Heavily considering living in Japan through the English teaching route. A big reason why I want to live in Japan (at least for a while) is because my boyfriend lives there. We'll most likely come back to America at some point, but he wants to get English qualifications to secure meaningful work here first which could take a while, so I figured I could come to Japan in the meantime. Experiencing a life in Japan is something I've always wanted to try anyway and my current job isn't exactly great either, so I wanted to go for it.
When doing research on all the different companies that hire people to teach English in Japan, I'm kind of between two options, AEON and Interac. I know JET is considered the best, but I was rejected by them last year and I want to open my options a little. I'm leaning more towards AEON though for several reasons.
AEON pays more, provides subsidized housing, pays for some of your flight, I heard it has a decent support system, you teach a wider range of ages in smaller classes (which I prefer), and apparently you get a say in where you want to be placed.
Since I want to be closer to my boyfriend, that last part is pretty important. He lives in Osaka and it'd suck if I got randomly placed somewhere in Hokkaido or something. Granted, that's still better than being 6600+ miles apart between different countries, but still not ideal.
However, AEON does have some down sides that kind of boil down to money and choice vs free time. I've heard that with AEON and other eikaiwas, you have much longer working hours and very few vacation days that aren't holidays. The two days you do get off are irregular ones where most people would be working, so it's tough meeting up with people. This also gives you little opportunity to study and immerse in Japanese, which is something I'm REALLY trying to do. I want to eventually become fluent in Japanese, not just to mingle and enjoy Japanese media, but if I end up staying in Japan for a while, I'd want to try pursuing other work that would require Japanese knowledge. But if eikaiwas are all English with little free time, I might not have the opportunity to learn more. Also, even though they do provide housing, from what I've seen, they're incredibly tiny Leopalace rooms and you HAVE to stay there. It isn't an option. And once you leave the company, you have to move out.
With Interac, you have a choice on whether to accept their housing or find your own, you have shorter working hours, and thus more free time, but it's total luck on where you're placed, you have to pay for all expenses, and it pays less. So I'd have more free time to do what I want like study Japanese and immerse in the culture, but I might be making barely enough to survive and I'd likely be very far away from my boyfriend.
I'm still leaning towards AEON, but maybe the pay compared to Interac isn't THAT much better? Maybe you don't get as much choice on where you want to be placed as I thought? I don't know.
by LochTessMonstah
