Job Discussion Forums

[JezzaYouBeauty!!]

Strange title maybe....but anyone done it?. Thought of doing it?

In this world many a spouse has done such a thing. A good job offered in a far away place. Spouse and kids can't/don't want to go. Other spouse goes and earns for themselves and his/her family.

My dad did it. Many migrant workers from developing countries do it, to save good money for their families back home. Expat businessmen do it etc. Maybe not for massive time periods. But...ya know. It happens a lot.

I am wondering for any of us teachers in Japan who are married to Japanese, if we do it?

I just came from a country where i was in exactly the same profession but for so much more money (saving potential) (and easier and less work too). I am married to a Japanese person. I am yet to get a job here.....but I know the situation.

I should take things step at a time. But..... Just interested. Has anyone out there said to their Japanese spouse, "I am doing this job in Japan for this money. I can do the same job in that other country and save so much more money for our family. Leave you and the kid/s here and i will gallantly and honourably charge off there and earn and send the money back. Oh capital!" ????

I dunno. Just wondering. It is all just in my mindset at the moment. I was just getting 220,000 yen a month in korea with a free apartment, easy fun job low working hours, 5 minute walk from home (but yeah...korea...). And as a newbie non-japanese speaker esl teacher in japan in not too big a city you can imagine what job situations I am being confronted with.

Wanna have kids some day. A man's gotta do good for his family!

Mumma mia!

[JezzaYouBeauty!!]

Korean....IS...a BLEEPING lot more cheap than japan. It is somewhere less than halfway between a thailand and a australia or canada...or something like that.....in terms of everyday living costs.

I am sure most people know anyway.

It ain't a horrible place. But it does have a bad rep. Including in my mind. From what I experienced etc. Once again...I am sure most people know this as well. Hey, check out the korea forums......

I think there are taiwans and stuff though......possibly more nice and almost the same money as korea. Who knows.....maybeee wronggg...that's why these forums are good.

Find out shit

[JezzaYouBeauty!!]

hai...

[markle]

personally I think you got rocks in your head. I thought you meant ALOT more money like double or triple. I thought you were talking about working on an oilrig somewhere, but your talking about making the same amount after accomodation is taken care of that I make.

[Sweetsee]

Take them there, if that floats your boat.

[Synne]

Not too long ago you were mentioning coming to Japan to raise a family and you were given answers to what it will be like...

...I dont think you understand that these are actually real countries in which living takes a bit of understanding, you cant just run around assuming everything will fall into place.

Calm down, take a break, do some reading, and find out the necessary information you need to back up what you want to do and what you can actually do.

[may be going]

jezza you beauty. could you get a name more aussie? i love it. now on to the issue at hand. like another poster said, korea doesn't give you so much more that it would be worth leaving the wife and kids for. as you know, if you want to earn real coin in korea you have to do privates and that has its own risks. ones you might not want to take in your situation.

as your company doesn't own your visa in japan you can work as much as you want, for as many companies/people as you want, legally. sure it takes time to set it all up but i think in the long run you can save just as much in japan as in korea, possibly much more with the right connections.

now to my real point. i lived and worked in korea for 2.5 years at 2 different unis. good gigs and the jobs were easy. but i'd be lying if i said i had fond memories of the country. it doesn't need going in to but you know what it's like. suffice to say i am glad to be out.

i got my sanity back in oz for 2 years and did a bit more studying and now i'm working at uni in japan. and loving it.

beyond the capacity to, arguably, save a bit more money, korea is a world away from japan i believe. living is about quality of life. a wife and kid that love you in a country that is very easy to live in for the most part, versus no wife and no kid in a country that's challenging at best. for what? perhaps a bit more cash?

[Celeste]

Jezza-
SOunds like you are still in sticker shock. Do you have a job yet? How about your significant other - is she working? Calm down. Your income will be enough to live on and even to save, but it will take at least a year to get there. My husband and I have a pact that we will not live apart no matter what the costs. If we wanted to live like single people we wouldn't have bothered getting married in the first place. Since we got married 8 and a half years ago, we have spent a handful of nights apart (business trips etc.) and we didn't like it at all. I suppose if spouses live very independently anyways (work in different fields, socialise wiht different groups of people, have totally different hobbies) they might find the separation for work situation tolerable. We are not that kind of people. We found it very difficult that spouses are not invited to the plethora of work parties that we were invited to. Because of this we ended up declining the majority of such invitations (not that it was a huge hardship to do so - drinking until you get sick is not my idea of a good time anymore)

[JezzaYouBeauty!!]

Yes...thanks....well....maybe you answered my questions. You don't think about this topic much, or don't need to.

