I am really so grateful for everyone who reached out about their thoughts, experiences and advice, on the recent post on this subreddit 'Working at Nova: Experience':

I woke up this morning to experience another punch in the gut after seeing a News feature.

Uniqlo is planning to pay undergraduates 330,000pcm minimum, one of many companies that has announced that graduates will be paid up to 410,000pcm minimum from April next year. As an English Teacher, I was earning about 215,000pcm but it's unstable income and entirely based on performance and what lessons you teach, so it could be even less.

The fact that Uniqlo store managers will earn, over 410,000pcm, should give English Teachers an idea for how much their Managers might be making…

The Worst Part

Foreign English Teachers have already been paid less than Uniqlo workers since 2023!

I would not be surprised if this goes back further.

This really punched me hard in the gut today. It makes me angry that English Teachers which once included myself, are forced into this terrible system, not just pay but treatment (see my 'Working at Nova') post, so that they can get the experience required for better quality jobs in Japan that consistently ask for '2 years classroom experience in Japan. How else do you get 2 years experience in Japan, without going through the 220,000pcm system?

I'm really starting to gain an understanding of just how nasty this Eikaiwa market is and what a terrible mistake it was to get involved in it.

I hope that this pay rise, will be expected of Foreign English Teachers because if not, then that gives propsective English Teachers, maybe current ones, something think about.

News articles

Unfortunately, Reddit's filter is filtering out my post because of links I've posted. Please look at Nippon, ANNnewsCH, NewsonJapan, JapaneseTime and Reuters for the news. Google search "Starting salaries exceed 300,000 yen in succession japan uniqlo 2023"