Ask your question about teaching in Japan and me or a good friend who is also doing real well teaching in Japan will answer it based on our experience.

1. Rating: +1

   

   Do I need a degree to land a job in Japan?

   Get this question a lot and the answer is, yes.

   I know a few foreigners that have no degree, instead they came here on a spouse visa. (The main point behind the degree is because the Government requires one before issuing a working visa.)

   I've also never heard of anyone married to a Japanese national having a hard time finding a job once here. No I am not suggesting you go out and find a Japanese spouse ;-)

2. Rating: +1

   

   I will be arriving in Kyoto in late February this year. If I just have a standard 3 month tourist visa how difficult do you think it will be to obtain a job? In your opinion, is it possible to get a job (or come to some sort of arrangement) with a company with only a tourist visa ? As it seems like catch-22 situation. You need a job to get a visa but you need a visa to get a job! I have a bachelor's degree and a TESOL certificate and 3 years teaching experience in China. Thanks for you help and I look forward to buying your e-book when it's available again. Regards, Will

   Hi Will,

   Man, that's hard call because 15 years ago you could just come over and land a job on a tourist visa then get a working visa later. Now-a-days, you're better off contacting as many schools as possible via the internet to see how marketable you are. You'll get a real good feel fast this way.

   I would not come here on a all or nothing deal. You know, land a job or be totally screwed.

   I do know of people that have landed jobs via the internet so you can do it. Just play the numbers game. Contact as many schools as you can before coming over. Based on your qualifications, I would say the odds are in your favor for landing a job way before you get here.

   Here's an idea for you; get a free blog at blogger.com or wordpress.com and post your picture, qualifications and work experience. Now you have a page to send schools to.
   This way you don't have to write long drawn out emails.

   Hope this helps.

3. Rating: +0

   

   Hi, am a university graduate, and am a nigerian living in nigeria. I presently teach in a secondary school here in nigeria.Have been dreaming about teaching in japan but don't know how to go start the process.I want someone who would be willing to guide me in getting a teaching job in japan, then acquiring a visa and eventually traveling to japan. Kindly respond ASAP.

   Why not just try to contact as many schools as possible via the internet? The first question you must answer is, "How marketable am I as an English teacher in Japan?" before anything else.

   How can you do this living where you are now?

   I'd hunt down every single school I can via the internet and send them a short email stating who I am and what I'd like to do.

   If you get some responses, you're marketable here as an ESL teacher.

   No responses, change your approach.

   Changed your approach many times and still no response? then, I'd say you're not marketable here as an ESL teacher.

   All the best!

   Craig

4. Rating: +1

   

   I will be traveling to Japan late February, to early March, and I wanted to know if you know what kind of shots i will to get, and or what other documents i will need to obtain

   Nothing that I know of other than your passport :-)
   Now, if you're coming for work, make sure you bring your degree.

5. Rating: +0

   

   What methods did you find useful when trying to teach people who maybe weren't as keen to learning English as most? I'm thinking that i maybe come across people who might only be there as they have to learn it for their job or just see it as a pointless lesson as they don't plan to leave Japan etc.

   This is a hard situation to deal with.

   For example, when teaching company classes, some students in your class feel they're being forced to be there. They could careless about learning English and resent the fact they have to sit in an English class once a week when they could be watching TV or some other productive activity :-)

   To make the class bearable for you and the other students, that may just want to be there enjoying English whether they're going to use what they learned or not, try this...

   Draw the person in that does not want to be there by getting them to talk about things they're interested in. At first, let them talk in Japanese if they can't really speak English, you can always repeat back to them in English what he or she says. Do what ever it takes to get them involved. What you want to do is get them to feel very comfortable with you. Show them respect and sincere interest in them and what they're into. This may just turn them around.

   Another thing you can do that has worked for me in the past is to just go right to the issue! Talk to the student like "Look, I know you do not want to be here, and I know you feel you'll never use English anyway". That's just fine and you are fine thinking that way. I'm here for 50 minutes a week. While I'm here, let's enjoy our time together best we can because life is just too short to have bad energy in the air.

6. Rating: +1

   

   I have already discovered that a BA degree is advisable to teach in Japan, but I was wondering if it matters what BA degree it is or does it need to be a degree in TEFL?

   Does not matter what your BA is in, having said this, it doesn't hurt to get a TEFL certificate as you go.

