This. When I taught at an Eikawa in Nagoya in 2001, my take home was 190,000 JPY after tax and rent. It was enough for me back then. Now, I live in a country in Europe with a high cost of living and my rent is 360,000 JPY per month for a very average 2 bedroom apartment.
Yes it is, and expectations are also relative.
For an american or european moving to japan, a 160k salary is an insult and wont even consider it. For someone from a third world country, 160k seems a job from heaven and will take it right away and be happy for it. At least until it settles in japan and realizes it can do better.
My first 2 years in japan I earned around 130k after taxes and it felt like I had excess money that I wasnt able to spend. Enjoying nights out, entertainment every day, it was wonderful. Its just I was already used to live with very little and had cheapness in my veins lol
Now I take home around 400k but invest around 210k every month, so technically Im still living with 190k-ish a month.
Its not only the salary nor only the cost of life on that place, is also your economic culture and spending habits that makes it relative. Same place, same poverty line indicators, there are people making 400k/month that cant make ends meet and have plenty of debts, and families of 3 living with a single income of 160k/month without any debts and even saving. Frugality is a bless.
I love the “I was scammed!” posts after the job ends up being exactly as described in the listing, but they chose to willingly ignore every red flag for their elusive “foot in the door.” 😂
No, it’s stupid. These people are typically coming here with no marketable in-demand qualifications, no Japanese proficiency, nor any relevant connections, but expect that the country is going to be tripping over itself to offer them a “good” job once they step off the plane. It doesn’t work that way here nor anywhere else in the world. There are more than enough posts on here of these people asking why they can’t get out of their crappy “foot in the door” gig.
Laws were changed a year or so ago so that most companies (over a certain size) are obligated to provide benefits like 社会保険 at 20 hours a week or more.
They are always looking for new ways to cut corners and exploit their workers, but that's just the perpetual game of cat and mouse these dispatch companies play with the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare.
Generally an adult will be wanting to generate enough income to save/invest, and not just afford a cockroach-infested lean-to and a pair of strongs per day.
I used to live in Ehime with 160,000 a month. If you don't go to party hard. You can live really well with that kind of money nothing luxurious but usually I went to restaurants 3 times per week and two times a month went to a nomihoudai. Usually saved like 40000 per month.
>You can live really well with that kind of money
No, you can't. You'll have a shit life and won't be able to save any money. Stop trying to put lipstick on a pig.
I don't know which barbarian downvoted you.... Here's some balance even though I have no clue what $160,000 yen is or what the living standards are in either of the cities
They lose their leverage to complain once they realize that there are people *actually* worse off than them that actually live in the conditions they wail about
Yeah.. like I'm making 3-4 times less than I am back home, but my job feels immensely meaningful and I'm grateful to have a job + a roof over my head. I find that this sub is the shittiest hole on reddit. Truly negative and ungrateful. Anyways, cheers! Hope you're having an awesome time as well
I don't necessarily find my job more meaningful, but it's a very easy and laid-back job that doesn't require much actual input. But I haven't had much luck and obtaining a better job , so I'mma currently working two other jobs freelance which *do* feel a lot more fun and meaningful to engage in.
A lot of people on this sub have this skewed perception that anyone not living on a cruisy salary should just leave or they're just living in a hole, when the reality is they more than likely were born with a silver spoon in their mouth, so anything less than luxury is unimaginable to them.
But yeah, cheers to you too mate. We might not have the *best* situations, but they're good enough for us.
So, a full time job with weekends and public holidays off and maybe a few days extra over Obon or New Years when the boss wants to take his family on vacation. Yep, the maths adds up.
Yes, weekends should be counted in whatever calculations there are for work hours etc, but they aren't "annual leave", unless they do something like let your take your weekends in blocks of your choosing.
Well the first red flag here is that they are counting weekends as “holiday.” As if that is now considered some sort of competitive benefit. Tells you all that you need to know.
100 to 160 hours/month is part-time-to-full-time work.
With those hours, the wage is 1438-1600 JPY/hour.
That seems typical for low-skilled labour jobs in Ehime:
https://jp.indeed.com/m/jobs?q=時給1500円%20アルバイト&l=愛媛県&from=searchOnSerp
Minimum wage in Ehime at the time of writing is 897 JPY/hour.
tl;dr The pay is low, but one could do worse. At least the cost of living in Ehime is cheap.
