English teaching in Japan. Great time or Complete Nightmare???

[ASSASSIN27]

Ok. A lot of you guys want to go to Japan to meet girls and I know you've all researched on the internet about the possibility of being an English teacher. Let me just tell you that the company and contract you decide on and the actual job location you get when you arrive in Japan can be 2 totally and completely different things and can therefore lead to a very enjoyable 12 months in Japan as an english teacher or can lead to 12 months of pure hell.

My first suggestion would be to not even go there as an english teacher. Try to apply for a work visa that would allow you to work outside of just teaching english because honestly unless your teaching at a university level the student's could care less about learning english and that will lead to a horrible experience.

If you don't have at least $3,000 U.S. Currency in your checking or savings before you leave for Japan don't even go. Because the economy is always booming in Japan $3,000 U.S. dollars will only last you about 2-3 weeks and that's only for food and entertainment. If your job won't pay for your apartment than you will most likely be living in the streets or back on a plane to America after your first month. This is no joke. If you are not a financially responsible person than do not live in Japan, especially Tokyo.

If your job ends up paying for your apartment (which most jobs do) than your all good. Oh and if you get a contract for an english teaching job that says they won't provide you with housing than turn it down and find a different company to work for (DO NOT WORK FOR ORBITZ TRANSLATING SERVICES!!!).

Be sure you actually have a 4 year bachelor's or equivalent degree from your university before you arrive in Japan because they check for those now. I had mine already, but I know tons of people who got kicked out of Japan because they bought fake diplomas for like $500 online so that they could get an english teaching visa. Don't waste your money because Japan is actually cracking down on doing background checks on those degrees now because some Canadian english teacher got caught sleeping with underage students from his classes and it turned out he had a fake diploma so parent's are freaking out about this.

That's about all I can suggest right now. If you would like any more information about working and living in Japan just send me a message and I'll try to help out. I don't know much about living outside of Tokyo though and I've been to Osaka a couple of times, but other than those 2 areas I won't be of much help.

Laters.

Oh and if your ever in Roppongi @ a place called Club Vallfarre keep an eye out for me. I'll be the only asian guy in the entire place who only speaks english. Haha. ^^V

[Bellotizio]

I was thinking of simply teaching slang English when I stay in Nagano. I have a lot of friends there, and they have friends who want to have that English Hip Hop slang talk, so I can do that, I'd also do the lessons privately. I do know that I need to get some text books though, but that's not a problem.

[Tatsurou]

velfarre closed like 2 years ago :/

[pauduro]

Originally Posted by Tatsurou

velfarre closed like 2 years ago :/

DAMEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE so some one is a little lier

[BlueOne]

Nice information ASSASSIN27,

What do you think minimum dollar that we have to earn every month to pay minimum expenses? and type of job that can provide that amount of money

[guy]

Originally Posted by BlueOne

What do you think minimum dollar that we have to earn every month to pay minimum expenses? and type of job that can provide that amount of money

￥250,000/mo (￥3M annual) is the bare minimum if you need to pay your own rent. If your company provides an apartment, they will probably still tell you the full salary but subtract a flat fee for rent. But you should get as much information about housing as possible, as people have been known to get some bad apartments. You can look for your own apartment, but you should expect to pay up to 6x the monthly rent for the first month to cover key, deposit, and agent fees (it's standard, but some places offer "no key money" incentives). You should also make sure to sign with a company willing to sponsor your apartment as a guarantor -- you can get better apartments that way.

As a rule of thumb, 1K apartments in Tokyo begin at ￥90,000 rent, and 1DLK goes to ￥150,000 and beyond.

Generally, you should have at least $5000 that amount to pay for other initial costs, but more would be safer.

There are all sorts of jobs available, primarily eikaiwa and tech jobs. If you hold a 4-year degree (Bachelor's) and no experience, the best salary you can get is about ￥3M annual. If you have some experience, or enjoy working with kids, maybe ￥3.6M annual. If you're good at interviews and luck's on your side, maybe you can land a ￥4M annual job.

Don't expect to do eikaiwa for more than a few years -- it's not a permanent career option, just a way to spend some time in Japan.

[vancitylove]

Teaching at an eikaiwa is a good way to get you foot in the door into Japan. They set you up with a working visa (usually a specialties in humanities) Getting your own visa is very difficult - the only option is a working holiday. sure with that you can apply for any job but 99% of jobs require native level japanese.

pay is crappy, but most places will provide subsidized housing and medical insurance.

while teaching you should study japanese like mad and then move onto a different field of work.

[Bellotizio]

Originally Posted by ASSASSIN27

Oh and if your ever in Roppongi @ a place called Club Vallfarre keep an eye out for me. I'll be the only asian guy in the entire place who only speaks english. Haha. ^^V

Hahaha:

Velfarre opened on December 2, 1994 and closed their doors on January 1, 2007.


Aside from that, my main purpose when I was a kid was to go to Japan and Sweden and have sex with as many women as possible, and that didn't prove to be a hard task at all (in Japan, haven't been to Sweden yet.)

[kromet]

Originally Posted by Bellotizio

Aside from that, my main purpose when I was a kid was to go to Japan and Sweden and have sex with as many women as possible, and that didn't prove to be a hard task at all

That's good news, good news indeed.

And if you go to Sweden, it's Stockholm you're going to want to be, that's where all the dumb, slutty, rich blondes are.

[ASSASSIN27]

yeah. i know the old place is closed shortly after the new year's party in 2005 and it's called club acid tokyo now, but everyone still calls it valfarre for some reason

Originally Posted by Tatsurou

velfarre closed like 2 years ago :/