Japanese Schools

[EvilElmo]

Hey, I was wondering if you could get me some contact details for a few japanese schools in the city area. As I am planning on going there for a year, maybe more when I finish school and teaching english. I have heard they are in big demand? Well yeah if you would be able to point me in the direction and/or if any one has done it.

Thanks.

[Rezz]

Hey, I was wondering if you could get me some contact details for a few japanese schools in the city area. As I am planning on going there for a year, maybe more when I finish school and teaching english. I have heard they are in big demand? Well yeah if you would be able to point me in the direction and/or if any one has done it.

Thanks.

So you want to teach English? I think thats what you're trying to say...

Sorry, our school (3 branches in Kansai, 1 in Vancouver Canada and 1 in Seattle USA, and soon 1 in Gold Coast/Byron) have no real need for inexperienced teachers, unless of course you are exceptionally well groomed, well spoken (no country style "twang") and have at least some international experience and of course have a solid understanding of English grammar. No joke.

Best start off with doing a Google for "Nova", "Geos" or "Aeon" first, then if they don't want a bar of you , you could always just drop everything, sell your car and jump on the first plane to Japan and just basically throw caution to the wind and go for it... just like I did.

/Rezz

[EvilElmo]

Well groomed, yes, well spoken yeap (public speaker and debator I have to speak 'proper') I am doing 4U english, so I have an understanding.

International experience? As in having been overseas before? Or..?

[Rezz]

Well groomed, yes, well spoken yeap (public speaker and debator I have to speak 'proper') I am doing 4U english, so I have an understanding.

International experience? As in having been overseas before? Or..?

Yes, international experience as in having been overseas before. Just general life experience too, coz NO ONE can pick up on whether a teacher knows "stuff" or not quicker than a covered in Chanel from head-to-toe Luis Vuitton bag clutching Japanese girl...

[EvilElmo]

Ah ok, cool. You mentioned before that you teach at a school in japan? Or did I mis-interpret your meaning?

If it wouldn't be too much of a hastle, would you be able to ask for me if they are looking for someone, even if its a PE teacher or whatever they have, hell I can teach them how to play rugby, AFL, athletics and even a little MMA ()

Or if it is too much of a hastle, would I be able to grab an e-mail addy or something? Thanks.

[Rezz]

We're an English school. 98% women students in their 20s to 30s. Get back to ya on this, I've gotta go...

[EvilElmo]

Ah ok, thanks.

I'll do a little research on other schools I think you mentioned.

[edit: Ah ok, not schools. But rather agency kinds of things. I'll look through it.]

[DaiOni]

key advice #1: get a uni degree first

[Parag0n]

key advice #2: make sure the school enforces girls to wear loose socks

...oh wait

[EvilElmo]

Do you have a degree? I have been looking around and apparently the only way to get a working visa for teaching you need to have a degree in anything. Is this true or just what the agencies are saying?

Thanks.

[Demon Dave]

Yeah - in order to get the working visa you need a degree (or equivalent) otherwise the immigration office won't issue you the working permit. There are ways around it - being the spouse of a Japanese national, having relatives over here, plus a few other possibilities like volunteer work and I believe a working holiday visa is also available. But, as DaiOni said, at the end of the day it's going to be really difficult getting a job here without some kind of degree....

[gekisouzoku]

Actually there is a way of getting a part time working visa and that is if you have worked 3 years full time and 1 year of tertiary education I believe.

Best way to go to Japan if you just want to go, and you have a bit of money behind you is to start up a private company as these are really cheap to start now - 1 yen where as before was somewhere like 40k! The only bad thing is you need accountants and lawyers which are like at least double the coast of the ones in Australia. The other thing is that after 5 years you have to have at least 40k capital. Or else they dissolve your company. (by long time you may be back in Australia anyway.) There is so much stuff you could do like freelance English editing work, Computer game translations etc.

They don't really have many gaijin doing anything but teach english, and have only met one other teach that taught maths. Remember Japanese are serious about their learning unlike most Aussies, and therefore want a person that can SPEAK Japanese fluently. Wouldnt you have been pissed off if doing ur Maths exams for entrance and ur teach couldnt explain shit without u laughing at there accent?

BUT overall it would be better to have a Degree. (There are still some jobs available in the IT sector if u can program and have ni kyuu Japanese!)

[DaiOni]

"They don't really have many gaijin doing anything but teach english" - From your post, I'm pretty sure you are aware of this, but for clarification to others: this is actually untrue, but what you come into contact with really depends on location and who you fraternize with.

There is quite a large business population here, and, as you mentioned, IT specialists, also - many (many!) engineers, exchange students... If you want to teach other subjects - you can become a SEA (which is a section of the JET program) - but it requires that you are a specialist in a sporting field (ie: a rep soccer player, etc), or you can teach at an international school - teaching gaijin children in english (the usual types of subjects). Both of these avenues are very hard to pursue.

I'd agree that people of european origin (broadly speaking, that also includes australians, americans, canadians etc - ie: white english speakers) teaching english are the most common caucasian gaijin in japan.

'Gaijin' of course, refers to "foreign people", not just people from western english-speaking countries. In my area, the biggest foreign population is a relatively large group of indonesians and brazillians who work in a 'sweat shop' making buttons for mobile phones. There is, as many may know, large populations of brazillians throughout japan, as well as koreans and chinese.

And let's not forget the black hip-hop dudes you see on so many street corners in urban japan!! So funny, I'm sure they are hired by hip-hop clothing stores to attract customers or something... I'm not sure if the average japanese teenager realises that these guys are usually from places like central africa - not south central LA!

my bottom line: if you come armed with a degree, there are many avenues you can pursue to teach english in japan. Without one, well, you are most likely going home disappointed. At the end of the day - go get an education, you can't teach english in japan all your life (well, you can, but...).

