Q & A about moving to Japan/teaching in Japan (cont. from Rezz`s photo diary)

[Rezz]

Originally posted by Dreg01

just wondering how much japanese you need to know before you head over and start looking for a job?

i am planning in going over in a couple of years and i know no japanese.

should i start learning?

also what is the pay like?

sorry if this was already covered in Rezz's thread.

Some schools (like the one I work at now) require a conversational Japanese language skill level. But most smaller schools don`t require it, but it`s better if you do... not to mention your salary will prolly be higher. I think the key to speaking Japanese in the classroom is to:

Don`t speak Japanese at all, and if you do need to speak Japanese, make sure you`re able to explain grammar points and nuances in Japanese capably.

I get 300,000 yen/month working 9 hours a day, 5.5 days a week. But I`m an Admin Manager too, so I don`t spend ALL that time in the classroom (although I used to).

[EVOIV]

300,000 yen/month...that's good pay! Works out roughly to be a bit over AUS$4k a month, depending on the currency conversion. But then I guess you work harder than us lazy slobs in OZ

I've always wanted to work in Japan, be that my profession (Engineer) or teaching english. But I'm afraid of the language barrier as I know jack all about Japanese. I've heard of many people going over there to teach english. Just about everyone who goes over there seem to go there to teach it.

I've heard some "un-conventional" things that come from the land of the rising sun. Stuff like Japanese men go crazy over blonde (non-black) haired girls. I had a friend (asian girl) live in Japan for several years, and say that business men on the street sometimes came up to her friend (I think caucasian) where she would occasionally cop a feel? But no one can do anything about it, you just have to accept it. I don't mean to give a bad impression, I'm just wondering if things like this really happen? Also, heard about selling girls panties in vending machines. How can they ever be sure where they came from? Could be a 99 year old granny, or grandpa for that matter! I heard that they've also got crazy Japanese game shows...that sounds funny to watch I reckon it'll be cool to go over there and experience the culture. One friend said that Japan is the total opposite to OZ. In OZ people are lazy, Japanese people work damn hard...etc.

[Rezz]

Originally posted by EVOIV

300,000 yen/month...that's good pay! Works out roughly to be a bit over AUS$4k a month, depending on the currency conversion. But then I guess you work harder than us lazy slobs in OZ

I've always wanted to work in Japan, be that my profession (Engineer) or teaching english. But I'm afraid of the language barrier as I know jack all about Japanese. I've heard of many people going over there to teach english. Just about everyone who goes over there seem to go there to teach it.

I've heard some "un-conventional" things that come from the land of the rising sun. Stuff like Japanese men go crazy over blonde (non-black) haired girls. I had a friend (asian girl) live in Japan for several years, and say that business men on the street sometimes came up to her friend (I think caucasian) where she would occasionally cop a feel? But no one can do anything about it, you just have to accept it. I don't mean to give a bad impression, I'm just wondering if things like this really happen? Also, heard about selling girls panties in vending machines. How can they ever be sure where they came from? Could be a 99 year old granny, or grandpa for that matter! I heard that they've also got crazy Japanese game shows...that sounds funny to watch I reckon it'll be cool to go over there and experience the culture. One friend said that Japan is the total opposite to OZ. In OZ people are lazy, Japanese people work damn hard...etc.

Woah, they`re some interesting rumours you got there...

I`ll try and put some facts down:

1) Crazy Salarymen feeling up girls on the street: Yes, occaisionally, but these guys are pissed drunk after going to the bar after work, and usually the victims are *Japanese* girls. I have heard some Caucasian girls getting felt up (on the train), but that was an exeption... but in a country of 125,000,000 people, the wierdo factor per capita compared to Australia seems to be the same, if not a little more.

