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Mark
Joined: 23 Jan 2003
Posts: 500
Location: Tokyo, Japan
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 Posted: Sat Jul 19, 2003 7:49 pm Post subject: Good locations in Kanto? |
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Hi folks,
I'm planning on moving to Japan around Octoberish. I'd appreciate any recommendations you have about where to live in Kanto. I'm pretty much set on that general area for Japanese language learning reasons, but my actual location choice within Kanto will have more to do with work opportunities.
Basically, I'm looking for a place that both has a lot of English schools and is populated by (or conveniently located for) the sort of folks who take private lessons (I'm not entirely sure which folks those are, or I'd be more specific). Ideally, after my first year (which will probably be spent with one of the big 4) I'd like to transition into working part-time for one or more schools and running a few private classes. This plan is based on what I've read on this board suggesting that this is the best position to be in.
So, it'd be nice to go over with a chain school and then not have to change locations once I'm finished with them.
Thanks in advance,
Mark |
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Glenski
Joined: 15 Jan 2003
Posts: 12844
Location: Hokkaido, JAPAN
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| Posted: Sat Jul 19, 2003 11:03 pm Post subject: |
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Are you aware that the majority of apartment managers don't rent to people without jobs to serve as guarantors? And, that even if you find a place on your own, you will likely have to put up 2-5 months rent as non-refundable key money?
Only Leopalace21 seems to avoid these two problems, but you still have to pay the full term's rent with them. That is, if you plan to stay 2 months, you pay for the full 2 months in advance.
I suggest you find a guest house (gaijin house) for temporary lodging, do your job hunting, and go with whatever housing the employer (usually) has to offer, typically within the area of the school. |
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azarashi sushi
Joined: 23 Jan 2003
Posts: 562
Location: Shinjuku
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| Posted: Sat Jul 19, 2003 11:04 pm Post subject: |
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| Go to Tokyo! |
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Mark
Joined: 23 Jan 2003
Posts: 500
Location: Tokyo, Japan
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| Posted: Sat Jul 19, 2003 11:11 pm Post subject: |
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| Glenski wrote: |
Are you aware that the majority of apartment managers don't rent to people without jobs to serve as guarantors? And, that even if you find a place on your own, you will likely have to put up 2-5 months rent as non-refundable key money?
Only Leopalace21 seems to avoid these two problems, but you still have to pay the full term's rent with them. That is, if you plan to stay 2 months, you pay for the full 2 months in advance.
I suggest you find a guest house (gaijin house) for temporary lodging, do your job hunting, and go with whatever housing the employer (usually) has to offer, typically within the area of the school. |
Sorry there, guess I wasn't clear. I do plan on obtaining housing through my employer. What I would like to do is decide on a couple of choice areas and then request to be placed in one of those areas.
Any specific parts?
Cheers. |
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homersimpson
Joined: 14 Feb 2003
Posts: 569
Location: Kagoshima
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| Posted: Sun Jul 20, 2003 12:07 am Post subject: |
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| Quote: |
| I do plan on obtaining housing through my employer. |
Yes, but what I think Glenski was referring to was after your one year of employment with one of the big 4. If you decide to do part-time jobs and privates on your own, you will have to vacate the big 4 housing. As Glenski rightly pointed out, finding housing on your own without an employer acting as guarantor, will be difficult ... even in Tokyo. Although there are many gaijin houses in Tokyo, room availability is always a factor. |
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Glenski
Joined: 15 Jan 2003
Posts: 12844
Location: Hokkaido, JAPAN
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| Posted: Sun Jul 20, 2003 12:41 am Post subject: |
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| Quote: |
| What I would like to do is decide on a couple of choice areas and then request to be placed in one of those areas. |
No offense, Mark, but you can request all you want, but you go where your employer has the vacancies. I don't think you really have much say.
| Quote: |
| I'd appreciate any recommendations you have about where to live in Kanto. I'm pretty much set on that general area for Japanese language learning reasons, but my actual location choice within Kanto will have more to do with work opportunities. I'm looking for a place that both has a lot of English schools and is populated by (or conveniently located for) the sort of folks who take private lessons (I'm not entirely sure which folks those are, or I'd be more specific). |
Schools are set up in areas that make it easy for lots of people to attend. Many are located near train stations, and it's my experience that those areas are fairly expensive to live. It's just convenient for commuting. As for where you might live, a few places have housing very close to the schools, but many prefer to set up housing in cheaper tax areas, which could put you 20-60 minutes away from your job. Of course, you can find your own housing, and sometimes the employer will help, but you will also have to contend with the other problems I mentioned earlier. One more thing...if you plan to teach privates, you can either teach out of your home, or meet people in their homes or in cafes. Teaching out of your home has a few disadvantages.
