Job Discussion Forums

[tesuji]

[Glenski]

Thanks for clarifying those points. Here's my follow-up take on things.

1. Hours.
If your wife gets the lowest rung on the ladder -- an entry level job at an eikaiwa -- she can expect to work any day of the week from about noon to 9pm. Figure travel time outside of that. Any weekend could be possible, such as Sunday - Monday, or even non-consecutive days.

If she gets an ALT position, she'll probably face roughly 9 to 5, Monday to Friday times. Same goes for any college, university, or junior college position. [ALT = assistant language teacher. Sometimes places call them AET, for Assistant English teacher. You are not the boss in the classroom, but have to deal with a Japanese teacher who is. Experiences vary considerably from good relationship to bad, from being a human tape recorder to practically running the class. In any case, ALTs often visit more than one school, and unless you get on the JET program, an ALT is hired by a dispatch agency. Those do not have the best reputation here, despite their growth in the industry.]

Business English jobs may be similar in time frame to eikaiwa.

2. Your situation.
If she gets a job with a visa, you can either work or not. Entry level jobs will pay little more than 270,000 yen/month (sometimes as low as 170,000), both of which are insufficient to support a family. So, you are both going to have to make an income or in the case of the upper end salary I just mentioned, figure ways to squeak by. Taking care of kids on a salary of even 300,000 is iffy IMO. Been there with 1 child, so that's my experience.

If your wife works, she can also take on supplemental work. You can get a dependent visa and work PT (28 hr/wk). Make more than roughly 1.1 million yen/yr, and she can't claim you as a dependent on taxes. Alternately, you could get your own work visa and work FT if you choose.

The problem as I see it is the children. International schools are very expensive, but if you want them because all classes are taught in English, that's what you will face. Otherwise you would have to consider home-schooling. If you choose to put them in Japanese schools, the issues of schedules and language surface. You will have to communicate with the school in spoken and written Japanese. Forms are a bear. Elementary school (the age that my child is in now) lets out at about 2:30 every day, so someone has to be home then. Busing may vary where you live. In my small town, there is none, so my kid walks a kilometer each way (and beginning this year it's twice as far because the school was torn down, so he goes to the new one they built).

There are lots of particulars that the school will communicate with parents (mandatory events, policies about what to wear, announcements of stalkers in the area, crossing guard duty by parents, PTA, influenza warnings, etc.), and parents are also put on a call list so that if there are announcements by the school, each parent is responsible for taking one call and passing it along to other parents. Also, every little item the child has -- from socks to pencil case -- must have their names on them. A hard backpack called a randoseru is required, and that can be very expensive. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Randoseru There may also be special clothing/uniforms/aprons/hats that the kids have to wear; these may be restricted to certain colors or patterns.

Homeschooling, as you said, is an option, but it will cut into your own schedule immensely. Japan has some people doing homeschooling, but it is not popular nor widely accepted. I have no idea how available are textbooks and other materials.

This link is a little old, but it provides a wealth of information concerning schooling in Japan that every foreign parent should know, IMO.
http://www.ed.gov/pubs/JapanCaseStudy/index.html

You mentioned working for U.S. clients remotely. Entirely feasible, and you are not required to have any work visa for that since you would be paid from outside Japan. The only thing is what time you would have to get the work done, and the time difference for communicating with clients.

Mr. Mom will probably learn Japanese faster than your wife, simply because of the constant exposure. It won't be easy, though, just forced upon you out of necessity. Bills are usually paid by an automatic bank transfer in Japan. There is no checking system here. You'll have to learn to read some Japanese in order to buy groceries.

3. Home life
I know you said you lived in Fukui long ago, but bear with me. You might want to recall these things in order to tell your wife.

Unless you are extremely lucky (IMO), you will not live in a house but an apartment. These are not only small in overall dimensions, but ceilings and doorways are lower than in the U.S. Many/Most eikaiwa will provide housing from previous teachers, so you would get secondhand furnishings, but they often only cater to singles. Get a place on your own, and it will be very costly to set up with security fees and Japan's own unique "key money" non-refundable deposits/bribes. Counter space is at a premium to say the least in Japanese kitchens, and most counters and sinks are lower than you are used to. Get an apartment on your own, and you will probably have to furnish it with everything including all appliances and sometimes even light fixtures. Heating is usually not central, but some sort of kerosene space heater. Newer homes may have electric (more expensive, but less messy). Kerosene means you might have to buy it directly from the gas station and refill the tank yourself. Landline phones are purchased (30,000 yen), then transferred as you relocate. Installation of landline or cell phones can be 10,000 yen, and they come with enormous option packages to sort out. Hospital care is different from the U.S., and although it is modern medicine, it will be you who faces the procedures just to check in (in Japanese, of course) and pay on the spot (30% if the bill thanks to national health insurance).

That ought to cover some basics. Granted, it's not all roses like you might have wanted to use to sell to your wife, but I don't believe in falsely sugar-coating the situation. Reality is better. Adapting to a foreign culture is something you've had some experience with. How about your wife? Doing it alone vs. as a married couple (with kids, yet) is totally different, too.

[timothypfox]

I just want to add to what Glenski about educational options. There are also Japanese private schools that have specialty programs in English. This is another possibility for your children.

