I wouldn’t describe the job as my initial first choice but it’s a start and gap year opportunity to other possibilities if I can stick to my plan. The yen sucking doesn’t help that plan though
This is the worst time to be doing a research study. Don’t use this as real data for your paper.
Other.
I majored in English and chose Japan arbitrarily! Had I not met my husband, I could imagine moving to Taiwan or Thailand to teach after a year or two in Japan. I’m glad the first option, with teaching being a passion, was the most voted. I haven’t really met others who genuinely like teaching sadly.
Where is the option for: “I initially didn’t know anything about teaching but chose Japan because having never set foot there, I thought I loved it, but gradually I learned that I really do love teaching and so I built my qualifications to do it better. And as I did that, I was simultaneously learning that Japan has deep problems that do not necessarily make Japan bad, but make Japan imperfect, and it makes me question what it means to “love Japan”. I guess I love Japan in the same way someone in a marriage that’s not great but not worth divorcing loves their partner, in that over the years I have internalized the rhythms of the life I’ve built here to the point that I would miss them if they were gone, but I’m not 100% sure if they’re actually good for me. But then again no country or partner is perfect, so maybe I just need to learn to live with the one I’ve got, even if sometimes they do things that drive me up the wall. But then again again the EFL industry in Japan has some extreme toxic elements that sometimes make me question if sticking with Japan will push me to no longer be passionate about teaching. So on the whole right now, all I want to commit to is liking teaching in Japan enough to make it through the week, and let’s not make strong statements beyond that.”
Why didn’t you put *that* in your poll, huh?
At first it was because I wanted to live abroad and Japan seemed interesting, but now it’s because I love both my job and living here.
I thought I would like teaching English just as much as I liked learning Japanese. I do not.
What about, we’re here bc we have family/obligations and it’s the best option?
I do like teaching ALT though. Eikaiwa can burn in hell.
I was a teacher before coming to Japan, and came here out of a familial obligation. While I don’t dislike Japan, I also don’t have much affinity for it, either. After this many years, my feeling for Japan and Japanese culture has mostly evened out – some things I like, some I don’t.
One of the things I dislike is how ESL education has not improved, and in many ways, the situation for teachers has worsened considerably over the years.
I would say teaching is my passion, travelling is my passion, I chose Japan arbitrarily
I feel the results would be veeeeery different on the JapanLife sub x_x
“I can’t do anything else but I can speak English.”
The year, and some almost random circumstances, can make a huge difference in how one feels.
I literally arrived on the day the Bubble Economy ended. Like, I might have popped the Bubble. What that meant was that there was still a little euphoria left, and it was easy for a fool on a tourist visa to get an eikaiwa job.
I grew up in the American South, before the Internet, and, for much of my childhood, we had three good TV channels, two of which frequently aired crazy televangelists (“Put your hands on the TeeVee and pray with me! Be healed!”)
So of course I wanted out.
In my first year in Japan, I was very lucky and had great students. And then I had crappy students. I later went back to the US and taught Japanese. Then went to China, and taught grad students.
Money matters a lot for “job satisfaction”.
I sometimes liked teaching, but it is genuinely hard to make enough to save for retirement, or to afford to have children. It’s a serious problem.
After decades of studying Japanese on and off, I still have trouble with the language. And, I find the language far more interesting than the culture to be honest. It’s a glorious train wreck of a language.
It’s hard to generalize about liking teaching. There are just so many “teaching” situations.
Growing up, I attended public school, and the teachers were either indifferent, on a power trip, or well-intentioned but overwhelmed. There was little room for helping individual students. The public universities I went to were similar—the students tried to keep up, and there wasn’t much hand-holding. Really, who could feel passionate about that model of education?
And yet…I do feel like teaching students “against their will” and at an uncomfortable pace does have a place in childhood. Little kids have no idea why they need math or grammar, but they clearly will need it as they grow up.
That said, I HATED teaching Japanese company classes to indifferent employees. Sleep-deprived adults with other priorities are not going to learn much.
In the few situations, like private classes, where only student satisfaction matters, maybe it’s possible to enjoy the process of education.
