Job Discussion Forums

gartonator · Joined: 16 Aug 2006 Posts: 12 Location: Oak Ridge, TN

I am an Ivy League graduate, a Film modified with English major no less! And I have 1 year ESL teaching experience in Korea. I've taught all SAT subjects, college-level literary criticism, and even convinced my hagwon to let me teach film criticism, but I know no employer in Japan will care what I did in Korea... anyway....

In fall of 2006 in Korea I found an elite hagwon that claimed to place a lot of students in top US universities... (I know that one student got into Emory, but that's all I have proof of) and I got paid more than any first-year teacher I knew, got a better apartment than my hagwon owner, and got touted at every parent meeting, because I went to an Ivy League college. They fucking hung my diploma right behind the front desk, my degree was on their brochures before I arrived... (never mind that I'm an average teacher, I'm engaging perhaps, charismatic, but I just don't know how to teach the use of advanced sentence structure very well...)

Now, I'm 30, in quite a bit of debt, can not not not find work in New York City (I work in film/tv) and need a well-paying job by mid-September at the latest...

I know Korea, but I love Japan. I spent roughly a week in Fukuoka and every night has its own memories... street performers facing walls, insane clubs of every order, people who seemed to live the lifestyle of every little musical genre... it might be too much, but it was just enough for me... I like performance art, erotica, international community, etc, anyway...

I know it's fucking ridiculous competition for jobs there, and it takes a long time to secure a Visa from abroad...

My question :

If I buy a ticket to Fukuoka to arrive on August 15th without a job, and I start hustling hard, will I be crazy to expect a paycheck before the end of September? Do schools that 'covet' Ivy League grads exist? (they exist in Korea, I know, but they are rare)

I'm going to work my blond-hair/blue-eyes/ivy-league/tall-white-dude to the max, but I still think I might end up SOL... I need to be netting around 300,000 Yen on average for the next year (to pay off debt), am I dreaming?
(big lebowski)
Am I wrong?
(dude... you're not wrong, man....)
AM I WRONG?

And if not Fukuoka, then where? Where should I go?

Sorry to be so blunt, but I just really need to make a decision soon, and any help would be GREATLY appreciated.

If you visit Fukuoka, I will be happy to meet you at the ridiculous hip hop club to watch AK-69 perform for ghetto-bootied japanese girls. What a country!

Cheers,
Brian

Hot-Carl · Joined: 07 Apr 2009 Posts: 63

You're basing your opinion of Japan on a few crazy nights in Hakata and hoping to net 300,000yen/month teaching English in Fukuoka? Good luck with that...

gartonator · Joined: 16 Aug 2006 Posts: 12 Location: Oak Ridge, TN

hey, all i know is that everything that I saw and liked in Fukuoka, I never saw in Korea after 1 year living there. I like Korea... but it was like night and day

so I'm asking for help, and you're saying Fukuoka is NOT the place to show up, where then?

and Hot-Carl, nice name Very Happy

mc · Joined: 20 Jan 2003 Posts: 90 Location: Aichi, Japan

With just a Bachelor's degree, you're looking at ALT/dispatch or eikaiwa work. Probably the only two Ivy League schools anyone in those places has heard of are Harvard and Yale. Maybe Princeton would carry a bit of weight as well. But mostly I doubt that it would make a difference unless you're applying for uni work (which you're not qualified for at this point).

gartonator · Joined: 16 Aug 2006 Posts: 12 Location: Oak Ridge, TN

and by netting, I meant total income = 300,000... not total savings per month

I'm looking to make at least 250,000... and hopefully pick some privates up

details details

GambateBingBangBOOM · Joined: 04 Nov 2003 Posts: 2021 Location: Japan

300,000 is more than the average BEFORE tax salary in Japan. Normal starting areas were the 250,000 (before taxes) mark but they're creeping down. I've seen full-time jobs for people who speak the language and have several years of experience for 200,000 (before taxes) these days. Rent is a lot more expensive in Japan than Korea and these days many teachers are living from paycheque to paycheque and not really saving anything at all.

