School districts get to choose if they want to participate in JET and how many teachers they want. Thus it's hard to get in to big cities that naturally attract foreigners like Tokyo or Osaka because school districts will take the much cheaper route of hiring from places like Interac if it's open to them. It outsources all the management/handling of the teacher and it costs like 1/2 as much. Few seats + many people listing as a preference gives you a very small chance.

If you do JET, expect to go a city in the absolute middle of no where with zero other foreigners and be pleasantly surprised if you get somewhere more exciting. Inaka would be pretty fun for cultural exposure though. Probably find lots of old people wanting to share JP culture.

I feel like we've gone over this topic with LivingNexus before...maybe it was someone else.

Teaching English in Japan will get you one thing only and that's about it: A visa.
It also gets you in the country but that's a given.

Any job in the city will often require prior teaching experience of some sort, be it in Japan or outside. It may also be preferred that you have some Japanese experience. In general though ALTs/Eikaiwa don't require Japanese language though. Most places hire you assuming you can't really speak or know much. There has been a stronger push to get teachers to try and learn some of the language while living here though.

The only time language is going to come into play for an actual teaching job is going to be university level most likely.

Teaching in Japan is one of those experiences that will span the whole spectrum of good and bad. If you google around about various companies you will run into a lot of people talking badly about the experience. ALTs often have the best experience I think. I'm an ALT right now. The work is fairly easy, and up till recently an ALT was nothing more than a human tape recorder really. It has slowly changed where some ALTs take more of a lead in the class. This is vary apparent in Elementary schools where ALTs tend to take up the main role of lesson planning and 100% teaching. JH/HS less so, since there is a curriculum and goals.

JET is ALT work. They are the best option as mentioned but place almost exclusively in the rural areas. Dispatch companies tend to snatch up the city spots.

Eikaiwas are kind of hit or miss. They are businesses and they thrive on having as many students as possible. They make the biggest amount of their money in selling ridiculously expensive study materials and books. The biggest complaint that often comes from people working in this sector is that they have to sell stuff and call students to try and encourage them to come back for more classes/lessons/materials. People tend to have a moral reaction to this. Management can be pretty rough as well since shit tends to roll down hill at these places.

The best jobs for English schools are at legit International schools and Universities because they tend to be career-capable, however they require you to have actual teaching creds to do it usually. ALT/Eikaiwas are not careers, they are dead-end stop-gaps.

Since I didn't see the light first in an English speaking country I figured I was not going to be readily eligible for JET. So what I did was: I came to Japan on a rather long ~2 month holiday, couch surfed, traveled around, met a lot of people and eventually found out about some places that were looking for English teachers. I went to the first one, got interviewed and they wanted me in. I didn't bother about the other one. As it turns out, it pays slightly better than JET, includes rent, ~25 minutes from 名古屋 by train and I live around the corner of the school which is ridiculously good (I'm never late).

Just come to Japan if you can, meet foreigners teaching here and hunt down for a school, academy, juku, etc. If you look, you will find. Like vix86 said though, Eikaiwa is a dead end. Save some money, raise your Japanese to the top notch and then hunt for something else.

i was thinking of becoming an alt since my work offers 1-year sabbaticals, and it'd be nice to make money and travel at the same time. my priorities wouldn't be a career but rather having time to travel.

so JET and Interac, any other ones? my cousin described Interac as being "just barely good enough."

i quite like the 田舎, i find them more chill than the big cities. and people are nicer imo.

My friend who was a JET with me for 3 years (I was a JET for 4) came back to Japan from London to work for Altia while he waited for his Masters to commence. After having taught at high school he elected to go with elementary school through Altia. He had the option of a number of places, either in relatively large cities (including Nagoya), but decided to go for a very remote posting in Nagano to change things up from the city of 265,000 we had lived in on Shikoku.

A car was included, accommodation was either provided or heavily subsidised - and in the middle of nowhere your digs will be pretty much free, and he didn't have to "work" during school holidays. They also didn't care if he took on side work, so with a couple of conversation classes weekly, he was able to make more money than he had on JET.

I very nearly came back to Japan and took it on myself, but managed to find a good job in Melbourne while I was making up my mind.

Anyway, worth looking into them, because he said they were quite flexible and it was a great experience. Either that or go work as a bar bum at a ski resort. Man, I wish I'd done that, particularly considering the season Japan is having this year!

