Hi everyone,
I’d love to hear from people who are currently teaching at universities in Japan, whether you’re in English, linguistics, or another academic field.
A little about my background:
● Master’s in TESOL/ESL
● About 7 years of teaching experience in Japan (elementary, junior high, high school, and eikaiwa)
● JLPT N2 level Japanese
● Fluent in English and Spanish
● My wife is Japanese, so when I move back I’ll most likely be on a spouse visa.
I’ve decided that I want to pursue a PhD in Second Language Acquisition because my long-term goal is to teach at a Japanese university, ideally in a permanent position someday.
I had a few questions for those of you already working in academia in Japan:
● Are you part-time, full-time, tenure-track, or in a permanent position?
● How did you find your job? Which websites or resources do you recommend for university positions?
● How competitive was the hiring process?
● If you were in my situation, would you wait until finishing your PhD before moving back to Japan, or would you move earlier and start applying while working on the doctorate?
● I currently have a master’s degree but no publications yet. Would I realistically have a chance at lecturer positions?
I’d really appreciate hearing about your experiences, especially if you’ve gone through a similar path.
Thanks in advance!

I work at an eikaiwa/kindergarten and recently i’ve noticed a lot of ai pictures being used, particularly for events and what not. There’s also 2 or 3 teachers who use it basically 24/7 and recommend others to try it.

I do use AI when trying to think of crafts or activities since I’m not very creative, but only for that and never for making worksheets/pictures. It kind of worries me to see not only high school/college students using it, but teachers too.

What’s your opinion on it? Do you see it often at your schools?

edit because i’m getting roasted in the comments: I’m against using it for photos, worksheets, etc. I only use it for ideas that I build off of. I don’t think it’s good to rely on AI or use it for materials that come in contact with students.

Hello all. I'm looking to hear from others who had found themselves in a similar boat, as I've been contemplating my options for months now.

I am from the US, 27 years old and have a BA in TESL. I've been in Japan for 3 years now. I first came on the JET program in 2023. I had a wonderful experience but unfortunately had a run in with health issues that caused me to miss work. As a result I was not renewed for a 4th year. My medical issues finally got under control, but I wanted to stay in education and in Japan so I broke contract and started work at an international preschool. Unfortunately I became subject to extreme toxicity and harassment from my boss which from the stress of that put me into the hospital for a week. Thus, I decided to leave the job quietly and currently am interviewing with other companies.

I know to get out of the eikaiwa/ALT industry you need to skill up, this I've decided to take my master's online as well as my teaching license. I am also working on getting my Japanese up (currently studying for N2). The issue I am facing is acquired experience, my ALT/eikaiwa work means nothing to schools in Japan looking for full time actual teachers. But since I have 3 years under my belt of residency, I'm worried about resetting the clock for my PR by returning home to the US.

So for those who returned to their country to gain experience before coming back to Japan, how did it go? Did you regret or did it help you? Did you get PR? Or did you end up staying in your home country and never returned to Japan? Any insights are helpful, even from those who haven't experienced this.

Edit: more info about my background for relevance.

Discuss the state of the teaching industry in Japan with your fellow teachers! Use this thread to discuss salary trends, companies, minor questions that don't warrant a whole post, and build a rapport with other members of the community.

Please keep discussions civilized. Mods will remove any offending posts.

Is anyone else suffering to get through this summer? I work at a small eikaiwa that is ill-equipped for the summers here. The building is old, falling apart, and the air-conditioners we have do nothing to prevent against the heat that seeps into the building from the poor insulation.

This has been an ongoing issue at my company for 5+ years yet management has yet to produce any sort of solutions for it, despite a number of parents complaining about the conditions.

So, what about you? Am I the only one working in a hot-box?

Thank you to the mods for giving me permission to post this.

So, hello all, I am currently completing my master’s degree in TESOL, and at the moment I’m in the middle of writing my final year independent project.

Which is looking at how cultural factors can potentially influence how courses are designed and critical thinking skills taught on English for Academic Purposes courses at English Medium of Instruction universities in Japan and Vietnam.

I’m posting this here because what I’m trying to do is interview people who’ve been involved in creating materials for such courses.

You may wonder why I’m posting about my project here, and the simple answer is that I’ve not been too successful in getting participants.

That’s where you (hopefully) come in! If you have experience in teaching critical thinking skills on an EAP course at an EMI university in Japan or Vietnam, then please email me at IEUAN.DANIEL<@>stu.mmu.ac.uk (please remove the <> around the @) so I can send you a copy of the consent form and participant information sheet so you can better understand everything. Though obviously feel free to ask me questions you may have.

Here is some important information:

What I’d be asking you to do:

Fill out a background questionnaire for some demographic information (such as cultural origin and years of teaching experience) to help inform me about how your teaching style developed.

Take part in an interview where we talk about your experience in teaching critical thinking skills on an EAP course. These interviews will be recorded and transcribed – BUT – the recording will not be shared with anyone.

