Oh? What kind of visa do you have?

I used to work full time on a visa that supposedly didn't allow that. Those rules are almost never enforced. The guys who would be enforcing them are too busy trying to get a bead on a billion illegally employed Filipino hostesses (especially now that the hammer has supposedly come down on them).

I've done the teaching English thing and I am trying to do something different. For those of you who have not tried eikaiwa work before, it is pretty good the first time around. It is worth trying to get the experience of being here. Although it gets repetitious and boring pretty quickly. That is why I am hunting for something different. Teaching privately is sometimes more profitable, but still not something I want to do. Although I know that beggars can't be choosers and I may just have to bite the bullet and get one of those jobs. We'll see...


And the Yokohama area is pretty cool. Super close to Tokyo. You get the benefit of 2 big cities. And Yokohama rent is sooo much better than Tokyo rent from what I've heard.

They pay the national minimum annual salary, usually 250,000 yen per month if I remember correctly. It doesn't sound like a lot, but if you spend it wisely and don't have a lot of pre-existing debt, you can save a crap load of money. The job is not the reason to do it. It is the opportunity to experience living here.

Part Time Work In Japan
 

So I have just recently moved back to Japan for the year. I am also doing some of my graduate school work during the year so I cannot have a full time job. Yet, I am poor and need money. Pesky loans and bills tend to follow you even if you leave the country... http://www.discussworldissues.com/fo...lies/smile.gif

So besides eikaiwa jobs (which most of them will require that I work full time, unless anyone has worked at one in the Yokohama area that allowed part time and wants to share where), what work is available to a gaijin who can only work part time, the immigration office told me my limit was about 24 hours per week anyway, and who has limited proficiency with the Japanese language? Any and all suggestions are welcome. I am a teacher. I can tutor. The problem is trying to find something part time and something that is not eikaiwa work. I may have to bite the bullet and do eikaiwa work, but I was hoping for something different this trip.

Nothing much yet. I have enough cash to avoid working at a language school for a couple more weeks. That is where I will probably end up though. I'll let you know if I find anything and you can do the same. Us kendo folk gotta stick together. http://www.discussworldissues.com/fo...lies/smile.gif

Yea I understand. I would love live in Japan for a while (and train with the tokyo police kendo club!! http://www.discussworldissues.com/fo...lies/smile.gif). But some people go there without knowing any Japanese...where's the fun in that!?

The fun in going knowing no Japanese is that you have a chance to learn it and learn it well. True language learning can only occur if you immerse yourself in the language. Yes if you take classes elsewhere and study hard you can learn pretty well, but for strong fluency (which i wish I had) you need to actually immerse yourself in living in that country and speak and hear only that language. That is what creates natural, fluent speech and not just textbook polite language.

Also as a side note, in a culture like Japan where there is lots of ettiquete (sp?) involved, if you don't know the language when you first get here, it gives you some room for politeness errors that you don't necessarily know about yet. They will think that since you can't speak the language, you probably just got here and will forgive you of certain social mistakes. That is a nice immunity to have while you are trying to learn what is acceptable and what is not. This doesn't mean you can be blatantly rude, but it takes time to learn all the little quirks of society and you don't want people looking down on you for something you didn't even know yet, right?

I have heard of a lot of people moving to Japan to teach english. Why is this so attractive...besides the moving to Japan part. Do they pay a lot for english teachers?

An eikaiwa is an English Conversation School. It is the typical english teaching job that most foreigners who come to Japan do at one time or another. One of my neighbors once said, "you can't really be a gaijin in Japan without having taught English somewhere." Most people do it at one point or another because it is the only reliable work that a foreigner can expect to find here. There are other jobs, but they take some luck, some contacts, or lots of work to find them.

My search continues... http://www.discussworldissues.com/fo...lies/smile.gif

Hi Nodachi did you find any thing yet? I'm looking for part time in Yokohama/ Tokyo too. Give me a bell if your looking for any one to partner up with http://www.discussworldissues.com/fo...lies/wink2.gif.

Some of the guys here at budai teach english. Not in schools but as private teachers to kids and housewives. That seems to be one of the easier jobs to find. The requierment is usually that english is your first language.

Hey Nodachi-san, what's up? Yokahama sounds like fun. What are you studying? I was where you were at one time, I did the eikaiwa sometimes and thought about other jobs relating to my studies. Think about looking for a gaijin friendly place if your language is limited. There are plenty of bars, pubs and restaurants in Yokohama that attract the gaijin persuasion. If you go into language classes, look for one that matches your studies. I did some classes in business English classes before.

Well, give it some thought.... best of luck.

Alex

Out of curiosity, what is eikaiwa work?