Hi all, on a throwaway account for obvious reasons. Will be suitably vague to protect my identity but give enough detail to hopefully gain some insight from you all. Thanks in advance.
I arrived in April 2022, and while I absolutely adore the schools I teach at, all of the students and staff, and have already built great relationships with them; I HATE where I live.
I have been placed in an incredibly rural area. I am in an apartment block where no neighbors speak to me, even though I have reached out multiple times. I have only a gas station next to my apartment, then a 20 minute walk to the next nearest amenity, a Lawson. My apartment has no wifi. Where I live, there are no trains, no taxis, no uber, and infrequent (if at all) buses to the next nearest city, which is two hours + away. I spend most of time time and money leaving my “town”, and given the remoteness, cannot travel to other parts of Japan I would like to see while I am here, even on a weekend, because it is so difficult to get back in time for work on Monday.
I do not practice my Japanese, as there is nobody to socialize with, at all. This is just not the life I wanted from Japan. I will only be here for a limited time and this is the only chance I will have in my life to do something like this.
I do not want to leave Japan, I want to make the best out of a bad situation.
I have explored options of moving to a larger city including Tokyo, and this seems viable.
I am aware of the (usually) lower salaries for ALTs outside of JET, but what else do I need to be aware of?
If I break contract (I will serve the correct and agreed notice period), what do I need to be aware of?
Is my status as a resident with Instructor Status at risk? So I need this sponsored by another company to remain here? Or does my residency status remain with me until the expiry of my Zairyou? And anything else you think I need to be aware of.
I will obviously forfeit any support from the BOE re: bank accounts etc, but these are all already in my name. I will also forfeit my return flight, this is something I will have to accept.
Thank you
TLDR: Do not like where I am living, no other options from BOE. Going to find work elsewhere in Japan. Is my status as a resident with Instructor Status at risk?
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EDIT: I have a car, a license and an IDP. The nearest JETs are an hour drive away. It is prohibitively costly to do this often. I also have a pocket WIFI, I meant that my building has no broadband or fibre connection to it, at all, and mobile phone signal for the pocket wifi is limited.
28 comments
>Is my status as a resident with Instructor Status at risk? So I need this sponsored by another company to remain here? Or does my residency status remain with me until the expiry of my Zairyou? And anything else you think I need to be aware of.
If you break the contract, you need to inform the immigration bureau that your employer has changed. If you cannot find work within three months that’s also on an instructor visa afterward you need to apply to switch your visa from Instructor to Tourist.
Im not sure what would happen if you broke contract but my advice is stay put for another year. You’ve only been here for three months. My suggestion would be to invest in a car so atleast then you can get out of the house and go and explore. There are places where you can lease a car and pay about $200 a month for all the registration and insurance and everything is covered. That will at least give you a chance to get outside on the weekends.
Maybe go and visit the town that is far away and see if you can meet some people there. Find some people online using hobbies or interests that you have and see if there are like minded people around you that have transport to hang out with.
It sounds like a pretty average place where you live but to break contact after 3 months is not the best idea. I don’t know how you would explain to your new job how you managed to get out of the contact. I think telling them you didnt like where you were living might not be the best idea as during an interview the employer might think, ‘Well if he left after just 3 months because of where he was living then maybe he could do the same with us if we gave him a job’. Thats just something that people might think.
Its good that you are reaching out for help. Brainstorming ideas before thinking about breaking contract is the best thing to do. Are there other JET’s that live in your area or town that you can speak to? Or anyone from the BoE that you can speak to about things to do in the area or places to go?
Where abouts or what prefecture are you living in? How rural is it? Also keep in mind there are JETs who have been placed on small little islands where the whole town is about 200 people and there is a boat that goes into town where their local supermarket is a few times a week so it might look and sound bad but there are people who would actually love to be where you are.
I think you probably already know this, but if your housing is provided by your CO you will have to move out of it when you quit your job. It sounds like you wanted to move out anyway, so just make sure you are ready to do it as soon as you officially quit.
Also, this sounds like the kind of placement where you would be be expected to drive. Why don’t you have a car?
One possible thing if you’re breaking contract so early is the school may make you charge you for your flight over and possibly your hotel.
