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Although there are 3 basic roads to teaching in Japan most recent graduates use to start their teaching careers, the destination in terms of salaries and working conditions are fairly similar.

Teaching English Conversation in Japan “Eikaiwa” The Most Heavily Traveled Road
“Eikaiwa” refers to the teaching of English conversation and it’s billion dollar industry in Japan. These consist of your large chain schools like ECC, Berlitz, Geos & Aeon. They employ thousands of English teachers all over Japan and can be found in all but the tiniest cities. There are literally tons of private English schools dotting the country side.  All of them carrying out the task of teaching English to the Japanese.

What You Need to Teach
In order to get a job teaching English in Japan, you will need to be a college graduate from any field – (sorry but 2 year degrees won’t cut it.You need to be a native level fluent speaker of English. There are some that do find teaching jobs in Japan even though English is not their first language but this is more an exception than a rule.

Although there is no minimum wage, most teachers drag in  250,000 yen a month before taxes.Most work weeks will be 5 days. Don’t expect weekends off. Saturdays are usually work days. The “eikawa” business whirs like a motor on weekends and someone has to teach the students right? This means that most teachers work at least one Saturday or Sunday with another weekday off.Most school’s vacation packages are remarkably similar. 2 weeks of paid vacation and a handful of national holidays off is the norm. Schools differ on which national holidays they observe but the norm is 8 to 10 per year. It’s worth noting that ECC has the best vacation package of the monster chain schools and  arguably the  fewest complaints. To see a comparison chart outlining: working conditions, salaries, perks, accommodations, vacations days and recruitment methods for Geos, ECC, Berlitz and Aeon, click here.

Expect to work close to 40 hours per week. Although each school is a little bit different, nontheless, expect 20 to 25 actual teaching hours and a few administrative or office hours.Many schools will subsidize your health insurance or pay for it out right. Most office hours get filled by preparing lessons, talking with students and taking class notes. And (depending on the school) some teachers are expected to hand out school advertisments. No joking here folks, by the end of an average day, you’ll know you worked. All in all when all the hours get counted, your typical teacher works about 40 hours per week.

Larger chain schools, mentioned above,  have fixed curriculums. This means you’ll be using their in house texts, tapes and other support materials for teaching. For those who don’t have a lot of teaching experience it’s a helpful in reducing stress (there already is quite a bit in adjusting to the culture and learning the language etc.) Those who need to express their creativity in the lesson will probably find it stifling.

Students  assigned to a typical teacher schedule will probably be of all ages. Literally from 5 to 75 year olds. Some schools deal specifically with children  like Amity and Peppy Kids Club. Other large chain schools like Gaba cater to only adults or adult private English lessons.Because of how cut-throat competitive this industry is, most schools cater ot all ages. Student wise, you can expect a healthy dose of children and young professionals like office ladies and salary men as they’re called to make up the bulk of who you teach.

All most all of your large chain schools will provide their respective teachers with some kind of accommodations. This is a huge help because it’s tought to find accommodaions without the help of a Japanese national. Not to mention it’s also quite expensive. Although the type provided will vary expect things to be on the small side. Furnishings are usually sparse and typically will be collections of things from departing teachers.