I currently have a job offer from NOVA, and while I am well aware of their horrible reputation, I don’t see any glaringly obvious “better routes” to get into Japan in the short-term. I am finally getting my diploma this summer, and I will need my visa sponsored.
The most common alternative is GABA, which doesn’t seem to have a better reputation themselves anyways. Other than this, it seems that the “safest” route is building job experience at home, and eventually moving after gaining fluency. While I get the logic behind this, life is always moving fast and I worry that job opportunity/girlfriends/aging family will stunt any opportunity to do what I really want in life. Are there any alternate job opportunities that have slipped my mind that I should look into. However, I am only an N5 speaker.
Thank you all for any advice!
10 comments
Why don’t you work towards getting a teaching license in your own country? That will make it easier to find choices beyond the bleak ones most people end up needing to choose. Definitely keep working on your Japanese.
Come over and see if you enjoy it. Both living and working in Japan. If you think it might be for you then seriously consider going back home to get qualifications before coming back again. A lot of people end up cruising along in those entry level jobs for way too long as they booze it up and enjoy being mr handsome gaijin.
the longer you stay, the harder it becomes to go back and study. Alternatively you can study here, but only if you have the time and finances, which you probably wont have at NOVA.
There is no safe route. You start in a shitty eikaiwa or as an ALT and you start looking for something else as soon as you hqve settled down. Its easier to find work if you have qualifications.
Do it the right way. If it was meant to be, you’ll end up here eventually.
I didn’t come to Japan until my mid-30’s. I had lots of experience and had an opportunity for a change of life. Being able to come to Japan and live freely with a decent salary and a great job that values you experience and treats you as a respectable human is so much better than rushing to get here as soon as possible and working at a terrible job making next to nothing. There is a reason most people in the ALT/eikaiwa circuit leave within a year or two. And almost all of them had “lifelong dreams” to live forever in Japan. Set yourself up for success by getting experience in a field you actually want to work in, and get a good, solid job in that field (whether that is tech, teaching, finance, or anything else). You’ll be a lot happier in Japan that way than coming for a terrible job and fighting with thousands of other ALTs/eikaiwa workers for the scraps, hoping to “move up” in the industry.
I’m sorry, are you interested in teaching, or not?
Because in your [previous post](https://www.reddit.com/r/teachinginjapan/comments/1567r6u/how_should_i_get_my_foot_in_the_door_in_japan/) *less than an hour ago* you stated that you have no particular attachment to teaching and are mostly just interested in making a long-term move to Japan based on an experience of two months.
If you want my honest advice, you should look towards getting some savings, going to a language school for a year, and seeing how you like it more long-term (two months is not enough to really get a handle for how *living* here is). Not only does that give you 1. a chance to experience full-on living here, 2. an opportunity to get your Japanese up-to-par for jobs with better prospects, but it also 3. acts as a better jumping off point to find those jobs.
I know several guys who came as language students, made this or that connection to someone at a business, and went on to get work that way. If your goal is long-term, this is frankly a better way to do it.
What’s your degree in?
You might want to figure out what you want to do with the rest of your life first, get experience and money, then move to japan.
You also might want to think about the pay/exchange rate. Given the weak yen, American (zero experience) HVAC/construction/blue collar worker make 3 times what the average eikaiwa worker makes. Doing almost anything in the states will allow you to save a ton more money than working in japan.
Decide what you want. Do you want to be a real teacher, or do you just want to live in Japan?
If you don’t care about teaching, and just want to live in Japan, then make sure you have other skills or else you’ll absolutely get stuck in the eikaiwa circle.
If you want to be a teacher, do it right and get quals before you come here.
That’s my advice.
My only advice is…
– Treat it like a gap year. Go hard and enjoy yourself.
– Don’t believe all the shit you read about Nova online. They’ve given MANY people a pathway to Japan. IMO most of the bitterness comes down to the fact your pay’s the same after 5-10 years as it is when you first come over.
– Pick your time to leave properly so that you leave with goo memories and good friends. A lot of people who stay too long become a bit nutty/cynical. Just… don’t become one of them, ay!
“Just got a job offer from nova. YES, I’m aware of how shitty they are”
…like the millions of other posts. No. Y’all don’t really know.
Flip burgers in McDonald’s
Personally, I’d say go for a year and see if you can work and live in Japan and see yourself there long-term.
Definitely keep learning the language as the higher up the JLPT scale you can climb the better – for not just daily life but work and relationships as well.
If you want to do Economics in the future then I would suggest at the minimum you volunteer, join a club, or get some sort of certification online that shows that you are still working towards that goal in order to offset the empty space that teaching may leave.
In case you didn’t know, a lot of people use those low-tier jobs just to get to Japan and then switch to something else, but make sure you don’t get stuck at the level…
A big question I have after your post is if you have any ties to Japan or your home country? If you know nobody in the country it could get quite lonely, even more so if you’re leaving someone behind like a partner.