Hi All,
It has been a while since I have posted anything here and life goes on as it does; I have spent the last six months organising my affairs and after my contract of employment as a teacher here in Australia concludes for the year in early December, will be moving to Japan and looking to secure employment as a teacher there. I am aware there are a great many posts all of the time that ring like this, and so I have a couple of practical questions and will try to keep this short. I have made contact with some schools/companies in Japan and am starting to receive invites to online interviews etc. I thought it best to clear up these questions before doing so.
Employment
How realistic/feasible is it to gain employment as a homeroom/subject-specialised teacher at this stage? For reference, I am a career teacher in my third year of full-time teaching in Australia since graduating; I have taught all years levels here in the high school system in the subjects of English, history, tourism and house-time (home room teacher) from grades 7-12. I currently hold a Bachelor of Middle and Secondary Education, as well as a Bachelor of Arts with a double major in English and history. I have heard many tales of woe regarding companies like Gaba and Aeon but conversely, have also heard these are an avenue to explore initially and to move on from later.Remuneration
I am fully aware that to work in Japan, particularly in the saturated education industry is to also take a significant pay reduction of anywhere up to 50% of my current wage here in Australia. With this in mind, I am trying to be conscious of what my bottom line needs to be to make ends meet. I am not seeking to work and live in Japan to be rich, but I am young and still used to living quite frugally. With that said, what would you recommend as a minimum wage to accept for a position per month? What is a fair wage with my qualifications and is there a good ball-park amount I should try to save before moving.
- Housing and medication
How difficult is finding a dwelling/place of residence at the moment? Will I face much bias as a foreigner or is this overblown and not such an issue? At this stage, I am on a biologic medication which is sometimes hard/expensive to acquire, however, I have already spoken to the head of immunology at my local hospital, as well as the immunology department of St. Luke's International Hospital in Tokyo to ensure that I can still get my medication there. They have said that there will be no issue in securing this, and that it will be subsidised by mandatory health cover to an affordable level (something I am very relieved about). The reason I mention this is it will dictate where I seek employment; I have spent some time in the past in Japan and very much enjoyed Tokyo and Osaka in particular, for differing reasons. I would be happy to be in either place, but just worry about securing a medication like this in Osaka over Tokyo? I am unfamiliar with how accessible it may or may not be.
Essentially, I would like to know what would be the recommended/best path to pursue whilst I have the luxury of time to prepare for this with my skillset to make the best use of my abilities in employment (if possible). I am very grateful for any advice you can share and thank you for your time 🙂
by sleepy_student_