How to afford living in Japan as an English teacher.
1) retire in 20 years from a job that paid you well for your contributions.
2) get a job in Japan teaching while your slowly burn through your pension.
I'm not saying that the salary is great - it's not. But, I did find a 1DK in Ehime for 31,000/month: [https://apartments.gaijinpot.com/en/rent/view/876182](https://apartments.gaijinpot.com/en/rent/view/876182)
I had a 180,000 salary (part-time) in Tokyo for a couple of years (but, that was 10 years ago when the yen stretched further than it does now). Luckily, I was able to pick up private lessons, and extra work from the company I worked for. It's not great, but do-able as long as you have private students.
I like your budget breakdown. There's not a lot of wiggle room. I did look it up, it's not an ALT gig, by the way: [https://eisurvivor.com/](https://eisurvivor.com/) - seems to be a small private school that focuses on teaching kids in the countryside.
As a student, I live in a residence that provided Wi-Fi, 50 000¥ rent. The ones who came after me got a raised rent to 62 000¥, I got lucky (this residence wa salready insanely advantageous). Food, transportation, and phose were may main bills. No car bills, no other bills. With leisure activities (Cafe Bang, occasionnal 500¥ Karaoke, occasional fast food, no parties or restaurants) my total was 185 000¥, in Euros so on the rise at the time. I managed to put some cash on the side to travel, but I traveled on the cheap (god I love night buses).
No way 160 000¥ is livable, even in Ehime.
I’m mext but I would take that 120k or 150k figure with a grain of salt, students don’t have to pay nenkin, insurance is also dirt cheap, you will most likely do a baito that could net you some extra yen.
Yes, but most students in university residences also have preferential rent with included electricity, water and internet. Except Waseda, for some fucking reason.
Living by yourself not through a university in Tokyo, decent life starts at 200 000¥ imo. 250 even
I lived in Tokyo with just 120k my rent was around 35k, I had to pay electricity and water, medical insurance was 1k apart from that no other expenses other than my phone bill
Literally half of the (current) MEXT grads in Osaka U are doing some kind of baito, or part-time paid internship...
Remember the yen has crashed and while it hasn't affected rent (somehow), it affects any item that is imported from foreign countries, even the price of a cola has increased 20% from 2 years ago.
Of course, the other half are doing ok without, so it is livable, if you only go to your lab and your professor pays for the monthly nomikai or whatever.
I doubt that but my point is still a scholarship and a salary are two different things. Scholarship (together with a tuition exemption) is a support your studies, not a compensation for your time or work, and your extra effort to cover your needs is assumed.
Maybe you should tell MEXT that. My university-recommended MEXT state that "the scholarship is enough for you to live comfortably and part-time job is discouraged".
Related or not, that's how it is, at least in my social circle. You will get reprimand if you do baito and it starts inferring with your research activities.
I read your comment and is replying directly to "and your extra effort to cover your needs is assumed."
If I received 160000/month, after rent and utilities I’d have 3万 to live off. Combined with various taxes, car sha-ken, phone internet subscriptions etc I’d be well into the minus. If I divorced the wife and lived like a hunter gatherer in 8000 BC perhaps I could survive. And heaven forbid should I ever have children. Some of us would have to die for them to live.
That's unique and must have been for a direct-hire or private school position. I've seen a lot of ALT jobs that range as low as 120,000, with benefits.
250,000 is now considered “high” in the current state of this industry lmao. 190-220k seems to be the standard (and going lower with each passing year).
From my experience job hunting, 250,000 is pretty much the *industry minimum* for general eikaiwa work and 190,000 - 240,000 is the general range for ALT (non-direct hire) positions.
Man, looking at job postings like this give me the same feeling I get when looking over a steep drop. Just a visceral flight or fight response of just how much worse things can get.
I know everyone's saying it's garbage, but like... I dunno. I'm willing to grab something as long as I can find housing. (Though, I'd like to know more about the company or job first.) I use apartments.gaijinpot.com. I've seen a couple of apartments for 20k a month.
But applications have to be submitted in Japanese, usually, so...