1. You should keep it clean and presentable at all teaching times. This may not be in your nature.
2. You will always feel that you are working, even at home. This could be a strain on you.
3. If your housing is located in a typical place, it may not be (and likely will not be) convenient for your private students to visit, and that would put a crimp in your business opportunities.
| Quote: |
| ...folks who take private lessons (I'm not entirely sure which folks those are, or I'd be more specific). |
These can be almost anyone. Probably the most common people are housewives from 30 to 60 years old. The next most common group would be either college kids or business people. I advise caution against the college kids and the younger business people because they just don't have the money to invest in a long-term English class, even if it is cozy and private. Finally, you might land a gig or two with children, but you'd probably have to go to their homes instead of bringing them to yours. |
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Wolf
Joined: 10 May 2003
Posts: 1245
Location: Middle Earth
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| Posted: Sun Jul 20, 2003 2:22 am Post subject: |
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| homersimpson wrote: |
| . As Glenski rightly pointed out, finding housing on your own without an employer acting as guarantor, will be difficult ... even in Tokyo. |
Actually, any job - holding Japanese person can serve as a guarantor. In my first (non - NOVA) apartnemt my roomate's Japanese girlfriend was our guarantor. In my second apartment my friend (the landlord's sister  ) was my guarantor.
I like to use friends because that way you can change jobs and not need to worry about losing your guarantor.
Maybe some landlords will insist on your employer being the guarantor I don't know, but it's not the official requirement anyway....
Edit: However, I wouldn't get an apartment in Japan without a job - we're talking one month's rent real estate agent fee plus first month's rent up front plus a 1 - 3 month's rent security deposit plus key money if you can't avoid it (at least one month) plus getting furniture.
So that 70 000 a month place you'll have to fork over - in advance just to get the keys:
70 000 + 70 000 + 140 000 (let's say) + 70 000 = 350 000. Then funiture (I furnished my place for about 85 000 by buying everything from sayonara sales of other departing teachers - that includes the cost of renting a truck for a day to go around and get everything. It's really hard to drag a full sized fridge or a washing machine onto a subway or bus.)
So you're looking at just over 400 000. I freaked when I first worked this out for myself. Mind you, depending where you live, your rent could be less (they countryside) or more (downtown Tokyo). |
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azarashi sushi
Joined: 23 Jan 2003
Posts: 562
Location: Shinjuku
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| Posted: Sun Jul 20, 2003 3:32 am Post subject: |
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Hey Mark ...
Everyone's been quick to crush your little spirit, haven't they? It's good to have some ambition and where there's a will, there's a way, isn't there?
I do tend to think though, there is a lot to be said for just working full-time at one place (whether it be high school, elementary school or eikaiwa) ...
Find a nice school with minimum stress and try and live nearby ... And if you really want, then get a couple of privates on the side for a bit of extra cash.
Potentially you can earn more with the part-time/private student combo, but it's SUGOI MENDOKUSAI.
It really depends on the kind of person you are.
It's true that you probably won't have too much choice in where you're placed . . . But if you do, then like anywhere in the world, being in the centre is best ...
But as Glenski would say, "You'll pay a pretty penny for that!"
The best train lines in Tokyo for living and working in my opinion: Number 1 is the Yamanote line, number 2 would be the Chuo line and number three would be the Saikyo line.
Once you actually get here, you will see the whole situation for yourself ... And as you said, you'll be working for one of the Big 4 for the first year anyway, so you'll have a whole year to sus out the situation and save your cash for that apartment.
I've recently been looking around to move ... Basically any place that you REALLY WANT to live will cost you 2 months deposit, 2 months key money, 2 months agents fee and 1 month rent in advance. Everything else decent seems to be 1+2+2+1.
