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Dipso
Joined: 28 Apr 2004
Posts: 194
Location: England
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 Posted: Wed Jun 06, 2007 2:28 pm Post subject: |
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I am probably going to leave at the end of my contract early next year. I have to send money home each month to meet financial commitments in Britain, but it's becoming increasingly difficult due to the exchange rate. I would like to stay in Japan longer, but I can't sensibly afford to wait around for the yen to bounce back. Hey ho! 
Last edited by Dipso on Wed Jun 06, 2007 3:08 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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Dipso
Joined: 28 Apr 2004
Posts: 194
Location: England
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| Posted: Wed Jun 06, 2007 3:07 pm Post subject: |
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| *double post* |
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J.
Joined: 03 May 2003
Posts: 327
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| Posted: Wed Jun 06, 2007 8:04 pm Post subject: Less vacations home |
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The last vacation home to Canada the exchange rate really hurt. It was last summer, so it's even worse now. Perhaps it's a plot by the Japanese government to keep everyone's vacation money here in Japan. I know I am now thinking twice about, and probably won't, take a vacation home this summer.
I also remember feeling annoyed that though everything was expensive most of the retail staff seemed to be thinking they were doing YOU a favour to be taking your money. Guess I'm getting spoiled by the politeness of store clerks in Japan. (There's a GOOD POINT for you, Glenski.) |
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shuize
Joined: 04 Sep 2004
Posts: 1270
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| Posted: Wed Jun 06, 2007 11:04 pm Post subject: Re: Less vacations home |
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| J. wrote: |
The last vacation home to Canada the exchange rate really hurt. It was last summer, so it's even worse now. Perhaps it's a plot by the Japanese government to keep everyone's vacation money here in Japan. I know I am now thinking twice about, and probably won't, take a vacation home this summer.
I also remember feeling annoyed that though everything was expensive most of the retail staff seemed to be thinking they were doing YOU a favour to be taking your money. Guess I'm getting spoiled by the politeness of store clerks in Japan. (There's a GOOD POINT for you, Glenski.) |
I often feel the same on trips back to the States. Like when I'm standing at the counter somewhere waiving my money begging for staff attention so that I can please, please pay for their product and go home. [/off topic] |
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User N. Ame
Joined: 11 Dec 2006
Posts: 222
Location: Kanto
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| Posted: Wed Jun 06, 2007 11:57 pm Post subject: |
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Although making money was never my reason for going to Japan, I sympathize with people caught in the web of global currency exchange. As Gordon says - there's nothing wrong with wanting to have a little to show for your work efforts, or enough to be able to invest in your family's future.
There's a flip side to the coin. For people like me wanting to return to Japan as a tourist with a rail pass, great bargain on my Canadian buck to yen now! You Canadians all watching our dollar hit the mid-90's on the US$? It's expected to pull even soon. Amazing. |
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Apsara
Joined: 20 Sep 2005
Posts: 2142
Location: Tokyo, Japan
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| Posted: Thu Jun 07, 2007 12:31 am Post subject: |
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I'm a lifer now more or less but as I do have to send money back to NZ (I bought a house there a few years ago when the exchange rate was better and the rent covers the mortgage but not other expenses) I do want the days of 55 yen to the NZ dollar back again! I almost had a heart attack when I saw 90 yen to the dollar recently.
I guess I am very fortunate in that I was paying off my student loan when it was at that lowest rate, saving for the deposit on my house when it was still pretty good, and managed lots of travel as well. It's a bit harder to do the long-term travelling now that I used to when the yen was stronger but I just accept that exchange rates will fluctuate. I love my job and wouldn't leave it to go somewhere with a better excahnge rate if you, well, paid me! |
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GambateBingBangBOOM
Joined: 04 Nov 2003
Posts: 2021
Location: Japan
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| Posted: Thu Jun 07, 2007 2:34 am Post subject: |
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| japanman wrote: |
This saving thing puzzles me greatly when I see posts like "How much can I save in Thailand" etc why should you be able to save money in a country that is much poorer than your own? The save, save, save mentality is very strange coming from people who come from rich nations. |
Not so strange when you consider that 'save, save, save' often means 'pay back loans, pay back loans pay back loans'. And that coming from a rich country does not necessarily mean access to high paying jobs. Most Starbucks and Big Box Stores are staffed (at least as far as the full timers go) by people with degrees. If you have an English degree and are looking at paying back loans by earning CDN$8 an hour in Toronto (which wouldn't buy you and a G/F or B/F each a cup of fancy coffee at Starbucks) or going overseas to earn a bit more and have the ability to live in your own apartment and actually pay back some of those loans, then that starts to look really good. The fact that leaving Canada is now a basic piece of advice that university career centres tell people about to graduate (ie the braindrain to the States, and going overseas to teach EFL) suggests what life is like.
If you have no loans and you are thinking of moving to another country and staying there more or less permanently then asking about a place like Thailand makes a lot of sense. If you can earn CDN$1000 a month in Thailand with a cost of living that is one fifth of Canada, then if your money does not leave the country *and that includes you not leaving the country, then it has the buying potential that CDN$5000 would in your home country. And that is usually far more disposable income than Canadian ESL teachers have in Canada.
If Thailand has a cost of living that is one fifth the rate of Japan, but a salary that is almost half of what you get in Japan, then you still come out on top by being in Thailand, so long as your intention is not to try and save for going back, but rather to stay in Thailand (or a comparable economy) for the future.
So the question isn't really how much can I save in dollar amounts, but how much buying potential will I have left over at the end of the month. I think a lot of people don't really think about it that way until they have actually worked overseas, though. Also, especially people who've never actually lived overseas (as opposed to travelling on Daddy's Dollars/ Mommy's Moulah) and yet assume that they won't miss their home country too much and go home after a few years may be making some assumptions that just won't work out to be true. |
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gaijinalways
Joined: 29 Nov 2005
Posts: 2279
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| Posted: Thu Jun 07, 2007 12:46 pm Post subject: |
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