Job Discussion Forums

[Noelle]

I know that Korea is better than Japan in terms of actually saving money but is it at all possible to pay off graduate student loans while working in Japan for a year or two?

I have an M.A. in TESOL and nearly 4 years of teaching experience between China, Korea and the U.S.

I apologize if this thread is a repeat of others from the past but I checked for other threads and didn't really see anything that answered my specific question.

I do realize that housing is often not provided in Japan and the cost of living (esp in cities) is higher but I've been told that the salaries and other benefits are comparable to those in Korea.

A little help...?

[Gypsy Rose Kim]

The salaries are actually lower in Japan than Korea. And getting lower by the month, it seems. You can't hope to save even a quarter of what you can in Korea until you've been here for a couple years.

That said, I've worked in Korea myself. The work is much harder there. Koreans seem to expect a lot in return for their money. Fair enough, I guess.

I prefer Japan. But if you need money, it's a no-brainer.

[Apsara]

You didn't mention your nationality- that has a bearing on how much you can save as some currencies are weaker than others and get better rates against the yen. Guessing that you are American, these days the yen is relatively weak so unless you are prepared to live very frugally you are not going to make too much headway against your loan.

It was all different back around 2000 when the yen was a lot stronger than it is now- I paid off a $13,000 NZD student loan, saved the deposit to buy a house in NZ and had enough left over to spend almost a year travelling after I left Japan- all in just over 2 years working at an eikaiwa. At the time I got around 50- 60 yen to the NZ$.

With current exchange rates at 90 yen to the NZ$ there's no way I could do that now, and it's worse for people from countries with even stronger currencies.

[Noelle]

Thanks for the replies.

I am American and I actually do prefer Korea to Japan but I thought it might be good to get out of my comfort zone a bit. I have taught both Japanese and Korean adult students in the U.S. and I much preferred the Japanese.