Hello r/movingtojapan,
I’ve been contemplating moving to Japan for the past two years now and have been struggling figuring out a reasonable route based on my education, work experience, and overall knowledge in Japanese. I know r/movingtojapan gets a lot of these posts, but any advice and help would be greatly appreciated.
To start, I’m 36 years old and a Cypriot-American from New York City. I have a Bachelor’s degree in English Literature and have 10+ years working in the publishing industry, as well as many years working administrative and customer service jobs prior to publishing.
Although it’s been a long time coming, I’ve grown exhausted of living in the US. Although I make a decent salary compared to others in the country, it’s not enough for a place like NYC. I often find myself overworked and taken advantage of. Additionally, I often feel trapped with work due to career restraints and growth but also in my home life as I have been my immigrant parents’ “personal assistant” for the majority of my life. It’s not as much as before since my father passed away, but the feeling of being trapped often rears its head.
As mentioned, I’ve been contemplating moving to Japan for two years now and even applied to the JET Program last year. Although I sadly didn’t even make it to the interview stage, it made me question my goals of living in Japan. Do I want to live there for a short period of time and help students, or stay for a longer duration? I’m leaning towards the latter but I don’t want to be the stereotypical American and not learn the language.
Due to that, I signed up for a 12-week intensive beginner’s course to Japanese that I hope will at least help me with the building blocks of Japanese. I’m struggling a bit as working full-time, assisting my mother, and then studying in the evenings is exhausting and I’m not confident I’m retaining the information that I should be. My goal is to complete 150 hours or get to N5 to attend a language school, but I’m growing hesitant on that as I don’t want to blow my savings if I’m not able to work in Japan.
Apologies for the long essay, but as I mentioned I’m hoping for advice. Has anyone on this subreddit experienced the same? Do you think that attending language school is the proper route for me, or should I apply to JET again or a company like ECC Japan to teach English? If I do attend language school, is it viable to attend school and then work part-time when not in class? Lastly, do you think someone with my working experience would be viable to work in Japan? I’m not above working in hospitality or customer service, but I also am worried about destroying my savings, especially with how the US economy is going under this current administration.
Thanks so much for reading, and thank you for anyone that responds!
by Gotskate
4 comments
With a BA you could move to Japan to teach English, but if you want to move because find yourself feeling overworked, and trapped with career constraints, you’re going to find the exact same issues as an English teacher, with a lower salary.
Having low-level Japanese language skills won’t set you up for success in a field like publishing in Japan. Two years of language schools may not be enough to get you to the point you need to be. You may want to look at postings on Indeed for your field and see what the qualifications and requirements are.
I suggest that you have at least 2 – 3 years of university-level Japanese language skills before leaving for Japan. This would linclude about 800-1,000 kanji. Either that, or teach English while learning Japanese in your spare time but do not plan to teach longer-term.
The ESL industry is not what it used to be. Most jobs are very temporary and the pay is low. It is in fact a dead end job. On top of that, most jobs do not offer visa sponsorship. Many smaller schools are closing as more casual learners are finding teachers online or learning online. Therefore, should you come to Japan to teach do not expect to teach long-term, but learn Japanese and find another job.
Very possible with a degree and experience.
Probably going to be a step back in your career tho.
JET will mean much lower pay and more hours compared to your publishing job in NYC. Another place where you will be overworked and taken advantage of. Just for much less money.
Language school can be expensive and you can only work part-time on a student visa. You going to run right through whatever savings you have.
But give it a try. See if it works out. Maybe some other doors can open up while you are there.
I actually just saw a publishing job listing in Japan, though I think it was more for traveling and selling, but still. They are out there.
EDIT: Here’s the listing I saw, for what it’s worth: https://www.daijob.com/en/jobs/detail/1428356