Job Discussion Forums

sasha · Joined: 06 Mar 2003 Posts: 6

Hi Everyone! I have a question about how much money i can expect to save while in Japan.

I am an ESL/EFL teacher from Australia. 26 years old. 4 years experience. I have a Bachelor of Arts (Linguistics), and a CELTA (B grade). Currently studying an MA in Applied Linguistics and working at an English college in Sydney.

My wife is 24, no degree. blond, blue-eyed (i heard that may help!). Now an Aussie citizen, but grew up in Argentina. Extremely fluent English speaker. Almost no accent etc.

We are both interested in heading over to Japan for a year or so. Not intending to stay in one of the larger cities, but don't want to be out in the middle of nowhere either. Either of us are big partiers, we really drink etc. We don't have an extravagent lifestyle.

We want to check out Japan for 2 main reasons. We are both interested in Japanese culture and would like to experience life there and we would like to save up some money while there.

I would love some feedback on how much money we could realistically save.

Thanks for all your help!

azarashi sushi · Joined: 23 Jan 2003 Posts: 562 Location: Shinjuku

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

I might also add that if your wife has no degree, she will only be able to get a dependents visa, and with some extra paperwork she can work part time, up to 25 hours a week.

I think you will find it a struggle to support two people / save any money on an average language school income of 250,000 yen a month unless you are frugal, but your wife can earn up to an extra 80,000 yen a month before you get hit for secondary tax, so you are looking at a net income of perhaps 300-330,000 yen a month which is more than enough.

I think azurashi's figure of 70,000 yen (about $AUS 1,000) was really for a single person, but you will have extra expenses and outgoings as a married couple, but share some costs (rent etc).As he mentioned it depends on a number of factors such as what you pay for rent are, (key money may cost you up to 4-5 months rent if you find your own place, very little if its employer-supplied) and your basic living costs.

sasha · Joined: 06 Mar 2003 Posts: 6

hi everyone, op here, just wanted to apologise for my silly errors, it pay to proof-read! cheers, sasha

azarashi sushi · Joined: 23 Jan 2003 Posts: 562 Location: Shinjuku

easyasabc · Joined: 13 Jul 2003 Posts: 179 Location: Japan

quai · Joined: 21 Oct 2003 Posts: 12 Location: Japan

if your wife comes in on a working holiday visa then she will be able to earn a reasonable amount of money. perhaps around 180,000 per month from someone like Nova or the likes.

BenJ · Joined: 11 May 2003 Posts: 209 Location: Nagoya

Hi Sasha,

Similar situation to you, except my partner has childcare experience, but no degree. On a WHV she was able to get work quite easily full-time. Does your partner have anything marketable for teaching?

Together we manage to live on one salary and save the other. We don't go out much either but we do spend a bit on clothes or short trips when we feel like, not to mention whatever groceries we want. Consider also you should be able to pick up an extra part-time job or two to increase your wage to 300k a month.

So to answer your question (assuming your partner can get a WHV and a full-time job) you could potentially save 250k or more a month (which equates to about AUD$3000). Consider though that costs of setting up your own apartment are exhorbitant - many companies won't help you out with accommodation if your partner doesn't work for them. We found this and had to get our own apartment sorted which set us back thousands.

Of course, if your partner can't get a WHV, or a full-time job, you will save much less, if anything.

Hope this helps!

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