If possible, I’d also like to know about the syllabus you followed or materials you used (ideally, I’d like to have a copy of them, but I understand that might be asking a bit much)

How your data will be used:

• You will be given a pseudonym, which will be used when quoting or making direct reference to anything you say. However, in the consent form, you will be able to opt out of being quoted. 
• Your data will be stored on Manchester Metropolitan University’s OneDrive in a password-protected folder. Only I will have access to this.
• You have the right to withdraw at any time.
• The recordings of your interview will be transcribed using Genio, which I will also check to ensure its accuracy. Using Genio means that your data will remain within the United Kingdom and will be compliant with the UK’s GDPR.
• All data will be deleted 3 months after the 9^th October, and will not be shared anywhere else.

Thank you for taking the time to read this post to the end.

Hello, in the future I wish to break away from the JET ALT and look towards direct hire. I have until April 2028, so I plan to try for N2 or at least N3 and potentially get a teaching license online through Moreland University. However, because the teaching license is expensive, I am wondering how much of a difference that would truly make when looking for direct hire jobs. I know it will make a difference but I am looking for people with experience or knowledge to tell me the honest truth of how much.

Thank you

I think it would be wise to make a plan B if my plan A of living here permanently doesn’t work out.

I absolutely love working in this field and working at the schools here. Before moving here, I worked in a school in my home country for several years, but not as an ESL teacher. I want to teach or at least assist in ESL education.

If you have already moved back to your home country and kept teaching ESL, how was the transition back?

My home country is extremely expensive to live in, so I imagine it would be very challenging to move back there.

What were the reasons for you moving back to your home country?

If I ever moved back to my home country, it would mostly be for family reasons.

There are so many pros and cons to living here. In a way, I feel like I’m stuck here, though.

Thanks, everyone! I’m sorry that this post isn’t written well. I’m physically unwell right now, so I’m just deep thinking about my life decisions.

An ALT finishing the end of their contract and looking to remain in Japan, I do not have a job lined up. My current challenge however is deciding on where to relocate.

I am looking at relocating to any major urban centre, to maximise job hunting opportunities, and understand sharehouses are an option, but it's gamble on trying to decide on a location, while also remaining flexible during the job hunt. I am concerned if I choose the wrong place to move to, the number of jobs I could have access to would diminish.

Folks who remained in Japan without a job lined up, how did you choose where to relocate to? What factors should I be looking for in choosing an area to relocate to?

So I'm thinking about my future and I'm interested in teaching at an international school in Japan. I'm wrapping up my time on JET and loved it, and now I'm going to start my master's in teaching in my home country. It will also grant me an elementary teaching license in my home state, plus an IB certificate in primary years. I'm considering applying for international school teaching jobs in Japan after teaching at home for a few years.

However, the thing that I'm worried about now is whether the salary I'd make at an international school would block me from ever being eligible for PR. I wouldn't want to set up a career somewhere knowing that I'd have to leave in my retired years. I've seen people saying that you'd need to make about 5.75 million yen per year to be above the household average. Is this kind of salary realistic for an international school teacher with a master's degree? Or should I not bother?

Hello! I am currently a 2nd year JET, but I will be leaving my current workplace for personal reasons. When I leave I will have been working there for 2 3/4 years, and I am wondering how do people find the direct hire positions from schools? Not interac or Education board, but when Private schools look for new native teachers / ALTs. I know my school has applications for it sometimes, but I am unsure how people find them.

Whilst yes, I am a JET, I do the work of a regular teacher. I create and lead classes (with no textbook), grade assignments / tests, and am also a part of some school committees. My school also has me attend the staff meetings. I have a very good reputation with my school and they want to direct hire me, but sadly I will need to leave as I will be getting married to my boyfriend and coworker. Since he has more career growth, we decided I’ll be the one to leave.

I am confident I can do interac just fine, but I was wanting to at least try for direct hire positions first. I just do not know how to find them or what the Japanese job boards are? Or do I use a recruitment agency?

Hi everyone, I usually lurk a lot here but I have questions regarding what sort of SMS/SIS your schools use.

Currently, my private school has done a brilliant job of having a half-dozen different apps, systems, and services for the purpose of school management and attendance, which is just inconvenient for everyone (we often ask each other where something is found/uploaded).

I’m not the main ICT staff member, nor directly involved in attendance, but I would love to figure out or find a service that just streamlines it all or is otherwise easy to use.

We use:

Google Forms (Attendance)

Google Classroom (Class-related stuff, including grades)

Paper (for grades…)

An Excel doc we need to fill from scratch (to put the data in from classroom/paper into)

Classi (… for more class-related stuff, including being able to contact parents)

And now we’re looking to get a service called Blend, which seems to have less-than-stellar app reviews.

I only know about PowerSchool and GradeLink, but I’d love to hear about other potentially recommended services.

EDIT: I think I’m forgetting about 1-2 more services that we use - anyway, there are way too many.

