It seems like no matter what is asked, the post gets downvoted.
Another thing: whenever someone is struggling to pick a company, they’re always met with “avoid that company!” “Both companies are terrible!”
But aren’t the people commenting that working for one of these “terrible” companies also? If there are no good companies, then why does this page even exist in the first place?
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This page simply exists to discuss the field. This isn’t a praise page. We’re here to discuss the good, the bad, and the ugly. Unfortunately the ALT/TEFL/eikaiwa industry in Japan has turned into a total shit-show, so there’s far more “ugly” than anything right now.
Do you suppose we should sugar coat things and not share the actual experiences we’ve had? This is just the reality of the current state of the field here.
All of the Japan-related subreddits are toxic AF. It’s not unique to this one.
It definitely makes it harder for people trying to get their foot in the door when everyone wants to be toxic. However if someone does know something bad about a job or company i definitely want them to mention it. I think you can be constructively negative without being toxic. I have found that in this thread and others that if you look around long enough you can gain a general consensus of what jobs people like and dislike. Whenever i ask about ALT companies most of the positive comments I get are dm’d to me by people who work there and enjoy their job. In college I knew a guy who told me he knew a guy in his late 30’s who lives in Osaka and loves it , But he was a total monster on reddit and would willingly spend his time on reddit telling young people not to come to japan and that its horrible XD So if someone is overly negative without saying why or being constructive , Just assume they are bitter and have nothing better to do.
A lot of people come to Japan with big aspirations/plans and then find themselves 5-10 years later in the same place. These people are salty. Most of the people here cursing the companies are those who are stuck in McEigo purgatory doing the hokey pokey everyday in deodorant-stained Uniqlo polo shirts or those who had enough and left Japan.
There’s enough info on this subreddit for anyone interested in coming to Japan to know what to expect and not get completely bamboozled.
There’s not really a practical element to this sub. Some people just want to be in Japan and experience it and are willing to put up with some corporate BS. They’d probably be facing face at home. They just want some advice about dealing with the nasty stuff. Some reassurance, insight or confirmation. Nearly every thread here ends with ‘Get an MA and work at a Uni.’ This place is quite Disney, really.
Part of what you’re seeing is this sub’s identity crisis. This is “teaching in Japan”, but nearly all the discussion is of ALT and Eikaiwa stuff that is one, easy to Google, and two, not teaching. That second point gets a lot of the sub riled up, but just flatly, legally, and objectively speaking those two fields are completely different than the conversations that would be had around licensed teaching or college jobs.
For ALT/Eikaiwa the industry itself is really shady, abusive, entry level, and without much uniformity. It’s specifically because these industries are not licensed/qualified as teaching that they can get away with low pay, abuse, and massive turnover. That situation creates a lot of negativity itself, and it can also make people not take those jobs seriously in discussion.
>It seems like no matter what is asked, the post gets downvoted.
This is one of the better Japan-related subreddits, but a fault of out community in general (at least when we’re online and anonymous) is that we have this terrible need to compete with each other, rather than support each other. I haven’t witnessed the downvoting you refer to in this subreddit specifically, but if it happens, that could be why.
>If there are no good companies, then why does this page even exist in the first place?
I don’t know this sub’s demographics exactly, but I would bet that many of us don’t work for these companies at all. Many work for private schools, international schools, and universities. Which have their own problems, to be sure. But they are still WAY above the for-profit dispatch companies and eikaiwas.
Honestly it’s a warning. There is nothing here right now. The industry is at one of it’s all time lowest. The pay is utter garbage and most companies are overtly breaking the law with little ramifications.
It would take the government stepping in and regulating to bring any kind of change.
There are multiple reasons for the negativity you see here. Here my 2yen on the main reasons (others exist).
1: For one, there are A LOT of bitter people who can’t progress past dispatch jobs and eikaiwa work. They don’t like their current job, relationship (or lack there of), or life in general, and vent on here. The money is not great so you’re always living paycheck to paycheck, which doesn’t help. Also with ALT work this is always considerable downtime in which people have to either shitpost or think about how shitty their situation is while doing absolutely nothing about it. That’s for normally adjusted non spectrum-chan.
2: Unfortunately due to whatever reason, Japan attracts a lot of spectrum-chan who are now not only dealing with their own social problems, but probably away from home/responsible for themselves for the first time in their life. Add this to all of number 1. If someone has mental health issues, said issues will most likely get much worse here not better.
