Job Discussion Forums

[johncanada24]

I owe approx. $15,000 in debts
Student loans/ Credit cards

Can you honestly have enough money to pay your debts if your making 250,000 yen a year?

A) I don't party much
B) I might do some travelling around
C) I don't beleive in using heat sweaters are better
D) I bike ALOT and don't mind biking.
E) I probably won't eat out often since its so pricey

These things should help my living expenses. But yeah My main goal for going to japanese is of course the experience but to also pay of my debts.

Where I currently live good decent jobs in IT are scarce unless you move away to a different province in Canada.

[luckbox]

[johncanada24]

[canuck]

[taikibansei]

Paying off $15,000 in credit debt while on a 250.000/month NOVA salary would be a bit much. However, a single person living a conservative lifestyle--and most importantly, living outside of Tokyo--should be able to save $300-500 US per month.

Glenski used to post a breakdown of costs/savings on this salary--perhaps ask him directly?

My first salary was only 220,000/month (back in 1988 when I was living in Kyoto). I still saved $4,500 US that year. How'd I do it? I bought only used furniture (and just what I absolutely needed), cooked at home (or ate in the cheaper local shops), participated in either free or very inexpensive cultural activities (e.g., learning Aikido at the Budokan), traveled everywhere by bike (got into great shape doing so...), and hit the bars maybe 2/month tops. My priorities at the time were learning the language/culture and saving money--I did both, and had a blast.

Realize, of course, that if you live anywhere near Tokyo, saving at that salary is nearly impossible. Realize also that if you want to hit the bars every week and/or travel frequently via train between different cities in Japan, you'll save little to nothing.

Good luck!

[wangtesol]

Paying off $15,000 will be hard. Just expect that you will be able to take a chunk out of it. Expect to save around CDN $500/month. If you go back to Canada for the Holidays, then lower that to $400/month.

And then if you save more by the end of 12 months, you will feel much better about everything.

If you do find part-time work as well, don't expect to make more than 50,000/yen a month and don't expect that to be the case for more than 6 months. Part-time courses are usually taught in 6 week cycles.

It is hard to believe, but if you just stay a couple of years in Japan, private language school jobs in Japan don't pay much better than bottom of the ladder jobs in Canada. You would save more money going to Alberta - easily.

Anyhow, crap, if you are healthy and you just got out of university - go abroad!!!! Just keep your savings expectations low. Japan ain't what it used to be. South Korea is more like what Japan was for newbie teachers.

[markle]

[seanmcginty]

One problem for Canadians is that the exchange rate has turned against you if you are working in Japan. When I started working over there in 1999 the exchange rate made my 270,000 per month work out to almost 3500 Canadian dollars a month. Now it would be more like 2700 per month, and a lot of places don't even pay that much anymore.

But you could totally pay off a loan. I saved about 100,000 per month while living comfortably. So even with the crap exchange rate you could pay off that 15,000 dollars in about a year and a half wihout much trouble. If you really skimped and saved you might be able to do it within a year.

[Ai]

You will be able to make your loan payments but chances are you won't take a huge chunk out of your debt. You should come to Japan to enjoy the experience, not to pay off debt.

[Hoser]

Well I've been working here a year and a half and with my savings I could pay off your debt. Of course then I would have no money left...

But anyways I guess that's your answer. If you work here a year and a half and you live reasonably then yes you can pay off your debt.

[Sweetsee]

Could pay it off within 2 years but plan on working your tail off, perhaps ALT work by day and eikaiwa in the evenings, that and privates. Used to blow $10,000 every summer on holiday doing that.

[seastarr]

I worked for Nova and managed to send home 70,000 yen a month. I also taught private students and worked a bit of Ot. I lived in Kyushu, which is a pretty cheap area to live compared to Osaka or Tokyo. I managed to go on a trip pretty much every month, although they were usually within Japan. If you are willing to work your butt off when you aren't travelling, its quite possible to save a bit. I also went out probably 2-3 times a week most weeks and bought lunch too much. I also have a shopping problem. Even with that, 70,000 wasn't a stretch to send home...although I was making about 30,000 a month teaching private students. If you have a WHV and you are planning on working for Nova, you will probably only be able to work part-time (on your contract anyway), but if Nova is like Nova was three months ago, they are crying for OT. In my area, you could work around the clock if you wanted to while I was there. I reccomend looking for private students, the pay is better (it was about 3000 yen an hour in Kyushu) and usually they are very good to their teachers. I really liked being able to develop a relationship with them, something I was deprived of as a Nova teacher. In my area, there were people that were saving over half their paychecks. I was not one of those people. Most of those people didn't have much of an experience in my opinion because they were more concerned with saving than enjoying their time in Japan.

[Glenski]

john has a 2-year degree and is 24 years old. He can only get a working holiday visa, student visa, or cultural visa. WHV is good for only 12 months, so let's assume he goes with that. (BTW, NOVA hires people with such qualifications, but I think WHV holders at NOVA can only get PT work. Check into this, john.)

Also, I have heard rumors (red flag disclaimer here) that some people working for NOVA do not even have degrees or legal visas. How that happened is unknown to me, but perhaps they buffaloed immigration with their 2-year diplomas or had fake degrees. I don't know.

On a salary of 250,000 yen/month you will spend about half on basic necessities.
rent 70,000-80,000
utilities 20,000 (seasonal and depending on personal use; utilities are not paid for NOVA apartments)
phone 5000-8000 depending on cell phone or land line and various options
food 30,000-50,000

TOTAL so far = 125,000-158,000 (minus utilities if you work for NOVA)

The remainder from your paycheck (92,000 - 125,000) will go to everything else in life.
Health insurance = 2500 yen/month in your first year with national health insurance (10 times hire after that, but john can't stay that long)
Haircuts
postage and envelopes
souvenirs
cable/satellite TV
long distance calls (and local ones, too, if they go over the option limit)
medical treatment not covered by insurance (30% of your bill)
entertainment (sightseeing, movies, DVD rentals, going out, etc.)

How you play around with that 92,000 - 125,000 is up to you, but I would imagine that it's not hard to use 50,000 of it for a loan if one is that serious.

So, 50,000 x 12 = 600,000 yen in a year. At today's exchange rate, that means about CDN$5600. So, if you can stick around and have similar living conditions and salary, you should be able to pay it off in 3 years.

[canuck]

[seastarr]

Utilities are included up to 8000 yen per person per month per apt. When I lived in Nova housing, we went over the 8000 and got a nasty "if you do this again, we are going to charge you" letter. It was a chilly winter so about half the Nova apts in my area got the letter. We didn't really change our ways, but the season changed so we never heard about it again.