I was getting 220,000 yen a month in korea, which is the same I am being offered now for jobs in Japan.

I spent a lot in Korea AND saved 25 grand aussie in one year. It is decent right? For a first gig, anyway.

I am calm.

I don't speak Japanese. I live in a smallish city in Japan. I wonder about the future opportunities.

That's all.

I come from a background of my family being in different countries. I spent the first 3 years of my life in Hong Kong. My dad was an Aussie jockey riding there, as well as in Mauritius, singapore and Malaysia.
I am 26. I can speak, read and write Thai decently and have spent a year in Thailand as a young solo man, as well as studying the language at uni for a year. Lived with Thai students in Melbourne while I was doing studying Thai, and lived with a Thai family in Thailand for quite while. Spent a year in Korea, and now japan.

So yes....for someone who made a certain comment.......I do take time to live and understand others' cultures and countries etc.

Geez. Some people on these forums.....do like putting the boot in a bit.

Myopia is a *beep*. That's all. If starting this topic showed that I wasn't being calm, or that I had rocks in my head......

geez......fair go.....

[markle]

Well actually I did think about something along this line, going to another country, leaving the wife at 'home' while I was off somewhere earning a shoitload more than I could make at 'home'. Thing was Japan was one of the places I was thinking of coming to, especially in terms of ESL, not the other way around.

Japan still offers one of the best earning potentials in the ESL field aside from some places in the Gulf or the International school circuit. 220 000 is the lower end of the scale and given that you have a proper link, through your wife, to the country you are in a better position tahn most of the posters here.

[JezzaYouBeauty!!]

and thanks....for ....all of the good advice. Really......as well......

For the almost 2 months in Japan.....I have been here....I have hardly been on this forum much. Good to say hello........even if rocks in my head etc.

Met my first gaijin last thursday after 7 weeks being here. Haven't had a single friend all that time.....japanese or whoever.....or a job. But worked as an ALT today.....substitute......and got a few possibilities lined up.

Time, connections, further study possibly.....all that stuff, can only be good. As I've seen others say on here as well at times....and as you say too.

This is just the most suburban and smallest city, life and place, I have ever been in. Not seeing, hearing, sniffing, smelling......so many good opportunities. Sorta psychological maybe.

And I just spent a year away from "significant other" to save for us.......so my opening topic is maybe in my mindset a little more than others. All relationships are different, and I appreciate all the advice, but for us, it wasn't a prob....being a apart for a year.

And my picture here to the left is probably making you all hungry, sorry.

But colourful.

[JezzaYouBeauty!!]

Sweet mate.....markle.....I really do have to change this pizza picture though, don't I.

What happened to my Monkey Magic and Kermit ones. Geez.......

[osakajojo]

You just said a month ago:
Out of Korea into Japan. It is a godsend.

Feel like the volume beens lowered. No one spitting everywhere anymore.

No aggressive offensive behaviour towards me OR the locals going on anymore....

Everythings orderly and clean and nice and calm and well behaved.... "

just relax! You don't want to go back there really. If anything, why not move to a bigger Japanese city.

this whol time i thought you were a girl marrying a japanese man. i was surprised to see you say a mans gotta do good for his family. you have kids too[/quote]

[JezzaYouBeauty!!]

"Out of Korea into Japan. It is a godsend.

Feel like the volume beens lowered. No one spitting everywhere anymore.

No aggressive offensive behaviour towards me OR the locals going on anymore....

Everythings orderly and clean and nice and calm and well behaved.... "

Yes. I said that. And it is absolutely right.

Starting THIS thread however, has nothing to do with what Japan is like, as a place in itself. This thread is about job situations.

I recently posted a thread "from bad place/good job to good place/bad jobs" kind of thing.

I have never once said Japan is not a godsend compared to Korea.

And I am bloody relaxed now.

This may be a dud...this thread. Sorry people, honestly, not being sarcastic. But thanks for the tips and encouragement anyways.....for those who did give it.........without the jumping down my throat.

[pnksweater]

Jezza, I know exactly how you feel. I'm considering a very similar thing as well, but in the reverse. My husband will be returning to the states and I can't decide whether to stay here and help pay of debts with my fantastic job or go back home and twiddle my thumbs while looking for a poorly paid part time ESL job in the neighborhood.

Due to the exchange rate it would be fairly difficult to send home much money working from Thailand or some other Asian country. And moving is very expensive. Have you considered looking for work some place more urban in Japan? Are there any largish cities within a 3 hour commute of your current home? There are several men who work in my office who live in free company housing during the week then spend several hours on the train to go back home during the weekend to spend time with family. That could be a good solution to your problem without having to fully move.