r/teachinginjapan

ive read the stories and i know how bad it is, but I'm thinking of doing it just so I can quit my current company (context: it's a permanent office work position in a small company (I'm the only one in the office), but my take home pay is ¥190,000 (with company housing, but it seems that they're going to want me to search for a new one soon bc it's literally a room inside the office so yay no separation between work/life) but I work 6 days a week and they said it's hard to give me a raise bc they said I keep on making mistakes (and got yelled at a lot too bc of that) and the long work hours in the industry are very, very taxing, early work hours and late work hours and uh no overtime pay either so) (another context, most of the workers here and the boss share the same nationalities so we talk a lot in our native languages, for the better and for worse)

I've had experience in teaching foreign languages including English, although it's simply an unofficial, tutor thing back in my home country in both online and offline settings, so I'm not that clueless, but I read that there /should/ be trainings provided by the companies, right? I am worried that I don't "look" like an English teacher that eikawa usually likes, though.. no blonde hair nor blue eyes, not from English speaking countries either but i don't have an accent (probably lowkey American bc uh, pop cultures).

also mainly choosing eikawa because I have the gijinkoku visa, but I'm planning on taking the N2 too so it's not like, my final goal (probably next year tho bc at my current situation I rlly can't find any time to squeeze in any studying because I'm simply too tired and stressed out to do anything). and im just mainly looking for a job that allows me to have ample time to rest for two days in a week because 6 days are really tough....

I wonder if I will be making a good decision. I know it's going to be hard, and I've heard horror stories and the like, but my current work experience is too stressful, i feel lowkey desperate to just... move. i also know to be wary of some eikawa companies, but if it's possible is there any of like the "good ones"? not even good ones just like, the ones with the bare minimum? (keep in mind that my standards are lowkey low too lol) and how's the work, like I'm sure it's not only for teaching, right?

I'm also open to suggestions, if you guys have any, really. can't you see just how desperate I am? lol 🥲 thank u anyways for reading this far!

tldr: uh I'm planning to change my career temporarily to eikawa bc my current job is too stressful for me. what should I be prepared for and what should I be wary of?

I'm sure it's already a popular opinion to avoid AEON if you can, but I wanted to share my recent experience interviewing with them.

I've recently moved back to Japan from the US and wanted to find an English teaching job, applied to a few jobs on Gaijinpot and only heard back from AEON about a part time online job.

The first "interview" was a video where I had to record myself answering a few questions. Which is irritatingly normal these days so I didn't think much of it. Before the recordings I had to watch a video where an older American dude tells you that you will only get paid 900 yen per 25 minute class, including any prep time before as well as writing up a report after each class. He also says that you choose your schedule, but people are allowed to book a class up to 20 minutes before the scheduled time slot, which seems weird and disorganized. Then he says, every class will be recorded and sent to their AI program to "write a post session report".

I had a follow up interview with an actual person (Japanese) who I could barely see as her laptop camera seemed to be ancient or possibly a microwave. After the usual questions, I had to give a "sample lesson" where I was shown a worksheet with a stock image of a woman with a think bubble that said "goals?" And some nonsensical sentences. After all this she said it was going to be sent to management and they would make the final decision. I heard back a few days later and was rejected with no reason given. (It might have had to do with my equating AEON English schools with AEON malls at one point in the interview, but I honestly didn't want the job after that first video interview and learning about all their stipulations.)

As the position is not part time or full time but a contractor "freelance" position, it makes me think that they're simply training their AI to not have to hire foreign workers within the next few years until their AI has gathered enough data to work on its own (while not having to deal with the hassle of firing full-time/part-time employees). With all the anti foreigner sentiment and laws making it more difficult to employ foreigners, it feels like big companies like AEON are harnessing AI to ultimately not have to hire anyone for English teaching, or at least only hiring Japanese nationals for the management part.

Just wanted to share my experience as it felt sneaky the way they didn't disclose the real reason for everything to be recorded and sent to AI. If people are training AI, then they deserve more than a measly 900 yen per lesson. Thank you for coming to my TED talk.