3: Entitlement. Not sure if it’s a western thing or youth, but most of the people I’ve encountered who are bitter want Japan to change. They weren’t happy in their own country, yet somehow hold the opinion that Japan is backwards and needs to become more like thier own (hated) country.
The most vocal people are here online, and if you notice it’s never their fault. There are many who suffer in silence, but there are also many who enjoy their job, and in their down time work on japanese, a second skill or even degree, then either go home or find a more fulfilling job. It’s a bit of luck where you get placed and how the people are there, but most people, MOST PEOPLE, are their own biggest problem NOT the situation. If you are not shit at human interaction you can do well even in a shit situation. My 2yen.
I feel like the bitter/super negative people who comment on here often make assumptions. Salary criticism (assuming op would earn more in their home country to begin with), assuming there are better opportunities/conditions/quality of life in home country etc. Some people are comfortable with a basic life, basic pay, doing their job and going home
I’m not sure why people have become so comfortable shitting on someones job either, would it not be considered highly rude to do this in any other cicrumstance?
Im glad to read comments that state honest realities cuz its neccessary, but there is a lot of straight up rude and unfriendly behaviour here for no reason. I’m sure there are happy teachers out there, they just dont spend all day on reddit
>Another thing: whenever someone is struggling to pick a company, they’re always met with “avoid that company!” “Both companies are terrible!”
Often it’s the reality
“If there are no good companies, then why does this page even exist in the first place?”
There are more companies than those mentioned here. The ones that are asked about here are generally horrible. The solution to “negativity” here is **not** to… not tell people that those companies are horrible.
This is reddit
My thoughts as somebody who’s had separation between his eikaiwa career and ‘next steps in life’ (i.e. a bit of time to reflect) are that:
– The overall experience can be cool as you’re living in Japan (which is an awesome, life changing experience). However you’re not gonna get that perspective from some random online who’s earning $2000 a month, exhausted and towards the end of their tether. THEY wanna get out because they’ve had their fun. That may not be where YOU are at though. We’re all at different stages in the journey, which is why I encourage people to ‘just do it’. Heck, I bought an espresso machine the other day after reading a heap of reviews saying ‘this machine is shit, no matter what I do it just splutters coffee everywhere and gives me a lukewarm coffee!!’ After some practice, I can make great coffee with it. Some people in life (I dare say a solid share of whom end up in eikaiwa) cannot make a good coffee and it’s ALWAYS (quite vocally) the espresso machine’s fault. Others (often the quiet ones) say a lot less and are just sitting back, enjoying their morning coffee instead (so you never hear their perspective). Online reviews are like that!
– People forget how cool it is to (for example) fly over, get met at the airport, get guided to their own Japanese-style apartment with a fresh futon…etc, go to their first izakaya, start speaking basic conversational Japanese with people…etc. Again THEY versus YOU. Somebody who’s been here for 5 years probably isn’t gonna get all giddy about the same stuff as somebody who’s fresh off the plane.
– It’s a job, not a career. This is tough as every sane person wants to see career progression throughout their life. Every day somebody on here seems to have an epiphany and wants to have a longwinded chat about how they can become an ‘international school teacher’ or ‘university professor’. Not bagging them out but a lot of people are at a stage where they’ve hit the wall in terms of career progression and are trying to find a way forward. People are panicking about the thought of leaving eikaiwa because the salary’s crap after 5+ years in the business but… what’s the alternative? This question can only be answered from within and a lot of people are vocalising it on here. Concurrently others are asking which eikaiwa to choose. There’s no common ground in these situations as people are chasing different outcomes.
– Hope people don’t take this the wrong way, but most people on here are from the USA. I’m not so there is often a cultural gap between gaijins that people don’t realise (which can lead to arguments as people can assume there’s a shared understanding of ‘the west’, for example). When you add to this mix (for example) people from the Philippines and low-income Europe… everybody’s got their own journey.
Don’t spend too much time on this sub, but one observation of people working in the industry is that there are a lot of people who don’t really enjoy the job. Doing language teaching well is no easy task, so a lot of people find themselves unable to do it effectively for increasingly long periods of time, with of course no career or noticeable skills progression and rare opportunities for salary increases.
Not saying this is necessarily their fault, but there are a lot of long-timers who still don’t appreciate how hard proper language teaching is (but also how rewarding it can be).
