Hello everyone. Hope you are having a great day so far.
I am currently in Japan on working holiday visa. My "soon-wife" is Japanese and I will have a spousal visa in the foreseeable future hopefully when we get married.
I am a classical violinist from Germany with a masters and so called "Konzertexamen" degree from a very reputable university in Germany, some good references too. I have been a violinist my whole life, it's my identity, the thing I really do best. I also teach personally and remotely since 5 years, it's going well. My "wife" has nothing to do with music unfortunately.
But of course now I am in Japan so I will need to work on new connections to get students. I have informed myself about neccessary documents such as teaching licenses and I have read a lot on this reddit that sums up similarly to…
1) I will never be able to teach in a "Japanese" (not just the language) school because they only take Japanese people, so do not apply 2) I need a teaching license which most of Japanese do not even succeed in and 3) My only chance is more or less to start teaching English in an international school, ALT or similar.
Really, believe me, I don't think much of myself, but I think the education I have received does not match at all to be teaching English, apart from the fact that my English is not good enough), but instead should be able to theoretically get a full time job in Japan in a conservatory or academy or some music institution. I know that in Germany I could have an assisting job at one university where I have studied doing just that. My goal is to teach what I can do best, which is the violin, not English. My Japanese is more or less fluent and I am N2 certified.
I would like to humbly ask if there is anyone in this reddit that has succeeded or heard of someone that succeeded in being a foreign music teacher (on a high-level like university, conservatory, academy etc.) and also I would like to ask all others for their advice if this is an impossible situation or if there is a way (and if so, how). Respectfully please do not mention any English teaching or music theory to children jobs, thanks. I'm not trying to be mean, it's just not something I can do.
I also don't want someone to get the impression that I am upset or think of myself so highly that I couldn't accept a job at a Lawson, it's just that I am 28, I have had a good violinist career so far both soloist and teaching, but if it does not work out (cannot find a full time job teaching violin in an academy, conservatory, university), we may both have to transfer to Germany because there I can do such a thing. But I really do want to stay here in Japan for the time being.
Also, if there are any other interesting routes, let me know.
Thanks very much.
by MaintenanceLumpy5180