I'm with Interac. If Interac is "just barely enough" then the rest of the accessible "get me to Japan jobs" are in the "Hell no category." There are not a lot of large dispatch companies that look outside of Japan. The "good" jobs tend to be direct hire contracts with BoEs buy you need to know where you are looking for these. They tend to pay better than any Eikaiwa/Dispatch ALT, and somewhat on par with JET.

田舎ｖｓ都市 is very person-specific, although I do find that there are many people that find urban/cities much better than the 田舎 I for one am a city person though and feel the rural area is pretty suffocating.

biAtch Wrote:A car was included, accommodation was either provided or heavily subsidised - and in the middle of nowhere your digs will be pretty much free, and he didn't have to "work" during school holidays. They also didn't care if he took on side work, so with a couple of conversation classes weekly, he was able to make more money than he had on JET.

The reason he was able to take on the Visa is because Eikaiwas (not that he was at one) are a separate kind of visa compared to ALT. If you ware working as an ALT and doing eikaiwa type side-jobs, then you are technically breaking the law. You can get an "amendment" to your ALT visa (I believe its an Instructor visa) that lets you do outside work. I believe you have to have the agreement of the BoE/Company to get it though. Working without the extra addon is basically illegal and why JET cracks down on it so hard because you are breaking the law. Companies usually don't care though.

Interesting, I never knew that. In his case (and in mine when I was in Japan), he was doing a private 英会話 with some locals for cash in hand. But yeah, they really make a point of it on JET since as 公務員, it is illegal to take on any other work outside of your government role. In some ways it can be seen as disrespectful as I've heard it told, since JETs are paid quite well by the taxpayer and taking on 英会話 is tantamount to saying "I'm not paid well enough."

biAtch Wrote:since JETs are were paid quite well by the taxpayer and taking on 英会話 is tantamount to saying "I'm not paid well enough."

Fixed it for you. JETs still make more money than any other spot out there but it has shortened the gap between dispatch and JET. Some argue that its no longer large enough. JET you are almost always guaranteed to be in the sticks, period. So some saw the higher salary as the trade for that.

Let me explain since its likely that many people don't realize how the salaries changed for JET. JETs prior to 2012 were making 3.6million yen a year (30万/月） POST-tax. This meant that after government got their share of money in taxes (excluding local taxes I believe), you would have 3.6million. Post 2012, JETs will now receive 3.36million yen a year (28万/月)　PRE-tax. This means that you will end up with less than 3.36M after box federal and local taxes. The reason for the change is that they claimed figuring out the tax adjustment for salaries was proving to be time consuming so they set the system up like this. Every year your salary grows with this too, 2nd year is 3.6M, 3rd 3.9M and if you make it to 4th and 5th 3.96M. Again all of those figures are PRE-tax. I had also heard the change was also to encourage people to stay on longer since a lot tend to jump ship after 1-2 years.

To help put this into perspective. On Interac, in the same sort of place that most JETs work, I make roughly 3.18M a year (26万/月） pre-tax. I have to pay full on apartment, and half on the car (2.2万/月）

It should be noted though that JETs tend to have much nicer living conditions though. They get a subsidized car, which they may or may not have to pay for and living arrangement is sometimes subsidized. Its not uncommon to hear about a JET living in a house. My friend in Akita-ken is currently on JET and lives in a house. The problem is these 'benefits' will vary quite a bit. Some places may only make you pay a pittance for the house/apartment (3-4万/月） while others might get you an apartment and you have to pay a full rate on it (4-6万）. Same holds true for the car.

EDIT:
Also forgot to attach a few reasons on to the "why JET may not be good anymore."
*JETs can not move/transfer their job, where you are placed is almost always where you will be working. If you are prefecture level you might move around the prefecture, but if you are stuck up in Aomori-ken and want to move to Chiba; not happening.
*Vacations. You are treated pretty similar to a teacher in the school usually; on paper. This means that when winter and summer vacation rolls around, you get to sit around in the office with the other teachers and twiddle your thumbs. Dispatch ALTs generally get the time off. On the flip side, its pretty easy for JETs to use their holidays to go do stuff. Most people generally don't ask questions about it since part of the mission statement for JETs is kind of a "Go and see Japan!" This can be a hit or miss with dispatch companies, although by law they can't deny your holiday requests but it really depends on how much of a boat-rocker you are on these sort of things.

These are the two big ones that came to mind for me that often get mentioned.

vix86 Wrote:… [Eikaiwas] are a separate kind of visa compared to ALT.

