Job Discussion Forums

Cyna · Joined: 23 Jun 2003 Posts: 20

Hello all,

OK so my husband and I are considering going to teach in Japan. Although considering this is one of the most expensive cities in the world and after reading about the average teaching salaries what is your opinion on saving. Is it possible to save money, pay student loans and live well in Japan on an ESL salary? Let me know.

PAULH · Joined: 28 Jan 2003 Posts: 4672 Location: Western Japan

Cyna · Joined: 23 Jun 2003 Posts: 20

Sorry I did not clarify the city. Tokyo or Osaka

PAULH · Joined: 28 Jan 2003 Posts: 4672 Location: Western Japan

Cyna

I live in Kyoto if you have any particular questions

[email protected]

If you have degrees and can both work it should be possible to save money- Osaka living costs are cheaper than Tokyo (but still high) and there is a lot to do and see in Kansai.

I support a family on my income (non-working wife, 2 children) and manage to save a bit but again it depends on your outgoings, rent and lifestyle. In 5 years I managed to save a deposit on a house back house and have substantial savings. it all depends on personal willpower and savings discipline IMHO

Paul

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

Cyna · Joined: 23 Jun 2003 Posts: 20

Thank you Paul and Glenski Very Happy

Well my husband and I both have Bachelor degrees. As far as student loans, well I'm not sure how much we both owe but I can say it is a substantial amount.

PAULH · Joined: 28 Jan 2003 Posts: 4672 Location: Western Japan

If you both have degrees you should have no problem then getting work visas. Keep in mind that Income tax is quite steep on a secondary income (tax goes up if spouse earns over 1 million yen a year or 80,000 yen a month) but you may be OK if you file separately. It sounds like you have no kids so that is one less expense to worry about.

Your next problem would be how to pay back your loans while you are working in Japan- Japanese banks do not generally offer automatic payments to overseas banks and you may need to send an electronic transfer or bank draft to your home bank on a regular basis. Citibank has branches here so it may be possible to send money through them as well.

I had a couple of colleagues who were paying off about $100,000 in college loans and because they had good jobs(university) and were both working were able to make significant progress in reducing their loans.

I have an offshore pension and savings account which charges my credit card and is taken out automatically every month. If you can come to some arrangement where student loans are charged to a credit card in Japan or from a home account why you drip feed money into you might be able to do something. You are probably paying off loans which attract huge interest, so my advice obviously would be to pay those off first before you do anything else. If you are both working at a conversation school as well as privates etc, you should be able to easily pull in 400-450,000 yen a month, take out 200,000 yen for expensesand you are left with 250,000 yen or $2000 a month to pay off your loans.

These are only suggestions and you will only have a better idea once you have got here and got jobs, start paying rent etc.

For an idea of living costs in Tokyo go to http://www.pricechecktokyo.com and rents in Tokyo will vary depending on area and size of apartment. Expect to pay anything from 80,000-150,000 yen for a 1-2 bedroom apartment, same with Osaka.