I agree with the others who suggest get a car. Also look into possible hobbie too.
So I was reading your situation and took these couple of questions seem to be the things you want people to give advice on. Let me know if I’m wrong. It seems like you are worried about:
1. I am aware of the (usually) lower salaries for ALTs outside of JET, but what else do I need to be aware of?
2. If I break contract (I will serve the correct and agreed notice period), what do I need to be aware of?
3. Is my status as a resident with Instructor Status at risk?
In regards to number 1. I think the biggest issues you will face are just the costs of moving and the costs of breaking any apartment contracts. Im sure when you came in you were hit by all the key money fees, (although if your rural enough you maybe have teacher housing…), insurance fees, etc. I think the cost of packing up all your stuff and moving possibly across country can be prohibitively expensive for some people especially those right out of college with no savings and only 3 months of JET salary savings. Really take a good look at the finances of the move. Can you right now throw down 3 months of rent on a Tokyo apartment? Can you lose your deposit at the apartment you already have? Do you have the money to pay for all the transport for you and your baggage?
In regards to two: My first advice is to read your contract. You seem to know the two big things that people will of course mention, the loss of a flight back home and support from your BOE. Even so still read the entire contract front to back so you know exactly what you need to do to break it. People will happily tell you what will and wont happen but it is always dependent on what is in your specific contract. Which does vary from place to place.
In regards to 3: I think someone mentioned that after losing employment you must register the change with an immigration office. I always thought it was 1 month after they will ask about your job hunt but i think I’m wrong about that as I’ve been seeing a lot of 90 days on this forum. After that 90 period is up you will most likely have your status and possibly residence revoked. You then might be able to change to a tourist visa but from there on out your basically out the door. If you dont have the next job lined up you have to get a move on quick. Which is probably what predatory Eikawa’s are looking for in ALT’s. So they can essentially abuse them for labor and know that since people are desperate to stay theyll just deal with it.
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My two cents on your situation. Have you tried getting a car? It might help. If not, sorry its not working out for you.
“My apartment has no wifi.”
Fix this. Go to an electronics store in a decent sized city and see what you can possibly get.
“Where I live, there are no trains, no taxis, no uber, and infrequent (if at all) buses to the next nearest city, which is two hours + away.”
Take a driving course. Get a license. Get a car.
“I do not practice my Japanese, as there is nobody to socialize with, at all.”
This doesn’t jive with the “I have great relationships with the staff at my schools.”
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The first few months are always the most challenging and it will take some time to get adjusted. Before you make any rash decisions, I really recommend trying to fix your problems one by one.
Is there no one at your school who can help you set up a WIFI plan? Do you have a predecessor you can message? The same with a car. Can you drive? For reference, I live in the second least populated prefecture in Japan (so very countryside) yet on the weekends I’ve been able to make short trips to Hiroshima, Ehime, Okayama, Yamaguchi etc.
Once you overcome these issues, things will start to get much better. Reach out to people in your area that can help you (BOE, PA, predecessor, JTEs etc.). Don’t lose hope!
To answer you question, no you don’t risk your status at all by breaking contract. You are free to do so.
As to whether it’s a good idea, I think you will find yourself very hard pressed to find a decent job here with only three months experience in the country. Any employer is going to see the three months and broken contract and consider you to be a high risk of doing the same with them. From that standpoint it’s certainly in your best interest to make the best of the situation for the duration of your contract.
Long story short, there are no financial or visa related penalties for quitting your job.
The BOE and possibly the higher ups or English staff at your schools might act like it’s the end of the world. It isn’t. Your job is not that important, and you are (by the nature of the job) as replaceable as replaceable comes. But yes, there will be “social penalties”, if that makes sense.
But, financial penalties? None.
Visa penalties? In Japan your visa is not tied to your job, as it is in say, Korea or Saudi. You just have to be looking for work, and preferably obtain it, within a few months, technically. Your actual residency status is not at risk if you’re not not looking for work and not overstaying the period of validity. Of course, it would be prudent of you to line something up so that you’re not living out of a hotel while you job search.