[nb: there are also some pretty horrid alternatives if you are a female, but that's not really worth discussion here]

[Demon Dave]

The only bad thing is you need accountants and lawyers which are like at least double the coast of the ones in Australia. The other thing is that after 5 years you have to have at least 40k capital. Or else they dissolve your company. (by long time you may be back in Australia anyway.) There is so much stuff you could do like freelance English editing work, Computer game translations etc.

Not sure you've got that one right. I have been (along with 2 other foreigners) running my own school for well over 5 years now. We do not have any any lawyers. We do not use any accountants. We do all our own taxes and stuff (which we're in the middle of right now - ohh, how much fun it is...NOT! Nor do we have tons of cash in bank accounts. Setting up your own company here, and working for it on a self employed basis, is actually really easy. (with the exception of taxes!). Nor have we ever heard of any gaijin's company (or any company for that matter!) being dissolved because it wasn't profitable!

Having said that, starting your own company in Japan is a big undertaking, and you absolutely need someone who can read/write Japanese (that's where wives are handy ). and it helps if you've got someone who can go through the tons of documents needed to be filled in, especially during tax season.

And of course, while you do not need a degree to start a company here, you do need a degree to qualify for the visa so that you can work for it!

I also agree with what DaiOni said on what foreigners actually do here. In my area, most of the caucasian work in education, but go to a big city like Tokyo and you'll find many more people working in IT, business, sales etc etc...

[Demon Dave]

I should add that the above does not hold if you wish to start a LIMITED company in Japan. In that case, you WILL need 3 Million yen in the bank account (either when you create the company, or after 5 years). If you don't meet the criteria, the government cannot shut you down (immediately) but they can (and often do) audit your company. Basically they just like to know what you (your company) is up to, make sure your paying taxes and so forth...

For our purposes - we work on a self Employed basis - the legal jargon is complicated, and I don't profess to understand it all (don't think the Japanese understand it either) but my friend who founded the company around 8 years ago set it up on a self employed basis. As it has grown, myself and several other staff have joined as employees of the self employed owner - if that makes sense.

[Demon Dave]

And I should also add, that if you wanted to go on a self employed route (which many of the people I know do) you still need to satsify a load of criteria, the main one being that your income from work should be enough to support you financially - that works out to be around 3 million yen a year. So, you have to provide evidence that the work you are doing is bringing in a sufficient amount of money every month. Any less and you will probably be deemed as not self supporting and won't qualify for the working visa....

[Rezz]

Remember Japanese are serious about their learning !)

I would disagree with that one too... In my time I'm seen more than a few "slacker" students around, and it seems like alot of students are only as serious as their parents are.

[DaiOni]

I kind of agree (I definitely agree in principle with the point gekisouzoku was trying to make with the example). It's just like anywhere in the world - some students are studious, others prefer to do their own thing. And, as Rezz states, it's the parents who are most often the determining factor. The more rural you go or the more 'white trash' (yellow trash?) the area, the worse things get - that's a pretty common scenario anywhere.

Then we have university students.... terrible! But hey, that's exactly how I remember university to be in australia. I've read a few books where gaijin uni lecturers detail the habits of japanese students ('legless in ginza' (IIRC), by an australian author, is a good example). Must say though - I really don't think that we were any different. The usual synopsis is: japanese students are driven so hard through their primary and secondary schooling = uni is a brief explosion of freedom before the mindless conformity/reality of white collar japanese working conditions needs to be faced.

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Demon Dave's description of business creation/self-employment is, unsurprisingly, accurate (I think the income required is actually less than 250,000/month - but you'd know better than me). I know of a few people who have chosen to do this. I'd guess, though - it's far easier to do this at the end of an existing visa (ie: progressing from employment in japan), rather than arriving in country and trying to set up shop.

To digress a little, I know an engineer (who drives a rather lovely blue evo 7) who has recently finished his work here and says he is about to go on the dole (in japan) for a while! I was quite surprised at the payment amounts he quoted, but the exact figures escape me now.

[Demon Dave]

you can't teach english in japan all your life (well, you can, but...).

I don't see why not! I have no plans to ever leave Japan, certainly not to go back to Old Blighty anyways, so I often think about what I'm going to be doing, say 10 or 20 years from now...

Will I still be teaching English? I dunno - but aside from that there isn't a lot you can do in Japan unless you are a qualified proffessional and can speak fluent Japanese. Even then, I've met a fair few people over here who work for Japanese companies and it aint all good - especially if you're expected to work to the same levels as everyone else. I can think of one person who regularly posts on here, who's job I definitely would not wanna do. I have several friends who "graduated" from being an English teacher to working for a Japanese company - only to discover it's not all good. While the twice yearly bonuses may be nice, shitty working hours, virtually no vacations and being bottom of the pile in terms of worker seniority makes me appreciate what a leisurely job I have now...

Having said that, in my personal experience maybe 80% of the English teachers I know of are under 40...

[Demon Dave]

hehehe - in my experience Japanese University students are no different to uni students in any other country... Bloody Lazy buggers the lot of them! :D

DaiOni - you could be right about the income level for self employed visa requiremtents - every time I got to either my local immigration office (ohh, what cheerful souls they have working there - NOT ) or my local tax office I end up coming out more confused (and with more paperwork) than when I went in! But, generally speaking, after expenses you need to clear around 200,000 to 250,000 a month...