Personally, I don’t think things are any more negative here than other Japan related subreddits. But I think there are two reasons why things may give you that impression.
Firstly ‘teaching in Japan’ is actually quite broad. It encompasses ALTs, international kindergartens, Eikaiwa, university work, corporate training, international schools, non-TESOL related teaching work etc. These include low skilled jobs that don’t require any specific qualifications (aside from those needed for getting a visa) and those which require specialized experience, professional qualifications and licenses, publications etc.
With that, you get a mixed bag of people on this sub including those who are professionally qualified teachers who are doing it as a serious career, people who don’t see themselves teaching long term or are happy in assistant/tutoring type roles, and people who just want to work while traveling Japan for a few years.
The second reason is that there are A LOT of legitimately bad companies which offer the lower skilled job roles. By which I mean, they don’t offer basic shit like social insurance to employees working full time, in some cases encourage employees to work without a visa, don’t care about the safety of students etc. Due to these jobs being more common and easier to get than the higher skilled roles, you have more people applying and more questions/threads about these companies.
In such cases I think people should call out these shitty companies so at the very least people know what they are getting into. From there people can see if it’s right for them. Eg: While someone on a working holiday may not care about social insurance, a teacher who is qualified in their home country and is looking to live in Japan for a few years might.
A lot of people on here aren’t teachers, don’t want to be teachers and also look down on teachers.
It honestly feels like a teacher’s room that just lets parents and admin come in and tell us how easy our jobs are. Completely useless for learning about education, really. But good for creating a nice block list so when you go on other Japan-centric boards, you filter out trolls.
A lot of the vitriol you see from Japanese subreddits is because the people who have been here for awhile see the same exact questions come in over and over again from people that refuse to search for answers before asking. Sometimes they don’t realize how annoying that can be. Sometimes new comers come in thinking they have more knowledge of how the world works as an ALT than licensed teachers working the job for many years. It can be annoying.
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If you choose to focus on only the negative you will miss all the positives of these subreddits. People on this subreddit have offered tons of help to people that come asking real questions about teaching. Asking for the 1405 time about which is better, Interac or an Ekaiwa, then of course people will be snarky as we’re tired of the same question. Especially when that question is, “Is it better to be punched in the dick or the gut?”
The funniest thing to me is when people respond to those questions about which company with “i work for x company for y years now and it’s shit, don’t do it” even though they themselves have stayed and continue to work at it.
There’s good and bad. Neither should be ignored.
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1.Most people who come here to teach English come a year or two and then leave. They often enjoy their experience. They don’t post about it because they’re busy experiencing the country and then moving back to their home country. Yes, even people who work for Interac or Aeon for a year or two of adventure don’t have any sour grapes about the company/country.
2. Salaries are terrible and should not be spun otherwise. A lot of people who come right after college never had the experience of a “professional career” so they are ignorant what a good salary looks like. I laugh at when people say 350,000 a month is “good money” – it’s terrible money, especially if you’re college educated from a developed Western country.
3. People who are *desperate* to come to Japan never do well. Professionally or socially.
4. Japan is a safe, stable and clear country. Moreso than wherever you’re coming from. The healthcare system is also great here.
5. If you stay in Japan more than 2 years, not developing yourself professionally will cost you dearly. The “bitter jaded old Eikawa expat” is not a meme, everyone here knows numerous examples of this type of person. This subreddit has several of these types.
I actually quite like my job and am one of those people who was already a teacher before coming to Japan, instead of becoming a teacher in order to come to Japan. If I’m to be frank, I care very little about Japan itself, as I didn’t come here out of any desire to be in Japan. It’s just a place to me, like any other place I could live and work.
Originally I began posting here because when I saw the name, I assumed it would be a group of dedicated teachers discussing pedagogy, thought that would be interesting, and that I might be able to lend my experience to help out some new teachers. And it is that at times, and I have often posted my best advice for people who are asking for teaching ideas or who need advice on navigating relationships at work.
But I soon realized that most of the time this forum is a place for newbies who are yet to even come to Japan and are looking to find out more. When I saw that, and noted the number of people who really were clueless and who actually believed the BS that recruiters feed them, I felt an obligation to be honest with them.
And, as time passed, I noted how many people really are unhappy that they got stuck in this industry working at jobs where they are exploited and even verbally abused, sometimes threatened, and often mistreated.
