For those, with the intention of coming to come to Japan to ‘teach’ here are the thoughts of a veteran of 25 years in Japan.
Back in the day, it was a profitable endeavor to teach in Japan. In my early 20’s I was regularly sending back 150,000 to 200,000 a month for investments back home. Now my apartment is paid off, 5 million allocated for my son’s university, and various pensions and investments lined up for retirement. I don’t need to work hard.
It’s no secret that the golden days are over for would-be teachers in Japan. I wouldn’t particularly recommend it any more. But if you do come here are a few things to bear in mind.
1. You will need side income. In my case, I was doing tons of OT at Nova (2,300 yen for a 40 min lesson / For a while I had an ALT job for a while 130,000 yen monthly including holidays (for 9 teaching hours a week). The upshot is you need to work hard in your 20’s to get established. If you are in a situation where you live paycheck to paycheck you need to get more work or go home.
2. People asking which dispatch company is the best, are asking the wrong question. All of them are equally bad. (Sure, you might get 20,000 yen a month extra with company X. But 20,000 yen is peanuts in the real world). You need to be asking if the dispatch company has contracts in a big city, especially Tokyo. This is where you will get opportunities to get money. If you are in the countryside you will be stuck with few opportunities to advance. If you can make money online or you get on the JET program this doesn’t apply so much.
3. Be professional. A lot of ALTs and eikaiwa guys are unprofessional. Do a good job and someone might notice. I was offered teaching and non-teaching work through contracts made at Nova. Then those jobs lead to other even more lucrative opportunities.
4. Don’t get screwed over. If you are dispatched by Interac to 4 different elementary schools and teach 5 lessons a day as T1, get out ASAP. Some other guys are doing one lesson a day and utilizing their time studying Japanese or something for the same pay. Be the other guy. Start looking for something after a month of that sh!t. Let the lazy Japanese teachers start doing the work as T1 while Interac look for your replacement.
Those are my opinions I’m sure people will disagree….
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