Teaching English in Japan

I've heard far too many bad things about this to think about doing it myself, but a good friend (and Japanophile) is giving it some serious thought. Anyone here got anything to say about whether this is a good idea or not? Pros/cons etc?

 

Give this a read: http://www.peterpayne.net/Merchant3...ore_Code=PP&Product_Code=P04&Category_Code=BJ

 

Teaching English in japan isn't that bad as long as your company is fine. I did it, Gaijin Punch did it and I'm sure most people who start off life in Japan did it also. Mojor companies that you should not work for are NOVA and I belive GEOS. Nova are known to be right gits and have so many pointles rules that you'll wish you had not taken the job before you have even started your first day. AEON on the other hand is meant to be ok. Oh, make sure you actually know about English. Speaking it is one thing but knowing why and how English is, is another.

Yakumo

 

I recommend staying away from NOVA, that's for sure. But I've been working for G**S for over 3 years now, and am still enjoying myself a lot. G**S and A**N are both pretty good because they used to be the same company!

All commercial language schools need to make a profit at the end of the month, but I've always felt that I was treated with respect by my manager and superiors even during crunch times, so I can say it's been a positive experience.

Of course, the easy life is the JET teaching program, but if you don't like kids (like me!) then an eikaiwa is not bad.

 

I talked about this with a Swedish English teacher I ran into in Nishi-Funabashi while searching for Hard-Off. He said that having a passport from an English-speaking country gets you in without much hassle, but it gets more complicated if you're from another country (suits me fine, I have dual US-NL citizenship )

 

arg might have to get a stupid british passport then... can you have 3 passports?

 

It's more like being a pornstar. The company makes out the best, obviously, but they're taking on the most risk. The teacher, if ambitious enough can make a very hefty salary, and doesn't have to pledge allegience to the company. FYI - my sister in law has worked for Geos forever.

3500 yen/hour lessons are not hard to score. As you get more experience, you can get upwards of 5000 and maybe even higher. I had a friend that taught for so long he could basically pick his students and was making $100k USD a year. Of course, having one rich psycho student that paid 10,000 yen per hour 5 hours a week helped.

 

you mean like a Jet program?

 

Jet is a very easy life. from what I've heard from people on the Jet program is that they do almost sweet FA. The only proiblem is that you can't choose where you want to go so you could end up in the middle of no where.

yakumo

 

Eh, you can make an ass-ton of money on the side regardless, so long as you know what car parts to put up on US ebay....

I mean, with the shipping, in general, games are only *sort of* a good racket, but car parts are insane. You can go to Up Garage or Hot Garage or one of those stores, buy like a 180sx rear center section for maybe 750 Yen, and then ebay it in the US all day for $100USD + shipping. Nardi Steering Wheels, used Work Wheels, blah blah blah. The used parts inventories are so huge in Japan because there's sort of a stigma against using used parts, so it's all dirt cheap. No stigma in the US, so you can sell them for a ton over here to all the JDM-wannabe Initial-D drift-kiddies.

PS: If anyone in Japan wants to work out a steady arrangement, lemme know. We can try 1 or 2 bulk shipments of goodies, I'll pay you a set %margin over cost up front, and then sell the stuff here. PM me.

 

What about teaching spanish? I could do that :-D

BTW, whats the average income a new guy gets? 30K U$S a year?

 

hmm, a new teacher (English) would get about 220'000 to 250'000 a year depending on where you live. A Spanish teacher may get more.

Yakumo

 

TO THE AIRPORT!!! :smt023 :smt045

Anyways, how many euros/dolars are 220000 yen?

 

220,000 Japanese Yen = 1,997.46 US Dollar

http://www.oanda.com/convert/classic

I wonder if a portuguese teacher can get anything near that

 

How on earth could you live on $2K a year?

 

At a guess they meant another 0 at end end. 220,0000 Japanese Yen

 

Yep, $20K might be doable if you didn't have to pay a car payment or health insurance.

 

That's 220'000 yen per month, not per year. Most Japanese males around my age are on about that plus 2 bonus payment a year if their company can afford it. I'm on 265'000 yen a month plus 15'000 transport expenses and unemployment benefit but I only get a bonus once a year and even that is pretty low Still, better than not having a job at all. I got more being an English teacher but then again I'd have to go back to working really crazy hours.

Yakumo