Anyone know of anyone who’s done the JET program / TEFL / English teaching in Japan?
Hearing horror stories of the work culture and not being able to have any free time to get away and experience Japan due to being required to do busy work until late evenings and not being able to take time off that you’re entitled to.
The last thing I want is to be so close to the places I want to see and not get a chance through the school holidays, weekends or days off that the school has agreed on but won’t allow workers to actually take off.
Is it better if I just saved up and went for a month or two as a tourist?
16 comments
I have worked for a big name eikaiwa which often runs on similar hours to other tefl needed jobs.
I have little too no free time. If you’re lucky you will get three major holidays a year but they are in terrible seasons. Golden week is super expensive, obon in August is during the hot, wet, rainy season, and new year’s everything is closed.
In the almost three years I have been here, getting time off outside of those holidays has been nigh impossible. I would say coming here on vacation is much more rewarding than working here. Plus there are so many tourist discounts.
If your goal is just to explore Japan a bit then just wait and make the most of a tourist visa.
The people who have a bad time English teaching usually fall into two camps.
1. Way over qualified and thought they’d be a real teacher. ALTs are dancing monkeys (personally I love it) or grunts in a total scam (eikaiwa) no real teaching to be had. These people feel wasted and often rub against the companies who just want the bare minimum.
2. So incredibly socially inept and/or mentally ill that no job anywhere would go well for them.
Though as with any job you could just end up in a really toxic work environment but those don’t usually represent the work as a whole
When I worked as a JET, non-JET ALT, or dispatch solo-teacher, I had enough time to see other parts of Japan. The only concern was money – if my job paid well, it was fine, if not, I was stuck in my miserable 1K hoping I could scrape together enough money to meet the bare necessities.
When I worked at eikaiwa, no chance. With no serious school holidays, long Saturdays, and the constant pressure to make sales, any time there was a day off I was too exhausted to do anything but veg in front of the TV.
If tourism is your only interest, it’d be better to just save some money and visit as a tourist. Even if your overall goal is to live in Japan for a while, it might be worthwhile to visit as a tourist, secure a job and visa sponsorship, then leave the country and come back with a working visa. Unless you’re already well-qualified as a teacher, most jobs you can get from outside the country are those of the lowest order, involving long hours and abysmal pay.
I used to recruit for a decent language school that had plentiful holidays (*e.g.,* five weeks off in summer, no weekend work, all public holidays off) and paid a (modestly) living wage, and we never recruited from overseas.
As an ALT or as an actual teacher you will have a lot of free time during the breaks assuming your school isn’t shitty.
It depends on where you live and what you want to do. If you can manage your time well it is possible to see every temple and historical place you want to slowly over one or two years. The biggest issue is money. Getting around is expensive and an TEFL job will help offset that. My first year here I was able to travel all around Kansai from the Ninja village in the rural Iga to Himeji castle in Hyogo. The second year I was more interested in making money so I didn’t do as much. After that I went back home and it was too expensive to fly back to Japan for tourist things.
JET is the only one that will give you enough money and freedom to do what you want. You get tons of time off when the school is closed and the pay is decent for a single person.
As a dispatch ALT you will have tons of free time but the pay is literally below poverty level. By the time you pay all your bills you will have very little money left, just enough to eat.
Eikaiwa is a meat grinder. You will work until 10 pm on weekdays and will be required to work weekends and holidays. Your weekly days off will not be consecutive, think like Monday and Thursday.
If you have enough money you’ll absolutely be able to travel. Get a motorcycle and go explore on your own or with a group. Free parking all over the place, lots of beautiful mountain roads, lots of cool things you wouldn’t have know about only using public transport. 250cc and less doesn’t even need shaken inspections, and is super cheap on gas.
Every situation is different. Rules here merely accompany culture…what’s unstated is usually more important than what’s explicitly said. In your case it may be down to your boss on how much free time you have. But I’ve always had enough time to travel…my first year in Japan I visited Kyoto during Golden Week (a little busy) and went to the snow festival in Sapporo. I also climbed Mt. Fuji over a weekend. Since then I’ve gotten into regular teaching that gives me loads of vacation time. But basically working in Japan is like any other job…it’s not a vacation or something to be taken lightly.
On a practical note, if you do come and have the time, JR has special tickets that are very reasonable. They aren’t sold year around, but I’ve used them a couple of times and it was great. [https://www.jreast.co.jp/multi/en/pass/seishun18.html](https://www.jreast.co.jp/multi/en/pass/seishun18.html).
Hello there!
During my 4 years as a JET ALT, I managed to visit several places within Japan. Taking time off was easy as an ALT from my experience. However, the only time I was denied vacation time was because it would interfere with entrance exams. I thought it was fair because it was a stressful time for everyone. Also, the JET salary while living in the countryside is quite generous.
Again, it depends on your placement. If you decide to work here, look at the reviews and don’t work an eikaiwa. However, 1 or 2 months as a tourist is a good idea because of the discounts., winter, spring, and summer breaks are the most convenient time for taking longer trips. Weekend trips are doable within my prefecture or Sendai.
Again, it really depends on your placement. If you decide to work here, look at the reviews and don’t work an eikaiwa. However, 1 or 2 months as a tourist is a good idea because of the discounts.
It depends on the school and programs whether or not you have the time to see Japan. If you work for an Eikaiwa, you will have to be readily available if another teacher is absent or steps out. I don’t know about JET though. If I were you, I would not work at an Eikaiwa and think about traveling across Japan. I would travel across Japan prior to working for a business here. The Japanese management, at some Eikaiwa’s, is not accommodating nor understanding about taking time off for personal enjoyment and improvement. I knew someone who volunteered for the Olympics and took time off from work: when she returned, she got fired. It was awful. Thus, be smart, and travel as a tourist on your own time. Also, as a tourist, you can get a JR railway pass but as a visa holder, you can’t.
I worked for one of the big chain eikaiwas eons ago (wink wink).
We had roughly 1 week- 10 days off over Christmas/New Year, around 7 or 8 days off in August, and 5-7 days off in May.
I used to take a foreign holiday somewhere in Asia with my friends once a year, and have a holiday back home once a year. I also used to travel 2-3 times in Japan for weekends away (snowboarding, sightseeing, etc).
At that time I prioritised travelling so I didn’t save much money. However, there was plenty of time to see Japan and the neighbouring countries.
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not a teacher but if you are considering working and looking for travellling, you probably can do it during public holiday such as golden week or that summer holiday (obon?). So you could fit that public holiday with your time off.
Traveling in Japan isn’t cheap (granted hotels have been cheaper recently due to covid). I actually find it cheaper to leave the country during time off rather than traveling through here (obviously it depends on where you go).
You can still do it, but you’ll have to be pretty frugal while here (assuming you’re working for an eikaiwa or dispatch alt company).
I spent 1 year as a JET and managed to see about 30 prefectures out of 47. Then next year went back to an office job and saw another 16. So that’s almost every prefecture within 2 years and I did it very cheaply too, so definitely doable!