Japans normal working hours?

Sorry - BOE = Board of Education.

With JET, while you interview at a consulate or embassy of Japan in your home country, you are hired (ie you are paid) by a local body (a school, a BOE, a district) and they can set their own conditions within a set of limits.

You can work on JET, regardless of who contracts you, for a maximum of three years (you can renew your one year contract twice).

hmmm.... Any idea why they set a maximum amount of time a teacher can work?

Brooker said:

hmmm.... Any idea why they set a maximum amount of time a teacher can work?

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I'm trying to check it out, I used to know because I employed Japanese employees...I know that it is more than 40 but I can't remember if it is 48 or not. Also, keep in mind that if a Japanese employee works more than 8 hours in a day that they are supposed to (required) to pay overtime pay (even though I know alot of companies get by on this).

They set a max of 40 payed hours. I'm sure they would be very happy to have you stay longer.

I think they set the limits because of how the whole JET system works.

There is a salary cap on JET of some 3,100,000 yen a year before taxes (around that anyway). This money is paid from your contracting organization (CO), but it comes from the central government in some magical fashion (not really sure how it works). If the JET worked more than the budgeted 40 hours, then the CO has to payout more than they were given. They would rather comp you by giving you extra paid vacation days because it doesn't cost them aything, they won't run over budget and they know the world won't end if you take an extra Monday or two off.

I also think the maximum legal amount of time you can make someone work in a week is 40 - we will see what Buddha Smoker finds out - and so they have to throw that in there.

They also don't want to mess with working overtime and foreign teachers because the system because being comped and taking overtime in little chunks (an hour or half day) is a huge pain, even when you both speak the same language. There are eight hours to the work day, and you can take your vacation time in one hour chunks (like if you are running late in the morning you are supposed to call and ask for one hour off your annual paid leave). If you stay later, and are not paid cash, they have to work out some system to know how long you have stayed and all the mess. It is easier just to send the JET home or make it clear they are doing the extra work on their own time and will not be comped (unless they were asked by the CO to do that job after normal hours). Confused yet? I am.

That said, I have no idea how vacation and overtime works outside of the public education/JET worlds.

Mandylion said:

They set a max of 40 payed hours. I'm sure they would be very happy to have you stay longer.

I also think the maximum legal amount of time you can make someone work in a week is 40 - we will see what Buddha Smoker finds out - and so they have to throw that in there..

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Maybe laws have changed too but I should know by this evening. When I use to employ Japanese workers compared to the other foreign workers, if I wanted to then i could work the Japanese up to 96 hours in a two week period without having to pay the overtime wage-rate (I never did and I still paid the overtime wage-rate after 80 hours). But, it was a nice tool if a Japanese worker got to be out-of-hand so-to-speak. I'm too nice of a guy to be mean like that

Mandylion said:

Confused yet? I am.

That said, I have no idea how vacation and overtime works outside of the public education/JET worlds.

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Yeah, politics never make anything easy, eh? I didn't know JET people had such a different system, I'm never really know anybody that was JET and then I just assumed it was the same like Berlitz, GABA, Nova, etc... I just tended to group all the English teachers together (not in a bad way) but from personally experience and friends, etc...

Hey, thanks for the many replys.
I am happy to see that overtime is normal in Japan, I feared that working hours would be strict and regemented.
This gives me more time to get to know how people are/work in Japan and hopefully pluck up the courage to talk to people before they dissapear home.
And spend more time with some great cars

topi said:

Hey, thanks for the many replys.
I am happy to see that overtime is normal in Japan, I feared that working hours would be strict and regemented.
This gives me more time to get to know how people are/work in Japan and hopefully pluck up the courage to talk to people before they dissapear home.
And spend more time with some great cars

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After all, work is the second family in Japan and sometimes the first.

Buddha Smoker said:

I just assumed it was the same like Berlitz, GABA, Nova, etc... I just tended to group all the English teachers together (not in a bad way) but from personally experience and friends, etc...

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No problem - you get good and bad people in the language schools and in JET. The only reason JETs don't worry about all the problems public language schools have (like the often quotes anti-fraternization rule at NOVA) is that our jobs are simplified versions of what real teachers do. We are also "assistants" and so we don't have to make up lessons from scratch, nor be really good at what we do. As long as you don't do a horrible job, your contract with JET will be renewed.

In short, JET is wonderful because we 1)work less than language school teachers, 2) make more, and 3) get better vacation and often housing agreements (though there are some real horror stories). There is a trade-off though, JET is harder, and takes much longer (8 to 10 months) to get into.

Mandylion said:

No problem - you get good and bad people in the language schools and in JET. The only reason JETs don't worry about all the problems public language schools have (like the often quotes anti-fraternization rule at NOVA) is that our jobs are simplified versions of what real teachers do. We are also "assistants" and so we don't have to make up lessons from scratch, nor be really good at what we do. As long as you don't do a horrible job, your contract with JET will be renewed.

In short, JET is wonderful because we 1)work less than language school teachers, 2) make more, and 3) get better vacation and often housing agreements (though there are some real horror stories). There is a trade-off though, JET is harder, and takes much longer (8 to 10 months) to get into.

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Wow, I didn't know that. Seems pretty cool and if I was teaching English then I would go that route but I wouldn't trade my job now.

Mandylion wrote....

There is a trade-off though, JET is harder, and takes much longer (8 to 10 months) to get into.

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That's the biggest reason I didn't go into JET. I was impatient and Nova could get me to Japan a lot faster (about 3 to 4 months). I also didn't really like the idea of being an assistant teacher, but in hindsight that seems like a small con amidst all the pros. If I found myself in Japan again, I think JET would be where I'd like to work, just have to plan ahead.

Yeah, being an assistant is often not all that great, but then you don't have to sell English in a very literal way like you would at NOVA or the like. Sure, it is important to make the kids enjoy what they are doing if at all possible, but if you have an off day, or the lesson falls flat, no one is going to take off your head.

And in some schools, you are the main teacher (mainly elementary schools) - your word is law.

Brooker said:

Mandylion wrote....


That's the biggest reason I didn't go into JET. I was impatient and Nova could get me to Japan a lot faster (about 3 to 4 months). I also didn't really like the idea of being an assistant teacher, but in hindsight that seems like a small con amidst all the pros. If I found myself in Japan again, I think JET would be where I'd like to work, just have to plan ahead.

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So, you're not in Nova now or going to be? Sorry, I was a bit confused. Are you in Japan now or going to be or still in Seattle?