Hi!
I am currently 4 months in on my one year working holiday and am enjoying it so far. Before I arrived, I saved up money in my home country, and then I've now been working part time about 6 hours every second day since coming to Japan. The job pays me about 85.000 yen after the deducted 20% tax every month. My rent + water, gas and electricity is about 75.000 in total per month, so the job covers that, but not much else. Because of that, I've using my savings to do things on my free days, and of course to buy household items and food.
I have decided to begin working more, because recently I've begun to worry about money. My savings will not last me forever if I keep using them for everything but the rent, and I also want to do trips around the country, and for that, I will definitely need more money, but I'm afraid working closer to everyday instead of every second day, will kind of ruin the excitement of living in another country.
Is it normal for people on working holiday here, that you have to work almost daily to actually have enough money to do things? I'm fine doing that if that is just the premise of course, but I'm wondering if there would be a better way for me to go about it. What jobs did you guys have, how did you balance work and travel? Because right now I am a bit afraid my working holiday will end up being mostly work, and not so much holiday :p
Also, I have read conflicting information about if I need to pay pension while I'm here. I've not been told anything about it from my employer or at the city hall when I registered as a resident here. Is it fine, or will I be met with a huge bill someday?
Thank you in advance!
by rasmusbek