Teaching English in Japan?

[Sumire]

I have read that they are mostly cash based and the apartments are small and tiny.

As for locations:
Company:
NOVA Co. Ltd. (株式会社NOVA)
Location:
Kanagawa
Work Type:
Contract / Entry Level
Salary:
Amount not specified
Up to 2,100 yen per 60 minutes. Number of lessons will vary.

This and another in Gifu I applied for but Im thinking it would be best to apply again AFTER the summer season - since then I can save up more money.

Yes, Japan is quite cash based and my apartment in Osaka prefecture was one room which boasted one hot plate and a sink set into a wall as the "kitchen" and a bathroom where the faucet on the sink swiveled to the right and filled the bathtub. It was small, but my friend's apartment not five minutes away was two rooms and my apartment in Niigata prefecture was three rooms. It largely depends on the age of the building and where it is located. My Osaka apartment was right across from the train station and new, my friend's apartment was older and farther from the train station.

Kanagawa is a nice city but I have to admit, I'm worried by that listing for NOVA. Roughly $20 an hour for teaching doesn't sound bad on the surface but the "number of lessons will vary" disclaimer is disheartening. As a contract worker rather than a full-time company employee you will no doubt be on your own for taxes, pension and health insurance and you will have little to no recourse if you do not have enough hours in a week to earn the money you need to live. I would try to find a job listing with a salary given versus hourly wages as well as a specified full-time position on offer.

I pulled this advertisement off O-Hayo Sensei.  It looks like the company I worked for back in the day. I'm snipping some of it but I wanted to highlight some things to look for:

English Teachers.
Full-time, 25 teaching/hours/week, 8 hours/day. 250,000yen/month. ... Sponsorship available. Accommodation: "single dwelling apartment, minimally furnished, and a maximum rent of 55,000yen." Five weeks paid vacation (2 weeks in summer, 2 weeks in winter, 1 week in spring). One-year contract. Positions begin May, June and July, 2014. Apply by e-mail with CV/resume, cover letter, professional photo, and "a relaxed personal picture (tasteful) of yourself preferably standing either inside or outside and can include friends." IB Japan Co., Ltd. American Language School and IB Waseda Learning Center.

Firstly it specifies full-time and what that means and gives a monthly salary. Sponsorship available is key if you need a visa, mentioning it as they did implies that they also hire people already in Japan. That's good to note because people who already have a visa and know the system may work for this company. If every listing for a company touts the visa they will get you it can be a signal of high turnover -- a company that doesn't try to retain employees but instead is always enticing in new recruits.

The accommodation is pretty standard. It is nice to see the cap on the rent so you can have a fair idea of your budget from the start. Five weeks paid vacation is a pretty nice package for most English conversation schools. The request for photos may seem rather strange but it really emphasizes the fact that English conversation schools are businesses before they are schools. You will be giving demonstration classes. You will have parents peering through windows (your whole "classroom" might be glassed in at some locations) while you teach your regular classes, judging whether or not you are worth the 8000 yen an hour they need to put down. You need to look foreign and the right type of foreign at that (ideally a blonde haired, blue eyed 90210 American). You are the main attraction and you need to look the part so most places will check either via video interviews, photos or both.

[ponycake]

I would love to do this if I wasn't such an introverted person.

[tikibirds]

deally a blonde haired, blue eyed 90210 American

Not even close but I'm pretty sure there aren't any Japanese people running around with grey eyes and flaming red hair.

Yes, Japan is quite cash based and my apartment in Osaka prefecture was one room which boasted one hot plate and a sink set into a wall as the "kitchen" and a bathroom where the faucet on the sink swiveled to the right and filled the bathtub.

Sounds like my "apartment" in Alaska which was also one tiny room. Yet it had a full sized fridge.

And yes, the fact that they do not really say how many lesson you get and rate of pay kinda worries me, although I have read numerous places that its about 8 lessons a day? 5 days a week..

I would love to do this if I wasn't such an introverted person

I am too 

[shimmlight]

My uncle lives in Japan and teaches English there. I'm not sure how he does it but if you want me to find out I can? 

[Corona]

Kanagawa isn't that far from Tokyo and has Yokohama which is huge. So with minimal Japanese you could probably pull it off. Learning basic phrases would go a long way.

You need to look foreign and the right type of foreign at that (ideally a blonde haired, blue eyed 90210 American). You are the main attraction and you need to look the part so most places will check either via video interviews, photos or both.

I can vouch for this. People were entranced by the sheer notion that I was blonde with long enough hair to pull back and pretty pale. I had to do both photos and an in person interview when I got to Japan for my internship and photos and a Skype interview for teaching. When interning I got taken to random meetings with clients I wasn't doing projects for because having an American intern makes the company look good.

[tikibirds]

I decided to go schedule the interview anyways, just to see what it's about.
Since I don't have a passport, it has to be renewed (and I told the recruiter this) I dont think that location will still be open. Maybe it will be, they seem to recruit constantly.

I can vouch for this. People were entranced by the sheer notion that I was blonde with long enough hair to pull back and pretty pale. I had to do both photos and an in person interview when I got to Japan for my internship and photos and a Skype interview for teaching. When interning I got taken to random meetings with clients I wasn't doing projects for because having an American intern makes the company look good.

