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I went to Japan in 1999. Being a trained high school teacher in Australia, I planned to go overseas for a year, then head back home and settle back into “real” life. I was young and carefree and thought that teaching English in Japan would be a great opportunity to earn good money, learn about a new culture, possibly learn a new language, and make new friends. Well, I stayed for nearly six years! Why? Well for all of the above reasons, of course. Japan is such an easy country to live in. The people are as friendly as the stereotypes allude to, the food is amazing, and you can afford a very comfortable lifestyle.
To get there, you need to have a Bachelor’s degree. That is not negotiable, but it can be in any field. A TESOL (Teaching English to Students of Other Languages) certificate is not essential, but I would highly recommend it. For one thing, you tend to find better jobs - ones that pay more and that have better working conditions. My PGCE (Post Graduate Certificate in Education) gave me the much needed confidence to teach a class, but since my majors were biology and psychology, it didn’t really prepare me with techniques specific to teaching language. Looking, back it would have been a very useful additional qualification and now language schools tend to require TESOL certification. I can’t imagine what it would have been like going over with no teaching skills at all.
I started off teaching in one of the largest language schools in Japan. I worked in Ibaraki prefecture (about two hours from Tokyo), moving with the company to Chiba Prefecture eight months later. About seven months after that, I made another move to Tokyo. Like other big language schools in Japan, I found it a convenient way to get there. The company was great because it organized my work visa, set up a Japanese bank account for me when I arrived, found accommodation to my specifications, and provided a salary advance that I paid back over the next 3 months. The support that the bigger schools can offer is fantastic, and because most of us can find it stressful relocating overseas where the language is also foreign, it can be very comforting. It allowed me to focus on the other little things, like having fun!
Salaries in Japan range from about 250,000-300,000 yen per month. With the lower tax rate, it is not only enough to live off, but enough to allow most people to save as well. Your company will pay for your transportation costs to and from work, so if any “cool” spots are between your work and where you live, you can go to them for free on your days off! If your plan is to go to Japan to save, it is not hard to do, especially if you have an apartment that you can cook in, and you eat mostly Japanese food rather than foreign food. Be careful though, as it’s pretty easy to spend a lot of money when you go out for a big night of food, drinks and karaoke!
You will need to have medical insurance while you are working in Japan, and it is not necessarily considered cheap if you come from a country where it is free! If your school does not have something that is set up for you, I suggest getting travel insurance for the first year. Then see what suits you best if you decide to stay longer. I’ve heard that the Japanese national health insurance is OK, but a nightmare to cancel.
Accommodation in Japan can vary greatly. The biggest challenge for foreigners is that you need help securing apartments. That is where you usually rely heavily on your company to help you, at least to start out with. The most common types of accommodation are private apartments and gaijin houses (which are like boarding houses/ monthly hotels). Expect to live in small spaces. Studios tend to be small, but generally have enough room for a bed and a small sofa. There is usually some kind of alley kitchen with a small fridge and a hot plate. Cozy is a good word for them. Gaijin houses tend to have shared living spaces, including the kitchen. Of course, you can also find affordable one bedroom apartments if you don’t mind a longer walk/ bike ride to the station.
Apartments provided by employers tend to be in more rural areas (although in Tokyo that still means heavily populated), but still accessible to your work. They often come furnished, which is very convenient for new arrivals. Places you see advertised in real estate offices tend to be bigger cheaper than what you may pay for your company provided apartment. However, it is not a very easy thing to do.
Without some kind of guarantor, it is virtually impossible for a foreigner to rent. The biggest down-side is that you also have to follow other Japanese rental regulations. The harshest one is that you typically pay two to three month’s deposit (some or all of which is non-refundable) as well as the first and last month’s rent. They also come completely empty - no stove, no blinds, not even light fixtures, nothing. Therefore, this is typically something to plan for a little ahead of time. I think that it also needs to be a long-term commitment to make it worth the set-up costs.
For my first experience in finding accommodation without employer support, my friend and I were lucky enough to have her old host family go guarantor for us, but there are other options. You can go through a guarantor agency that you pay to be your guarantor. They usually charge one to two months rent that can then be paid off over a year. They add it to your monthly rent. It is not a cheap option, and once again, I think that a long-term commitment would be necessary.
You can also go through a foreign realtor. This is what I did the second time I went solo. I chose this option because I wanted to cut out the exorbitant set-up costs. Basically, you pay a higher monthly rate and cut out most of the other set-up costs, including the non-refundable deposit. It is a better option if you don’t want to make a long commitment or can’t afford the set-up costs. These apartments tend to be centrally located (think, location, location, location) and therefore a little expensive. The quality of these apartments can vary a lot, and I found that the agents weren’t too worried about keeping them looking great because the demand from desperate foreigners was quite high in the Tokyo hotspots.
As I mentioned earlier, I started my ESL career in a large language school in Japan. For the most part, you will work a pretty full week at language schools, with 30-35 contact hours a week. You will typically teach adults and additional specialty classes such as children’s classes, TOEFL, Business English, and Travel English. It gives you a good all-round experience. You usually get paid holidays - national holidays (there are a lot of these) and an additional 10 flexi-days off. Even though I worked long days, I often had other part-time jobs. While I was in Ibaraki, my favorite p/t job was with an agency that sent me to kindergartens two to three mornings a week. It certainly woke me up, ready to take on the challenges of my full-time job!
When I quit my first job, I got a job at a career college in Tokyo. This involved teaching young adults who would move into careers that required them to use English. It was extremely rewarding as I got to design my own syllabus and teach larger groups. This was paid hourly and I worked 4.5 hours a day for 4 days a week (18 hours total). Although I worked a lot less, my monthly salary worked out about the same.
Unfortunately, being part-time/ hourly, I was no longer paid for holidays, and being a university type program, there were a lot of holidays. The good news was that with a lighter schedule, I had a lot time off to travel (locally and overseas) as well as more free time to pursue private work. I taught p/t at an agency that focused mostly on teaching Business English at companies. I also taught a lot of private students. There are a lot of websites for teachers who want to find private students in Japan. Some examples are: www.findateacher.net, www.orangutanenglish.com, www.7act.net
My final job was at a private girls’ high school. This required substantially less teaching, but compulsory contact time at the school. The monthly salary was high, and all vacation was fully paid. I was able to design my curriculum as well as my own syllabus. Since leaving Tokyo, I have stayed in the ESL field and am now an Academic Director at a language school. It has proven to be a very rewarding career path.
My must sees:
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Nikko (North of Tokyo)
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Golden Temple (Kyoto) But any of the temples would do!
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Mt. Fuji. Climb it if you dare!
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Fukuroda Falls (Ibaraki prefecture)
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Design Festa (Harajuku) Where local artists exhibit their art.
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Karaoke booth. Take your pick!
Some of my favourite places to eat and drink in Tokyo:
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Café Na (on Meiji dori in Harajuku) A casual atmosphere.
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Sakura Ya (restaurant behind Design Festa in Harajuku) Cook up your own okonomiyaki, yaki soba and other traditional food. Nomi-hodai (all you can drink) is 1000 yen
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Takeshita Dori (Harajuku) Try a crepe from one of the vans parked there!
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Las Chicas (Omotesando) Great if you are homesick and want something non-Japanese. Good quality.
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Street vendors for late night ramen and yakitori.
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Ueno Park during cherry blossom season (BBQ, beer and sake)
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Festival street vendors (the candy-coated strawberry on a stick is to die for) |
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From 12 People