What's that type of visa? Mine is specialist in humanities (人文知職) and I work with at a juku which I am told qualifies as 英会話…

turvy Wrote:

vix86 Wrote:… [Eikaiwas] are a separate kind of visa compared to ALT.

What's that type of visa? Mine is specialist in humanities (人文知職) and I work with at a juku which I am told qualifies as 英会話…

That's what it is. Eikaiwa teachers have "Humanities" visas. While ALTs have "Instructor" visas. This is why an ALT can't legally go and do private lessons/eikaiwa on the side because it falls outside the Instructor visa. If they get a stamp from immigration after getting an "Ok" from their employer, THEN they can work at Eikaiwa on the side; but JET doesn't do this. Dispatch companies rarely have any issue with it though.

vix86 Wrote:

turvy Wrote:

vix86 Wrote:… [Eikaiwas] are a separate kind of visa compared to ALT.

What's that type of visa? Mine is specialist in humanities (人文知職) and I work with at a juku which I am told qualifies as 英会話…

That's what it is. Eikaiwa teachers have "Humanities" visas. While ALTs have "Instructor" visas. This is why an ALT can't legally go and do private lessons/eikaiwa on the side because it falls outside the Instructor visa. If they get a stamp from immigration after getting an "Ok" from their employer, THEN they can work at Eikaiwa on the side; but JET doesn't do this. Dispatch companies rarely have any issue with it though.

Sorry but that's not right. The thing preventing JETs from taking jobs on the side is a contractual obligation, not visa status. 99% of JETs get a standard contract that says they will not do moonlighting gigs on the side -without- the permission of their contracting organization...

Meaning they are perfectly able to take side jobs if their board of education allows them to. When I was a JET I received permission to do private lessons on the side and receive money for them. It never had anything to do with my visa type.

vix86 Wrote:Let me explain since its likely that many people don't realize how the salaries changed for JET.

The new JET-salary is still de-facto post tax for 90% of JETs. Depending on your country of origin and the tax treaties Japan has with that country.

I'm a JET and was placed in the middle of Kyoto city (nearish to Nijo)...

So, sometimes you get lucky. With the current exchange rate, it's a tax free $46,000 a year with no real skills. Life ain't so bad. Gonna go back to school after my long long JET vacation^^

@Vix
Dispatch ALT don't have to work outside of the school season, but they also don't get any pay during the holiday (or they get paid less per month to make it the same total amount).

Interac (and every other dispatch company in Nagoya) was 25man/month when I was with them, with work only 9 months of the year. That is 225man yen per year before tax or mandatory insurance/pension. The other option was 23man/month all year. One of my friends interviewed with them about a year ago and they offered even less (18man/month iirc). Though this does vary by region, it's not usually by much.

That makes JET a WAY better paying job, especially since it includes rent and airfare.

On the other hand, JET accommodations tend to be mold infested ancient houses/mansions that should be torn down - places totally unrentable to normal citizens. I've known of JETs who refused the provided accommodation and just rented themselves out of pocket. Having a run-down house isn't too impressive. One of my foreign coworkers rented a good size place with a driveway and yard near my work and paid less than I do for my 5yr old 1K downtown (which itself is amazingly cheap for the size and location).

JET doesn't always include rent. Less than 10% of JETs get free housing.

Very few JETs actually get free housing or free cars.

Many JETs do end up getting cheaper housing though due either to subsidies, living in town owned housing or just generally cheap housing costs thanks to being in the countryside. My rent was more than halved once I was able to move from a privately rented house into a town-owned one, I don't get any subsidy though.

kitakitsune Wrote:Sorry but that's not right. The thing preventing JETs from taking jobs on the side is a contractual obligation, not visa status. 99% of JETs get a standard contract that says they will not do moonlighting gigs on the side -without- the permission of their contracting organization...

Meaning they are perfectly able to take side jobs if their board of education allows them to. When I was a JET I received permission to do private lessons on the side and receive money for them. It never had anything to do with my visa type.

The contract point is right, I forgot about that. But the issue is still that you need the approval of the contractor + the stamp from immigration allowing you to work outside the scope of your Visa. Without that, contract agreement or no contract agreement, it is illegal.

kitakitsune Wrote:The new JET-salary is still de-facto post tax for 90% of JETs. Depending on your country of origin and the tax treaties Japan has with that country.