I'm a 44-year-old university English teacher. I'm a permanent resident and have a Japanese wife and a 4-year-old daughter.

I've been teaching part-time at several universities since 2018 (so almost 9 years) and have the strong possibility of moving into a full-time lecturer position at a private university. I'm trying to decide whether the career progression and stability are worth giving up a working situation that I'm currently very comfortable with.

My current situation

• I teach around 17 university classes per week across several universities.
• Annual income is around ¥6 million.
• I have a lot of control over my schedule.
• I have long periods without classes during the university vacations.
• I generally enjoy my current classes, particularly the smaller classes where I can get to know students and have discussions.
• I have established good relationships with the universities where I currently work.
• I'm home relatively early and get plenty of time with my 4-year-old daughter.
• The downside is that I'm still a part-time/adjunct lecturer rather than a full-time faculty member.
• I'm concerned that the longer I remain an adjunct, the more I may become type-cast as one when applying for full-time positions later.

Potential full-time position

• Starting salary appears to be around ¥330,000 per month before tax, which I have been told is quite low.
• Bonuses have historically been equivalent to about four months of base salary per year, although apparently this is no longer explicitly guaranteed according to a former teacher.
• This would make university salary + bonus roughly ¥5.3–5.6 million per year.
• I would be permitted to teach at another university one day per week.
• Four outside classes at ¥10,500 per class × 32 weeks would add about ¥1.34 million, bringing my gross employment income to roughly ¥6.6–6.9 million.
• I would enter Shigaku Kyosai (private-school health insurance/pension/welfare system).
• I'd have my own office (or share one with someone else) and a research budget.
• I'd be expected to publish approximately once a year.
• It would give me genuine full-time university experience, including committee and administrative work, which could strengthen future applications.
• Professionally, I'd be happy to become a full-time university lecturer after having been an ALT for many years.

Things that concern me about the full-time position

• It's initially a 3-year contract. I've been told renewal is normal, but obviously there are no guarantees.
• My biggest fear is giving up my current adjunct positions, having the full-time job not work out after three years, and discovering that my old classes have all been taken up by other teachers.
• The university apparently requires strict 9:00–18:00 attendance Monday–Friday. This also applies during summer and other periods when there are no classes.
• There are initially only 10 days of annual leave, and apparently 5 are designated by the university.
• Committee work is substantial and the amount of Japanese required will probably be beyond my current level of N2, which is admittedly rusty.
• Classes can be quite large: roughly 35–45 students is common, with some required classes reaching around 60. The English ability of the students is apparently extremely mixed. I've been told that pitching classes at the right level can be difficult: make them too difficult and students complain; make them too easy and students may also complain.
• The university's entrance difficulty is fairly low (偏差値 around 37.5–42.5).
• I personally prefer smaller, interactive classes. Large classes of unmotivated students can be quite draining and unrewarding for me.
• There seems to be relatively little student contact outside teaching—no dissertation supervision, etc.
• There are also several large community lectures each year.

Family/lifestyle concern

This may be the biggest issue for me.

My daughter is only 4. In my current situation I get to spend a lot of time with her. With a strict 9–18 job, I'd probably get home around 19:00 most weekdays. I know she'll only be this young once, and I'm worried that I'll trade away several years of family time for a job that I may not actually enjoy as much as my current teaching.

On the other hand...

Part of me really wants the challenge.

Even if I didn't want to stay at this university forever, three years of full-time experience, publications, committee work and improved Japanese might make me considerably more competitive for better full-time university jobs later.

TLDR:

A) Stay in a comfortable adjunct career that I already enjoy, with flexibility and lots of family time, but less security and potentially limited career progression.

B) Or work at a full-time academic position with better institutional benefits, career progression and status, but much less freedom, more responsibility, a teaching environment I may enjoy less, and the risk of having to rebuild my adjunct career if the three-year position doesn't work out.

For people who work/have worked in Japanese universities: which would you choose, and why?

I'm particularly interested in hearing from people who moved from several adjunct positions into a full-time university position—or people who deliberately chose to remain adjuncts.

