Excluding the JET Programme ALTs (I know some receive subsidies) how much are the rest of you able to save as teachers of English in Japan? If you’d like, feel free to include:
\- **Your location**
\- **Your company**
\- **Your monthly expenditures (rent, going out, electricity etc)**
\- **Your monthly savings** ***( JPY / USD )***
25 comments
As an ALT absolutely nothing. I ended up borrowing money from my parents to change my job. Non JET.
As an eikaiwa teacher i saved about a million yen a year because i worked most evenings and Saturdays and i was in a relationship so i wasnt blowing all my money on boozing it up.
There are so many factors to consider. You may have an expensive hobby, or live in an expensive flat, or want to eat out and travel a lot. Ofc if you are frugal you can save something in any job, but your overall enjoyment will probably suffer.
Started in Ashikaga, during the JoyTalk era.
If I wasn’t drinking and traveling so much, I actually could have saved quite a bit. I know someone who had a couple million yen from being frugal. The cost of living is much much lower than in Tokyo.
Living in the big city? Forget about it, you need a second job, aside from direct hire or private school.
Really, it all depends on your position in life now. Young? Go out and explore; worry about saving later. Older? You had your fun, now save.
You’re only able to get large company ALTs I imagine or very generic answers. Most people don’t feel like Doxxing themselves answer all your questions.
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I am in the south. Monthly expenses are about 100,000 or so depending. I work at a private school. I save about 300k
¥0. I have chronic health issues and spend about a third of my yearly income on health expenses.
About 100,000 a month on a 270,000 salary, rent around 60,000, bills maybe… 15,000. Somehow, skipping breakfast, a light lunch and cereal for dinner every other night*, I’m still eating about 20,000 a month. I’m frugal, though, and actually I think I’m missing out on things a little bit, so I might cut back next year.
*that’s by choice, not necessity.
Living in Chiba, I could save roughly 30000円 a month… but quality of life took a major hit with that.
I’m in the North side of Tokyo, home station is a fairly major one.
I do admin/consulting 2 days a week and teaching 3 days a week for a high end dispatch. I do high end (google, facebook) private students and freelance on top of that.
Expenses split with fiancée, Mortgage on a 3千万 3 story house is running 8万 a month and that is our biggest expense. My total recurring expenses run about 15万/mo. My total spending almost never breaks 20万 unless it’s something special (travel, special event, etc.)
I make 35万 from the main job and anywhere from 5-15万 from the private/freelance work. Depending on fluctuating total expenses I can pocket ~25万 if I really want to save, but 15万 is usually the minimum that will make it to my bank account.
😂😂😂 save money? as an ALT? 😂 I’m sorry, let me recover from this laughing fit.
it’s not a living wage, it’s a working one. there will be no saving money. at least not working at a dispatch company
Outskirts of Kanagawa here, getting 240k after deductions, married with two kids. I can save around 150k a month but only because my wife pays the mortgage and bills.
When I was single I was saving around 40,000-50,000yen but would spend most of it on trips back home or things I needed. There wasn’t much luxury spending as far as I can remember.
Medium sized town in Kansai
We use roughly 180,000-220,000 a month for everything together. Never really thought about what it all is until quick math now so don’t know exact numbers
Saving about 400,000 a month
I’m in Saitama and I’m not saving anything, but not really trying to save either… 😅 we are a family of four and we’re only going to be in Japan for a few years, so we’re using our money to have a memorable experience. We have our kids in sports/music which costs money… we just got a car… we traveled in Japan over the summer and are hoping to travel a bit this winter… etc. We probably my could have saved a bit but we would rather spend it, honestly. We’re here for the experience as a family first and foremost.
You can save money…
if you rent a shoebox, never go out, shop at Daiso and Uniqlo, “eating out” is considered Saizarea and your vacation is a once a year trip to Karuizawa.
That’s the kind of lifestyle the people who work as English teachers here. It’s also why their Japanese wives often file for divorce.
This question always gets asked and the correct answer is that it depends on your location, hobbies etc. Are you in the city? Do you go out? Do you have a girlfriend/wife who can split the rent?
No matter how you slice it though the pay is poor. You will not make good money at this type of work.