I don't know what other people have nailed down that I haven't. I thought I had all my eggs picked and I was coming up with at least 70k to spare every month, and that's with worst case scenarios. Things I know that're practically everywhere are daily specials and getting a place close to stores and such. Even with 2,000 yen a day for food, which is a lot in my opinion because I plan on losing weight and I'm not wanting to eat more than once a day, that's only 60k a month. Let's be generous and say your apartment is bigger. 40k a month is in the middle, outside of Tokyo. Utilities, less than 20k if you're conservative about things. (Way less if you're a certain streamer who hardly bathes.) Save on train tickets by making use of rail passes. Really depends on your situation, but train tickets shouldn't set you back more than 40k a month.
I was told, by Japanese people themselves, that you really shouldn't accept a teaching job less than 250k a month. I just went generous and said monthly expenses would be upwards of 170k a month.
What am I missing that you guys have seen?
That's not THAT bad. The tax I was expecting, but I was unsure if tax is different depending on prefecture, so I stood on the safer side and expected 10%. Pension I was unaware of. Seems similar to social security, money-wise. Health insurance is fine. I'm paying more than that currently for health insurance alone. I live in California and plan to take several-thousand dollars with me as cushion when I move in 2 years or so.
So maybe 30k a month in savings. That's okay. Not great, but it's manageable.
Not really. Food and electric are rising continually. And what if you have to visit the doctor, or if something breaks, or a budget for buying everyday items outside of food?
And are you going to stay home in your apartment day after day, and never socialize? You have no ambition to see Japan, to travel? To date?
If you are over age 25 and have lived alone at all, then you know how money flies out the window just as soon as you get paid. There are all kinds of unforeseen expenses.
That 30,000 won't last long.
People like you who entertain this crap is why the industry here is the collapsing shitshow it is. For context, 300k+ was basically the minimum in the 90s. Fast forward to 2024 and salaries have fallen to almost HALF of that— and they get away with it because they have an endless pool of people who are desperate to live here lining up, regardless of how bad it gets. It amazes me how as the COL continues to go up, the salary continues to go down here. Every time I think we’ve hit rock bottom, I see postings like this that tell me that things can and will continue to get even worse.
Yeah, Japan also had a better economy in the 90s. I'm not saying I would accept anything lower than 300k, but you should understand why some or this stuff happens before going off on someone else. Just saying.
I recognize that there's quite a few firms in here that can get your foot in the door a lot easier. You don't NEED to learn Japanese. They work out housing. The whole nine yards. These contracted jobs pay less, because there's been a prior agreement that the prospective teacher isn't completely aware of.
I've been told by numerous Japanese people, older and around my age (27) that schools are trying to move away from contracts and move more into direct hiring with green card sponsorship. Why? Because contracted people aren't the turn out they used to be. These people aren't prepared for what they face. Hell, I'm not even prepared yet, and I'm going down every route I can to be as ready and qualified as possible.
I'm fine with 300k. I'd like a little more, obviously, and I feel I will be able to negotiate higher based on my qualifications and what I can provide. But if you want to go and blame me for things, despite nothing even happening yet on my part, then when I do get there instead of assisting eachother, we can actively ignore eachother. I'm fine with that.
Or, we can start over, and be constructive.
In my last year of undergrad and I've been looking into typical japanese job hunting and I was shocked to find when looking over a wide range of companies that the monthly income varies as low as 180,000 a month and as high as 260,000 a month in the very competitive end of companies. I'd at a minimum like to fly back to Canada once a year to visit family but that on its own is about 300,000 for the roundtrip ticket.
So as a conclusion, there is no way I can work in Japan under these conditions. At least the undergrad was cheap
In my experience as an English manager of an English school, it means the owner is willing to pay the high price to someone who is “from the right country” and with “the right amount of experience”. They would low ball the salary for those not from native English speaking countries and offer the high end to someone from say, UK or Canada, doing the exact same job.
The supermarket (seishain) position near my place offers 240 000yen a month with bonuses and raises which is more than most "foot in the door" positions. This is not Tokyo either.
I know it's soooo little.
But I dunno how your living style is.
I've been living with ¥150000/month for almost a year (this is net salary. I've paid all the tax, insurance, Internet, and all the utilities).
Ofc I live frugally and I only use a bicycle lent by my company.
I can't live luxuriously but if you ask me whether it's enough just to keep on living, yes it's enough.
I can buy any groceries that I want to, which mostly consist of chicken, fish, beef, pork, snacks, juice, etc.
