Job Discussion Forums

desitom · Joined: 02 Mar 2003 Posts: 9

Anyone interested in living in San Francisco for the month of July?

I thinking of offering my 1 bedroom apartment to anyone in exchange for your place in Japan (preferably around Nagoya) and your teaching job for that month.

I know it's a strange offer, but I want to visit Japan this summer and get some teaching experience (and money of course). I'm just fishing for interest right now, so let me know if any of you want to do it and we can discuss it further.

Desi

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

desitom · Joined: 02 Mar 2003 Posts: 9

I'm a graduate student with no job, so any amount of money I could make over the cost of the ticket is profit for me.

I figured that I could be a substitute for whoever wants to exchange places with me. Since it's a temperary thing, I'm sure many places can look the other way about the visa. I was a JET for 3 years, I did Eikaiwa off and on during that time as well and I just finished my first year of my TESOL master's program. So I can jump into most teaching situations.

It's a good chance for someone in Japan to get out of the rain and heat for a month and live in a beautiful tourist city for a month and I get a working holiday in Japan.

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

desitom · Joined: 02 Mar 2003 Posts: 9

Excuse me?

I don't know why you're debating with me about this, but I lived in Japan for three years and I know what goes on. First of all, I'd be happy to get 2,500 yet to ofset the $800 flight, that leaves me with $1200+ dollars. A condition of the exchange is exchanging apartments, so it'll be rent free. If I spend 2000 yen per day, I should be able to pocket around $600 and I would have spent a month in Japan rent free and expenses paid for.

As far as vacation time is concerned, perhaps your situation wouldn't allow for a month off, but I'm sure there are plenty of teachers out there who can. I've been to conversation schools where teachers are like modular furniture, you just plug them in where and whenever you need them.

And they're are plenty of places that will hire without a proper visa. I've already contacted a school that would, but they don't know if any of their teachers will be going on vacation in July.

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

I'm debating the feasibility of your plan, that's all. I've been in Japan longer than 3 years, so I have some experience at this game, too.

Conversation schools are pretty tight on the amount of vacation time they allow their teachers. More often than not, they don't permit time off, certainly no more than a week, and definitely not a whole month, unless you have some sort of emergency back home. It's all in the contract. Moreover, the reason they don't permit this is that they are money-making operations that depend on their students and the relationship they have with teachers to keep the money flowing. To ask a school for a month's leave and to interrupt a schedule of paid classes just so you can take a vacation (and have a total stranger come in your place) would, in my opinion and experience, be seriously frowned upon and rejected. Asking at this late date will work against you, too, because you probably know the Japanese propensity for taking time to make decisions.

Ok, so you spend $800 on airfare and 2000 yen/day on survival. Yes, that leaves you with about $780 left over. I was assuming you'd pay for each other's rent. Not so, I guess. I think you are going to spend more than 2000, though. Food will run you about 1500-2000 yen/day, depending on how you swing it for your 3 basic meals. There is also commuting costs (about 10,000 - 15,000 yen/month). I would think that you'd also want to explore part of the city/country, and that will cost money for transportation, entry fees, bar tabs, souvenirs, photographs, and such. Just as a safety issue, have you considered insurance? Accidents happen, and you probably already know that hospital costs are pretty high here, especially with no insurance. Yes, you may make out ahead in the long run, but I can't really see as to why you would want to fly all the way over here just for a few hundred dollars, especially since you've already had 3 years' experience here, and there are probably easier ways to make money in San Francisco. I am assuming your JET experience was fairly recent, so if your goal is to boost your resume, putting a single month's additional experience on a resume seems rather pointless to me. Even if you have been home for a while since working in Japan, a month's stint won't count for much on a resume.

Not to run this conversation into the ground, but I think you should be very careful with any school/company that says it will waive any visa requirements just to "plug you in" for a month. If they look the other way at immigration, what's to stop them from withholding your paycheck? You won't be able to complain to any legal authorities. This sort of thing (having people work on a tourist visa, then reneg on paying salaries) has been done, so this is the reason I am dubious about the success of your plan.

Just for the record, I and my colleagues have never heard of any such outfits that just plug people into their schedules from off the street. Schools/companies with such a rotating schedule have already contracted people to work for them, and they have a relationship previously established for call-in work. I'm not saying such places don't exist, only that I have not heard of such a place in my time here.

From a purely personal standpoint, other people may think this is an acceptable proposal, but to have a total stranger living in my home with my belongings sounds rather creepy and potentially dangerous to me, especially if I am several thousand miles away.

