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XIII
Joined: 29 Aug 2004
Posts: 3
Location: U.S.A.
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 Posted: Fri Sep 03, 2004 12:40 am Post subject: How scared should I be?? |
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Before I start, I hope that no one takes offense in this posting. I'm a newbie on the boards and I have seriously been considering teaching in Japan. I have been asking friends and family what they think of teaching in Japan and most responses I received were unfortunately negative.  FYI: These people have all lived in Japan and some have taught as well. Here are some [there are more] of the things I have been told:
* Sometimes the contracts are bogus and even if it says you will teach for only 20-25 hrs, once you are there... you will teach more hours without pay.
* They will pay you less than you amount they stated in the contract and you won't be able to do anything about it.
* The contract will tell you that you will be teaching but once you get there, you "will be pimped" or be told to be a "stripper" or something completely different from teaching.
* Being a foreigner, you will get harrassed and possibly raped and killed. [This comment scared the living cr@p out of me]
* The Japanese are domineering and you will be treated like a doormat.
How true are they? Should I be scared? The more negative things I hear about teaching in Japan makes me less interested in going there. I've been fascinated by Japan for as long as I can remember and I think that it would be a good experience teaching there and learning about Japan as well. Reading the posts on the board have been helpful, but I just want to know what others think about my skepticism.
If these negatives do happen, who can we go to for help and will they actually do something? Is there such thing similar to the Better Business Bureau in Japan, so we can research on the companies before we sign the contracts? I don't want to shut out the option of going to Japan... I really want to experience it, but is it worth it if the above things [God forbid] actually happen? I understand that as with any jobs, there are positives and negatives, but I don't want to be a prisoner!!
Any comments will be appreciated... and thanks to anyone who does. |
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lonneke
Joined: 14 Aug 2004
Posts: 8
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| Posted: Fri Sep 03, 2004 1:07 am Post subject: |
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Hi
To start off I have never taught in Japan, but I am interviewing for a few positions in the next few weeks. However, of course negatives things happen. And even the things you posted have happened. In the end, it's about being smart. I mean, you can be raped and attacked anywhere, without even being a foreigner. I just think its a matter of being smart. Don't be like talking to random men in clubs or even on the street and studd, even if it's just to be nice. Also, go with a school with a good reputation. While all schools with have negative sides to them, go with the bigger names. From what I have kinda of figured out is that AEON, ECC, NOVA, GEOS are the bigger name schools. As got the Japanese being domineering, well culturally it is different. I just figure it's a matter of being smart, researching, asking questions and just don't sign a contract for a school you really dont want to be at.
I know there is no real informoation here, but thought I'd add my opinion |
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PAULH
Joined: 28 Jan 2003
Posts: 4672
Location: Western Japan
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| Posted: Fri Sep 03, 2004 1:11 am Post subject: Re: How scared should I be?? |
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| XIII wrote: |
* Sometimes the contracts are bogus and even if it says you will teach for only 20-25 hrs, once you are there... you will teach more hours without pay.
. |
You will probably be asked to work a forty hour week and your actual teaching hours will be anout 26 or 27 hours a week. No one can make you work overtime without pay. the Labor Standards law says that an employer must pay overtime if you work more than 40 hours a week, do late shifts etc.
Sometimes they may ask you to do a demo lesson or host a kids Christmas party etc or attend a weekend camp. By law you are not obliged to, but you have to decide if you are willing to give up your free time. You are within your rights to ask for extra payment if it falls outside your regular duties.
PS Contracts may be bogus but they can only make you do what is legal under Japanese law. One illegal provision does not make the contract invalid. They just simply can not enforce the illegal rule. It will be up to you to find out what is legal or not.
| XIII wrote: |
* They will pay you less than you amount they stated in the contract and you won't be able to do anything about it.
