couple of questions

I am planning to go to Japan and start working as a English Teacher. There are some things that are bothering me I hope you can answer them for me.

1, Do you need a program like AEON to teach in Japan or
will that just make things bether for you.

2, I will get a 3 year university diploma in Game Development in England, would there be anything els that I need?

3, This is the most importand I want to go with my friend to Japan he wants to work there as a Private English teacher with a diploma in English university from England. But as I said we both want to go together, if a program like AEON would be better to get a teacher job what should we do so we can stick with eachother preverable get a apartment together.
Or is that not possible?

4, How much should we take with us? which area do you sugest to go? and what is the min you earn as a English Teacher?

Oh I forgot to mention that we are planning to take a course for teaching in foreign country's will that give us extra points?

I realy hope you can answer my questions thank you for your time.

yours sincerely
Sidiky Sylla

AEON is not a "program". It is a company that offers conversation lessons. AEON is considered one of the Big Four eikaiwas (conversation schools) in Japan, and it has one of the best reputations of the BF. But as far as I know, it does not offer housing for couples or friends to live together. Just individual renters. And, in many cases if you decide to get your own housing, AEON will still charge you 55,000 yen/month for housing that it has set aside for you, even if you don't stay in it.

I don't know the British educational system, but if your diploma is equivalent to a bachelor's degree, then you are eligible for a regular work visa, which means you could apply to eikaiwa or the JET program. JET interviews once a year in your home country. Most of the Big Four interview abroad as their main source of applicants, and they have their own schedules for recruiting. Your friend's "diploma in English university" -- what does that mean? If your 2 diplomas are NOT equivalent to BA degrees, then you can really only get working holiday visas for a year, or if you enroll in school here full-time, you can get student visas and work part-time with special permission.

If you plan to come here first and look around, bring plenty of money (equivalent to US$4000-5000) to last you during the job hunt (1-3 months before you get that first paycheck). When are you planning on coming? That will make a difference, too.

Coming with a friend poses its own issues. Do you really want to work in the same office as your friend? That limits you a lot. Employers don't always have 2 openings, and some of them balk at hiring people who know each other because they feel they will both take vacations at the same time, so they'll have to fill twice as many slots then. YOU should consider what it'll be like having to actually WORK with a friend, especially if you have never done it before. For one thing, you may have nothing new to talk about when work is finished. For another, what happens if one of you adjusts well to working here, but the other doesn't and wants to go home?

Money. Consider when you are coming. March is the prime hiring season for April hires. Even most eikaiwa follow this schedule, and at other times of the year it can be mediocre or dead. With that in mind, plan to have 1-3 months' cash on hand to support yourself until the first paycheck rolls in (4-8 weeks after you are hired), or plan on becoming further indebted to your employer if they are the type that offer loans. (With loans, you will have to pay it back in the next 2 or 3 paychecks, and if they run a probationary period, your paycheck will be low to start with, so even lower with this loan payback deduction.)

Minimum salaries are getting smaller and smaller. What used to be a 250,000 yen/month standard has dropped. You will find cheapskate employers who offer 180,000 to 200,000 yen/month, and desperate teachers only make the situation worse by taking it.

Which area to go depends entirely on you. What sort of climate can you tolerate? Think typhoons for some parts of the country, and 5-month-long winters in others. Do you prefer a big city (more chance for 2 people to land a job), or a smaller one (less competition and better chance to learn Japanese, but fewer job opportunities)?

What sort of "course" are you planning to take before you apply? Can't really answer without knowing. All I CAN say is that if you plan to be here only a year or 2, then a course is probably futile. Planning to stay longer (or if you really are clueless about teaching EFL) would probably mean a TEFL/TESL/TESOL course would benefit you, but realize that most entry level employers don't care about such things.

Look at the links on the FAQ here for more information, or just look at the following links:
www.eslcafe.com/discussion (Japan forum, 4 stickies at the top)
GaijinPot
http://thejapanfaq.cjb.net
ELT Books offers English teaching books in Japan at 20% off for all Western books. (a little old)
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Glenski said:

If you plan to come here first and look around, bring plenty of money (equivalent to US$4000-5000) to last you during the job hunt (1-3 months before you get that first paycheck). When are you planning on coming? That will make a difference, too.

Click to expand...

So most eikaiwas are on the same schedule for hiring whether it's done through overseas recruitment or in country ? I only ask because I was also planning a trip to Tokyo the first week of October and if there is any advantage to being there in person....wouldn't it only make sense to capitalize on that opportunity ? At least pick up a bit of experience through an interview without having to budget everything in advance for a potentially drawn out and costly hunting process.

But this all unfortunately came to me relatively recently which means that no applications have actually been sent and the time lag for arranging anything now I'm sure is too tight at this point. Although it still may be feasible to drop in for a quick look around some of the Big Four school whatever that is worth.