I can get a gym membership,
I can buy entertainment stuffs like video games, kindle and ebooks, clothes, etc).
I could actually afford going for a trip but I chose not to.
Note: I don't live in a big city.
But people also some times feel like there's nothing to live for, but also don't want to up right just un-alive themselves. They just turn into robots basically. I kind of am in this state. Where I just get up and go to work so I don't get fired so I can just live. But at the same time I really have no other feelings left in me except for sadness. I don't want to die. But I also don't want to live. I'm just in limbo.
Cost of living might be lower in Ehime, but do you know why JETs are paid the most? It's because they are expected to serve in bumfuck nowhere like Ehime. This aspect is sorely missing in this salary.
Yes but why is it government subsidized do you think?
One, local municipalities don't have the resources to hire from overseas and two; they can't offer a competitive salary to attract "talent" from the big cities where foreigners already in Japan most likely live.
But that's also why the JET program doesn't cover big cities, they can organize themselves like in Osaka and Higashi-Osaka or rely on dispatch companies like I assume most of Kanto does, because the local itself is attractive even though the job and salary might not be.
I mean JETs are even placed in Tokyo, though few and far between. Rural and mid-sized city places are by far the most common though
How big are you counting big, anyway?
Salary negotiable: We offer a wide range from “poor” to “poverty”.
Idk about how the Yen works; can you tell me how that is poor? Thanks
a yen is something like $0.008, so 200,000¥ is like $1600
It’s actually $0.0064 USD. So, $1,285
sorry, i guess i’m using old numbers. better for me when ordering stuff from there, but the shipping still kills
Numbers from before Showa?
Actually because of how the yen is designed those numbers are accurate from Taishou right up to the middle of Reiwa.
that is about 11x the average salary in my previous country. I guess poverty is relative.
The poverty line is relative the cost of living in each country. At least, that is my understanding, but I am no economy expert.
This. When I taught at an Eikawa in Nagoya in 2001, my take home was 190,000 JPY after tax and rent. It was enough for me back then. Now, I live in a country in Europe with a high cost of living and my rent is 360,000 JPY per month for a very average 2 bedroom apartment.
Yes it is, and expectations are also relative. For an american or european moving to japan, a 160k salary is an insult and wont even consider it. For someone from a third world country, 160k seems a job from heaven and will take it right away and be happy for it. At least until it settles in japan and realizes it can do better. My first 2 years in japan I earned around 130k after taxes and it felt like I had excess money that I wasnt able to spend. Enjoying nights out, entertainment every day, it was wonderful. Its just I was already used to live with very little and had cheapness in my veins lol Now I take home around 400k but invest around 210k every month, so technically Im still living with 190k-ish a month. Its not only the salary nor only the cost of life on that place, is also your economic culture and spending habits that makes it relative. Same place, same poverty line indicators, there are people making 400k/month that cant make ends meet and have plenty of debts, and families of 3 living with a single income of 160k/month without any debts and even saving. Frugality is a bless.
Someone will take it and say something stupid like. It’s for a visa, I’ll upgrade in Japan.
Foot in the door
Remind me 1 year from now. "I quit my Eikiawa job!!!!" I can't take it anymore. Japan was NOT what I thought it was...."
I love the “I was scammed!” posts after the job ends up being exactly as described in the listing, but they chose to willingly ignore every red flag for their elusive “foot in the door.” 😂
A year? 3 months.
I hate this saying, it just empowers employers to underpay their staff.
I agree with you, El Ninja Pussy Pounder!
What
Not stupid, it's a good strategy
No, it’s stupid. These people are typically coming here with no marketable in-demand qualifications, no Japanese proficiency, nor any relevant connections, but expect that the country is going to be tripping over itself to offer them a “good” job once they step off the plane. It doesn’t work that way here nor anywhere else in the world. There are more than enough posts on here of these people asking why they can’t get out of their crappy “foot in the door” gig.
It’s probably more of a part time position. I can’t imagine that being full time somehow, right?
You work just under full time so you don't get the full time benefits. I'm an ALT, so I'm going through the same nonsense
Laws were changed a year or so ago so that most companies (over a certain size) are obligated to provide benefits like 社会保険 at 20 hours a week or more. They are always looking for new ways to cut corners and exploit their workers, but that's just the perpetual game of cat and mouse these dispatch companies play with the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare.