Quick heads-up: If you have zero interest in staying in Japan for good in the future, and just stay a few years, then this post is not for you. Go ahead and come to Japan.

Now on to my post, I noticed a lot of people who are wishing to come to Japan to work and live here have little to no idea what is happening in the upcoming immigration policies and how politics in Japan is affecting foreigners in Japan.

If you have even the slightest plan to live in Japan and are looking for stability, hence VISA and salary wise, I would highly recommend to you to think twice and do more research.

There's a huge difference between coming here as a tourist, living for 2 years, living for 5 years, and living in Japan for good and becoming a permanent resident (which is going to be very difficult from October this year).

I have an interview with heart corp in couple of days so I'd like to know what kind of questions they ask in it. In their pre-interview video I got to know they have a grammar test before they actually start the interview and it has 3 portions one is grammar in which we have to correctly answer 10 most commonly misused sentences by Japanese students, but I didn't understand how are we suppose to answer like do we have to figure out the grammatical errors in them? second part is reading test it pretty straight forward just have to read a story or paragraph the same way we would do in a classroom setting and the 3rd one is spelling test just spell the words given, 4 easy and 4 hard.

If someone recently interviewed with them I would appreciate the information they can provide.

Hi Reddit!

I am planning on quitting Interac in November. I have not submitted my notice and don’t plan to for another month. Something I was curious about was my housing.

I got my apartment through the company itself. How long do I have my apartment after my last day of work? I will be leaving Japan after I quit, but I want to stay a few extra weeks to travel and explore before that. Will I have to be out of my apartment by my last day? Or do I have some time after?

Any help would be appreciated 🙏🏻

5 year alt thinking about going home and getting teachers credentials in home country and either working there or maybe coming back to jp. no language skills.

my home bachelor degree is not something i want to pursue, everyone is suggesting that i just do primary school education instead of trying to learn a middle school subject like history .

so, are there jobs for int school primary teachers who never specialized in a subject?

i would be looking to come back over with 5 yrs experience as alt and 1 year maybe 2 as primary/elementary school

the dream would be (rn) to be an elementary school teacher/homeroom in english speaking int school. this is because of more responsibility and better able to enjoy life being surrounded by english speaking kids, but in japan

tldr: do international schools hire elementary school teachers or do you need a subject specialization? im native english white male over 40 , good t1 alt , little japanese skill

So ... I'm a licensed teacher from Argentina. I got my teaching degree in December 2025, but I've been working for 8 years now.

Do i really need to get any additional certificates like CELTA or TEFL so as to become a much better candidate? Or it's just enough with my degree? I'm planning to take a master's in the future, though. ..

Hi everyone,

I recently finished my PhD in Information at an R1 university in the U.S. and will be relocating to Japan in a few weeks, most likely Okinawa. Since this move came together unexpectedly, I’m now trying to learn how to navigate the academic job market in Japan. I’m mainly interested in university teaching, lecturer, and research opportunities.

For those familiar with academia in Japan, where should I be looking for openings, and is there anything important I should know about hiring cycles or applying with a U.S. PhD?

Any advice or pointers would be greatly appreciated!

Hey y'all, I posted a video a few weeks back about the 'ALT experience' and my project to replace all physical flashcards in my classrooms. The main feedback was to show more of what the actual app does and how it can be used. So here we are again!

At the time of the last video, the app didn't work properly so I had nothing to share. Even this video was made over a week ago and the app has grown a lot over the Obon holiday. It is now possible to make and share custom content in the app.

It's still free, but with limited amount of cards each account can make (to avoid getting slapped with a million dollar data base fee because one person uploaded 3 billion skibidi toilet pictures or something).

It's still in development and subject to major changes as I do more user testing. Speaking of, if anyone is interested in testing it out and telling me what's confusing or seems busted or could be made more intuitive send me a message! It would be appreciated.

Anyway, hope the holidays were nice for everyone and if you're heading into a new school term, good luck!

Hi everyone,

I’m looking for some realistic insight and advice on my chances of landing a teaching position at an international or IB World School in Japan, as well as what concrete steps I should take to become a more competitive candidate.