Some places will reimburse you on the income tax that you paid (including local residence tax), but I have heard many people say this is by no means a guarantee. I'm pretty sure the US and Japan don't have any special income tax agreements. The one thing I have heard with the US is if you are out of the country for more than a year(? I believe) with the US, you don't have to pay US income tax on that money; but you do have to pay whatever taxes the Japanese govt. imposes.

Tzadeck Wrote:I'm a JET and was placed in the middle of Kyoto city (nearish to Nijo)...

So, sometimes you get lucky. With the current exchange rate, it's a tax free $46,000 a year with no real skills. Life ain't so bad. Gonna go back to school after my long long JET vacation^^

The Kansai area is the only major exception that I'm aware of. They had a lot of "issues" with the dispatch companies a few year(s) ago and basically killed all their dispatch contracts and went either direct hire or JET. I've heard Kobe has this thing where they rotate from being dispatch to direct hire to JET and back to dispatch again. I believe they are in the JET/direct hire phase right now.

Jarvik7 Wrote:@Vix
Dispatch ALT don't have to work outside of the school season, but they also don't get any pay during the holiday (or they get paid less per month to make it the same total amount).

Interac (and every other dispatch company in Nagoya) was 25man/month when I was with them, with work only 9 months of the year. That is 225man yen per year before tax or mandatory insurance/pension. The other option was 23man/month all year. One of my friends interviewed with them about a year ago and they offered even less (18man/month iirc). Though this does vary by region, it's not usually by much.

That makes JET a WAY better paying job, especially since it includes rent and airfare.

On the other hand, JET accommodations tend to be mold infested ancient houses/mansions that should be torn down - places totally unrentable to normal citizens. I've known of JETs who refused the provided accommodation and just rented themselves out of pocket. Having a run-down house isn't too impressive. One of my foreign coworkers rented a good size place with a driveway and yard near my work and paid less than I do for my 5yr old 1K downtown (which itself is amazingly cheap for the size and location).

I didn't mean to suggest that you get paid in full on vacation. So you are right. But its either you work the holidays/use your vacation days (unless your schools are real nice and don't mind you not showing up), or you don't and don't get paid.

Interac's pay is graded based on how "rural" you are. Technically you are paid more in the rural area to make up for having to deal with the car. But honestly if you live in the rural w/ Interac you actually have to pay more than someone in the city riding a bike or using public transportation. (Based on my figures)
I believe the much cheaper salaries that your friend might have heard, was with the sister companies that Interac has. These are primarily Eikaiwas I believe and the pay is pretty horrendous. I've heard people mention those 18万 a month figures...for living in the city too no less!

My friend lives in a house that looks like it was built within the last 10 years...defiantly an exception. But anyone thats being smart with their money can easily get a nice place on JET. Around my area for instance there are apparently a lot of open houses so realtors are trying to get people in them/rent them. There has been this race to the bottom in prices for these houses. I haven't seen the place in question, but one of the ALTs in my area is apparently renting a house for like 5-6万 a month, which blew my mind. Again, how new is the place? I have no idea.

EDIT: I forgot to point it out though. You are right Jarvik, because the pay isn't a full 25-26万 for every month in the year it doesn't come out to being as high as I originally stated for salary in a year. But the comment about hearing JETs bitch about "Dispatch is just about as good as JET now" is something I have heard; amusingly enough.

Trust me, it is not illegal for JET ALTs to teach private lessons.

vix86 Wrote:]
Some places will reimburse you on the income tax that you paid (including local residence tax), but I have heard many people say this is by no means a guarantee. I'm pretty sure the US and Japan don't have any special income tax agreements. The one thing I have heard with the US is if you are out of the country for more than a year(? I believe) with the US, you don't have to pay US income tax on that money; but you do have to pay whatever taxes the Japanese govt. imposes.

Japan and the US do have a number of tax agreements. US JETs do not pay Japanese income taxes for their first two years living in Japan. Same with Japanese people living in the USA.

Local taxes are now decided on a case by case basis. Before the recent changes they just gave you extra income to cover it.

kitakitsune Wrote:Trust me, it is not illegal for JET ALTs to teach private lessons.

It's not against the law, but since every CO has its own contract, it's possible that your CO would bar private lessons in your contract -- it's actually not that uncommon from what I hear.

Aside from potential visa issues, are you paying taxes on your profits from private teaching? If not it's illegal.

Yeah, it's definitely in my contract that I can't do private lessons, but it's not illegal and has nothing to do with my visa. It's just something the Kyoto Board of Education has decided (regular teachers aren't supposed to teach anywhere else either).

honne and tatemae

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