My own take on this however is that you will grow more as a person if you seek out ways to make the most of your situation. Wi-fi? Pocket wifi should almost certainly be available to you. Transport? Get a bicycle or a car, you can easily afford to on the JET salary. Neighbours? Very few people in Japan are close with the others in their apartment buildings. Nearest city is 2+ hours away? I simply do not believe you, unless you’re referring to a huge city like Sapporo.
But hey at the end of the day you have to take responsibility for your own happiness. If breaking contract and moving is the only way to do that (which I deeply believe it isn’t, and would be the opposite of personal growth for you) then you gotta do what you gotta do.
Btw I broke contract (although for different reasons) so I know what I’m talking about.
A lot of people might rush to tell you that there will be no financial penalty, and often times this is technically correct (even if it’s in the text.)
It is usually only technically correct however because it’s basically impossible to get the money from someone living in another country. You will not have that defense and if anyone at the BoE is particularly inclined to be vindictive and/or the budget requires them to recoup the cost, you are probably going to have a hard time defending yourself from their requests for money.
It’s worth noting that it is not all that cheap to get JETs out to Japan with the flights and hotels that are typically at peak travel season (though April is a bit better than that) and for a smaller BoE it might not be such an insignificant amount especially when they’ll need to pay it out again so soon.* If you want them to have a chance at ALT before next April, you’ll probably need to give your notice very very soon.
Your instructor visa is fine, but you’re not going to be able to hide from your employer that you broke contract. It’ll be there on your visa when you got into the country and you’ll be looking for a new job after only 4 or 5 months in Japan. You would need a very sympathetic interviewer to look past this, and quite frankly, they probably won’t need to look past it, they’ll have other candidates who have more experience being in Japan and teaching English.
Honestly, I’d suck it up and leave next summer, work on your Japanese (get a tutor – if you’re that deep in the inaka your personal finances should be solid) and make yourself more employable and ready to take an opportunity to be social when it comes up. In my experience, even though Japanese people around you won’t say it, a large factor in getting chances to be social does depend on your Japanese.
Also, most of us don’t chat to our neighbours. I say hello to my neighbours except the other ALT and the family opposite. And the boy was a former student of mine.
Japanese law allows you to quit any job without penalty as long as you provide 2 weeks notice
Just to clarify – do you have a Japanese driving licence? Because, if you do not, then, as a resident of Japan, your IDP is invalid and you would be driving illegally, technically.
I’m curious what your car costs are that you find it unaffordable? It shouldn’t be terribly restrictive on a JET salary.
Even assuming high costs, 200 yen a liter, and low mileage of 10 kilometers to the liter, that comes to about 1200 an hour of driving or 5000 for a round trip of four hours, allowing for very expensive parking at 1000 a day, that’s a total of 6,000 yen a trip. If done every weekend that’s about 313,000 a year. Expensive but considering the 1st year JET salary of 3,300,000 or so, it is something that should be able to be budgeted for if need be.
Ask CLAIR for a change or location. It has been done on occasion but not usually for loneliness but in cases where there was harassment or other serious issues. You can try.
Get softbank air. You can have internet the same day you get your contract. Done.
I don’t know what kind of car your drive bit most are incredibly fuel efficient and a full tank here lasts me multiple hiking trips/excursions a week.
Basically, it sounds like you are making excuses and don’t want to try and adapt. Go to your community center and ask about classes/activities/volunteering/sports.
Whatever you do I would suggest getting a new job lined up before you quit. You could easily get a job in Tokyo in a shit eikaiwa but it would be less pay and worse working conditions. If you hold out until you can secure something better I would.
I quit Jet and moved to Tokyo thinking I could easily get a job and it took me three months, Tokyo is expensive and generally unforgiving. You might be a minor celebrity in the arse end of nowhere but will not be given any special treatment here, you’re just one of thousands of foreign English teachers and employers know this, contracts are shit and pay is low. Start applying, save money and hold out for something good.
I can only speak to your question about your visa.
Your visa is not tied to your employer in Japan however legally you do need to notify immigration if you quit or change employers.
This change will affect your taxes and insurance payments which immigration cares A LOT about so keep them in the loop.
