direct hire ALTs get much more money. I don't know how true this is though. I've only interviewed for ALT posts through heart school and some other agency. Needless to say, they hardly wanted to pay you anything and paid a daily rate and no holiday pay. So where's the direct hire posts then advertised? It's illegal to do privates in korea on my visa so i can't supplement my income. I think you can in Japan however. Renting in japan puts me off though trying for more money than im currentlyon in korea |
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mitsui
Joined: 10 Jun 2007
Posts: 1562
Location: Kawasaki
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| Posted: Thu Sep 15, 2016 4:34 am Post subject: |
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You would have to be living in Japan to get a job like that. You must network here.
ALT work doesn't always pay well plus in Tokyo it often is part-time.
The cost of living is higher here.
My rent is 127,000 a month but it is quite big. Live closer to a station, you pay more. |
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rtm
Joined: 13 Apr 2007
Posts: 1003
Location: US
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| Posted: Thu Sep 15, 2016 6:12 am Post subject: |
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| lugubregondola wrote: |
| So where's the direct hire posts then advertised? |
They often aren't advertised. Often, they are filled through networking -- e.g., the person who currently works at a school and is leaving introduces someone they know who they think would do a good job. Many schools don't want to hassle with hiring. That's why they either A) outsource hiring to a dispatch company (like the ones you have mentioned that pay low, since they keep a good portion of the money they get from the school), or B) just hire someone who is recommended to them.
Basically, you need to already be in Japan (most direct-hire positions will require in-country experience anyway), and know some people in direct-hire positions or other employees at schools to get a direct-hire position. |
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lugubregondola
Joined: 01 Sep 2016
Posts: 92
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| Posted: Thu Sep 15, 2016 6:44 am Post subject: |
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| rtm wrote: |
| lugubregondola wrote: |
| So where's the direct hire posts then advertised? |
They often aren't advertised. Often, they are filled through networking -- e.g., the person who currently works at a school and is leaving introduces someone they know who they think would do a good job. Many schools don't want to hassle with hiring. That's why they either A) outsource hiring to a dispatch company (like the ones you have mentioned that pay low, since they keep a good portion of the money they get from the school), or B) just hire someone who is recommended to them.
Basically, you need to already be in Japan (most direct-hire positions will require in-country experience anyway), and know some people in direct-hire positions or other employees at schools to get a direct-hire position. |
How much do they pay direct hires then? And do they pay for your accommodation and key money deposit too? It's no good if they don't. |
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mitsui
Joined: 10 Jun 2007
Posts: 1562
Location: Kawasaki
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| Posted: Thu Sep 15, 2016 11:53 am Post subject: |
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In the past, it could happen. Now, no.
You have to find your own place.
Pay depends on your age, experience and education.
Some places just lie and expect teachers to teach extra and work up to one weekend a month (or more), even though you could be told you only teach 5 days a week. Beware.
I remember having to go to the kindergarten and teaching at junior high and having to go to the camp in Yamanashi in late March.
And if there is team teaching, that is the worst. Some JTEs are just awful.
You find out by going to the pubs on Friday nights. The Brits tend to hang out and network. |
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Shakey
Joined: 29 Aug 2014
Posts: 199
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| Posted: Fri Sep 16, 2016 4:11 pm Post subject: |
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| mitsui wrote: |
And if there is team teaching, that is the worst. Some JTEs are just awful.
You find out by going to the pubs on Friday nights. The Brits tend to hang out and network. |
Team teaching sucks. I absolutely hate it. Yeah, the British are everywhere in Japan and TEFL.
Didn't you say you were moving back to the US to teach high school? Decided to stay then.
They key is to live close to work - e.g., a few train stops away, or be able to cycle or even walk to work if you can. Wasting one's life on trains is not good and it just ramps up the stress levels. And stress is bad. It kills. |
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Shakey
Joined: 29 Aug 2014
Posts: 199
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| Posted: Fri Sep 16, 2016 4:20 pm Post subject: |
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| Ferto wrote: |
| It's true that the overall pay and benefits have dropped for the majority of language teachers in Japan over the last 20 years. |
That's right. I recall 15 - 20 years ago that even Nova instructors were earning well over ￥300,000 a month with only teaching a couple of shifts of over-time a month. And that was easy to do. At that time, one could basically work as much as they wanted to at the big chain schools like Berlitz and Nova.