Good luck!
A.S. |
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Mark
Joined: 23 Jan 2003
Posts: 500
Location: Tokyo, Japan
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| Posted: Sun Jul 20, 2003 4:04 am Post subject: |
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| Quote: |
| Everyone's been quick to crush your little spirit, haven't they? It's good to have some ambition and where there's a will, there's a way, isn't there? |
No, not crushed, just surprised. I was under the apparently mistaken impression that this was a normal course of events. Go with a chain school, get established, then work a couple of part-time gigs and combine that with privates.
| Quote: |
| No offense, Mark, but you can request all you want, but you go where your employer has the vacancies. I don't think you really have much say. |
No offense taken whatsoever. I know that placement requests, especially really specific ones, probably won't work out. But I'm applying to everyone who accepts overseas applicants, and I'm not going unless I'm placed in or around Tokyo, with the possible exception of Sapporo. So, I'd rather wait for a vacancy around Tokyo then go somewhere else.
It's just for language reasons. I'd like to make a serious study of Japanese while I'm there, and my chances for success will presumably be increased if the variant that's spoken on the street is fairly similar to the standardised form that I'm studying.
Thanks for the replies,
Mark |
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Glenski
Joined: 15 Jan 2003
Posts: 12844
Location: Hokkaido, JAPAN
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| Posted: Sun Jul 20, 2003 12:58 pm Post subject: |
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From Wolf's post:
| Quote: |
So that 70 000 a month place you'll have to fork over - in advance just to get the keys:
70 000 + 70 000 + 140 000 (let's say) + 70 000 = 350 000. Then funiture |
And, if you want a phone line in your apartment, you'll have to pay 70,000 yen just to get it installed, unless you can buy one off an exiting expat, who will still probably sell it for 30,000 yen. Your other route, of course, is to buy a cell phone.
azarashi sushi wrote:
| Quote: |
It's true that you probably won't have too much choice in where you're placed . . . But if you do, then like anywhere in the world, being in the centre is best ...
But as Glenski would say, "You'll pay a pretty penny for that!" |
That's the second time in a month someone has posted such a line. Rather than debate whether I have ever written such a line, let me just point out the obvious. If you live in the center of a large city, you'll pay more. Duh. No need to quote anyone on this, is there, azarashi, no matter how backhanded your comment may have been? |
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Brooks
Joined: 16 Jan 2003
Posts: 1369
Location: Sagamihara
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| Posted: Mon Jul 21, 2003 11:13 pm Post subject: |
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or you can be like me and rent the phone line for 2,600 or so a month.
It is not worth it to shell out 70,000 yen to buy the line unless you plan on living in the same place for a few years. |
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azarashi sushi
Joined: 23 Jan 2003
Posts: 562
Location: Shinjuku
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| Posted: Thu Jul 24, 2003 4:41 am Post subject: |
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Hey Glenski,
I'm sorry I offended you ... I was being a little cheeky but there was no back handedness intended ... I just thought it was a cute idiom!
A.S. |
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As Das Fads
Joined: 06 Mar 2003
Posts: 44
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| Posted: Thu Jul 24, 2003 1:17 pm Post subject: |
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I'll have to defend azarashii on that point Glenski, I thought he/she was paying homage to your wisdom rather than taking the piss.
Honestly you do such a great job on forums such as this - and gaijinpot, etc - that I really hope you don't take offence (or is that offense?).
Anyhoo, you are muchly appreciated and highly regarded. so take that! |
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Lucy Snow
Joined: 16 Jan 2003
Posts: 218
Location: US
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| Posted: Thu Jul 24, 2003 2:30 pm Post subject: |
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Mark-- another factor you must consider if you want to go the part-time/private student route is if you don't work, you don't get paid. Private students are notorious for cancelling classes at the last minute, "forgetting" to pay on time, and "oh, by the way Teacher, I don't want any lessons for the entire month of August." (I had a student tell me this on July 30th.)
There is no sick time, no holiday pay, no paid vacations. I think the advice azarashi sushi gave you is good. Find a low-stress full-time job with housing including, and pick up a few privates for extra cash. |
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