If your wife was lucky enough to get work at a Japanese private school, the salary range may be more like 300,000 to 400,000 a month. Maybe a little higher than that. If your child goes to the same school that you work at, you may get 1/2 off the tuition. In my own work situation at a private school, the school threw in 2.7 man a month extra on top of salary towards rent, giving me an effective rent of less than 3 man!

Also consider public schools and kindergartens that have specialty English programs. These types of schools would be very interested in admitting your children.

Also, I know your wife does not have a teaching license, but normally the qualification to teach at a US style program international school is a teaching license and grade school teaching experience in an English speaking country (i.e. US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and UK primarily). If you had a year or so to decide, this could be another route. (Tie Online is a good source for Japanese private school and International school work - also see the Tokyo with Kids website. Tie online is unfortunately a pay site, but it is legitimate and was helpful for me even though I didn't get my job through them...)

Finally, Japan remains an incredibly popular destination for ESL teachers. It will take copious internet research and blind inquiries at schools that you are not sure whether there are positions or not. I was very stubborn about a particular location (Kagoshima), and took about 5 years to find a suitable position. You will certainly do much better if you are less picky - just a caution of course about jobs around Tohoku. It may be much easier to get a job near there - but safety for your family is an obvious concern. In Kagoshima or Okinawa, you couldn't be farther away from these troubles! However, these are not super convenient for international travel back west as you generally have to fly domestic to Tokyo and then out of Japan...

[tesuji]

Wow, thanks Glenski and timothypfox for all the great info. Yes, certainly we want the facts, not some sugar coated picture. We'll learn the facts sooner or later - sooner is better

To clarify a few things - my wife has taught at US public schools for many years, including ESL.

I certainly would be enthusiastically learning Japanese, building on my current novice level in the language - my interest in Japanese language and culture is one of my main reasons for wanting to go to Japan.

We have both lived abroad for a couple years apiece, so we won't be totally blindsided. But each country is unique of course.

[mitsui]

If your wife could get a job at an international school, she could get paid well. However, she would probably have to work quite a bit.

[OneJoelFifty]

With all the costs of finding an apartment, enrolling in schools and the like, I think you should be aware that unless you have money to burn, coming over just for a year in your situation is simply not realistic. Do your research well and prepare to make a real commitment.

[tesuji]

[OneJoelFifty]

I'm not saying you couldn't break even, if that's what you want. It's just a lot of expense and a lot of upheaval for potentially little reward, in my opinion. The school situation will have a big say in your finances. While considering the money, I had some other thoughts...

Taking your children out of their current schools, particularly your eldest daughter, and immersing them in a completely different education system for a year could have a huge effect. I've worked in a good public school and am currently in a good private school, and your children have little to no chance of learning anything in a normal school environment without significant Japanese ability. So I'd say your choices are expensive private school, or home schooling. Expensive private school probably means staying in a more expensive city. Home schooling, while cheap, surely isn't ideal. How will your children make friends?

Take a quick look at these costs, people please comment if you think I'm at all wide of the mark. Let's assume your wife gets a very decent starting wage of 300,000 Yen a month. Also consider that even if she arrives with a job, it will be two months before she gets that first paycheck.

Flights:
I did a quick search for flight tickets leaving from LA in November, which I'd imagine is among the cheaper cities and months to travel from the US to Japan. A few of them were around 500 dollars. Times that by four and it's roughly 160,000 Yen.

Apartment:
I just paid over 300,000 Yen to move into a place in Tokyo. About half of that was rent and a month deposit, the other half was fees. This was without key money. You said you might want a smaller city, but your rent is still going to be on the high side with a family. I'm going to say 100,000 a month for rent if you live somewhere less than 20 years old in a small city. Let's say the moving in costs are 400,000 Yen. And you'll probably be needing to buy appliances and furniture, call it another 100,000 Yen.

School:
This is a big one really. The American School in Japan I took a quick look at is over 3,000,000 Yen for fees per student. Maybe there are others cheaper, I don't know. I suspect that sending your kids to an international school means breaking even is absolutely out of the question so let's rule it out, leaving home schooling. I'll say it's free, but it means no job for you.

Bills: Other people that have children are more qualified to answer this than I am. 100,000 a month for all utilities, a couple of mobile phones, national health insurance for the whole family, city tax? Food? Travel?

Start-up money: 660,000.
Monthly costs: 200,000 x 12 = 2,400,000
Total: 3,060,000

Wife's salary: 300,000 x 12 = 3,600,000

3,600,000 - 3,060,000 = 540,000

I think I may have been a little conservative with some of the costs, basically you're not looking at a lot left.

[OneJoelFifty]

PS - I don't have children so I don't have any experience, and I don't want to sound like a dick...but it sounds more like you and your wife want to experience life abroad, and hopefully it won't be too bad for your kids.

Japan is not an easy place to come for a single adult, as you know. I can't imagine how it would appear to a child. I think it can definitely be a great country to live in, but your children might not get any significant benefit from a short-term move. In fact it might set them back a bit when returning after a year.

[Glenski]

[tesuji]

Thanks again for the great info

[spanglish]

Hello, I don't know anything about Japan, so excuse my intrusion here.

I was just thinking that if your wife has many years of experience in US public schools wouldn't she be able to get on at a very good international school in Japan? I would think that her pay in that case would be considerably higher than entry level positions. Additionally, your child would get reduced tuition to study there. Perhaps you should check out job fairs in the United States for international schools.

In Latin America, you'll get much better benefits and pay if you can get hired under an expat package before departing your home country.

[Tiger Beer]