Job Discussion Forums

[weigookin74]

For those of you who have taught both, what are the pros and cons to both?
I assume Korea is for the money and Japan is for the experience. But I and others would like to get some ideas of how to compare the two.

[Imseriouslylost]

Hey,

I've done a few months in Japan and nearly three years in Korea. In short, living and working in Korea is all about saving/making money. Living and working in Japan is all about living and working in Japan.

Korea is a nice place full of friendly people but as a developed country, it doesn't stack up very well. It's polluted, over-crowded and doesn't have much to offer expats in terms of things to do. I saw all that I needed to see in Korea after my first six months and found that there wasn't much else to see beyond that. Don't get me wrong, it's a lovely country (sometimes) but due to these and more reasons, it gets really boring really fast.

Also, many expats find Korea to be a very stressful place to life. Xenophobia is relatively high and you'll find that every once and awhile you'll have some minor 'incident' or another that will make you not appreciate Korea very much. It isn't something that happens every day but it is something that happens, even in Seoul, even these days.

The jobs in Korea pay well and have many benefits for a reason. For starters, Korea isn't the funnest place to live all the time and Koreans are aware of this. It's like hazard pay when you're deployed in the military, they pay you extra to stay because if the pay sucked a lot of people wouldn't have enough reason to stay. Unlike Japan, where the pay does suck and they can't get the foreigners to stop coming.

Since the pay standard is so high, many employers (hagwons namely, not public schools) will try to rip you off pretty bad. I've met people who went six months without getting paid. When it comes down to it, anyone can open a school and hire a foreigner in Korea, so if I were you I'd consider public schools over hagwons despite the pay not being great (at least you can count on your pay cheque). There is very little protection of foreigners in Korea so don't expect to be able to fight back and win. In Korea, your visa is owned by your boss, no matter how crazy they are.

Other than that, not much to say really. You're right about Japan being more of an "experience." Japan is a lot harder to get settled in and living in Japan in general is not nearly as convenient as living in Korea. Korea is more like Japan was before the bureaucracy and that's one thing I'll miss about Korea (the anarchy, namely).

On the other hand, employers hold your hand way too much in Japan (if you consider that a bad thing). I felt like I was an exchange student or something for the first bit because I had so many people telling me what's what just so I didn't have to figure it out by myself. Korea is a simpler place to live but at the same time, there is no "coddling" at all in the beginning, often you just get off the plane and teach. In Japan, before you start teaching there is usually a few weeks of training, seminars, errands (both meaningful and pointless) etc.

I don't want to go on and on comparing Korea to Japan, especially since I haven't been in Japan for very long... so I'll make an analogy. Korea and Japan are culturally and linguistically somewhat (somewhat) similar. Living in Japan is a bit more like living in the West while Korea is more like living in the East. I've heard Japanese people say that Korea now is like Japan was in the 1960s (culturally) and I tend to agree with them.

However, I do think Korea is a pretty rockin' place and a great way to start an ESL gig. It's more of a bumpy road so after a year in Korea you should be able to handle everything. Japan is great but has had very few surprises. Actually, some of the people I work with here, I don't think could even handle Korea (seriously, I met some Gaijin here who look like they'd start hyperventilating into a paper bag if their pay was an hour late).

Short list:

Korea:
+ Friendlier/warmer people
+ Cheaper to live, make a lot more money
+ Less bureaucratic nonsense, fewer errands to run, life is more easy
+ Korea is simpler to figure out. More 'Englishee' everywhere, best transit system in the world, little need to learn the language (most foreigners don't bother)
+/- Food is hit or miss. If you're simple like me then you'll like it, if you have a wide palette and want to try something new every day then you'll hate it.
- Ruder people (yes, both extremes)
- Xenophobia is pretty high
- Although nothing in Korea was built more than 57 years ago, it is a very ugly country in a lot of places (mainly due to unplanned, rapid development)
- Koreans can't drive, at all
- Monoculture means that average Koreans couldn't give two shits about anything outside their own culture. Mix this with some nationalism and you'll have a crazy ideas floating around. At first I thought it was funny, towards the end I couldn't stand it.

Japan:
-/+ Lukewarm people. They seem consistent but overly cold in comparison to Koreans. I miss how warm Koreans are.
+ Way more going on culturally. More interesting in just about every way.
+ People seem very individualistic here in comparison to Korea.
+ Personal space/preferences/lifestyle choices are respected here. Koreans be all up in your business.
+ Japanese people have hobbies. Koreans work/study so much that you rarely see them doing anything outside besides walking. Japanese people are a lot more like people back home in this respect.
+ Japanese people are way less conservative than Koreans and don't tense up as much around foreigners. They seem easier to talk to overall and I often forget there is a cultural difference. You will always feel cultural differences when talking with Koreans.
+ Japan is so quiet/peaceful. Korea is always loud, all the time.
+ Wayyyyy prettier. Actually decent architecture. Pretty landscaping. Lovely countryside. Korea looks very The future-meets-Soviet Bloc-meets-Las Vegas (very fucking weird, then again, I miss it sometimes).
+ Food is the fucking bomb. So much good food.
- Bureaucracy.
- Korea doesn't have enough rules, Japan has too many. Etiquette is a bit over the top here and can have bad ramifications whereas Koreans couldn't care less just so long as you didn't use your own feces as hair gel.
- I could see Japan being a lot more boring.
- Transportation system sucks in comparison to Korea's and is 10x more expensive.
- More expensive in general.


Take from it what you will! To be honest, I think you should do a year in Korea then plan to move to Japan for the long haul if you want to stay longer. Korea first, definitely. Just don't stay for too long.

If you only plan on staying abroad for one year... then it's hard to say. Want to make money or lose money? Hah.

[Mr. Kalgukshi]

This is the Japan Forum and threads on this forum must focus on Japan. If you wish to discuss living and teaching in Korea, please do so on the Korean Job Discussion Forums where there is a wealth of pertinent information. Please note that separate registration is required for the Korean Job Discussion Forums.

http://forums.eslcafe.com/job/viewtopic.php?t=71099