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.

Last edited by Jarvik7 (2012 February 19, 8:06 pm)

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.

Last edited by turvy (2012 February 19, 8:43 pm)

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!

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."

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…

Last edited by turvy (2012 February 20, 12:21 am)

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.

Last edited by kitakitsune (2012 February 20, 12:59 am)

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^^

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

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.

Last edited by vix86 (2012 February 20, 2:49 am)

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.

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

honne and tatemae

http://www.tofugu.com/wp-content/upload … e5-001.jpg