My Profile:

• Age & Background: 25, EU citizen (Spain).
• Education: Bachelor’s Degree in Primary Education with a specialization in Physical Education (PE) from a Spanish university. Fully certified/licensed teacher.
• Experience: 3 years of full-time teaching experience in Spain (Primary generalist & PE).
• Languages: C1 English (certified), native Spanish and Catalan.
• IB Training: Completed the official Making the PYP Happen (Category 1) workshop.

Questions for the community:

1. Competitiveness: How realistic is it to get hired in Japan with an EU teaching license and Spanish school experience, assuming C1 English proficiency? Are schools open to primary homeroom roles, or would I have better leverage targeting PE / Spanish positions?
2. Key Gaps: Aside from racking up more years of direct IB classroom experience, what is the single most valuable thing I could add to my CV right now (e.g., specific certifications, recruitment platforms like Search Associates/Schrole, language skills)?
3. Recruitment Timing & Platforms: For those who made a similar move, what hiring fairs, agencies, or timelines work best for Japan-based international schools?

Any feedback, reality checks, or practical tips would be greatly appreciated!

I started Shapes & Shadows, a creative drawing studio for children, in 2016. I closed the studio in 2022 when my family relocated to the U.S., and now that we’re back in Japan, I’m reopening the studio from scratch!

I’m looking for someone to help prepare for the reopening and then teach and assist with classes.

What you'll be doing

Depending on your experience, the work may include:

• Studio preparation and class coordination
• Teaching or assisting with drawing, arts & crafts in English
• Initiating fun projects
• Helping with social media when we have new content to share

Most students are Japanese children ages 4–12.

I'm looking for

Someone who:

• Genuinely enjoys working with and teaching children
• Is passionate about art and creativity
• Is responsible and willing to take ownership of their work
• Would like to grow together with the studio

You don’t necessarily need to be a professional teacher, but you need to be good at drawing and crafting. You will be trained using the studio drawing method.

Job Details

Location: Near Shakujii-koen Station (Seibu Ikebukuro Line)
Start date: September 1
Hours: Approx. 2–5 hours/day

Pay (depending on the work performed):

• Studio coordination/preparation: ¥1,500/hour
• Teaching assistant: ¥2,500/hour
• Lead Teaching: ¥5,000~¥7,000/hour

The role can develop as the studio grows, so I’m especially interested in finding someone who wants to become part of what I’m rebuilding rather than simply coming in, teaching a class, and leaving.

If you're interested, please send me a message with a little about yourself, your experience with art and/or children, and what you're currently doing creatively.

Here is the link to our previous students' work: https://www.facebook.com/shapesandshadows.drawingstudio/

Thank you!

Early bird discount registration is open for JALT’s largest conference of the year. Three days (Fri-Sun) of presentations, workshops, networking socials, and other professional development opportunities for language teachers in Japan. Taking place just 5 minutes on foot from Nagoya station, you could come for a day, or make a weekend out of it.

Family friendly: You can bring your kids, and your (non-teacher) spouse or partner can accompany you for free to help! We’ll also have childcare facilities staffed by professionals.

Hello! I’m Moroccan! And I have a Bachelor’s degree in English Studies, Linguistics major! I have 3 years of teaching experience, specifically at the middle school level! I’ve been looking for a job in Japan, but sadly, no luck! All schools seem to only hire native English speakers or people who speak Japanese! Or they don’t offer visa sponsorship at all! I don’t mind working other jobs! If they can help me with the visa! Any links, sites, or help would be appreciated. Thanks, everyone!

Hello,

I recently had an interview at a private junior high school. I made it to the final round, but I was ultimately passed over for another candidate.

I asked them for feedback and they responded that it was because I didn't have N2 and I had no junior high school expirience. I have been working at an eikawa for 5 years now. Its a good job, but my dream is to be a junior high or high school teacher.

I was recently contacted by a dispatch company to be sent to a junior high school for a yearly contract.

My salary would decrease by around 20,000¥ a month, but she said that all time off for students vacations is paid.