* |
By law they are required to pay you what is stated in the contract or what you agreed to. If an employer starts paying you less or takes out illegal deductions you can report him to a union or the Labor standards office. Foreign employees working legally in Japan have just as many rights as employers do. To get a union to act for you you have to be a member first though.
| XIII wrote: |
* The contract will tell you that you will be teaching but once you get there, you "will be pimped" or be told to be a "stripper" or something completely different from teaching.
s. |
You dont say what country you are from but unless you are brought to japan as an entertainer and go through a job broker it is unlikely you will be teaching English, and if you are an English teacher you wont be stripping or working in snack bars, becuase your visa doesnt allow it. Where do you hear these whoppers?
| XIII wrote: |
* Being a foreigner, you will get harrassed and possibly raped and killed. [This comment scared the living cr@p out of me]
* The Japanese are domineering and you will be treated like a doormat.
. |
Definitely not true, but that depends on your nationality. If you are from an English speaking country Japanese are generally hospitable and friendly towards foreigners. That said there is racism and discrimination against foreigners in Japan and they tend to look down on Asian people.
Korean-Americans and Japanese-Americans and other Asian Americans etc get jobs teaching here though becuase they are native speakers of English though sometimes they experience discrimination.
Rapes do occur but its usually againts Japanese women. Im sure if you were a bar hostess being held here by the yakuza and working in the sex trade there is a high chance of violence but i would say as an English teacher in Japan it is highly unlikely.
The only woman I have heard about being killed was a British bar hostess who was murdered a few years ago and that was big enough to be in the daily newspapers, as she was killed by one of her customers.
Groping on trains is a problem here, and they now have women-only train cars.
Also you can only let Japanese (all 120 million of them) dominate you if you let them. I cant speak for foreign women here, but i know a few, even working at universities, and as far as I can tell they dont feel like doormats. Many Japanese men, in fact are intimidated by western women are rather shy about asking them out and many foreign women complain they can not get dates.
As a foreign employee in Japan you have rights as well, and are perfectly entitled to stand up for yourself if you feel you are being sexually harassed or abused, or you feel your rights and privacy are being trampled on. |
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chi-chi-
Joined: 17 Jul 2004
Posts: 194
Location: In la-la land
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| Posted: Fri Sep 03, 2004 1:16 am Post subject: |
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I don't know about the other stuff, but here's what happened, to me personally, in Japan.
I was there for 6 months. I worked for one job for a total of 8 weeks. They hooked money out of me for a deposit on an apartment, which another teacher had run away from and I didn't even get a chance to look at first. The school promised me a visa, told me after 8 weeks that I was fired without a visa, at that point I was forced to get an extension on my tourist visa, lucky me.
Other schools repeated the same pattern, except I never worked at any other schools for more than a day or so, by that point having developed a Japanese BS meter reader. 3 days working+no asking to see paperwork+stalling=no visa.
There are so many people there skirting the law, it's ludicrious. I have email upon email of jobs stating that they just want foreigners to go through a "trial period" first, etc. etc.
Oh and by the way, I got to have this adventure in the world's most expensive country.
Not to mention people constantly asking me "What are you?" etc etc on interviews.
I'm not entirely negative on Japan...in many ways, it was a great place to live, just not to work.
I could have even looked over that part, but according to the Japanese, I was not worth a legal job, even though in most cases I was the only applicant with a University degree.
Draw your own conclusions. Others flame away  I really wanted to stay there, just not working in a hostess bar (as many foreigners have to do) or hawking wares on the street (ditto that as well.)
Oh well, cest la vie. You asked, and I'm not going to give you glitter and glam answer to impress others on the board. You have my experience, and you know that it could very well happen to you, too.
In other words, you've been warned, officially.
Chi-Chi |
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chi-chi-
Joined: 17 Jul 2004
Posts: 194
Location: In la-la land
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| Posted: Fri Sep 03, 2004 1:22 am Post subject: Re: How scared should I be?? |
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[quote="PAULH"][quote="XIII"]* No one can make you work overtime without pay. the Labor Standards law says that an employer must pay overtime if you work more than 40 hours a week, do late shifts etc.
quote]
Many schools get around this by farming their teachers out all over the place, and counting travel time as "break time" on the paper contract/schedule, which indeed it is NOT. The job I had had a very smart boss who liked to play dumb (up to but not excluding his language ability) and his schedule was a Masterpiece at skirting Japanese labor law.
I'm not even touching the other stuff. Right now at least.
I would like to formally thank Japan for giving me an interest in international labor law. Maybe I can make a living off of that one day.