Heating their stories made me really angry, and I wanted to help them, and to warn others before they made similar mistakes.
Take the recent post on IES as an example. No one should accept those kinds of working conditions, but if they have no other choice and must have a job, then at least they should know what they are getting into, and know that they can join a union for help.
I should create a signature for my posts that says “JOIN THE UNION” since that is the best and most important advice – because these dreamers and weeaboos and others will come here regardless, so they really ought to know that **there IS a union, that it’s important to look out for yourself, and, above all, never believe what the company tells you.**
I think it’s like moving to LA to become an actor. For the first year, you are thrilled to be in LA and taking acting classes while subletting a closet or couch-surfing. The second year you move up to waiting tables and you get an audition to be in a TV commercial. The third year, you realize the acting thing isn’t going to happen, but you don’t have a Plan B.
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Japan related subreddits are typically the most toxic subs I participate in— not to say that everyone or every post fits that description, but for some reason it seems that there are many westerners with terrible social skills and a superiority complex who are attracted to Japan. I don’t really understand why 😅
Most Eikaiwa companies here are bad. It would be a disservice to lie about it just for good vibes.
Because most of the companies being asked about are terribly exploitive and entry level work. This sub is not usually negative when people come here to ask pedagogy questions or share materials. It is negative when people come to ask what is the foreigner-moving-to-Japan equivalent of “This company called Amazon offered me a position. I’ve read that you don’t get breaks, have to pee in bottles, the pay is around minimum wage when you factor in hours worked, they force you to live in company housing that they overcharge you for, and they don’t pay for medical insurance even though they are legally obligated to. I’m so excited to live in Japan! It’s my dream! Is this a good company?”
I think the single biggest factor is that Reddit rewards arguments, clapbacks, and negativity.
The nature of the industry is secondary; but it is an industry that has seen a steady decline in worker satisfaction. It is also inhabited by a lot of foreigners in Japan who are desperate to feel superior to others, be it on the basis of pay, Japanese proficiency, type of work (university professors, eikaiwa instructors, ALTs, etc.), a lot of people here, unfortunately, are eager to eek out a feeling of superiority.
Unless you are a direct hired ALT or are a real teacher with credentials in Japan.. I 100% do not recommend coming here. So many other countries have better work conditions and work life balance and pay..
The worst part about these companies, for me, has always been the contract uncertainty. Enjoy constantly window shopping for new jobs because you’re afraid your current company might not recontract you and you’ll suddenly face the threat of deportation. Deportation back into a country that you also won’t have a job in.
Scary stuff.
If you can find a stable job though, it’s nice.
Been here 15 years and love it!!!
The common denominator to negative experiences is the person experiencing it.
DV please!
>Another thing: whenever someone is struggling to pick a company, they’re always met with “avoid that company!” “Both companies are terrible!”
That’s correct.
>But aren’t the people commenting that working for one of these “terrible” companies also?
Yes. And?
>If there are no good companies, then why does this page even exist in the first place?
Believe it or not, some people don’t work for an ALT dispatch company. Some people don’t work for an eikaiwa company. Some people work *directly* for a school. Some people here own an English school. Some people here don’t even teach English.
There’s far more to the teaching scene in Japan than just “I work for a terrible dispatch company, AMA”.
I’ll be honest I agree with you op. I don’t know what is the problem with many people here, but I believe they were expecting more than what it is. Idk if they were expecting the weeb dream of being revered as the white dude, more money or whatnot. Personally speaking, I work for a small company (never changed). Average salary, health care, average holidays. I feel treated well, respected. I teach to kids the whole day and it’s really fun. Get to do physical exercise too thanks to dances/playing outside. Sure I might not make what the average salaryman makes, but it’s an enjoyable lifestyle with relatively low stress. I only wish Japan had some of the things we have in Europe like sick leave and longer holidays, but overall I love living here. Best decision I have ever made in my life. I even got married :).
Japan expat community is weird dude. You can get away from a lot of it since I feel like the weirdness mainly stems from Tokyo, but the ratio of weird expats is definitely higher then a lot of other countries.
Here’s some positive news. From October of this year, kousei be kin and Shakai hoken has been made available to a lot more ppl. If your contract is longer than 2 months and you work more than 20 hours a week and you earn over ¥88,000 then you are eligible for it. So you get the good pension that’s taken out of your paycheck and you get full company healthcare coverage. Also maternity leave has become more available to part time workers.