I feel as though you are probably going through culture shock at the moment. So probably hold off on making any huge decisions that will make months of planning for both you and your school go to waste.
You are probably not any more likely to meet people to chat with in Tokyo or another big city. If anything, rural town people are typically the most interested to get to know you. Also, as others have said, there is no way you’ll find work if an employer can see that you broke you current contract after 3 months.
If I were you, I would just try to stick it out a couple more months until culture shock wears off, maybe try and find a way to be more active in your school or community, or just plan a trip somewhere when you get to use nenkyuu.
The salary you get on JET is pretty insane. Especially living in a rural town. You could probably afford to take a month vacation in Japan after your contract ends if you just stick it out.
My town at the time was basically the most remote non-island placement (No cell coverage; nearest konbini literally a 55 minute drive away, etc…). Which was all fine for me since I’m a weird loner, but even then, I was still able to travel around, make friends, etc…
My advice would be:
1. Talk to your supervisor about the wifi situation. Even if there’s a language barrier, they’re a great resource for helping with some of the day-to-day things like that
2. See if there are any after-school clubs you can volunteer with, particularly if there’s certain teachers you get along well with. Even if you’re just a ball wrangler for the soft tennis team, it’s something to do and builds relationships
3. Ask about PTA activities. In my tiny-ass town, the PTA would have a monthly volleyball tournament and usually a light activity (dodgeball, basketball, etc..) after their meetings once or twice a month. Yeah, you’ll stay at school later when they do that, but it’s a great way to interact with parents/teachers in a semi-social situation
4. Related to the above, ask if there are any local events coming up. Edit: that’s another thing your supervisor/BoE might be able to help you with. There might be a town newsletter listing events. Ask them for a copy
5. Where do your coworkers live? I’m guessing at least some are also living in town? Try inviting some over for drinks or dinner one weekend.
6. re: not having anyone to practice Japanese with: try using your colleagues for that. Make small talk in the staffroom with your desk neighbours or whatever.
7. re: Travelling…I mean, I don’t know your exact location, but in my case, the nearest train station was 75 minutes away and it was a ~2 hour train ride to Tokyo from there. If you leave straight from school on Friday afternoons and make it back late Sunday night, you should be able to see a lot of the country.
I had a JTE who would actually fly to Okinawa quite frequently that way for quick Friday-Sunday trips.
Come to Osaka.
A lot of comments are telling you how to “fix” your situation instead of addressing the question you asked. As other people have said, you’re allowed to quit. Others have covered things pretty extensively legality wise. I don’t know anything about the visa, but I do have some insight as a person living in a city area.
I’m breaking contract and leaving Japan, so the paperwork is a little different, but finances wise what I’d reccomend to take into consideration is the fee to break your lease, the fees of any remaining gas/water/electric bills, kyushoku bills (if you get school lunch), the fees to either throw furniture/accumulated things away or take them with you, the fees to move into a new apartment, and that you will have to submit a change of address. If you arrived in April and have some money saved up (or savings from home) this might be doable, but it can be really expensive to come to an urban area.
If you do decide to move, as someone who lives near Tokyo, I’d say prepare to take a pay cut (if you go to dispatch or eikaiwa) and for living expenses to increase significantly, and also to work a lot more. Almost none of the people on JET salaries where I live have any savings, myself included, because after the pension cut, rent, transportation costs (might be different if you have a car), groceries/konbini/food, bills, and a hobby or two a month, the money is just gone.
It’s also been pretty difficult even in an urban area to make friends. I do get Japanese conversation practice with my coworkers, but besides that I haven’t made any new Japanese friends at all. In my case I think it has more to do with the fact that I’m extremely overworked and don’t have the energy.
It might be better to expand your consideration beyond Tokyo and to other smaller cities like Sendai, Nagoya, Osaka, Fukuoka, etc.
1. Who talks with neighbors to begin with? Besides like as neighbor families sometimes growing up, I’ve very rarely seen people actually talk with neighbors in apartments or whatever back in the states and this is Japan, I don’t think that’s much of a norm anywhere around here.