2) Panty Vending Machines: Mostly centered around Chiba, near Tokyo. Chiba is famous for it`s Red-light businesses, and the Panty Machines were an extention of that. As far as I know, they don`t exist anymore, although my Japanese mate showed me Panties for sale on a Japanese website once... soiled too But the girls actually *sell* their used undies to shady guys who either keep them, or sell them on. It`s the same with the "unofficial prostitution" offered by many a fit Highschool girl... they need money, so they sell things that rich guys pay good money for. Kashikoi ne?

3) Crazy Game Shows: Aaah, your talking about the famous game shows reminiscent of the "Bubble Economy" era... where people would do almost anything to win stupid amounts of money, or stupid amounts of Gucci or Luis Vuitton goods... well, they`re still around, but just very watered down. Then again, I`ve been here for quite some time, so what seems ordinary to me might be shocking to you.

4) Japanese People Work Very Hard: Most do, but I`ve seen some extremely lazy examples that would give an Aussie Roadworker a run for his money. Again, this is variable, but the point is, Japan has a reputation as a hard working country, whereas Australia has not... don`t know if thats good or bad.

[Demon Dave]

Just to add to what the others have said:

Being able to speak Japanese is not a prerequisite to teaching English in Japan. It certainly helps, and may even get you a better salary, but don't worry if you're Japanese isn't very good. I knew nothing when I came here, and five years later I'm doing better but I still have all the fluency of a rock...

Although some schools require some Japanese ability, my experience is that just about all school encourage you NOT to speak any during the class - indeed I currently work at a Kindergarten in the mornings teaching 3 year olds English and I (plus my assistant who is Japanese) are not permitted to use any Japanese during class time!

[Sentric dancer]

mm..

do you guys wanna hear my experiance right now as a Hongkong jin ryukakusei? ( asian exchange student )

iam from australia, but iam in Japan studying japanese for the love of drift and study.

if you just dont mind my input.. reply .. since it seems like its for teachers in jap.. not really students :Bang: <--liked this smiley

ps. iam stil in Japan at the moment, in the heart of Drift, GUNMA ken! where initial D all started

[Demon Dave]

Sentric Dancer,

Feel free to go ahead and tell you're perspective on life in Japan. While most people are probably considering coming to Japan and working as a teacher, it's just as viable to come here as a student...

[DaiOni]

Tonight's useless trivia: Gunma ken, as well as being the home of initial D, is one of the best places in japan to pick up a car - it's sometimes referred to as a used car paradise. Unsurprisingly, it has the highest people:car ownership ratio in japan

So if you are thinking of coming to japan, want to buy a nice car, want some great mountain roads, want somewhere relatively rural, yet very close to tokyo - not a bad placement pick

[Demon Dave]

sounds like I'm living in the wrong prefecture!!! Having said that, Yamanashi being a rural area has plenty of mountain roads that are popular with drifters...

[Sentric dancer]

Well, at the moment where my host family lives is a city part of Country Gunma ( trust me, this Country Gunma bits of it makes Melbourne city look small )

Besides studying in a Senior high school ( chicks all round ) my school actually turned co-ed just 3 years ago, so there is about 50 boys with around 3000 girls. Private school. At my jap school you never get the cool group and the gay group they are all friends with each other and treat eachother with alot of respect ( this is a generalization though )

Since iam asian people dont expect that iam a foreigner and i always get Hontou! each time i tell them iam from Australia. At the start when my jap wasnt up to scratch i found it very hard, since when i spoke broken jap they gave me looks as if i was a Japanese retard no kidding, but now my jap is much much better and i dont really get those looks anymore.

Now to cars, i love the car laws in jap. I have seen so many heavily modded cars its fantastic. There is not one day i go by without seeing a car that makes me spin my head around to get a better look. Iam starting to fall in love with the so many STI foresters i see on the road. I always see drift cars in Gunma, jsut today saw a 4 door skyline R32 with massive Rays rims.

Mmm.. dont want to make my first post too long, but just wanted to say that the japanese community is so nice and good to live in, In my area they dont lock their doors and if they do, you can get through a slideable window. The people treat each other with so much respect. Although i find the constant yells of Welcome！ each time i walk into a store or super. gets a bit annoying, and the workers in the supers they like have competitions yelling out Welcome!

hmm.. ill let you guys know more as i go on, and answer any questions.