I just feel like if I ever have an interview again I wouldn't have solved the no expirence problem. What would you do in this situation?

English school in Niigata prefecture for sale. I am looking for someone to take over my English school. The school is part of my house. It is well equipped with textbooks, readers and facilities - printer, computer, internet, aircon/fans, fridge, and so forth. The house is fully furnished. It is rented (owner is next door) and surrounded by gardens. Rent negotiable. You can easily relocate the school or continue with school and house together.

Price : Y150,000 - offers accepted.

Contact: Kenneth MacGregor - k2904oj@duck.com

Inquiries most welcome.

I'm well aware of Gaba's sordid reputation. And their awful freelancer system. I do have a few questions

My understanding is that they don't renew your visa if you aren't hitting a specific amount of bookings. I am wondering, is it a case of, for the first few months they help you book stuff, then cut you off? How much money do you even have to make per month to avoid getting your visa taken away?

Also, I am a pretty chubby dude, so it feels like by virtue of that, I am worried I won't get any clients. I read on this sub that the clientele is just creepy salarymen or creepy old ladies.

Part of me is huffing some mad copium of "get another job in the first few months when they help you book", but I am not even sure if that is a correct assumption. The "first few months" thing is something I saw someone else here post, so I am a bit confused.

Just a bit confused about the "first few months" bit. Otherwise, I am kinda aware of how awful it is to work for Gabba. Please convince me not to do it. For context, I am a guy with like 6 years experience as a software engineer, and I am not in Japan at the moment, and have like 25k saved up.

Please convince me this is a bad idea, because I know it is, but part of me is still going to apply maybe.

Edit: Gaba can lick my bunghole

I’m aware I need to give a month’s notice but what’s the exact process? Anything I need to watch out for/know?

Thank you

Edit: I’m planning on going back to my home country, so no need to find another job or anything

Ok, burner account straight up. I won't mention the company/school because they said they figured it out and because I just moved to Japan a year and a half ago I don't want to push too much but I'm dying inside and idk what to do. I have been a private music educator for 10 years in the US, developed music and dance curriculum for the state of Alaska and moved to Japan due to family and the hope of a better opportunity. I just went from a super bad "international school" environment and switched to a better paying job (i.e. the one in this thread) however, I have been working only 1 month in and I wanna run for the hills, call the Japanese equivalent of CPS and pray to GOD this is NOT NORMAL!!! Ok, I have this coworker, he's 51 years old divorced white man from the US. My first week in he asked if I saw the genitalia of a 4 year old boy with a testosterone issue. I said no (ew why) and he said it was big, he was jealous and the other kids talked about how big it was. The next week (week 2) he asks AGAIN!!! Same exact promp, "did you see it? It was BIIIG right? You see the hair??" I said no and I don't ever plan to, and then he KEPT GOING!!! THE NEXT FUCKIN WEEK: He asks me how's my week (normal fine, I did music lessons why?) He goes into DETAIL about fucking a 60 year old. At this point I'm done (Is this my life in Japan? Is dealing with this level of creepiness NORMAL!?) Clearly not, because as soon as I asked my coworkers their jaws dropped and said this was not ok. I couldn't take it anymore after more sexual comments that I reached out to the Company. They took care of it allegedly but did not fire him since they want to give him a second chance. Now I'm terrified of him being around kids ESPECIALLY SINCE THE SISTER OF THE BOY IS IN HIS CLASS NOW. Idk what to do, I feel trapped. This is not ever something I have dealt with in my education career. Is there better jobs out there​ besides this? I don't think I can stay with this company anymore because I can't stand being around a man who sexualized a 4 year old boy, and I really did what I could do but hes still on payroll and changing DIAPERS. If ya'll have stories or suggestions let me know because I see his mom every day and can't stand that her boy is being sexualized by a grown ass man... idk... help...

EDIT: I work at a Pre-K/Kindergarten as a music and homeroom teacher, my apologies for not clarifying.

I am looking for someone to take over my school. It is well equipped with textbooks and facilities. Rental house and school together. Walk in - walk out. Inquiries welcome. k2904oj@duck.com