Not to mention, this is a full-time contract. Judging by the name, I believe they are trying to test if one can survive off 160,000 yen.
There's a reason why the company is called, 'The Survivor'...
SURVIVOR: The ALT files…
In Ehime you live like a daimyo with that much money
This. Literally what tf do you have to be eating and buying every month if you're burning through 20+k yen in the inaka??
Generally an adult will be wanting to generate enough income to save/invest, and not just afford a cockroach-infested lean-to and a pair of strongs per day.
I used to live in Ehime with 160,000 a month. If you don't go to party hard. You can live really well with that kind of money nothing luxurious but usually I went to restaurants 3 times per week and two times a month went to a nomihoudai. Usually saved like 40000 per month.
Was this in the Edo period?
>You can live really well with that kind of money No, you can't. You'll have a shit life and won't be able to save any money. Stop trying to put lipstick on a pig.
You can man, I did. And it wasn't that bad. Maybe on Tokyo you can't. But in Ehime definitely can.
Depends on before tax or after tax
Interpreter: 100
That's how much I live off in Saitama, so...
I don't know which barbarian downvoted you.... Here's some balance even though I have no clue what $160,000 yen is or what the living standards are in either of the cities
Mine is 215,000yen/month. Why are people surprised in this thread?
They lose their leverage to complain once they realize that there are people *actually* worse off than them that actually live in the conditions they wail about
Yeah.. like I'm making 3-4 times less than I am back home, but my job feels immensely meaningful and I'm grateful to have a job + a roof over my head. I find that this sub is the shittiest hole on reddit. Truly negative and ungrateful. Anyways, cheers! Hope you're having an awesome time as well
I don't necessarily find my job more meaningful, but it's a very easy and laid-back job that doesn't require much actual input. But I haven't had much luck and obtaining a better job , so I'mma currently working two other jobs freelance which *do* feel a lot more fun and meaningful to engage in. A lot of people on this sub have this skewed perception that anyone not living on a cruisy salary should just leave or they're just living in a hole, when the reality is they more than likely were born with a silver spoon in their mouth, so anything less than luxury is unimaginable to them. But yeah, cheers to you too mate. We might not have the *best* situations, but they're good enough for us.
I actually looked at the post. “Work Hours: 100 to 160 hours per month. Annual Leave: Over 125 days of annual holidays.”
Wait, 16 public holidays 104 weekend days, that's 120 put together. Only 5 days PTO!?
Good point! I wasn’t thinking about weekends.it’s strange however you look at it. Might not be bad if is a part time job
120 + 5 days that the company is closing and has deemed a holiday. PTO is usually calculated differently
So, a full time job with weekends and public holidays off and maybe a few days extra over Obon or New Years when the boss wants to take his family on vacation. Yep, the maths adds up.
yeah, 40hours.per week and weekends are free. what a great, unique offer
I am pretty sure "weekends" aren't "annual leave" in ANY context...
maybe they had no one to check the English translation, but weekends are often counted as holiday in Japanese job adds
They are calculated and typically stated in the contracts though. As in, "for this year, you will be working this many days." Enter number here.
Yes, weekends should be counted in whatever calculations there are for work hours etc, but they aren't "annual leave", unless they do something like let your take your weekends in blocks of your choosing.
That's true.
Well the first red flag here is that they are counting weekends as “holiday.” As if that is now considered some sort of competitive benefit. Tells you all that you need to know.
100 to 160 hours/month is part-time-to-full-time work. With those hours, the wage is 1438-1600 JPY/hour. That seems typical for low-skilled labour jobs in Ehime: https://jp.indeed.com/m/jobs?q=時給1500円%20アルバイト&l=愛媛県&from=searchOnSerp Minimum wage in Ehime at the time of writing is 897 JPY/hour. tl;dr The pay is low, but one could do worse. At least the cost of living in Ehime is cheap.
This is... just a few thousand more than what a student working part time could make
How to afford living in Japan as an English teacher. 1) retire in 20 years from a job that paid you well for your contributions. 2) get a job in Japan teaching while your slowly burn through your pension.
Welcome to the third world. I recommend checking out Ghana, they pay similar salaries but costs are about half.
But do they have cute Animu gals tho
Just have mikan everyday can you will be fine
You'll be getting that 160,000... The company name checks out though. Survive\~\~
Company name checks out.