However, in exchange for less pay, we get that made up with a safe, stable, clean country
Going through everyone’s comments here over the years I learned I’m definitely not a typical example of an alt but
Rent 7万
Food entertainment etc 10万
Phone / net 3000yen
Utilities 1.8万
Taxes /pension 12万
Ideco 1.2万
Others 3-4万 (clothes, gadgets etc)
Save random amounts but equals out at about 25万 a month overall. I’m terrible at saving but I figure as long as I’m putting some away for retirement I’ll be alright.
No kids helps
Teaching jobs are in Tokyo – private school (plus a side teaching gig one afternoon a week)
Going through everyone’s comments here over the years I learned I’m definitely not a typical example of an alt but
Rent 7万
Food entertainment etc 10万
Phone / net 3000yen
Utilities 1.8万
Taxes /pension 12万
Ideco 1.2万
Others 3-4万 (clothes, gadgets etc)
Save random amounts but equals out at about 25万 a month overall. I’m terrible at saving but I figure as long as I’m putting some away for retirement I’ll be alright.
Having no kids helps
It really depends on where you live and your employment situation. Let’s just say I can see Skytree from my neighborhood and teach at a private high school.
I save more than a third of my income.
Easy. Housing is paid for. Food is paid for(eat school lunches). Never home so I don’t use much electricity. Boom profit.
When I was at Interac, I think at best I could save 50,000 a month.
250,000 gross salary
After all company deductions including apartment I received
160,000 in hand
Food/drinking at the bar/eating out was maybe 70,000 a month
Another 15,000 for utilities phone
Another 35,000 for various things/shopping, average amount taken out for going somewhere every few months or so.
550k-650k a month saved. I own and operate an eikaiwa after school program. Being the sole teacher with no staff really helps keep overhead down.
Our family expenses are in the 200-250k range. My wife deals with the bills, but essentially all expenses are linked to a single bank account. There is already a decent cushion and I put a fixed amount every month. We’ve been putting money away for our children’s education as well.
We are in Kyoto so not exactly the cheapest place, but everything is accessible by cheap transportation or a quick bicycle ride.
My business expenses are super low since I don’t rent out a traditional “brick and mortar” school. My two locations are inside kindergartens that have extra rooms. I also teach once a week at these kindergartens in the mornings. Any children interested in eikaiwa after school can sign up for my lessons. My rates are comparable to other children eikaiwa schools.
I’ve been at this for a little over 10 years. Business has been really good over the last 3-4. Even during the beginning, the pay was comparable to my early ALT gig.
Osaka
Cant say
Expenditure is about 150,000
Savings are about 120,000
Direct-hire ALT. I track my expenses carefully. I consistently save about 1.6m yen a year so about 133k a month.
I teach English for a dispatch company that send me to office in and around Tokyo…the amount of work has gone down significantly since the pandemic though so I’m earning a lot less than I would usually.
I’d say between ¥50,000-¥100,000 a month on average – I spend ¥80,000 for rent, ¥8,000 for the gym, ¥6500 for Internet and phone, ¥36,000 for health insurance and pension, ¥2500 for various streaming services, ¥35,000 for NISA (although technically it’s not spending…unless my investments suddenly all go down)…and rest is saved, used for groceries and for going out.
However, I hadn’t been paying into the Japanese Health Insurance until recently so I’m back paying from last year so that’s a massive chunk at the moment but once that’s all up-to-date I can start saving again from April.
1st place Gunma ¥200,000 and car insurance, health insurance, parking spot, food, phone and credit card (saved ¥300,000)
2nd place Shiga ¥255,000 electricity, car insurance, health insurance, other bills, food, phone, rent, credit card, and gas. (Saved ¥100,000) (¥300,000 overall savings)
3rd place Kure ¥255,000 electricity, gas, water, insurance, food, other bills, even more expensive phone bill, Wi-Fi bill, and credit card. (Plus replacement of my car) (lost all savings and now only have ¥20,000 saved here and left overall)
Single dude in Osaka. Make 4 million a year after taxes. I don’t really save that much tbh. Maybe like 500,000 a year or something. During Covid I just bought a lot of crap out of boredom so my savings are not as good as it used to be but whatever.
From JET to JET supervisor to uni teacher while moonlighting as various things: enough to retire on after 22 years.
https://youtu.be/wTRfUT1QSfE