Job opportunities in Japan: eikaiwa and such

I'm very heavily considering attending classes at The Yamasa Institute. I would need to work to support myself and they recommend working for eikaiwa. However, some comments that I've seen on this forum indicate that this industry is exceedingly shady. Because my plan mandates that I find part-time work (I need to make at least 1800 yen per hour), I'm very concerned about this.

One huge piece of advice I've found on this forum is that I join General Union. (Just to be sure, this is good advice, right?)

I have office experience, but I'm not yet conversational with Japanese, with limits my non-eikaiwa opportunities. So my questions are these: (1) Even if I join General Union, should I work in the eikaiwa industry? How is the pay? (2) Are there other part-time employment opportunities that I should know about?

Any advice would be greatly, greatly appreciated.

UPDATE: I found Let's Japan and will over that, too. But still, please, any comments you have would be appreciated.

I don't think it would be worth your while to join the union if you are just going to be working part time to pay for school.

Eikaiwa isn't really that shady, most places will pay you what they say they will though of course there are some bad schools.

1800 yen should be no problem, a lot of places pay quite a bit more than that. Good luck.

One thing you need to consider - though verify this -

On a student visa, you must secure permission to engage in "other activites" since your visa only clears you for study. If you secure this permission, I have heard you are only allowed to work 10 hours a week. The logic behind this is that you are A) a student and thus should be studying, not working, and B) you had to provide evidence that you had enough cash to cover your estimated expenses for your trip when you applied for your original student visa.

That said, of course you can find work illegaly, but why risk it? If you are caught and deported, you can kiss any future Japanese visa good-bye.

The best thing to do is call your local Japanese consulate / embassy. Don't take my word, the word of the Yamasa Institute, or anyone elses. The phone numbers are on all on the web - just google. Each consulate will have a visa section. They might not get to you right away, but I have never once had a question not answered in a day or two. Afterall, it is their job....

Good luck

The Japanese Immigration Office student visa application deadlines I believe
are October and April. Did you apply for next April already ? As you are obviously aware from their site, Yamasa is one of the more selective schools which means you probably need to get your 入学願書 together now to have a reasonable chance at fall of '06. Good luck !

Thanks, all. The student visa allows 20 hours of work per week, and I'm working on applying for said visa right now. The primary deadline for application was November 5 and, of course, I found out about Yamasa on the 8th. Fortunately, they have a special extension for which I qualify, so I will be applying for April, though I haven't the foggiest what my odds are, applying this late and such.

If you have a "College Student" Visa, it's 28 hours a week. If you have a "Pre-college Student" visa it's 4 hours per day! (Note that there IS a difference between the two) But from what I care nobody keeps close track. Plus you can always tutor english on the side for 3,000-4,000 yen/hour

Studying at a language school usually gives you "pre-college student" status, however some of the more government-favored schools give you "college student" status

Thanks, Stets—I didn't know that. Unfortunately, Yamasa makes it pretty clear that students can work 20 hours weekly, so that qualifies at pre-college, clearly. I wonder how difficult it is to find students to tutor on the side.