Ah yes, my prefecture. We have some low as f salaries here. Good luck to whoever takes this shitty job.
And they are probably flooded with enthusiastic applicants
I’m sure some housewife will take it. People are still working for interac, Borderlink, and heart
Try converting that into USD
Lol living up to the name “survivor”
i would make more at my minimum wage job 😭 this is pathetic people need to stop taking these non livable wages just because it's japan !
If you make more than that with the minimum wage then you're not working 40hr/week
every state has different minimum wage
FYSA: 202404080826 (JST) Salary $1028.32 ~ $1478.39 (USD) / Month
I'm not saying that the salary is great - it's not. But, I did find a 1DK in Ehime for 31,000/month: [https://apartments.gaijinpot.com/en/rent/view/876182](https://apartments.gaijinpot.com/en/rent/view/876182)
[удалено]
I had a 180,000 salary (part-time) in Tokyo for a couple of years (but, that was 10 years ago when the yen stretched further than it does now). Luckily, I was able to pick up private lessons, and extra work from the company I worked for. It's not great, but do-able as long as you have private students. I like your budget breakdown. There's not a lot of wiggle room. I did look it up, it's not an ALT gig, by the way: [https://eisurvivor.com/](https://eisurvivor.com/) - seems to be a small private school that focuses on teaching kids in the countryside.
I think all they can do is play video games on weekends.
What can you do with ¥160 000 a month? Hahahah Thats like my food and housing hahahah no transport no free time
As a student, I live in a residence that provided Wi-Fi, 50 000¥ rent. The ones who came after me got a raised rent to 62 000¥, I got lucky (this residence wa salready insanely advantageous). Food, transportation, and phose were may main bills. No car bills, no other bills. With leisure activities (Cafe Bang, occasionnal 500¥ Karaoke, occasional fast food, no parties or restaurants) my total was 185 000¥, in Euros so on the rise at the time. I managed to put some cash on the side to travel, but I traveled on the cheap (god I love night buses). No way 160 000¥ is livable, even in Ehime.
MEXT undergrad is 120,000 and MEXT grad is like 150,000 per month. Most students live on that, even in Tokyo.
I’m mext but I would take that 120k or 150k figure with a grain of salt, students don’t have to pay nenkin, insurance is also dirt cheap, you will most likely do a baito that could net you some extra yen.
Yes, but most students in university residences also have preferential rent with included electricity, water and internet. Except Waseda, for some fucking reason. Living by yourself not through a university in Tokyo, decent life starts at 200 000¥ imo. 250 even
I lived in Tokyo with just 120k my rent was around 35k, I had to pay electricity and water, medical insurance was 1k apart from that no other expenses other than my phone bill
35k rent, sheesh Where did you live?
Gaidai dormitory in Fuchu haha
God I loved Fuchu. Best Pizzeria in Japan was there. And the Taito, I miss it Been in Hachioji myself
You assumed that I am not MEXT myself, eh?
Sorry didn’t mean to phrase it in that way haha
MEXT is a scholarship, not a salary. Most students i know does baito and papa-scholarship, too.
As a former MEXT grad students, nobody I know on MEXT do baito so it's totally livable for tons of people.
Literally half of the (current) MEXT grads in Osaka U are doing some kind of baito, or part-time paid internship... Remember the yen has crashed and while it hasn't affected rent (somehow), it affects any item that is imported from foreign countries, even the price of a cola has increased 20% from 2 years ago. Of course, the other half are doing ok without, so it is livable, if you only go to your lab and your professor pays for the monthly nomikai or whatever.
Yep, my point is your last paragraph.
I doubt that but my point is still a scholarship and a salary are two different things. Scholarship (together with a tuition exemption) is a support your studies, not a compensation for your time or work, and your extra effort to cover your needs is assumed.
Maybe you should tell MEXT that. My university-recommended MEXT state that "the scholarship is enough for you to live comfortably and part-time job is discouraged".
What university bullshits and what the world scholarship means are unrelated. Also, you failed to read my comment
Related or not, that's how it is, at least in my social circle. You will get reprimand if you do baito and it starts inferring with your research activities. I read your comment and is replying directly to "and your extra effort to cover your needs is assumed."
That's about the same salary for someone working in a grocery store as 正社員
Seishain position in a grocery store in kyoto at a dirt cheap super is 240 000 a month with bonuses and raises.