   I like to advise people once they're in Japan teaching, they should attend teaching seminars and take online courses to level up their skills because when you stop learning and growing as a teacher, you my become stale.

7. Rating: +0

   

   Patrick asked, "What other schools would you recommend other than Nova, such as Aeon, GEOs,etc, for applying?"

   Well this all depends on where you're at.

   Are you still in your home country?

   If so, go for the BIG name English schools because they set you up with everything. However, I do not suggest staying with any of them for too long. If you plan on staying longer than a year, finding a job with a smaller school may give you more money with less working hours.

   If you're already here teaching, go for the smaller schools, hands down!

8. Rating: +0

   

   I was wondering what you thought about the Smith's School of English teaching franchise. Is it worth it to pay to use someone else' name?

   Based on what I know about it, I personally would work for another school in Japan and teach part time on my own. This will let me keep all the money I make and not brand someone else's company. Once my part time work gets too busy, I'd just do it full time and stop working for others all together.

9. Rating: +0

   

   Hi, I'm seriously considering gaining a Tefl qualification to teach in tokyo/japan, but wondered if you could help me with a query. I am currently gaining a PGCE equivalent qualification in England - and have much experience of teaching in general. A friend told me that I would be over-qualified for any 'normal' language school position - although that still sounds like a lot of fun. Ideally, I would hope that my current experience can help me gain a higher level of employment and financial reward in Tokyo. I am also a Performing Arts/Music teacher and would love to incorporate that into my teaching. Would you suggest trying to get in touch with anybody specifically in order to do this? Thanks in advance, Ted Moore

   I'd most definitely go after a university job if I were you.

   As for your second question, I would get in touch with someone specifically. Sorry, but I personally do not have any specific contacts for this.

10. Rating: +1

    

    250,000-300,000 yen per month does not sound like very much money. How is the cost of living around Tokyo? How do teacher salaries compare to other feilds? Does having a master's degree help?

    It's not much money at all but you have to start somewhere. And I believe it's a good start. Money, should not be the main goal when just starting out because you'll need to learn what it takes to become good at the teaching game, discover if this is something you'd really like to do, find ways once here to make your own money teaching outside of your day job, etc...

    As you know, whatever you do, your compensation is in direct proportion to the amount of value you bring to the table. When just starting out teaching English, you're really not bringing much value unless you have teaching ESL experience or a degree in something useful that can be applied to teaching in Japan.

    I know teachers that are making five thousand dollars a month and others doing 10k a month but they've been at this for a long time. It's their life work and when they started, it was for 2 to 3k a month.

    Hope this helps.

    To compare this to other fields, if you can read, write and speak Japanese, that's going to open a whole new world to you here in Japan. But I'm not sure how it compares because most English teachers starting out teaching here have no experience.

11. Rating: -1

    

    My girlfriend and I wish to teach in Japan and we were wondering how easy it is to get jobs in the same area. It seems pointless to go if we are going to end up far away from each other.

    Not sure how easy it is, sorry. However, I do know of Nova in the past hiring girlfriend boyfriend couples in the past. Now who knows with Nova seeing that another company bought them out after the big Nova crash.

    Here's what you do, write a short email to some of the big schools asking them straight out if they would be interested in hiring you and your girlfriend. Maybe setup a blog at blogspot.com with some info about you two, etc... See if you get any bites.

12. Rating: +0

    

    First, thanks for your really interesting and informative site. I really appreciate that you are working as a TEACHER and not a tourist in Japan. My question is somewhat specific to my situation, but I thought you might be able to help. I am currently a university instructor of Rhetoric and Composition, ESL and Western Humanities at a small university in the Southeastern US. I am interested in coming to Japan to work for three to four years before pursing my doctorate back here in the states. I am extremely interested in working in a community college/technical college/women's college/university (a bit optimistic as I don't yet have a Ph.D.) in Japan. Yet, I can't seem to find any places to begin my search. I am writing to see if you might point me in the direction of where to start researching this topic. I have run across a couple of recruiting agencies, but nothing of import. Any guidance from a seasoned teacher like yourself is appreciated. Thanks in advance, Justin Lewis

    Hi there Justin,

    Why not try the JET program. It's hard to get in and you can only stay for two years I think but it may just be your ticket. http://www.jetprogramme.org/