They will look favourably on your degree if it's from one of the ivy league schools they've heard of (Yale, Harvard or Princeton) if it isn't then they won't care. Caring and giving extra money for it are two totally separate issues.

Bottom line: you have a humanities degree. You have one year teaching experience in Korea (and that experience may not count as experience at all for many Japanese employers). You have spent a total of one week in Japan as a tourist and I'm guessing don't speak the language. Do you even have any sort of TESOL certificate? More and more they are being listed as a mandatory qualification in order to met minimum qualifications demanded by the job.

You'd be better off going back to Korea.

gartonator · Joined: 16 Aug 2006 Posts: 12 Location: Oak Ridge, TN

thanks mc, I'm dartmouth... somewhere in the middle

I guess my most pertinent question, if I show up 8/15 without a job... and somehow FIND a job...

am I crazy to think I might get my first check of 240,000 (or whatever) by October 1st?

sorry, it just seems the time scales of Korea vs. Japan are so different, I'm trying to get the general deal in my head so I can make a decision, soon, like yesterday

thank you

gartonator · Joined: 16 Aug 2006 Posts: 12 Location: Oak Ridge, TN

thanks Boom, you're honest and that's what I'm looking for...

It was August 2007 last time I was in Fukuoka, and I met several career private tutors who claimed to make $400/day on good days. They were all 35-45 and had deep roots in the country I'm sure. They said to just get a job and expand, but I guess those days may be over...

pay check to pay check is NOT what I'm looking for, got bills to pay, Korea I guess... or one of those needle-in-the-haystack jobs in China

I really want to get into the business side of all this, not the teaching side, but I'm fucking broke

scratch another off the board, thanks
B

GambateBingBangBOOM · Joined: 04 Nov 2003 Posts: 2021 Location: Japan

seklarwia · Posted: Thu Jul 30, 2009 2:58 am Post subject:

Apsara · Joined: 20 Sep 2005 Posts: 2142 Location: Tokyo, Japan

I think the $400-500 a day private lesson guys were exaggerating a bit to make their job seem better than it is. You might get 5,000 yen an hour from someone who is really impressed with you/has a lot of money to throw around, but it won't be right after setting foot in Japan, and most people won't want to pay more than 3,000- Japanese people are way more careful with their money than they used to be in the Bubble.

Also as someone mentioned above, private lesson students tend to want to take their lessons exclusively in the evenings and on weekends, which can have a big impact on your social life and was one of the reasons that I stopped in the end.

You might be thinking that there are all the housewives, but they don't want to take one-on-one lessons, they learn English as a social thing. You might be able to put together a group of them at some point, but again, not right after arriving here.

As for arriving in mid-August, hmm. Right in the middle of the Obon holiday, so you probably won't get any interviews straight off. It's also a horrible, hot, humid sweaty time to be wearing a suit and dashing between trains and wandering around a Japanese city trying to find your interview location- one of the worst times of the year to interview.

I think you will find a similar art scene in any large city here- Osaka and Tokyo would obviously have the biggest scenes.

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

I think you're beginning to get the idea that Ivy League is not known or appreciated as anything elite here. Live with it.

A famous TV celebrity ("talento") Patrick Harlan came here from Harvard, I believe. Think of it. He is touted as a talento, yet he has a degree from the big H.

seklarwia · Posted: Thu Jul 30, 2009 5:16 am Post subject:

GambateBingBangBOOM · Joined: 04 Nov 2003 Posts: 2021 Location: Japan

dove · Joined: 01 Oct 2003 Posts: 271 Location: USA/Japan

I was in debt last year. It took me about 9 months to pay back around 12,000 US dollars. I had to live really frugally. Yes, that meant no drinking. Kind of a drag, but being debt-free is so worth it. I was lucky because I had connections to extra part-time work. I was constantly working which actually prevented me from going out. I'm not sure I would recommend coming all the way to Japan to get debt-free. It's possible, but you'll miss out on a lot of good things. Maybe you'll get lucky and land some really lucrative job. You really will need luck because salaries are dropping here. How much in debt are you and why are you under such a deadline to pay it off?