Job Discussion Forums

[victory7]

[currentaffairs]

I think that is rather a bitter response if I may say so.. You are entitled to your view, of course.

[victory7]

You've got an interesting interpretation of 'bitter'. I guess that's a tactic you use when somebody comes up with facts. Facts like the ones relating to the illegality of working as a musician and collecting cash in hand instead of declaring it while you tell the tax authorities you are teaching.

Another inconvenient truth relates to your kind of patronising comments about how money isn't and shouldn't be important in coming to and working in Japan. Wrong on all counts. If you are floating around the world on no apparent income then yep, you're privileged.

Many people don't have the wealth base, financial gifts from parents and relatives like trust funds, etc, to 'find themselves' and not concern themselves with money. That's why it's such a high risk for the non wealthy/non privileged to work in a foreign country where salaries are dropping like stones. That's why money has to be the focus - without it you can't pay rent and your bills, and the stakes are upped when it aint your country.

Just the other day I listened to a part-time teacher at one of the companies I work at break down in tears over their situation. They earn around 180,000 yen doing different jobs which is about 2,000 US dollars a month and they are paying the usual rent in Tokyo which is usually at least 50,000 to 60,000 yen per month for a not nice, not so liveable 'one room' apartment.

Of course the rent is more for many. In addition to utilities, phone/net and rent they paid their ironically named citizens' tax of 20,000 yen this month, their health insurance of 18,000 yen this month, and their national pension money of more than 15,000 yen per month. They came to Japan because they couldn't find a job in the USA with their good degree, and renting, running a car to get to interviews and crummy part-time jobs, and other costs in the USA were hurting them.

They're also doing it tough in Japan because it is tough to earn a living now. They are a great teacher and I made sure they can get more hours from my boss. But the financial price of living in Japan is real. They have no privileges to fall back on regarding money to float around and say money isn't important.

There are many like this teacher here.

[mitsui]

I applied yesterday to work at a Chinese university. I see the writing on the wall.
My wife is working more than me now and we are not saving money.
If one cannot make enough money around Tokyo, why live here?

I have applied to work at a couple Japanese universities, and I would rather stay here, but I have to make money. Part-time is tough .

[The Transformer]

The bog standard eikaiwa jobs with the "big" eikaiwa like Aeon and ECC pay a salary range from about 250k a month to a peak of about 260k a month or so in 3-4 years. Beyond that, if you want to make more money in those jobs, you need to get a promotion. I think managers with those places make about 280-300k a month, possibly with bonuses on top.

The "best" ALT company is probably Interac, and they pay 230k a month these days, with reductions in August and December, and probably little or no pay in March, as the contracts are often only for 11 months and don't include the spring holiday.

Your living costs, living in a 1K apartment in the suburbs, will probably be about 40k or so on rent, 15k for bills, and if you shop cheap at places like Lawson 100, you could probably get your food and household expenses down to 15-20k a month. You'll probably have to pay moving in charges and furniture for your apartment, which could come to about 200-300k in total when you first move in. Income tax probably averages about 7.5% over the whole year, there's no city tax to pay in your first year, and your health insurance will probably be about 5k a month in the first year. From your second year, your health insurance will probably work out at 20-25k a month if you're on national health insurance, and city tax is probably about 5-6% of your previous year's salary.

Do the math. A bare bones monthly "survival" expenditure would probably leave you with about 150k a month disposable in your first year, and about 130k a month from the second year (presuming you get a 5k pay increase per month). And you need to work out whether you're going to fund your flight and moving in costs yourself, or ask your company to advance you the money and take it out of your wage over the first few months of work.

Beyond that, it depends how much of that disposable income you spend on eating out, clothes, shopping, drinking and entertainment and so on, before you have money left over for travelling. People sometimes do private lessons on the side to get extra money, but you want to consider whether you really want to do that on top of 5-6 hours a day potentially of eikaiwa classes, which can be draining.

If people are considering staying long-term, you want to think about how you're going to develop your career, as you really aren't going to be able to go anywhere career-wise or salary-wise in a bog standard eikaiwa instructor job. Some people get further qualified in TESOL, move up to better paying ALT jobs, or direct hire jobs with Boards of Education or private high schools. Others go into university work. Others open their own schools. Some people get out of it altogether and go into other lines of work (like recruitment consultancy for instance).

[Vince]

[mitsui]

No, indeed. It can lead to divorce. Single people can afford this. Which is why TEFL in Japan seems to be for younger people and/or single people.
Some of them can stand the falling wages.
I have to make money, whether here or in another country.

[weigookin74]

[currentaffairs]

I know plenty of people who are doing fine in Japan. Yes, China has opportunities I wouldn’t disagree with that.

[Mixal]

I occasionally check job ads from Japan on eslcafe.com out of sheer curiosity and I keep being always amazed at details and requirements any random language school comes up with. Is there really that much competition for any teaching gig in Japan?

[twowheel]

[currentaffairs]

[moviefan1987]

I thought I'd share some insight on this.

I came to Japan with a newly minted MA 4 years ago. I was unable to line up anything outside of the country, so I bit the bullet and worked at an eikaiwa my first year in Japan. It wasn't great, but it got me set up in a major city with a visa and an apartment.

After one year, I caught a lucky break and moved into a new position as a direct hire ALT at a BOE. The pay and conditions were much better than eikaiwa and I was quite happy with the job. I taught at just two different schools, and the Japanese teachers gave me a lot of autonomy to teach and plan lessons as I liked. It was a good experience.

After 3 years teaching at a BOE, I finally moved into teaching full-time at a small private university. Pay isn't as great as other university jobs, though (my pay is just a bit over 4 million yen, while other uni jobs offer in the range of 5-6 million yen). I was lucky that I didn't have any publications to get the university job, but I still had JLPT Level 1, an MA, a spouse visa, and several years residence in Japan.

Japan is a competitive market, but there are good jobs here. But there is definitely preference for people who can speak Japanese, have spouse visas, and Japan experience.

[kzjohn]

[mitsui]

I think it is really competitive.
So learn the language, make your resume better, work hard.
You need to have something extra, something to distinguish you from other people.
As you get older it does not get easier.
Maybe working outside the big cities is the right idea.
Too many teachers around Tokyo and Osaka.