Best of luck to you.

desitom · Joined: 02 Mar 2003 Posts: 9

Thanks for your concern. I was just posting to see if there was any interest. I thought it couldn't hurt just to post an offer and see if there were any takers. (though I didn't expect to get flamed. ) If there happens to be someone who is interested and we can make it work, then I get a month to see my friends in Japan, visit my fiance's family and work on my Japanese. Actually I was in Japan for two weeks at the beginning of this year.

If it doesn't happen, then that's okay too. I'll just stay in SF and enjoy the 70 degree F (20C) weather and rest up for my next semester.

buffy · Joined: 12 Feb 2003 Posts: 57

desitom,
I think it might be feasable. I know several people here who regularly take a month or more off and find someone to cover their classes. These people are usually self-employed. Whether or not someone wants to go to SF for a month is another issue. Sounds like a great idea. Good luck and I hope it works out!

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

homersimpson · Joined: 14 Feb 2003 Posts: 569 Location: Kagoshima

Believe it or not, this "plan" is actually doable under the right circumstances. I know for a fact that American Language School (ALS) allows for - actually prefers - teachers to find their own substitutes if they are planning to miss work. However, the sub has to be approved by the school manager or franchise owner. Additionally, a sub for a month is quite an extended period, so the teacher would have to say it's an emergency or give some legitimate reason for being gone that long. Actually, August would be a better month since ALS teachers have two weeks off and you'd only be subbing for 10 days. Of course, you wouldn't make much money in that short time.

desitom · Joined: 02 Mar 2003 Posts: 9

Sorry, flaming was not the right word for what you did. I did find these remarks pretty insulting:

[quote="Glenski"]

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

Trust me, desitom, if I had meant to flame you, it would've really hurt. Besides, I don't flame people. My remarks like "this is not done" sounded pretty harmless. I could've written something snide like "are you out of your mind?" or "whatever put that silly notion in your head?" But, I didn't. Apologies if you were offended.

In regards to what desitom and a couple others have said, I have always admitted that I don't know the whole eikaiwa business, but to expect someone to substitute without a work visa seems terribly unlikely, and as I wrote earlier, it runs the risk of not getting paid. Desitom, you admitted substituting while you were a JET, but those circumstances were different than what you proposed here because as a JET you had a work visa. That answers my question about what you learned as a JET. (Sorry if you found that offensive, but it clears things up for me that you don't know about eikaiwa contracts. No offense intended, ok?) homersimpson offers a possiblity in ALS, but I would wager that they don't choose people without visas. (Homer, do you know either way about that?)

homersimpson · Joined: 14 Feb 2003 Posts: 569 Location: Kagoshima

Glenski, regarding ALS, I know they have employed many teachers who had yet to obtain a working visa (i.e. they hired them and filled out the paperwork for the working visa while the teacher was beginning work). I know they have allowed a handful of people to work, especially during summer months who didn't have a current visa. One example in particular was a guy who worked for ALS during his summer vacation (he was employed in Macau and had a summer break). I know another situation in which a guy accepted a position and began working with ALS and when they asked about his visa status, he replied "you didn't ask me if I had one." (Implying he didn't know he needed one, despite the fact that he had worked on and off in Japan for the previous 10 years or so). In both of the above cases, these teachers had worked for ALS previously, so the school obviously wasn't worried about such "formalities" as proper visas. The teachers that worked for ALS during the summer were, to the best of my knowledge, not under a signed contract, thus keeping it rather hush-hush. Overall, however, I don't think this practice is the norm. It is rather odd, considering ALS does pay on time, is generally pretty honest with its employees, etc.

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

Thanks, Homer.

cafebleu · Joined: 10 Feb 2003 Posts: 404

I understand desitom`s logic but as with Glenski, I think there are a number of impracticalities associated with his plan, not to mention illegalities.

I find it interesting that in the year 2003, any number of people with experience in Japan or otherwise, think that it is quite easy to rock up here, bend the rules, make enough money to buy a house back home with few problems, or whatever. It is clear to me that Glenski has already stated the reality check viewpoint, but I will add that it is NOT `flaming` to give honest opinions that present alternatives rather than telling the poster, `Yeah, go for it - everything`s fine.`

Maybe desitom should prepare himself for genuine critical points if he wants to post in this kind of forum asking for advice. If you think that is `flaming` then I think you never posted on the old forum or have never cruised through gaijinpot.com let alone had your say there. Sure, you can try to do what you want but anybody who has had more experience in Japan will raise a red flag automatically when they hear of schools willing to bend and break immigration rules, etc, apparently so easily.

Think about the implications of one month of working what would most likely be illegally in Japan. It could lead to all sorts of situations down the track if you want to work legitimately again in Japan, marry a Japanese girl, etc. To raise these kind of points is giving you what you asked for - responses about the viability of carrying out your plan.