So I’ve been in Japan for seven years. 5 years on JET, 1 year direct hire, and 1 year at a small mom-n-pop eikaiwa. I’ve been fortunate enough to not have to slum it with any of my gigs and have enjoyed decent salaries and coworkers.
But I’m planning on making some big changes next spring and moving out to Fukuoka next spring. I was wondering if anyone lives or has lived in the city (or around the prefecture) and has any idea of what types of opportunities are available there?
I believe OWL is dispatching ALTs within the city. I wouldn’t mind having to slum it for a bit with a mediocre ALT job until something comes along, but I’m really more interested in solid gigs.
I have enjoyed eikaiwa work, so a small and reliable place would be nice. Direct hire opportunities at a school would be ideal, are there any schools/areas known for hiring direct?
Would greatly appreciate any help! Also, for those who’ve lived there: what areas of the city are affordable/convenient? I plan on doing some research now that I’ve got some time off, but it’d be nice to have someone point me in the right direction.
2 comments
I wouldn’t recommend OWLS. I have a couple of friends who considered it and backed out. There are a lot of eikawa places, but I’ve never worked at one. I’m working at some really great public elementaries and two kindergartens, but it really depends where in FUK you go. There are also some international and private schools that are probably worth checking out.
As for areas, I’m living north of the city, but there are good areas all over. Honesty Fukuoka is one of my favourite cities to live in Japan. The people are really friendly, and there’s loads to see and do.
Good city of choice. Combining affordable and convenient?… Convenient, difficult for me to tell you what you think is convenient but living nearby some kind of transportation could be it.
Fukuoka city is really small but I guess you will have to travel a lot to the outskirts for teaching. And I guess schools already have deals with companies and if they don’t you have to convince them to hire you. If you can’t find any gigs I guess it’s pretty easy to find a job at a company. I wonder why. You can DM me if you want to know more about my guesses.