2. Are you not practicing Japanese at work? I find it really hard to believe you don’t have opportunities to practice Japanese in the boonies of all places, it is going to be way easier to need to use and rely on Japanese in the inaka vs in Tokyo. I am sure there are restuarants or something around you where you can make yourself a regular, it’s fucking Japan the restaurant and food culture around here is massive everywhere.
3. You’ve only been here three months, that’s way too little time to get used to where you’re at especially if this is your first time in Japan or living abroad. Stop freaking out about what you had imagined in your head for your experience and focus on what you can do at the moment. Obviously everyone is different but to be honest, I find it hard to be empathetic since what you described is literally a pretty standard JET placement, and it seems you expected like an urban or suburban life. Inaka life is car reliant with little to no public transport, uber in general is not a thing here, 20 min walk to the nearest amenity sounds normal, and I mean did you expect to travel regularly on weekends? That’s stuff you use nennkyu and public holidays for like an average person lol.
4. Just in general breaking contract and going to a bigger city – you will for sure get paid significantly less, you will likely have a larger work load, you will have to deal with any financial repercussions like paying out your old rent, you will have to likely pay double to triple your current rent (not to mention actually figuring out a place to live, since some places need guarantors for foreigners or things like paying multiple months rent up front), and what you had in mind for experiencing more life here and traveling more will probably be a lot harder than it is now in regards to being able to afford any of that.
I really think it’s way too early for you to make this call and that you need to think about what you’re doing now instead of an out, because it seems like you’re imagining the out to solve your problems.
Quit if you want. Your visa is good if you stay as an ALT or similar instructor work. But three months is not good timing. It’s too soon. In reality you have no idea what’s going on in the community. You need to study Japanese in your free time, wander around, and make local friends. Did you find the bar yet? Safe to assume there is one.
Joins JET, complains about rural placement.
I had a friend when I was on JET that was in this type situation. As a JET community we did the best we could to both get them to our more urbanized areas every opportunity and to get to their area to hang out every once in a while. This guy would couch surf with other JETs just about every weekend. In addition, he would host weekend stays as his place for game nights (both board and console), general partying, or for hiking groups.
It didn’t 100% solve his problem of isolation, but it sure helped.
You will have to foot all the moving expenses yourself and you probably will get no help. Your zairyu card is attached to your job. If you don’t have a job your zairyu card and visa won’t be valid anymore. You need to line a job up immedietly after and you have to inform immigration. You’re also on an instructors visa so unless you change your visa type you have to make sure you find a job that falls under it. Eikaiwa falls under humanities.
Places like Tokyo are saturated with foreigners already so you’ll be paid peanuts for English teaching. You won’t be happy anywhere if you’re broke. Neighbours aren’t going to speak to you in cities either.
I’m not sure what impression you got when you applied for the program but a lot of the placements are rural. Where I live there’s a ton of tiny islands and ALTs live on those too. They get the ferry, drive or make effort to plan gatherings in advance to fill up their social schedule. It’s just something we all have to do in rural areas. A lot of ALTs hang out and do school clubs, sports or hobby clubs in their area or drive and explore some spots in their free time. You are more than capable of doing this.
If you don’t have Wifi then ask people in work what they’re using at home. Ask for a recommendation. I refuse to believe you’re the only person sitting in the staffroom in work. Talk to people and ask these questions.
Tbh it sounds like you’re drowning in culture shock right now and shouldn’t be making big decisions like this until your head is clear. I can tell by this post you’ve gone into a negative spiral. You are making excuses for not being able to do certain things and aren’t thinking of any solutions except taking off. This mindset is going to hinder your ability to integrate into any community you move into not just this one. This is something we all have to overcome when we come here and I hope you find a way to do that.
God people can be real dicks about this. I can’t believe the attitudes of some of these JETS. Its like you insulted them personally.
ANYWAYS, you have every right to your feelings about a very real situation. Just because someone knows the risks in theory doesn’t mean the reality won’t impact them. I think it’s healthy to be looking for opportunities outside of your situation and it sounds like you’re thinking about it pretty logically. As for advice, I don’t have much to offer.
Just wanted to show support and empathize with your situation. I hope you find happiness elsewhere in Japan, and if not, elsewhere in your life down the road. Some things are just not a good fit and that’s okay.