Japanese businessmen carefully count on foreigners not knowing their rights, and not reading the fine print. Most people are so dependent on their bosses financially that they must swallow and say "yes" even though they are doing things that they would never put up with in their own countries....but all in the name of exotica, right? 
See ya'll later
Chi |
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PAULH
Joined: 28 Jan 2003
Posts: 4672
Location: Western Japan
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| Posted: Fri Sep 03, 2004 1:26 am Post subject: Re: How scared should I be?? |
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| XIII wrote: |
If these negatives do happen, who can we go to for help and will they actually do something? Is there such thing similar to the Better Business Bureau in Japan, so we can research on the companies before we sign the contracts? I don't want to shut out the option of going to Japan... I really want to experience it, but is it worth it if the above things [God forbid] actually happen? I understand that as with any jobs, there are positives and negatives, but I don't want to be a prisoner!!
Any comments will be appreciated... and thanks to anyone who does. |
There is no central place or blacklist of companies etc but it is possible to tell about the company by the contract and its provisions, and most of the big companies are wll known on here. there are people who have worked there and know what they are like. You have to do your homework on eahc company, dont acccept it at face value. Do a search on the Internet or ask someone to look at the contract. you can ask the school to put you in touch with teachers, but i would be wary of a school that refuses you access to teachers.
Japan also has very strong teachers unions and labor unions that will protect workers, and all companies in Japan have to act within the law, regarding salary, working hours conditions etc. same as in the US. they have a lot of experience dealing with 'cowboy' employers but they can only act if the teacher is a member of a union and makes a complaint. If they teacher is worried about losing his job becuase he is a member of a union, they can not help him as he is not a member. many employers take advantage of foreigners ignorance about labor laws as they dont speak the language, understand the laws, customs and culture.
Another avenue is the labor standards office who can approach an employer on your behalf if they are doing something illegal. i dont have much experience with them but i believe they can sometimes be slow to act (or not act at all) as they are a publicly funded body. Unions of which you are a member tend to be more effective.
You will NOT be a prisoner, and I tend to think you are worrying a tad too much. |
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PAULH
Joined: 28 Jan 2003
Posts: 4672
Location: Western Japan
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| Posted: Fri Sep 03, 2004 1:30 am Post subject: Re: How scared should I be?? |
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[quote="chi-chi-"][quote="PAULH"]
| XIII wrote: |
* No one can make you work overtime without pay. the Labor Standards law says that an employer must pay overtime if you work more than 40 hours a week, do late shifts etc.
quote]
Many schools get around this by farming their teachers out all over the place, and counting travel time as "break time" on the paper contract/schedule, which indeed it is NOT. The job I had had a very smart boss who liked to play dumb (up to but not excluding his language ability) and his schedule was a Masterpiece at skirting Japanese labor law.
I'm not even touching the other stuff. Right now at least.
I would like to formally thank Japan for giving me an interest in international labor law. Maybe I can make a living off of that one day.
Japanese businessmen carefully count on foreigners not knowing their rights, and not reading the fine print. Most people are so dependent on their bosses financially that they must swallow and say "yes" even though they are doing things that they would never put up with in their own countries....but all in the name of exotica, right?
See ya'll later
Chi |
If you are a dispatch teacher generally you are not paid for the time that you spend on trains or the time it takes to get to the location, which may be 90-minutes each way. Some people spend 3 or 4 hours on the train each day going to different schools You are only paid for the time you actually spend at the school where you teach.
they will pay for your transportation costs to get to work etc but not the time spent on the trains. that is the price you pay for working for a dispatch company and at this time in Japan, is completely legal, but Im sure the union is trying to do something about this as we speak. |
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PAULH
Joined: 28 Jan 2003
Posts: 4672
Location: Western Japan
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| Posted: Fri Sep 03, 2004 1:37 am Post subject: |
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Just as a matter of interest, the 10 minute breaks between lessons at NOVA are not considered teaching time, and add up to one hour a day or 5 hours a week of non-teaching time . Take off the hours you spend in demo lessons, administration, free conversation period, breaks etc and you are left with 26 contact hours a week, making you part time in the eyes of the school.