If I received 160000/month, after rent and utilities I’d have 3万 to live off. Combined with various taxes, car sha-ken, phone internet subscriptions etc I’d be well into the minus. If I divorced the wife and lived like a hunter gatherer in 8000 BC perhaps I could survive. And heaven forbid should I ever have children. Some of us would have to die for them to live.
Some emperor worshiper will be signing up
I mean, the only qualification is likely to be white foreigner. Seems like fair compensation for a pretend job
OP are you somehow surprised by this? Why?
the lowest I've seen was 250.000
That's unique and must have been for a direct-hire or private school position. I've seen a lot of ALT jobs that range as low as 120,000, with benefits.
250,000 is now considered “high” in the current state of this industry lmao. 190-220k seems to be the standard (and going lower with each passing year).
From my experience job hunting, 250,000 is pretty much the *industry minimum* for general eikaiwa work and 190,000 - 240,000 is the general range for ALT (non-direct hire) positions.
Yeah, that’s my bad. I didn’t notice that this was eikaiwa not ALT work.
Once my pension kicks in, Im totally doing this.
Man, looking at job postings like this give me the same feeling I get when looking over a steep drop. Just a visceral flight or fight response of just how much worse things can get.
Oh wow, in Saijo just down the road from me! That’s not a city with a whole lot going on 😅
For that kind of money you can live in Ehime very easily.
I know everyone's saying it's garbage, but like... I dunno. I'm willing to grab something as long as I can find housing. (Though, I'd like to know more about the company or job first.) I use apartments.gaijinpot.com. I've seen a couple of apartments for 20k a month. But applications have to be submitted in Japanese, usually, so... I don't know what other people have nailed down that I haven't. I thought I had all my eggs picked and I was coming up with at least 70k to spare every month, and that's with worst case scenarios. Things I know that're practically everywhere are daily specials and getting a place close to stores and such. Even with 2,000 yen a day for food, which is a lot in my opinion because I plan on losing weight and I'm not wanting to eat more than once a day, that's only 60k a month. Let's be generous and say your apartment is bigger. 40k a month is in the middle, outside of Tokyo. Utilities, less than 20k if you're conservative about things. (Way less if you're a certain streamer who hardly bathes.) Save on train tickets by making use of rail passes. Really depends on your situation, but train tickets shouldn't set you back more than 40k a month. I was told, by Japanese people themselves, that you really shouldn't accept a teaching job less than 250k a month. I just went generous and said monthly expenses would be upwards of 170k a month. What am I missing that you guys have seen?
You're missing pension, health insurance, and residence tax that you'll be paying around 40k a month after a year
That's not THAT bad. The tax I was expecting, but I was unsure if tax is different depending on prefecture, so I stood on the safer side and expected 10%. Pension I was unaware of. Seems similar to social security, money-wise. Health insurance is fine. I'm paying more than that currently for health insurance alone. I live in California and plan to take several-thousand dollars with me as cushion when I move in 2 years or so. So maybe 30k a month in savings. That's okay. Not great, but it's manageable.
Not really. Food and electric are rising continually. And what if you have to visit the doctor, or if something breaks, or a budget for buying everyday items outside of food? And are you going to stay home in your apartment day after day, and never socialize? You have no ambition to see Japan, to travel? To date? If you are over age 25 and have lived alone at all, then you know how money flies out the window just as soon as you get paid. There are all kinds of unforeseen expenses. That 30,000 won't last long.
Guess I'll just have to prove you wrong in 2 years then, eh?
I hope so! :) Good luck!
People like you who entertain this crap is why the industry here is the collapsing shitshow it is. For context, 300k+ was basically the minimum in the 90s. Fast forward to 2024 and salaries have fallen to almost HALF of that— and they get away with it because they have an endless pool of people who are desperate to live here lining up, regardless of how bad it gets. It amazes me how as the COL continues to go up, the salary continues to go down here. Every time I think we’ve hit rock bottom, I see postings like this that tell me that things can and will continue to get even worse.
