Hey everyone.

I'm about to spend a year in Tokyo doing an intensive Japanese language program. However, I would like to earn some money on the side to help pay for living costs, and even make a little spending money for side trips and things. I've been told by a lot of people from my college that it's entirely possible to do private English tutoring, especially in Tokyo.

Does anybody have any experience doing this? Is it feasible? Is it difficult? If so, can you offer some tips? Any advice is appreciated.

Thanks!

It is very easy and very common. Just google "find students Japan" or something like that and you will find websites where you can post your profile and students pay the website for your contact info. If you want a more guaranteed income you would probably be able to work part-time for an eikaiwa school, too.

Thanks for the quick reply.

I know teaching with an established school like Berlitz would make for a more regular income. However, I need to have a schedule that will be flexible enough to work around my primary reason for being in Japan - the Japanese language school.

Well, any student you hire privately is probably going to expect some regularity to their lessons, too... I have been teaching privately for the last two years and I wouldn't go back to working for someone else for anything, so I'm not trying to advocate schools. Just saying, you have to have a certain amount of your time that is devoted to teaching either way.