Job Discussion Forums

slodziak · Joined: 17 Oct 2005 Posts: 143 Location: Tokyo

Likely initial income: 250,000 Yen

My monthly expenditure:
Rent: 70,000
Food, drink, going out: 75,000
gym: 10,000
mobile, internet, cable TV, landline phone: 10,000
health insurance: 12,000
gas, electricity, water: 8,000
Income tax: circa 22,000

Total: 207,000

Income minus expenditure: +43,000
So I could do it, just. It really depends on your rent and how much you want to spend on going out etc.
You won't make loads but probably more than in China.

Wintermute · Joined: 11 Jun 2007 Posts: 79

Quibby84 · Joined: 10 Aug 2006 Posts: 643 Location: Japan

Remember that the 30 hours a week may not include travel time...it may end up being A LOT more...

Glenski · Joined: 15 Jan 2003 Posts: 12844 Location: Hokkaido, JAPAN

Half of that salary goes to basic necessities (rent, utilities, phone, food, insurance).

So, the real question should be, how well do you propose to live on the rest? Pretty easy for many, while others spend, spend, spend until there is zero left long before payday.

Even with an hour commute 1-way, that's an additional 10 hours per week when you are physically "on the job" to some minds. Gee, a whole 40-hour per week job. Who'd-a thunk it? Isn't teaching supposed to be just all fun and games? (that was a sarcastic tone in case you didn't catch it)

Get over it. It's a job! I'd like to know what ontheroadagain meant by this: You guys are working 30h/week over there...

Quibby84 · Joined: 10 Aug 2006 Posts: 643 Location: Japan

Before we came we saw that it was 25 hrs a week and we were like "wow!"...then we got here and we were like..."ugh!". At my ALT job now it is a one hour commute one way (40 min of that is by bike). If you add that up it like 9 hours a day...more than we would work in the states...good thing we are changing jobs soon...but all jobs are different, you could luck up and only get 25 hrs a week...who knows?

chinagirl · Joined: 27 May 2003 Posts: 235 Location: United States

Another point is that employers here (almost all) pay for commute costs by covering your train pass. So since I live in the Tokyo area, I am able to save a lot of money that used to go towards a car. I can get just about anywhere by public transport. If I were in the States now I would be spending huge chunk of my salary on gas, oil, maintenance, etc.

Glenski · Joined: 15 Jan 2003 Posts: 12844 Location: Hokkaido, JAPAN

Quibby84 · Joined: 10 Aug 2006 Posts: 643 Location: Japan

Thats true about the trains, but about 60% of my travel time now is on a bike...the trains are nice, especially if they are being paid for, but even if the fare is paid for, the 4 hours of your time spent on the train is usually not.
When I said "ugh", it was when we were in Conversation School. I was gone from home sometimes more than 12 hours a day several times a week. I was only in the classroom about 3 or 4 of those hours. The rest was trying to get from one class to the other, but all means of transportation.
I thought that 25 hours a week of work was great before I realized that another 25 was spent traveling.
At home in the US, we lived close to my husbands work so he left at 8:15 and got back at like 5ish. Of course everyone in the states does not live that close to their jobs. His jobs was super boring, he would rather what he is doing now even though it is a lot more tiring. (we are both ALTs now)