I should note that, in the private classes where I am the student, I feel no hesitation about saying “I brought in a book. Let’s study this.” Or “I didn’t get any studying done this week. I need a do-over.” I view myself as the customer AND person with primary responsibility for any learning that happens. And I do enjoy these classes and do learn quickly. For a teacher who feels the need to be in charge, I’m surely an aggravating student.
None of the above
I had never taught before coming into Japan and was one of the sorely underqualified gaijin working in an eikaiwa. I chose that route because I really wanted to live in Japan and had majored in Japanese Language Studies in university. I ended up really liking teaching, and while I don’t want to do it for the rest of my life, I genuinely enjoy it most of the time. I’m now actually qualified with four years of teaching experience as well as a TESL.
I was in Japan and needed a job so I started teaching, I keep teaching because I like it and I think it is the career most likely to make me (sort of) rich.
Because for all the problems Japan has, I’ll take it any day over living in Bumfuck, America, where even the shitty ALT salary is TWICE what workers make back home. Basically, coming to Japan was my escape ticket from America, and with all the stuff happening in America, I intend to stay in japan as long as I can.
Oh, and it helps that I actually LIKE kids, and am actively learning the language. Which I enjoy.
A slight caveat- while I originally just wanted to try living abroad and Japan just happened to make the most sense for me, I’ve actually come to discover that I’m really passionate about teaching and very much enjoy living here!
Studied to be a teacher, realized I hated it, ran off to Japan so i could properly work on learning Japanese, will hopefully figure out career alternatives along the way.
Oddly enough I never chose teaching in Japan. One of my mom’s friends told me her son had a great time doing JET and told me about it. I found that my university offered some TESOL classes, and while I didn’t qualify for JET, I got into Interac. I didn’t plan on staying long in Japan at first, but everything just fell in place afterwards so I just kept staying here and going along.
Sex-pat? Geography is incel’s best dating strategy.
How about “I don’t want to teach in Japan, but I once wanted to before I realized how competitive it is.”
22 comments
I wouldn’t describe the job as my initial first choice but it’s a start and gap year opportunity to other possibilities if I can stick to my plan. The yen sucking doesn’t help that plan though
This is the worst time to be doing a research study. Don’t use this as real data for your paper.
Other.
I majored in English and chose Japan arbitrarily! Had I not met my husband, I could imagine moving to Taiwan or Thailand to teach after a year or two in Japan. I’m glad the first option, with teaching being a passion, was the most voted. I haven’t really met others who genuinely like teaching sadly.
Where is the option for: “I initially didn’t know anything about teaching but chose Japan because having never set foot there, I thought I loved it, but gradually I learned that I really do love teaching and so I built my qualifications to do it better. And as I did that, I was simultaneously learning that Japan has deep problems that do not necessarily make Japan bad, but make Japan imperfect, and it makes me question what it means to “love Japan”. I guess I love Japan in the same way someone in a marriage that’s not great but not worth divorcing loves their partner, in that over the years I have internalized the rhythms of the life I’ve built here to the point that I would miss them if they were gone, but I’m not 100% sure if they’re actually good for me. But then again no country or partner is perfect, so maybe I just need to learn to live with the one I’ve got, even if sometimes they do things that drive me up the wall. But then again again the EFL industry in Japan has some extreme toxic elements that sometimes make me question if sticking with Japan will push me to no longer be passionate about teaching. So on the whole right now, all I want to commit to is liking teaching in Japan enough to make it through the week, and let’s not make strong statements beyond that.”
Why didn’t you put *that* in your poll, huh?
At first it was because I wanted to live abroad and Japan seemed interesting, but now it’s because I love both my job and living here.
I thought I would like teaching English just as much as I liked learning Japanese. I do not.
What about, we’re here bc we have family/obligations and it’s the best option?
I do like teaching ALT though. Eikaiwa can burn in hell.
I was a teacher before coming to Japan, and came here out of a familial obligation. While I don’t dislike Japan, I also don’t have much affinity for it, either. After this many years, my feeling for Japan and Japanese culture has mostly evened out – some things I like, some I don’t.