1/2 my hair is grey now, which seriously annoys me since I am only 34 but I dye it red to hide the grey hairs and I am not skinny, so I am not sure how well that will go over. plus i have freckels. I am so not a fan of them.

[Sumire]

Red hair, blonde hair, same thing. I'm actually not kidding. My best friend is a redhead and I am a blonde and Japanese people asked us if we were twins. I was also told that I looked like Julia Roberts as well as Gillian Anderson (and those two look so similar).

Sadly the crucial thing is: don't look Asian. I had a friend who was Chinese-Canadian and even when she said she didn't understand Japanese everyone we met out and about would just speak more slowly to her. I would translate what they said for her and then translate her reply into Japanese and still, no one would speak to me.

[tikibirds]

Sadly the crucial thing is: don't look Asian.

At least I meet one requirement LOL.

I have an interview tomorrow at 9:30 PM. I don't really think anything will come out of it since I pretty much suck at interviews in general.

[Sumire]

Good luck with the interview! The advice I give everyone is: be genki. Remember, you are being hired to advertise the fun of English as much as (or often more than) to teach. Smile, even if it's not a video call you can hear a smile. Sound as friendly, happy, excited and fun as you can.

A big worry among the Japanese companies and departments that hire native English teachers is homesickness. I don't mean merely missing the US (in our case), I mean cases like one of the teachers who was in Niigata prefecture before me and one night locked her apartment door, threw her keys in the bushes, got on a train to Tokyo and got on a plane back home - she sent for all her stuff via the post.

Japan's mental health care system is rather notoriously bad. I mention this because it's not just fleeing the country that is a concern, suicide among native English teachers is not unheard of and thus something to consider for those hiring. They aren't just looking for cheerfulness because it sells, they are looking for cheerfulness because it hopefully means you won't become unable to deal with life in Japan and leave them hanging.

I would recommend emphasizing how well you deal with new situations, different cultures and daily stress. You want to sound knowledgeable about the challenges you will be facing as well as positive about how well you will overcome these obstacles -- which, come to think of it, is true for any job interview you face. 

[tikibirds]

The good part is - I have NEVER been homesick and I do not get along well with my mother or sister. There is a reason I stayed in Alaska for 12 years. I did "flee" from the grand canyon the first time I worked there but that had nothing to do with homesickness. I had a male co-worker that would not leave me alone, well, that and some genius decided that I should live with my manager. They found a better place for her but the replacecment roommate was even worse. 

The bad part is I am not, naturally, a "bubbly" person and am not outgoing at all. However, this is something I want to change.

[zabe77]

I have friends who did it. They were a couple though so they had each other. Another couple that I know better, did it in Korea. They were there for two years and got along so well that they didn't learn any Korean outside of ordering food and shopping! They said they spoke English at work, were friends with other ESL teachers and there were enough Korean people who spoke English to get by. They said the Korean friends they made also wanted to speak English to them as they wanted to practice. I wish I had done something like this when I was younger... what a experience it would be to live in another country and learn another culture. My friends who lived in Korea loved it despite not learning much of the language. They now teach ESL here, one is a teacher, the other is not.

[tikibirds]

That wasn't as bad as I though it was gonna be. I also wasn't expecting to be interviewed by an English lady.

All that really happened was she asked me why I wanted to teach in Japan, asked if I knew about the apt sizes and where I wanted to be located and a few small demonstrations on how to teach simple examples of which I confused the hell out of my self on one demonstration about "borrowing and lending".  I told her I didn't care what location I had and would be willing to take whatever was avalible since I cant go right away anyways (my passport is being renewed).

She laughed alot at me so I dont know if that was good or bad...

[NovelNerd]

I have a friend and her husband who did this for 2 years. Both certified teachers. They lived in a small apartment and they said the pay was OK. They enjoyed dumpster diving to furnish their apartment. Neither will do it again though, they missed home.

Yep this, I knew a few people in my graduating Uni class that went there to teach, but we were all graduating with our B.A. in secondary English ed. The ones I knew also had taken Japanese, but I'm sure you can google and look up different things to help you find your answers.

Good Luck

[Sumire]

That wasn't as bad as I though it was gonna be.

Good to hear! No matter what happens following this interview you have set out on your path. It sounds like it went well and by the time you have your passport renewed you may have a placement! However even if things change, you now know what the interviews are like and know that you can get through them so if you do end up interviewing for a different placement, you'll be better off. ^_^

[tikibirds]

She said I would know by Wednesday. I am hoping I do get a placement but if not, I  wont be too disapointed as I have a HUGE freaking phobia of flying. I was checking out flights last night and OMG do they suck. There is a non stop one from NYC that is 14 hours but its like $2000 and there are others much cheaper but you end up going to Moscow, Istanbul or Shanghai on airlines  never heard of before. Why fly 9 hours to Moscow, have a 13 hour layover and then another 9 hours to Tokyo?  Flights to Alaska are like that too. I would end up in Salt lake city or Atlanta or Orlando and then have to fly back north to chicago and then to alaska.