I'm a second-year PhD student at the University of Tokyo (graduating March 2026 provided I don't lose what's left of my sanity before then). Due to many personal reasons that I will summarize as A) I left my home country under really bad circumstances and I'm still traumatized and B) my significant other is Japanese, it is imperative that I remain in Japan. Hence I am willing to take any job as long as it gets me a visa and I'll see what happens from there.
Not the right way to go about it, I know. Desperation has completely overrun my prudence. I've always wanted to go into academia but my Masters experience seems to have damaged me beyond repair and I am lagging too far behind in accomplishments to secure an academic job.
I decided that I should get myself a TESOL certification to improve my chances of landing a visa-sponsoring job as a language teacher. Problem is, I am going to be a JLPT N2 at best when I graduate and, as a D2 student, I have to begin job hunting yesterday. I have some things going for me: I have native level English proficiency, completed my Bachelor's in the US and I have a little over 12 years of experience as a tutor of many subjects, English included. The downsides: as mentioned before, India is not a native English-speaking country; my teaching experience is informal (I helped out with my parents' tutoring business, then I was a volunteer teacher, then a part-time tutor in college).
I read that CELTA and Trinity's certification are the best in the game, and there's a school in Tokyo that offers certification in a full-time course (4 weeks) and part-time course (6 months). Full time is not an option for me: I can't take 4 weeks off research without derailing my already precarious research plan. The issue with part-time: A) I don't know if I should wait another 6 months to go job hunting and B) I live 3 hours away one-way by train from Tokyo.
The alternative is the cheaper and convenient (and often faster) online option, but there are so many options I don't know what would give me an edge, if any. Do I do the 120 hours? 150 hours? 180? I don't want a career in English teaching, but I need something to life off of while working postdocs to build my academic profile and improving my Japanese level.
I've been going in circles for weeks now, so I would really appreciate some recommendations.
P.S. I know well enough that ALT and other positions aren't going to be any better for my mental health. That's fine, I'm going to keep my Japanese work visa nice and toasty in the warmth of the dumpster fire that is my psyche.
by Lady_TwoBraidz