As anyone moved to Japan as an older person? I’m in my 50s, and my partner is Japanese, so I consider moving there on occassion – but wondering about finding work (as an english teacher) and how hard it is for someone who is older. Cheers!
This is a copy of your post for archive/search purposes.
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**Moving to Japan as older person**
As anyone moved to Japan as an older person? I’m in my 50s, and my partner is Japanese, so I consider moving there on occassion – but wondering about finding work (as an english teacher) and how hard it is for someone who is older. Cheers!
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>but wondering about finding work (as an english teacher)
Are you a certified teacher? Have you looked into job openings at international schools?
[deleted]
I see older people at my job but they’ve usually been in Japan for decades. The youngest I’ve met who was new was in his late 30’s? If you do teach, I’m sure you’d have a good time teaching adults business English rather than little kids on a daily basis.
At your age it would make sense if you are close to being retired. Otherwise, having to learn the language AND to land a job is not impossible but not easy either.
I’m a Canadian (M,62) and moved to Japan a year ago with my wife, who is a Japanese national. Even though having a spouse visa allows me to work, I haven’t been looking too hard as I’m basically semi-retired, and just doing some remote work. So, I can’t speak directly to your question about job prospects. I’m just replying to let you know that there are older people who have made the move to Japan and I’ll be happy to answer any other questions if you have them.
If I could make one suggestion, being in your 50s is a tricky age to come to another country and try to find work, especially Japan, which as you probably know, is quite ageist. So consider waiting a few more years, focus on saving money (because you’ll probably make more in your country, anyway), and then come to Japan with a financial buffer so that you don’t need to work full-time. That’s actually what I did. I worked hard until I was 60 then moved a bit later.
Or, if you do have enough funds to move now, find a place to rent in the rural areas, if you don’t have to be living in a large city, it’s much cheaper and much nicer. In my area, there are entire nice houses in nice neighbourhoods for rent for around $500/month. Check my post history to see some of my experiences moving that I wrote about. (I just realized the posts are kind of far back in my history so just ask me anything, if you want.)
When I first came to Japan I was working in an Eikaiwa. There were a pair of Australians who had retired and were starting a multi-year long adventure to see the world, with Japan as the first stop. Now, they were obviously well beyond the age of a working holiday so they did require visa sponsorship. They also required to be placed together, as a multi-year retirement adventure wouldn’t work if they were hours apart from each other and couldn’t have the adventure together.
Still, there they were. They preferred teaching the pre-elementary classes. They said it reminded them of playing with their grand children.
So if you’re not worried about earning enough of an income to sustain a family or buy property then I’m sure you’ll have no issues finding something to fill your days with.
In my opinion a lot depends on if OP is a young 50 year old or an older one. Some 50 year olds who have been physically inactive and eaten badly, smoked and drank a lot their whole lives present quite poorly which would make English teaching more difficult. On the other hand if OP is still young and healthy looking and thinking, then should be able to find English teaching positions
9 comments
This is a copy of your post for archive/search purposes.
—
**Moving to Japan as older person**
As anyone moved to Japan as an older person? I’m in my 50s, and my partner is Japanese, so I consider moving there on occassion – but wondering about finding work (as an english teacher) and how hard it is for someone who is older.
Cheers!
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/movingtojapan) if you have any questions or concerns.*
>but wondering about finding work (as an english teacher)
Are you a certified teacher? Have you looked into job openings at international schools?
[deleted]
I see older people at my job but they’ve usually been in Japan for decades. The youngest I’ve met who was new was in his late 30’s? If you do teach, I’m sure you’d have a good time teaching adults business English rather than little kids on a daily basis.
At your age it would make sense if you are close to being retired. Otherwise, having to learn the language AND to land a job is not impossible but not easy either.
I’m a Canadian (M,62) and moved to Japan a year ago with my wife, who is a Japanese national. Even though having a spouse visa allows me to work, I haven’t been looking too hard as I’m basically semi-retired, and just doing some remote work. So, I can’t speak directly to your question about job prospects. I’m just replying to let you know that there are older people who have made the move to Japan and I’ll be happy to answer any other questions if you have them.
If I could make one suggestion, being in your 50s is a tricky age to come to another country and try to find work, especially Japan, which as you probably know, is quite ageist. So consider waiting a few more years, focus on saving money (because you’ll probably make more in your country, anyway), and then come to Japan with a financial buffer so that you don’t need to work full-time. That’s actually what I did. I worked hard until I was 60 then moved a bit later.
Or, if you do have enough funds to move now, find a place to rent in the rural areas, if you don’t have to be living in a large city, it’s much cheaper and much nicer. In my area, there are entire nice houses in nice neighbourhoods for rent for around $500/month.
Check my post history to see some of my experiences moving that I wrote about.
(I just realized the posts are kind of far back in my history so just ask me anything, if you want.)
When I first came to Japan I was working in an Eikaiwa. There were a pair of Australians who had retired and were starting a multi-year long adventure to see the world, with Japan as the first stop. Now, they were obviously well beyond the age of a working holiday so they did require visa sponsorship. They also required to be placed together, as a multi-year retirement adventure wouldn’t work if they were hours apart from each other and couldn’t have the adventure together.
Still, there they were. They preferred teaching the pre-elementary classes. They said it reminded them of playing with their grand children.
So if you’re not worried about earning enough of an income to sustain a family or buy property then I’m sure you’ll have no issues finding something to fill your days with.
In my opinion a lot depends on if OP is a young 50 year old or an older one. Some 50 year olds who have been physically inactive and eaten badly, smoked and drank a lot their whole lives present quite poorly which would make English teaching more difficult. On the other hand if OP is still young and healthy looking and thinking, then should be able to find English teaching positions
Do you speak Japanese?