Job Discussion Forums

[kdynamic]

Someone give me a reality check. Is this realistic? I am thinking about a gap period I need to plan for a little more than a year from now (I am one of those people that plans way ahead).

The situation (resources):
1kyu Japanese level
Cheap apartment in a fairly large city (not tokyo or osaka, but big)
A reasonable cushion of savings to tide me over
All the free time in the world (no plan yet)
Proper working visa, BA, and gaijin card
No desire to find long-term employment during this period

The goal:
Make about Y100,000/month for three months to stay afloat between other jobs while still having free time

I could teach English, do freelance translation, waitress, whatever.

This kind of seems too easy to be true. Is it harder that I think to pick up enough sort of random work to keep my head above water for a short period? I have never been anything but a student or a full time employee in Japan before, so I am not sure what to expect.

[Glenski]

How can making 100K per month keep you afloat? That cheap rent must be AWFULLY cheap.

[kdynamic]

[shuize]

100,000/month? Quite possible, I'd say. Especially if you've got solid Japanese and are willing to take on various kinds of temporary odd jobs.

It's not my neck, but I think there is almost nothing to worry about with a few private students.

[Glenski]

So is that a Humanities Specialist visa?

Taking on private lessons is not risky legally, but it might be financially. Depends on the students. In my experience, they can drop you suddenly, leaving you with no income for that time slot, and who knows how long it might take to recover that loss.

Charge 5000 yen per student per hour once a week (20,000 per month in advance), and you'll need 5 lessons. Charge 4000 instead, and you'll need 6. I'm sure you can do the math. Just beware of losing them. Personally, unless I already had a steady income from reliable customers, I wouldn't try living off private students, even if what I needed was a low income.

That's dirt cheap rent. Your utilities must run almost the same cost.

[Sweetsee]

You might be better off spending that time in Thailand or somewhere, if you have the savings. Depending on when it is, it is also quite possible to find work there; diving or hospitality. Sure would be more fun!
Would that work for you?

[kdynamic]

[Sweetsee]

I gotcha Kid, sounds good. Sure would be nice to do something besides English though, depending on what time of year it will be I might be able to think of something. When are you thinking, what three months?
You mentioned having been in Thailand, mind my asking whereabouts, for how long and what you got up to.
We spent 6 months there leading up to the millineum, a big part of that was spent working running a bar at Raillay, know it?

[tokyo story]

Making 100,000 a month on privates isn't hard.

Finding students yourself takes time (it's easier if you go through a company, that way you can replace problem students or people who drop out), but getting students to come to regular lessons isn't difficult.

All you have to do is go the extra mile -- throw the textbook away, prepare things for them, ask them why they want to learn English, find out what they need from you... If you're a people person, privates are fun and relaxing... Be flexible, try to suit their schedule as much as possible, don't charge a cancellation fee if they cancel in advance and make your fee reasonable... Despite what some teachers think, Japanese people are not made of money...

The staff at Detour might make 1000 yen an hour if they're lucky (probably 800-900 yen) & they're working harder than I am for the hour I'm there... If it's some kind of specialised English or you have a lot of experience maybe you can charge more, but you won't get as many students and you ought to ask yourself, "Would I pay 4-5000 yen an hour for Nihongo lessons?" No, I'd go to the City Hall and pay 500 yen.

The drawbacks are that your lessons will be scheduled all over the show. You might have big gaps in your day. Find students close to home or try teaching groups of students (like movie class.)

I heard about one guy who teaches groups of students using a film and the screenplay, and supposedly he makes a lot of money because each student pays a full lesson fee. It's a really good idea if you can find the students.

[kdynamic]

Just found out that

a) I will probably be in Tokyo after all for that time
b) rent will likely be free, including utilities
c) my visa does allow me to teach English among lots of other things

yay. keeps getting better. Anway, thanks for the advice everyone. I'm looking forward to having fun in Tokyo


(too bad now I have to wait a whole year before all this kicks in... )

[shuize]

[earthmonkey]

I don't think you need any advice.

Good job!!