Working and living in Okinawa?

5 comments

1. This is a copy of your post for archive/search purposes.

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   **Working and living in Okinawa?**

   Hello,
   I have been recently offered the opportunity to live and work in Okinawa as an ALT, through a program that is in cooperation with my US university. I have the highest degree in education (Ph.D.) and I thought moving there would be an adventure and offer the opportunity to establish myself in Japan, even though taking this position would mean taking pay that is far less than what I would be making I’m the US. For some background, I have been teaching ESL to Okinawa kids online for 2 years now with the same program and I absolutely love it! However, I am also finishing up my degree and applying to jobs in the US, and because I am fresh out of the gates with it, I am basically entry level with my doctorate, so pay isn’t anything spectacular (though it is significantly more than what I’d make in Okinawa).
   The pros and cons of moving to Okinawa, or staying in the US are these: The US is increasingly becoming more violent, the politics more extreme, cost of living untenable, and jobs in my area extremely competitive, but if I leave the US, I will lose a lot of what I have built up over the years (a lot of it is stuff, but even pets that I would not be able to bring with me)… so if things somehow don’t work out long-term in Okinawa, I will come back to the US and have essentially nothing.
   If I do move to Okinawa, where I am going is basically a tropical paradise. The pay is low, but it’s enough to live there and get by just fine. If I go, it will be as a newly divorced single woman, and I am a little worried about safety. The people I would work for as an ALT said that I will have the option to stay longer than a year if I desire, and if I go, my plan is to establish a life there (if possible). I guess my question is, would taking this position be viable for long-term establishment there? To be honest, I’d rather not live in the US at all anymore, but if I am for some reason forced to come back, I don’t want to start from square one. I don’t exactly have a stable family, so I don’t have much to fall back on if I need it. Any advice would be welcome and appreciated.

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2. Alright OP. It’s time to strap in. I am going to be frank with you based upon only what you have written and what can be inferred. I will not comment on your personal circumstances (though your perceptions of crime in the US seem prima facie outlandish, how you feel matters more than the reality in this case).

   You should absolutely not move to Japan to teach English as someone with a Ph.D. That is absolute insanity. You went to all that trouble to become an expert in your field and you plan to throw it all away because you don’t like the US? There are far easier and more lucrative ways to resolve your feelings about the US. This post has come about because your critical thinking skills honed by years of higher education are desperately trying to convince your emotional side that you are making a massive mistake. You should listen to them.

   I don’t know what you have a Ph.D in, but moving to “tropical paradise” to teach for next-to-nothing is a massive waste of your potential, it won’t fix the underlying problems of why you want to do it. Okinawa is not an escape from your life, and your motivations are generally the type that result in people coming to Japan and then growing to despise it. It’s not a paradise, it’s not going to save you, and it certainly will not resolve whatever ennui you have.

   Money is not everything. But your reasons for wanting to do this are not elaborated upon enough for me to recommend you follow through in good conscience. You made this post because you are looking for someone to tell you it’s a good idea. I won’t.

3. As someone who is also making plans to move to Japan because of how American society has been declining, I’m leaning towards supporting you moving to Okinawa. You don’t need to buy into the sunk-cost fallacy of “well I got a PhD so I should use it.” If you’re not happy where you’re at and you think you’d feel happier somewhere else — whether physically in another country or by doing a job not related to your PhD — then I think you should go that way. Your PhD doesn’t become useless just because you’re not doing anything directly with it. I’m sure you will use the knowledge and experience you gained while attaining it to help you with whatever you end up doing in life, even if that’s being an ALT.
   Money isn’t everything, and as long as you’re making enough to live comfortably and have some fun/savings, then it should be enough. Japan has a relatively low cost of living compared to America, and it’s significantly safer. As a woman I am more interested in keeping myself and my future children safe (future children I will probably only be able to afford in Japan). Your fears about America are not an overreaction.

   Anyways, I think you should do it.

4. What happens if you move to Okinawa but end up wanting to leave after a year? Do you have any money saved in case you need or want to come back?

   I support the idea of going to Japan, but I would implore you to look further ahead. Personally I think you should consider teaching at a university or at a private/international school at the very least with your higher degree (assuming you speak Japanese or have the willingness to learn).

   I don’t think taking an ALT position is wrong necessarily, but you *should* move up and the sooner the better. Jump to private or international schools. Apply for part time university jobs and fellowship programs. Always be looking to improve, even if it means moving to a new city.

   But hey, if you want to live a modest life and work as ALT/ELT in Okinawa forever, then fuckin do it. Not everything is about money.

   However, be realistic about what your life would be like if you lived on the same salary forever. House, kids, medical issues, retirement. Can you realistically handle these things with an ALT salary?

   Average ALT salary is 3-3.3mil.
   Average University salary is 9-11mil.

5. Why do you want to be an ALT? If you have a PhD you can probably get a job at a university or international school and make way more. Also you say you’re American, you can look at getting a job on a base in Okinawa. You could try mainland Japan also for any of those jobs, pretty much any of those options would be better than making 3m yen per year as an ALT