You still do a 40 hour week but they dont pay health insurance, pension or unemployment insurance, like Japanese staff get. Life sure isnt fair is it. there are many loopholes that employers used to get around employees etc, but they are not actually illegal, most of them. Unions etc can negotiate with employers esp at dispaych companies which tend to be the worst offenders, but they can not do it on their own. They can not help teachers if teachers do not help themselves. |
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PAULH
Joined: 28 Jan 2003
Posts: 4672
Location: Western Japan
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| Posted: Fri Sep 03, 2004 1:40 am Post subject: Re: How scared should I be?? |
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| chi-chi- wrote: |
nt on foreigners not knowing their rights, and not reading the fine print. Most people are so dependent on their bosses financially that they must swallow and say "yes" even though they are doing things that they would never put up with in their own countries....but all in the name of exotica, right?
See ya'll later
Chi |
Its not the employers fault that you are broke and financially dependent on them. Nature of the game here that people come here on a wing and a prayer with no money and employers take full advantage of them using the threat of firing them as leverage. Its the same in any other country as well, except here its a foreign country with different labor laws. |
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chi-chi-
Joined: 17 Jul 2004
Posts: 194
Location: In la-la land
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| Posted: Fri Sep 03, 2004 1:52 am Post subject: |
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*Yawn*
"Don't hate the player, hate the game"....I've heard that one before, and that's basically what you're saying.
That's great to know that Japan was peachy for you. I am telling the OP that it is not peachy for everyone. |
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PAULH
Joined: 28 Jan 2003
Posts: 4672
Location: Western Japan
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| Posted: Fri Sep 03, 2004 2:09 am Post subject: |
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| chi-chi- wrote: |
*Yawn*
"Don't hate the player, hate the game"....I've heard that one before, and that's basically what you're saying.
That's great to know that Japan was peachy for you. I am telling the OP that it is not peachy for everyone. |
Just curious Chi-chi
Why did the employer decide to fire you after 8 weeks without a visa, when they obviously thought you were good enough in the beginning?
Someone who is on a tourist visa, has no legal right to work in this country can not expect the same privileges as someone who has a valid work visa and perhaps has experience. What do you bring to the table re skills etc when you are looking for a job on a tourist visa? what kind of jobs were you doing before this? Does your constant job-hopping make you an employment risk?
working for companies only one or two days tells me that you have a problem with attitude, either that or you are not a good judge of employers. |
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chi-chi-
Joined: 17 Jul 2004
Posts: 194
Location: In la-la land
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| Posted: Fri Sep 03, 2004 2:16 am Post subject: |
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Because they wanted a male teacher, and could not get one who would agree to teach all the Kindy classes at the beginning.
That's why.
I just wanted to say that Japan seems to do wonderful things to the ex-pats living there....true altruism at its best.....Koreans need to go there to study how to ride with the big boys....
--------------------------------------------------
I brought to the table 2 years experience, and a BA degree.
I know your a mod, but get off your high horse, I don't like it. Just because you've never been through hard times doesn't give you a right to judge others, condescending Paul H. I don't care if you're in Japan or Timbuktu. Get over yourself. |
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PAULH
Joined: 28 Jan 2003
Posts: 4672
Location: Western Japan
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| Posted: Fri Sep 03, 2004 2:49 am Post subject: |
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A person on a tourist visa is still a tourist and has no legal rights in this country, can not join a union, consult a lawyer or even go to the police if you get stung by an employer. Unfortunately there is very little you can do about it if you are done like a Christmas dinner while on a tourist visa.
May make you feel the victim but its the same in any country if you are an illegal alien or working without a valid work visa. |
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spidey
Joined: 29 Jun 2004
Posts: 382
Location: Web-slinging over Japan...
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| Posted: Fri Sep 03, 2004 4:33 am Post subject: |
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If I may add my two cents worth....
People tend to carry their experiences with them. By this I mean that if you are a negative person you will probably have a negative experience and if you are.......need I say more?
It's all up to you.....keep an open mind  |
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chi-chi-
Joined: 17 Jul 2004
Posts: 194
Location: In la-la land
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| Posted: Fri Sep 03, 2004 4:50 am Post subject: |
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Well, all that hippy-dippy stuff is fine and dandy philosophy there, spidey, but it won't pay your light bill 
People who have bills and have to work aren't really positive or negative, just hungry. |
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