So anyone who has ever tried to squeeze a bit of job prospecting into a mini Japan vacation, do let me know how it all turned out.

Elizabeth said:

So most eikaiwas are on the same schedule for hiring whether it's done through overseas recruitment or in country ?

Click to expand...

Businesses in Japan that operate like schools or that are schools will have early April as the start date for their academic year. This often coincides with hiring as well, just so students get that fresh teacher from the very beginning.

Some eikaiwas, including some of the Big Four, hire year round, but they have their own recruiting plans, so I wouldn't recommend sending a cold call resume. Wait for the ads.

AEON's homepage says: "Positions are filled year-round on a monthly basis" and you can interview in limited offices in Japan.

ECC says: "ECC's hiring is ongoing, so you can apply anytime for positions typically beginning throughout the year." and they take applications in Japan. Be aware of this stipulation with them, too: "A contract can begin anytime, yet all contracts are aligned to finish with our academic year on March 31st. There will be an option to renew for another year from April 1st based on mutual agreement."

GEOS says: "All applicants MUST presently be in Canada, USA, UK, Australia, or New Zealand. We regret that applications from within Japan or other countries outside of these centres will NOT be considered."

NOVA says: "We're not tied to the academic year so it's possible for you to leave for Japan at various times throughout the year. " and they interview in Japan, too.

Berlitz says: "Berlitz Japan recruits instructors year-round, both in Japan and overseas."

I only ask because I was also planning a trip to Tokyo the first week of October and if there is any advantage to being there in person....wouldn't it only make sense to capitalize on that opportunity ?

Click to expand...

Aside from April, there is another smaller surge of hiring for October start dates, sometimes even September. I'd say apply in late August or right now if you are looking for that time frame. After October things get pretty dead until around February. If you are making plans to be in Tokyo in October, look for the ads right now and see if any employer is willing to consider you for an interview on your trip. You might have to start work immediately, though. I take it you are just planning to be here on vacation? In that case, I wouldn't really see the point in dropping by an employer.

Hello thank you for the reply.

The University Course Game Development I am doing is a bachelors degree it takes 3 year.

My friend is also doing a bachelors degree, but he is doing a course in English literature wich also takes 3 year.

We are planning to go to japan after we finished the course wich is 1 year still to go.

And no we dont want to work together, my friend is aiming to get a job as a private teacher, but I am just going to teach english to get some money but looking for a IT job or Programming at the same time.


money, well the minium we will take with us would be 20.000 pound each.

But we realy would like to have a apartment together, it is not that weare lovers we just want to stick together. Could give me any idea to make that possible?

Thank you

If i cant get a IT job I will just stick with English Teaching.

I would guess that your diplomas would be sufficient to be classified as degrees here. The only reason I seem sticklish on terminology is that immigration can be the same way, and without them you don't get a work visa.

Any major will make you eligible for a work visa to teach English, by the way.

You wrote:

my friend is aiming to get a job as a private teacher

Click to expand...

Can you explain what that means? It could be a teacher in a private high school (or junior high), or it could mean a teacher/instructor in a private company (conversation school, aka eikaiwa), or it could just mean someone who teaches private lessons on the side. I can help you with options in all 3 cases, but I need to know what your friend wants.

Living together.
Do you two plan to come here to job hunt, or will you look from home? Come here, and you will obviously have to set yourself up with a place to stay. You have 2 options:

1) guest house (sometimes called a gaijin house), which is essentially a boarding house. Everything is provided. No guarantor is needed.

2) your own apartment. Most places do not rent to people without a guarantor (employer), and you usually have to pay "key money" deposits of 2-5 times a month's rent just to move in, and the apartment will be totally bare. No furniture, no appliances of any kind, no bedding, no curtains, no light fixtures, zilch. So, furnishing your place will be costly, no matter how much you use secondhand shops or recycle shops or 100-yen shops.

IT or programming jobs may or may not pose problems. Lots of Indians get them, and you will find that people vary on whether or not you will need to know Japanese. Moreover, ask yourself this: what can I do in IT or programming that a Japanese person cannot? If you want a job in either of those fields, realize that Japan already has its own population of IT engineers and programmers, so what do you bring to the negotiating table? It might not hurt to look at www.daijob.com for a peek at job ads (most require bilingual people of some degree) and for a read of Terrie Lloyd's articles.

Thank you for the reply.

My friend wants to teach people in a private high school, but you also mentioned "just mean someone who teaches private lessons on the side", he is curious about that could you give some more information?

As for living together are you saying that we should leave company's like Jet and just go to Japan with a good budget find a guest house and just look for a job? We were planning to do that but were not sure about it. We are planning to go to Osaka it seems nice. As for weather well we have been in worse.