I knew eikaiwa teachers at big Berlitz schools - e.g., Shinjuku, Yurakucho, etc. - that were earning ￥500,000 a month back in the 1990s - 2000s. For those who wanted to work a lot, the lessons and money was there.
Now, I can't imagine living on ￥220,000 a month. One would have to be either very young and in it just for a year or so as an experience, or very desperate. Then again, maybe that's a great salary for a Filipino instructor who can live frugally and still send money back to the family. |
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ssjup81
Joined: 15 Jun 2009
Posts: 664
Location: Adachi-ku, Tokyo, Japan
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| Posted: Fri Sep 16, 2016 9:40 pm Post subject: |
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| Shakey wrote: |
| Ferto wrote: |
| It's true that the overall pay and benefits have dropped for the majority of language teachers in Japan over the last 20 years. |
That's right. I recall 15 - 20 years ago that even Nova instructors were earning well over ￥300,000 a month with only teaching a couple of shifts of over-time a month. And that was easy to do. At that time, one could basically work as much as they wanted to at the big chain schools like Berlitz and Nova.
I knew eikaiwa teachers at big Berlitz schools - e.g., Shinjuku, Yurakucho, etc. - that were earning ￥500,000 a month back in the 1990s - 2000s. For those who wanted to work a lot, the lessons and money was there.
Now, I can't imagine living on ￥220,000 a month. One would have to be either very young and in it just for a year or so as an experience, or very desperate. Then again, maybe that's a great salary for a Filipino instructor who can live frugally and still send money back to the family. |
I'm doing the ¥220,000 thing even though they said ¥250,000. Not used of that. Don't get how anyone in Tokyo could survive on that. Hopefully the job I'm going for is successful. At lease I'll make between ¥270,000 - ¥300,000. Closer to what I was making in Tohoku. |
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Maitoshi
Joined: 04 May 2014
Posts: 718
Location: 何処でも
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| Posted: Fri Sep 16, 2016 11:57 pm Post subject: |
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Is 220,000 the take-home amount, or is that before taxes, etcetera?
Best of luck in getting the better paying position! |
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ssjup81
Joined: 15 Jun 2009
Posts: 664
Location: Adachi-ku, Tokyo, Japan
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| Posted: Sat Sep 17, 2016 12:33 am Post subject: |
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| Maitoshi wrote: |
Is 220,000 the take-home amount, or is that before taxes, etcetera?
Best of luck in getting the better paying position! |
Before taxes. -_- I only took the ALT job out of desperation since my visa was expiring later on that month.
Maybe ¥220,000 is ok if you're doing part time work or if you're married and just want a little extra income or if you're young without any extra responsibilities, but outside of that, anything under ¥250,000 is just ridiculous, imo.
Thanks. It's for a nursery school assistant job. No teaching involved. ^^ |
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mitsui
Joined: 10 Jun 2007
Posts: 1562
Location: Kawasaki
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| Posted: Sat Sep 17, 2016 2:53 am Post subject: |
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No, it is that people have to be ready to work by July. I had to get my grades done in August.
The Japanese school year is at odds with the American one.
I can't work regularly in the spring next year.
With my wife's surgery I had a lot of pressure to work. |
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Inflames
Joined: 02 Apr 2006
Posts: 486
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| Posted: Sat Sep 24, 2016 3:54 pm Post subject: |
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With what I see, no.
If you have an ALT thing setup and do business classes at night, it is possible, but the hours don't make it worthwhile.
I quit teaching and make 330,000 a month translating at a company - I made more teaching but was always dead tired (50k more, give or take).
If you have qualifications, yes it is possible but still difficult. I have a masters and work at a company - two more years until I am seishain and I am honestly counting the time down. |
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