Job Discussion Forums

That Canada Guy · Posted: Wed Nov 26, 2008 7:58 pm Post subject: Question..

I'm in my final year at a Canadian university, and my university has a connection with Seiko Gakuen Bilingual School in Tokushima, Japan.

The school offers:

Roundtrip airfare and visa fees paid.
Bachelor apartment on campus with a kitchen and bathroom paid for.
Legal working status in Japan

"SG paid a monthly salary of 173,000
yen from which is deducted Japanese income tax, medical insurance and costs of
furnished accommodation on campus (a �bachelor� apartment with a kitchenette and
bathroom). After deductions teachers could expect to receive approximately
125,000 yen per month, and are responsible for paying their own utilities."

My question is do you think that the salary is sufficient considering accommodations are provided? Also I will only have an Undergraduate degree, and I plan to take a CELTA or TEFL certification to help prepare me. I'm debating between Japan and a few other places but I figured I'd just ask about this first.

That Canada Guy · Posted: Wed Nov 26, 2008 8:12 pm Post subject:

Actually, I guess since the document I read earlier was from last year they increased the expected take home from 125,000 Yen to 128,000 Yen a month this year.

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

They want to pay you a lousy 173,000 yen/month, and THEN take out rent money? Forget it. That is less than subsistence wages. It is one of the worst deals for salary that I have ever heard of in the 10 years I've been here. Standard salaries for decades here have been around 250,000 yen/month, which would be that lousy salary you're offered PLUS something equivalent to a rent's cost (depending on many factors).

Doesn't matter if they pay airfare (an extreme rarity).
Doesn't matter if they pay "visa costs" (a mere 4000 yen plus 4000 or 6000 yen for reentry permit).
Doesn't matter if you have only a fresh undergrad degree (and even one that may be unrelated to teaching). Most newbies are in that situation.

Ask what kind of insurance this is. Corporate insurance is called shakai hoken (which includes health insurance plus pension plan). They are obligated by law to pay half, and that alone would be about 20,000 per month. If they expect you to get your own national health insurance, it's called kokumin kenko hoken, and the first year it's only 2,500 yen/month (ten times that afterward). If you work more than 29.5 hours a week, you should get the former, not the latter.

Khyron · Joined: 10 Mar 2006 Posts: 291 Location: Tokyo Metro City

Wow, talk about trying to take advantage of ignorant university students. That is very low pay. You can definitely find much better deals. You should print out Glenski's post, photocopy it, and staple it over every advert you see for that job.

If they paid 200,000yen/month PLUS gave you free rent and utilities, then it might be okay.

Yawarakaijin · Joined: 20 Jan 2006 Posts: 504 Location: Middle of Nagano

Agreed. That is one of the worst set-ups I have ever seen. Having an average rent plus national level coverage taken out of that salary would be brutal! I have SAVINGS substantially more than that they SALARY they offer and I don't even have a degree!

That Canada Guy · Posted: Thu Nov 27, 2008 3:06 am Post subject:

Well, I wouldn't call myself ignorant as I noticed on this site that people generally get paid something in the 200,000+ range a month in Japan (fresh out of university anyways). I had just wondered if maybe the salary was justifiable because accommodations, airfare were included..

Thanks for the info though, I'll definitely be looking elsewhere.

Yawarakaijin · Joined: 20 Jan 2006 Posts: 504 Location: Middle of Nagano

Good call. People on this board have their own unique ways of couching their advice but I've been around a while and almost everyone offers up sound advice in this forum. You can surely do better.

Khyron · Joined: 10 Mar 2006 Posts: 291 Location: Tokyo Metro City

gaijinalways · Joined: 29 Nov 2005 Posts: 2279

But you said accomodation is not included...

"SG paid a monthly salary of 173,000
yen from which is deducted Japanese income tax, medical insurance and costs of
furnished accommodation on campus (a �bachelor� apartment with a kitchenette and
bathroom).

Depending on the cost of a flight for you, it hardly seems worth it, unless you're desperate to come to Japan. 'Normal' pay in one month alone may see you having enough money to pay for the flight. Remember, you can come on a working holiday visa initially and work at any school where your minimum salary would usually be 250k a month.

That Canada Guy · Posted: Thu Nov 27, 2008 2:09 pm Post subject:

They give you a bachelor apartment on their campus. It is deducted from the 173,000...so yeah, its not really free. I guess it would save people the time of looking for a place to live and also eliminate transportation costs from your place to your job as you live on campus.

I'm not going to pursue this job now anyways; info was helpful though.

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

FYI,

Transportation costs (train fare) are almost always reimbursed to employees in Japan along with monthly salary. The only party that saves money on transportation costs by having the teacher live in an apartment on campus is the school.

As mentioned before, the standard pay in Japan in 250,000. But on top of that, train fare is almost always reimbursed as well.