Korean Job Discussion Forums

[traveler007]

Is there such a thing as teaching Privates in Japan or is that a Korea thing?

[OculisOrbis]

My understanding is that its legal in Japan, China, Taiwan, etc.... and Korea is the only one that is illegal to teach privates (under an E-2). The reason is that we are slaves to the whims of our employers because they control our visas and therefore our income and movements. That's why it's so easy for Korean employers to routinely cheat foreign teachers from health, pension, and just generally steal from us with no consequences. Many teachers are too scared to risk angering them and possibly losing more or getting kicked out of the country when theyre visa is cancelled by a vindictive boss.

In other countries, you control the visa and can work for whomever you wish as long as you are doing the job that the visa was issued for --- and reporting the income from all work. It seriously makes me wonder why I'm still here...........

[Robot_Teacher]

The big catch though is those other countries don't normally offer flights and apartment so you'll be fronting out thousands of dollars in getting job or taking the time to make the connections for privates in some place like Tokyo or Taipei. Would be ultra cool to get paid a professional income to talk with business professionals and then enjoy the amenities of a modern city like Tokyo offers up. You can teach business English if you know business and IT jargon. Something I'm interested in myself. Not sure about the market as I'm sure they're many older professionals already saturating this lucrative market who are already well established, but it's probably still more possible to find this work in Asia than at home. Just requires money and risk taking.

[Toon Army]

I used to teach in Japan and the thing recently in regards to privates especially is that gaijin teachers are offering lessons for peanuts and undercutting each other to the point where there's very little point in doing them when it comes to that.

The average in Tokyo before seemed to hover around the 3000/4000 yen mark.......but I knew of many gaijins doing privates for 1,000/1500 yen not including travel expenses! seriously pathetic! This is from my experiences in Tokyo, don't know about other cities.

Unless you find some corporates/lawyers (you can get around 7,000 yen per hour) etc you probably wont make a fortune in my opinion.

[Tiger Beer]

[traveler007]

Wow, all the replies were excellent. I have a natural affinity toward saving money for a rainy day, I will probably prefer working in Korea and spending some holidays in Tokyo. I had no idea the public transports in Japan were expensive.

[Tiger Beer]

Japan is a great place, and people who want to be here, can easily make it work and have a great life here in Japan.

BUT....if a person is ONLY interested in money, and no other aspect of their existance whatsoever, then Korea would be easier.

Public transportation. From my apartment to my nearest train station is about 2-3km....it costs me US$20 in Japan, whereas the same distance in Korea would cost me $2. For that matter, I can go half way across Seoul for $20, whereas going half way across Tokyo would cost me way way into the hundreds of dollars.

Trains around are also expensive. If I take the fast train to Tokyo, it takes 2 hours and costs $100, whereas the KTX in Korea, I can go across the entire country of Korea, and it's like $40.

Consumer goods and the like are very reasonable in Japan, but public transportation and going out at night, are not.

[partialtone]

Since when has it been legal? When I was there a few years ago I was hearing about police posting as students on the teacherfinder website to bust teachers doing privates.

Too true about the undercutting. It's only been getting cheaper and cheaper.