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Teaching english in Japan (not JET)

Spaceghost

Baka
5 Jun 2004
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Hi,

I have read this a few times, and am a bit confused, you do need a degree to get on JET.

This is a quote from Buddha Smoker's blog:

"If you want to teach English in Japan and make lots money (I`m going to emphasis this) YOU HAVE TO HAVE A 4 YEAR DEGREE or Bachelor`s. Not a 1, 2, or 3 year degree but a (look above again) 4 year degree. "

I assume this means teaching properly, not through JET. What I am confused about is this 4 year degree or bachelor's, perhaps the meaning of a degree is different in other parts of the world, but are not all degrees a bachelor's of something? Unless it is a master's degree, but in general you need to have a bachelors before you do a masters. There are things such as HNDs, but those are diplomas rather than degrees.

Could anyoen clear this up for me please?
 
If you want to be successful in Japan teaching English, I would say to anyone wanting to pursue this route, GET A DEGREE FIRST! Sure small teaching jobs will be fine for a short time, but to live good in Japan and get the good teaching jobs and be priority go the extra distance and get you a degree.

I think 4 year college is a bachelor's then you can go back for your master's, atleast I think that is how it is here in LA (maybe someone can clear it up for me as well).
 
Spaceghost said:
Hi,

I have read this a few times, and am a bit confused, you do need a degree to get on JET.

This is a quote from Buddha Smoker's blog:

"If you want to teach English in Japan and make lots money (I`m going to emphasis this) YOU HAVE TO HAVE A 4 YEAR DEGREE or Bachelor`s. Not a 1, 2, or 3 year degree but a (look above again) 4 year degree. "

I assume this means teaching properly, not through JET. What I am confused about is this 4 year degree or bachelor's, perhaps the meaning of a degree is different in other parts of the world, but are not all degrees a bachelor's of something? Unless it is a master's degree, but in general you need to have a bachelors before you do a masters. There are things such as HNDs, but those are diplomas rather than degrees.

Could anyoen clear this up for me please?

Wow!! I'm surprised that someone is actually reading my journal. I guess I should have been a little bit more clearer. Ignore the technical terms, the point that I was trying to get at.....a lot of people are mis-lead into thinking that anybody can come to Japan to teach English and make lots of money. I want to dispel this belief....a professional education is what is needed for the big bucks. Sometimes the lesser degrees (like an associates degree[1 or 2 year degree] as it is called sometimes) will not help either, it is better to finish your education (usually 3 or 4 years in most countries) and then go back if you plan on getting a Master or PHD(6 or 7 year degree) to teach at universities, etc..

I hoped that I helped with that and now that I know you are reading my journal....what do you think? I love feedback good and bad 🙂 .
 
Ok, thats good, I intend to start with JET, so I need a bachelors anyway, I am doing a BA in film studies so thats ok.

I like your journal, but sometimes it gets a bit confusing as you seemed to have gone from being with the fat lady at the base arguing about your security to cutting your finger, to becomnig her boss.

I have not read much past that 1 year gap or so as my eyes were getting tired, but in the few posts afterwards you did not mention why you suddenly stopped writing the journal.

Although in a way I am kind of glad to have skipped a year because there would have been so much to read :)

One thing I was wondering about is when you cut your finger, you asked your wife to type out the messages, why did you not just use the other hand?
 
In order to qualify for a "Specialist in Humanities/International Services" visa (standard work visa for teachers), you must have a 4-year degree and a contract for at least one year which pays no less than 3 million yen per year, or 250,000 yen per month--ergo all those jobs that pay 250,000 yen per month, the "minimum wage" for non-Japanese teachers in Japan.

Used to be that a lot of schools paid much better than that, but with the recession of the past decade, and concurrent with its start an influx of teachers hearing of well-paying jobs before the recession, demand went down and supply went up and salaries dropped, and have for the mostb part stayed there. Now even many universities that hire non-academic ESL teachers pay that minimum.

Also, there is now a preponderance of private schools that require you to teach children as well as adults; whereas that used to be a sometimes thing, it is now all over the place. It is most definitely harder to find good-paying teaching work that does not involve the teaching of children.

Work at a university for teaching credit-bearing academic classes (my own job) requires an M.A. at least. If you wish to teach content courses (not language), a Ph.D. in your field is excellent, and published papers (usually 3 minimum) is often required.
 
One point, at some Canadian Universities it is possible to get a 3 year bachelor's degree. I had a 3 year degree and was granted a specialist in humanities visa to work at a major Eikaiwa, so its not entirely limited to 4 year degree holders.
 
Good point, senseimain--many non-U.S. higher education institutions grant a basic degree from a 3-year system, which is usually honored by Japanese immigration. I'd forgotten about that.
 
Spaceghost said:
One thing I was wondering about is when you cut your finger, you asked your wife to type out the messages, why did you not just use the other hand?

I can't begin to explain the pain of that...it was bad and my wife was being generous so I took her up on the offer. :)

Also, thanks for the feedback. I've gotten more consistent as I went along. I think it gets better after the break up till now. At first, I wasn't sure where I was going with the journal and now I have direction and I actually got offer to be sponsered to do a website. I'm still thinking about it but I might do it.
 
Buddha Smoker: from reading the better part of your posts, do I understand correctly that you manage stores which deal in deli and bakery goods? If so, do they carry American or western goods, or standard Japanese fare? And if the former, are they only on-base institutions, or are they available to the general public?

Just looking for some good eats--especially Spanish-style chorizo!
 
When I was looking through universities and courses a year ago to pick what I wanted to do, from what I remember all the basic degrees were bachelor's of something, I never saw any associates degrees, although tbh I was not looking for them, I was only looking at degrees in the subjects I had interest in.

Most bachelor degrees tend to be 3 years in the UK, unless it is something like medicine, quite often if it is a 4 year course, 1 of those will be a year in industry.

Anyway, it does not really matter, I am on a 3 year BA, so thats ok.
 
BlogD said:
Buddha Smoker: from reading the better part of your posts, do I understand correctly that you manage stores which deal in deli and bakery goods? If so, do they carry American or western goods, or standard Japanese fare? And if the former, are they only on-base institutions, or are they available to the general public?

Just looking for some good eats--especially Spanish-style chorizo!

Yes, that is a part of my job now but I deal with alot more food products than just deli/bakery goods. I do mainly manage things on the bases for the Americans. But, my company has an international side but I don't deal with that side just at the moment. Unfortuately, it mostly is on-base institutions and they do deal with chorizos but they do not taste that great in my opinion :D.
 
Spaceghost said:
I assume this means teaching properly, not through JET.

:D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D

I see what you mean some days, though in many ways, JET is more like proper teaching than eikaiwa - it is nice if we can entertain and have the kids learn something, but the idea at least is that learning comes first, fun second in JET. From what I hear, at the big corporate language schools, it can be the other way around.
 
Buddha Smoker said:
...Unfortuately, it mostly is on-base institutions and they do deal with chorizos but they do not taste that great in my opinion :D.
Too bad, I was hoping to find a real deli-type store here in Japan--you know, one where you can ask for slices of a variety of meats on display, rather than just pre-shrink-wrapped Nippon Ham products.

And what's with bacon here in Japan? It's never even a tenth as good as bacon in the U.S. But I get off topic. 😌
 
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