As long as it doesn’t interfere with your main job or get you in trouble with the law it should be fine. Plenty of people keep doing side gigs online while on JET, whether it’s web comics or crafting or game streaming or whatever.
Shipping stuff home to sell on a regular basis would involve having to deal with customs and import rules though and you’ll also have to figure out slightly more complicated than normal tax reporting rules but it’s definitely doable.
Side gigs like that are fine as long as you keep them separate from work.
Be aware some BOEs are strict and can end contracts because of extra work. It’s technically illegal and a violation of our visa. Some ALTs get special permission however. It can’t detract from your role as an ALT.
I recommend carefully considering *what* it is you want to do. Some people continue with previous remote/online work and have the money go into home accounts to keep it separate. Some people are a bit more relaxed and mix finances with side jobs in Japan..
I don’t really recommend shipping stuff regularly. It gets pretty obvious if you’re a foreigner that’s operating as a mini exporter.
Related to not wanting to be noticed, don’t tell anyone. It’s just simpler and not worth the risk.
I ran an online store from Japan a million years ago (wasn’t on JET).
Currently in this market, it’s saturated as hell (every foreigner comes and thinks it’s easy money) and many companies have gotten wise to their lost foreign income.
Companies now have dedicated distribution channels for the west, which makes it impossible to turn a profit adding any markup.
Plus the mail has not yet returned to normal. A lot of countries you can’t still ship to or the options are limited to EMS (which is more than most customers are willing to pay, since they’ve been accustomed to free shipping).
Unless you’re in Tokyo and able to hit up tons of events, it would be pretty difficult to get stuff too. It’s honestly such a stressful business, I wouldn’t recommend it.
Out of curiosity, I’ve seen quite a few JETs doing youtube videos whilst over there. It’s been handy for learning what to expect when I go over, but isn’t doing the videos against the terms of the contract/visa?
What if you do an online tutoring business from Japan but for people in the US? And the money is sent to a US bank account?
People have done it in the past, but honestly, I don’t recommend most of that. Streaming or making videos is a hobby that a few very lucky people can make a profit from, but other than that, you’re probably not going to find something that’s both worthwhile and not noticeable. All it really takes is someone to have a grudge against foreigners or you in particular, or for somebody to blab, and you’ll be out of a gig. In the worst case, you’ll be out of the country on the “please don’t come back” list if you happened to, say, violate tax or import/export laws while hiding your side gig.
If I were to ever go I was planning to sell Art under an online persona for extra cash.
Me and another ALT did eikaiwa. We’d alternate weeks and got paid under the table in cash. The eikaiwa’s been around for years and the eikaiwa members would find ALTs by word of mouth. It wasn’t much money, but I made like $60ish a month and it gave me some entertainment money. It was fun! Loved it and met tons of interesting locals through the eikaiwa. We did potlucks and tea ceremonies as well. We kept it extremely private though and me and the other ALT never told anyone about it. I know another ALT who made royalty free music during his free time and got side money for that. He did it online and it was his job back in the US anyways. If you do pick up a side hustle keep it really private.
It all has to do with the visa you are given. Your zairyu shikaku. It has nothing to do with CLAIR. You can sell online things since online business if home based does not breach your visa terms.
Selling things secondhand on Mercari is fine, as it constitutes a private sale rather than a business/occupation for profit. If you were bulk-ordering inventory to sell online, that would be a different story.
I knew plenty of people that moonlit as private eikaiwa teachers and the BoE didn’t have a problem with it. I think it’s just something written in case there’s an issue so they can point to it.
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As long as it doesn’t interfere with your main job or get you in trouble with the law it should be fine. Plenty of people keep doing side gigs online while on JET, whether it’s web comics or crafting or game streaming or whatever.
Shipping stuff home to sell on a regular basis would involve having to deal with customs and import rules though and you’ll also have to figure out slightly more complicated than normal tax reporting rules but it’s definitely doable.
Side gigs like that are fine as long as you keep them separate from work.
Be aware some BOEs are strict and can end contracts because of extra work. It’s technically illegal and a violation of our visa. Some ALTs get special permission however. It can’t detract from your role as an ALT.
I recommend carefully considering *what* it is you want to do. Some people continue with previous remote/online work and have the money go into home accounts to keep it separate. Some people are a bit more relaxed and mix finances with side jobs in Japan..
I don’t really recommend shipping stuff regularly. It gets pretty obvious if you’re a foreigner that’s operating as a mini exporter.
Related to not wanting to be noticed, don’t tell anyone. It’s just simpler and not worth the risk.
I ran an online store from Japan a million years ago (wasn’t on JET).
Currently in this market, it’s saturated as hell (every foreigner comes and thinks it’s easy money) and many companies have gotten wise to their lost foreign income.
Companies now have dedicated distribution channels for the west, which makes it impossible to turn a profit adding any markup.
Plus the mail has not yet returned to normal. A lot of countries you can’t still ship to or the options are limited to EMS (which is more than most customers are willing to pay, since they’ve been accustomed to free shipping).
Unless you’re in Tokyo and able to hit up tons of events, it would be pretty difficult to get stuff too. It’s honestly such a stressful business, I wouldn’t recommend it.
Out of curiosity, I’ve seen quite a few JETs doing youtube videos whilst over there. It’s been handy for learning what to expect when I go over, but isn’t doing the videos against the terms of the contract/visa?
What if you do an online tutoring business from Japan but for people in the US? And the money is sent to a US bank account?
People have done it in the past, but honestly, I don’t recommend most of that. Streaming or making videos is a hobby that a few very lucky people can make a profit from, but other than that, you’re probably not going to find something that’s both worthwhile and not noticeable. All it really takes is someone to have a grudge against foreigners or you in particular, or for somebody to blab, and you’ll be out of a gig. In the worst case, you’ll be out of the country on the “please don’t come back” list if you happened to, say, violate tax or import/export laws while hiding your side gig.
If I were to ever go I was planning to sell Art under an online persona for extra cash.
Me and another ALT did eikaiwa. We’d alternate weeks and got paid under the table in cash. The eikaiwa’s been around for years and the eikaiwa members would find ALTs by word of mouth. It wasn’t much money, but I made like $60ish a month and it gave me some entertainment money. It was fun! Loved it and met tons of interesting locals through the eikaiwa. We did potlucks and tea ceremonies as well. We kept it extremely private though and me and the other ALT never told anyone about it. I know another ALT who made royalty free music during his free time and got side money for that. He did it online and it was his job back in the US anyways. If you do pick up a side hustle keep it really private.
It all has to do with the visa you are given. Your zairyu shikaku. It has nothing to do with CLAIR. You can sell online things since online business if home based does not breach your visa terms.
Selling things secondhand on Mercari is fine, as it constitutes a private sale rather than a business/occupation for profit. If you were bulk-ordering inventory to sell online, that would be a different story.
I knew plenty of people that moonlit as private eikaiwa teachers and the BoE didn’t have a problem with it. I think it’s just something written in case there’s an issue so they can point to it.