Hello,
Brief background for this question.
I am a Canadian citizen married to a Japanese citizen currently living in Canada. We have a 4 year old child. We currently both work for companies as full-time permanent employees. We both have university degrees (Liberal Arts programs) and have been working in Canada on a full-time basis for about 8 - 9 years. I've been with three (3) different companies during this time period and my wife has been with two (2). My wife originally started working for a Japanese company in Japan back in 2006 - 2008, but quit to move to Canada. Our ages are in the early 30's. Her education/work background is in Accounting and my background is in Transportation/Logistics & Supply Chain. I've had experience working in the Customs industry as well as retail transportation management and am currently in a health care purchasing agent position.
So, we've casually talked about moving to Japan, as we'd both like to live there and grow our family there, however, we really don't think it is possible. Sure, my wife would have a better chance of finding a full-time position over there that pays decent, since she is a native. For me, although I have a basic understanding of Japanese and can read hiragana, katakana and have passed the JLPT N3 and attempted (and failed) the JLPT 2, I am far from being able to just jump into Japanese society and start interviewing for Japanese language jobs. Therefore, I'm assuming that my best options would be to take on an English teaching job in the short-term until I can realistically speak Japanese. As a side note, back in 2007, I worked for a dispatch as an English Teacher for the local schools. People generally had bad comments about the dispatch, however, considering I had no work experience then, it was a decent job for the short-term, however, I know I was only making around 250,000 YEN / month plus a certain transportation cost, which is about 3,000,000 YEN per year. All things considered, this is alright for a bachelor life, however, even if my wife is working as well, I'm not sure if this is realistic for raising a family.
Athough I've heard the wages aren't great, I would also be fine for the short-term to work in a factory or warehouse if I do not require to speak much Japanese at all. Again, it would depend upon the salary and what they expect from a gaijin.
So, tell me, what I dreaming too much and should just consider staying where I am for the long-term until I retire or is there potential? Do you think I should focus more on watching more Japanese TV and reading more news online? I've been using Rikaichan to assist in reading articles online to improve my Japanese, but to tell the truth, I've been fairly unfaithful to this practice for a few months now.
Brief background for this question.
I am a Canadian citizen married to a Japanese citizen currently living in Canada. We have a 4 year old child. We currently both work for companies as full-time permanent employees. We both have university degrees (Liberal Arts programs) and have been working in Canada on a full-time basis for about 8 - 9 years. I've been with three (3) different companies during this time period and my wife has been with two (2). My wife originally started working for a Japanese company in Japan back in 2006 - 2008, but quit to move to Canada. Our ages are in the early 30's. Her education/work background is in Accounting and my background is in Transportation/Logistics & Supply Chain. I've had experience working in the Customs industry as well as retail transportation management and am currently in a health care purchasing agent position.
So, we've casually talked about moving to Japan, as we'd both like to live there and grow our family there, however, we really don't think it is possible. Sure, my wife would have a better chance of finding a full-time position over there that pays decent, since she is a native. For me, although I have a basic understanding of Japanese and can read hiragana, katakana and have passed the JLPT N3 and attempted (and failed) the JLPT 2, I am far from being able to just jump into Japanese society and start interviewing for Japanese language jobs. Therefore, I'm assuming that my best options would be to take on an English teaching job in the short-term until I can realistically speak Japanese. As a side note, back in 2007, I worked for a dispatch as an English Teacher for the local schools. People generally had bad comments about the dispatch, however, considering I had no work experience then, it was a decent job for the short-term, however, I know I was only making around 250,000 YEN / month plus a certain transportation cost, which is about 3,000,000 YEN per year. All things considered, this is alright for a bachelor life, however, even if my wife is working as well, I'm not sure if this is realistic for raising a family.
Athough I've heard the wages aren't great, I would also be fine for the short-term to work in a factory or warehouse if I do not require to speak much Japanese at all. Again, it would depend upon the salary and what they expect from a gaijin.
So, tell me, what I dreaming too much and should just consider staying where I am for the long-term until I retire or is there potential? Do you think I should focus more on watching more Japanese TV and reading more news online? I've been using Rikaichan to assist in reading articles online to improve my Japanese, but to tell the truth, I've been fairly unfaithful to this practice for a few months now.