Teaching English in Japan?

Beren39

So my room mate and I have been discussing this idea lately and we're giving some serious thought to going over. We're both recent B.Sc graduates and there's an upcoming TESL course affiliated with Oxford coming up at our local university. I've done some research and so far it looks like it could be a really rewarding but difficult experience, but besides this we're (so far) going in blind. Anyone have any advice on good agencies to go through, the best start dates, common difficulties etc.? We're under no illusions about what it is like there, neither of us consumes anime or is a japanophile, we've just heard positive experiences from people who have been over versus some mixed results from Korea.

garroad_ran

JET is by far the best way to go about doing this, but also one of the hardest to get into. I'm currently a second-year JET in Aomori. I can get into a lot more detail about the JET Programme. If you want to, feel free to PM me.

Teaching English as a JET has, so far, been one of the (if not the) most rewarding experiences of my life. Unfortunately, one of the big drawbacks of JET is that you have absolutely zero control over what sort of living or working situation you're placed in, and not quite everyone ends up enjoying it as much as I have. However, everything I've heard about working at a private eikaiwa (English conversation) school, tells me that JET is a million times better.

I've also heard that while Japan can be preferable in many ways, places like Korea and China tend to pay more. So if money is any motivation whatsoever, it may be something to look into. The cost of living in Japan is unfortunately, rather high.

Also, read this. It's incredibly accurate.

Thundyrkatz

This is all second hand from what my friend has told me over the years. so YEMV

My Best friend taught ESL in Korea for several years, and actually married a Korean woman before eventually moving back to the states. As this was Korea, its potentially a little different. But over all it was a positive experience for him, and really helped set him get some direction in life when he was struggling right out of school.

His advice was to really do your best to immerse yourself in the culture while there. Some people he knew tried their best to eat American food and fine American stuff to do there and over all had an unpleasant time.

He also said that the type of place you end up teaching can vary a lot. Some of them the students were really great and the employer was very supportive. Those were in his experience fairly rare.

He found that often the employer would try to take advantage of your inexperience with the employment laws and the system over there to get the most out of you for the least amount of money. So it really helps if you can make some friends and understand your rights and lack of rights. Not that that is any different then employers here i suppose.

His first placement was not great, but he stuck to it and found much better opportunities when he had some experience and connections. There is a lot of turnover for new teachers.

So in short. Positive experience, there is money to be made, but be informed and aware.

Platy

The older entries in this blog have a lot of information on what it is like to live in Japan and work as an assistent language teacher. Best click on the "I Am a Japanese School Teacher" category.

Beren39

Hey just firing up this thread again, thanks for the resources everybody, I've been doing a bit more research and it looks like our best best is to look at ads posted on websites like gaijinpot or to go through an organization like AEON. We will both have our TESL certification by the end of february and again we both have bachelors degrees. While I hear it is a lot harder to get a job in Japan now I think we're in a better position then some hopefully. I've heard a lot of "first hand" information from some other forums and a few people I know but I was looking for more input from people who have gone over or been in a similar position. How likely is it to get placed within an urban location? Not necessarily Tokyo but Osaka, Kobe, Kyoto etc.? While I know myself and my friend won't be able to find employment at the exact same place is there a chance we could be within the same area and share an apartment or at least be within a reasonable train ride of eachother? Any other critical things to know right now? Thanks for your time! BTW, I know the cost of living is higher but we both agree Japan seems to be the most interesting of our available options.