[G0DF4Th3R]

im wanna go to Japan after i graduate next year is there anywhere i can learn Japanese in Australia? like does the Embassy or Japanese Society clus offer courses?

[DaiOni]

As for the unlocked door thing - I've had many japanese people come to my door and struggle with it for a minute or so - obviously quite perplexed that it is in fact locked! In japan the genkan (the space (dorway) just inside your house) is considered a public space! The city has keys to every house - just in case they need to get in for some reason (so I'm told) - imagine governemnts trying to get away with that in a western nation!

I don't enjoy people selling me fish at 6 in the morning, so I keep mine locked (and natural habits are hard to break). This is (deep) country living though - the cities can be quite different.

[Demon Dave]

DaiOni I know the feeling mate! I live way out of town in and amoungst all the old farmhouses where 99% of my neighbours are over 60 years old! And old neighbourhood with old traditions, one of which is to casually strole into your genkan at 6am! I remember the first time it happened, I was casually walking across the hallway heading to bathroom and glanced to the right to see this eldery woman stood there with a handfull on Daichon in her hand! Scared the crap outa me! Other pains are being expected to do community cleaning - which isn't that bad, but why they have to schedule it at 6AM on a sunday morning I'll never know!

[dAVE]

Interesting stuff here.. i have a few questions that i dont think have been asked/answered.

Rezz, you say your on a good salary, do you know the average salary for an english teacher?

Also, where would someone who had no contacts in or knowledge of japan, stay and start looking for a job. And last, how much would you expect to have to spend each day.

thanks

dave

[Demon Dave]

Re: Salary. AFAIK, it used to be the case that in order to qualify for a working visa your employer had to guarantee you (on paper at least) a min of 250,000 yen a month. Whether this is still true or not I don't know. I would say that of the many English teachers I know of, most are earning 250,000 yen a month or more - a lot depends on how much you're prepared to work and how many extra classes you're prepared to take on...

[cereal]

How hard is it to get a job over there without a degree?

Did you guys have any difficulties or did you all have degrees when you went over?

[Rezz]

To dAVE and Cereal:

Guys, bite the bullet. We could go on for days outlining what we did and how we did it... but trust me, your case will be different. The main reason is because we`re (Demon Dave, DaiOni and me) are talking about experiences from years ago. Just come over on a working holiday visa, University degree or not, with $5,000 - 7,000 handy, and see how it pans out. One thing (the only thing!!!) I`ll guarantee is that your life will be changed...

[Demon Dave]

Well put Rezz. Everyones experience is different. Best advice, come over here and experience it for yourself!!!!

[N/A®]

What is the average base wage for people who just start teaching? I know you mentioned your pay but Im sure that a higher than average pay. Also what happens if you want to stay in Japan continuing teaching but your visa runs out? Sorry if its a personal question but, do you stay in japan with a defacto or married visa?

[DaiOni]

As was pointed out above - you have to make 250,000+ to qualify for a visa - so there's your starting wage.

The JET wage has been 300,000yen/month since 1989! (would have been an awesome wage back then...). For australians, the best idea (in my opinion) is to pay japanese taxes (rather than getting raped by the aussie tax dept). I get a wage increase (something like 320,000 gross) for doing so, and my net wage per month is about 265,000 (not bad for 4.5 days 'work'). On top of that I do a couple of hours a week private work which is good for another 40,000ish. If you want to work your butt off, you could do much more on the side (opportunities are there if you look for them). But hey, life is short!

Also, you pay japanese 'super' as well - and you can get a maximum of three years of that back, when you leave - which is over A$10k (if you are making 250,000ish)

[dAVE]

Thanks for all the info...

im still interested in the good cities to go (in your opinions) and any starters on where to look up some accomodation.

Im told there is some good auto stuff going on in jan - so would be mad if i could save enough in time to get there for that!