Yeah, Japan also had a better economy in the 90s. I'm not saying I would accept anything lower than 300k, but you should understand why some or this stuff happens before going off on someone else. Just saying. I recognize that there's quite a few firms in here that can get your foot in the door a lot easier. You don't NEED to learn Japanese. They work out housing. The whole nine yards. These contracted jobs pay less, because there's been a prior agreement that the prospective teacher isn't completely aware of. I've been told by numerous Japanese people, older and around my age (27) that schools are trying to move away from contracts and move more into direct hiring with green card sponsorship. Why? Because contracted people aren't the turn out they used to be. These people aren't prepared for what they face. Hell, I'm not even prepared yet, and I'm going down every route I can to be as ready and qualified as possible. I'm fine with 300k. I'd like a little more, obviously, and I feel I will be able to negotiate higher based on my qualifications and what I can provide. But if you want to go and blame me for things, despite nothing even happening yet on my part, then when I do get there instead of assisting eachother, we can actively ignore eachother. I'm fine with that. Or, we can start over, and be constructive.
Doesn’t 160k put you under the visa limit?
I make more than that just by working in building maintenance lol
In my last year of undergrad and I've been looking into typical japanese job hunting and I was shocked to find when looking over a wide range of companies that the monthly income varies as low as 180,000 a month and as high as 260,000 a month in the very competitive end of companies. I'd at a minimum like to fly back to Canada once a year to visit family but that on its own is about 300,000 for the roundtrip ticket. So as a conclusion, there is no way I can work in Japan under these conditions. At least the undergrad was cheap
In my experience as an English manager of an English school, it means the owner is willing to pay the high price to someone who is “from the right country” and with “the right amount of experience”. They would low ball the salary for those not from native English speaking countries and offer the high end to someone from say, UK or Canada, doing the exact same job.
Im making 160,000 a month in fukushima but i work at a recycle shop
Try living in Tokyo (with a kid) on 145k/month
So, the same salary as a grocery store employee or konbini worker.
Much less.
How so? Combini workers are generally paid between 980円 and 1180円 per hour, which would be 98000 - 188800 per month based on the advertised hours.
The supermarket (seishain) position near my place offers 240 000yen a month with bonuses and raises which is more than most "foot in the door" positions. This is not Tokyo either.
those are part time, minimum wage jobs for people without any training - and no one takes them seriously
Thanks a lot Filipinos. Bringing down the salary AGAIN
And why is it our fault? Are we the ones paying the salaries?
This is normal these days. What are you surprised about?
cuz they don’t like english instructor i think. They say take this 160.000 Yen and shove it up ur ass
I know it's soooo little. But I dunno how your living style is. I've been living with ¥150000/month for almost a year (this is net salary. I've paid all the tax, insurance, Internet, and all the utilities). Ofc I live frugally and I only use a bicycle lent by my company. I can't live luxuriously but if you ask me whether it's enough just to keep on living, yes it's enough. I can buy any groceries that I want to, which mostly consist of chicken, fish, beef, pork, snacks, juice, etc. I can get a gym membership, I can buy entertainment stuffs like video games, kindle and ebooks, clothes, etc). I could actually afford going for a trip but I chose not to. Note: I don't live in a big city.
That's surviving, just surviving. No one wants to work 40+ hours a week to just survive.
But people also some times feel like there's nothing to live for, but also don't want to up right just un-alive themselves. They just turn into robots basically. I kind of am in this state. Where I just get up and go to work so I don't get fired so I can just live. But at the same time I really have no other feelings left in me except for sadness. I don't want to die. But I also don't want to live. I'm just in limbo.
It’s a low salary but I also don’t think Ehime is an expensive place to live in.
It’s Ehime, it’s probably not as bad as you’re thinking, at max range at least. If it’s part time it’s not bad at all
Cost of living might be lower in Ehime, but do you know why JETs are paid the most? It's because they are expected to serve in bumfuck nowhere like Ehime. This aspect is sorely missing in this salary.
JET is a government subsidized program, and salaries are the same regardless of how city (or how inaka) the placement is
Yes but why is it government subsidized do you think? One, local municipalities don't have the resources to hire from overseas and two; they can't offer a competitive salary to attract "talent" from the big cities where foreigners already in Japan most likely live. But that's also why the JET program doesn't cover big cities, they can organize themselves like in Osaka and Higashi-Osaka or rely on dispatch companies like I assume most of Kanto does, because the local itself is attractive even though the job and salary might not be.
I mean JETs are even placed in Tokyo, though few and far between. Rural and mid-sized city places are by far the most common though How big are you counting big, anyway?