One of the things I dislike is how ESL education has not improved, and in many ways, the situation for teachers has worsened considerably over the years.
I would say teaching is my passion, travelling is my passion, I chose Japan arbitrarily
I feel the results would be veeeeery different on the JapanLife sub x_x
“I can’t do anything else but I can speak English.”
The year, and some almost random circumstances, can make a huge difference in how one feels.
I literally arrived on the day the Bubble Economy ended. Like, I might have popped the Bubble. What that meant was that there was still a little euphoria left, and it was easy for a fool on a tourist visa to get an eikaiwa job.
I grew up in the American South, before the Internet, and, for much of my childhood, we had three good TV channels, two of which frequently aired crazy televangelists (“Put your hands on the TeeVee and pray with me! Be healed!”)
So of course I wanted out.
In my first year in Japan, I was very lucky and had great students. And then I had crappy students. I later went back to the US and taught Japanese. Then went to China, and taught grad students.
Money matters a lot for “job satisfaction”.
I sometimes liked teaching, but it is genuinely hard to make enough to save for retirement, or to afford to have children. It’s a serious problem.
After decades of studying Japanese on and off, I still have trouble with the language. And, I find the language far more interesting than the culture to be honest. It’s a glorious train wreck of a language.
It’s hard to generalize about liking teaching. There are just so many “teaching” situations.
Growing up, I attended public school, and the teachers were either indifferent, on a power trip, or well-intentioned but overwhelmed. There was little room for helping individual students. The public universities I went to were similar—the students tried to keep up, and there wasn’t much hand-holding. Really, who could feel passionate about that model of education?
And yet…I do feel like teaching students “against their will” and at an uncomfortable pace does have a place in childhood. Little kids have no idea why they need math or grammar, but they clearly will need it as they grow up.
That said, I HATED teaching Japanese company classes to indifferent employees. Sleep-deprived adults with other priorities are not going to learn much.
In the few situations, like private classes, where only student satisfaction matters, maybe it’s possible to enjoy the process of education.
I should note that, in the private classes where I am the student, I feel no hesitation about saying “I brought in a book. Let’s study this.” Or “I didn’t get any studying done this week. I need a do-over.” I view myself as the customer AND person with primary responsibility for any learning that happens. And I do enjoy these classes and do learn quickly. For a teacher who feels the need to be in charge, I’m surely an aggravating student.
None of the above
I had never taught before coming into Japan and was one of the sorely underqualified gaijin working in an eikaiwa. I chose that route because I really wanted to live in Japan and had majored in Japanese Language Studies in university. I ended up really liking teaching, and while I don’t want to do it for the rest of my life, I genuinely enjoy it most of the time. I’m now actually qualified with four years of teaching experience as well as a TESL.
I was in Japan and needed a job so I started teaching, I keep teaching because I like it and I think it is the career most likely to make me (sort of) rich.
Because for all the problems Japan has, I’ll take it any day over living in Bumfuck, America, where even the shitty ALT salary is TWICE what workers make back home. Basically, coming to Japan was my escape ticket from America, and with all the stuff happening in America, I intend to stay in japan as long as I can.
Oh, and it helps that I actually LIKE kids, and am actively learning the language. Which I enjoy.
A slight caveat- while I originally just wanted to try living abroad and Japan just happened to make the most sense for me, I’ve actually come to discover that I’m really passionate about teaching and very much enjoy living here!
Studied to be a teacher, realized I hated it, ran off to Japan so i could properly work on learning Japanese, will hopefully figure out career alternatives along the way.
Oddly enough I never chose teaching in Japan. One of my mom’s friends told me her son had a great time doing JET and told me about it. I found that my university offered some TESOL classes, and while I didn’t qualify for JET, I got into Interac. I didn’t plan on staying long in Japan at first, but everything just fell in place afterwards so I just kept staying here and going along.
Sex-pat? Geography is incel’s best dating strategy.
How about “I don’t want to teach in Japan, but I once wanted to before I realized how competitive it is.”