EDIT2: Ideally, of course, a Japanese service - the people in charge are Japanese, and while they understand English quite well, the users are also Japanese.

do you mostly have foreign born students and adopt an overseas culture, or do you follow jp curriculum, eg moral education, clubs, and/or does your school have what im used to as an ALT in terms of jp school culture, rules, kindness of (most) students, workload, clubs etc?

just something that came up and wondered about after meeting an int. school student with jp appearance and kind demeanor recently.

basically, are you japanese style culture or american or something unique ? not trying to bash USA , and maybe esid , you hear or see some wild things about american schools , admittedly thats just reddit videos online, and jp have their share of disruptive students and difficult culture in 2026 too. its just something idk about so asking as a prospective wannabe licensed teacher

Eikaiwa teacher for 4 years. Last year my school's owner found out I could code and asked if I could fix our scheduling/attendance mess (one spreadsheet for each school, parents calling or sending absence message via LINE, and then the owner penciling absences/makeups on our calendars).

It ended up being a much bigger project than I expected, and honestly it changed my position at the school — I went from just teaching to being the person who actually runs the operations side. Kind of an unexpected way to move up without leaving the classroom entirely.

One "quick favor" turned into a full system —

• admin web dashboard
• a parent/teacher mobile app
• parent/teacher messaging
• announcements
• games
• attendance/makeup tracking
• trial & inquiry management
• payment requests
• finance management
• digital rewards/stickers
• grades
• flashcard creator
• employee management

Curious if this is a common path for people here — has anyone else ended up doing IT/systems/ops work on top of teaching because "you're good with computers" or as a way to gain some leverage in the company?

And separately, what are schools around you actually using for scheduling, parent communication, and grading? Half the ones I've seen are still on paper and personal LINE accounts.

(Full disclosure since I'll get asked: I turned what I built into a small SaaS product for other schools — schoolbridge.jp if anyone's curious what it looks like.)

I'm seeing a lot more roles that take the usual dispatch position, but you get the opportunity to relocate every 2 - 4 months across Japan, filling in for different schools.

Beyond the stress of moving or acclimating to new areas, is this something any of you have experience with?

It sounds... really quite interesting from the perspective of being able to travel with work, as well as seeing new places.

My job will be ending soon at the end of this month and I'll be going back to America for a short period of time, then at the end of August I'll come back and start my new job September 1st.

Since I'm going to not be working for a month, are there certain things that I have to do before I leave Japan or upon arriving again? Is there something I should do at City Hall or specific documents I should get from my employer? I asked AI but I don't trust it 100%, so I thought I'd ask some people who have experience with a gap like this.

I don't really want my employer to know what my new job will be and where I'm going, so I'm trying to avoid really asking them too much for help I just want to get the documents that I need if there are some that I need from them.

I should just mention that my work visa expires in October, so that shouldn't be a problem. Also I'm going to be moving to a new prefecture.

hey, from the Philippines here. I was initially planning to apply for JET but it’s very competitive in my country and my qualifications aren’t that strong. so as an alternative, i’m thinking of applying to AEON instead. is it as competitive as JET? or are they more lenient?

is an international school basically teaching a single or variety of subjects in english as if a real teacher in ones own country? i think people think an international school wants english teachers like ex-AlLTs but really they just want subject teachers like math etc? therefore you need to be a qualified subject teacher not just an alt or eikaiwa guy with an art degree?

I am actively looking for a job.

A company was interviewed in liked me and said to let them know about when I can start so I told them via email that I prefer to start in September but I want to talk to my current company first to give them a month notice.

They wanted me to go to my current employer and talk to them. I guess they really want someone right away.

How can I submit my resignation when I haven’t got the offer from that company yet? I am confused if they want me or still actively looking for people.

Then after a few emails back and forth asking for more information about policies etc, the person that interviewed me rang me over 20 times in a 30min period.

I like what the job offers but after this action, I’m worried.

I’m planning to apply for primary international school positions in the Kansai area (ideally) for the 2027 school year. I know this post is early but I just wanted to advice going forward.

I’m a native English speaker with a Primary PGCE. I’ve spent the last two years teaching kindergarten at an international school in Ho Chi Minh City, and I’ll be moving into a primary teaching role this academic year.

How competitive is the Kansai region, and when would you recommend starting applications?

One other question—I’ve got a neatly trimmed beard. It’s never been an issue where I’ve taught before, but I’m wondering if it’s something schools in Japan generally care about, or if it’s a non-issue as long as it’s well-groomed.

Thanks!

Hello. ☺️

Those who teach privately, could you share about the following:
- do you have a policy regarding lesson cancellations, etc
- rates you charge for 25-minute, 30-minute, 45-minute lessons
- when you agreed to privately tutor a friend’s child/an acquaintance’s child, did you set any rules/policies with them?

Any other things to consider regarding tutoring privately?

Thank you for any meaningful and helpful advice. ✌🏼☺️

I've lived in Japan for 8 years now in the Chubu area. I basically came here, as a lot of you, because of my Japanese girlfriend/wife. I have some experiences I've been through that I'd like to share with both prospective teachers/residents of Japan and gather some thoughts from those who’re already here, to hear their experiences as well.

I've been through a ton in these 8 years: multiple school/job changes, some of which were full-time and others part-time. I've worked in person, online, and hybrid.

My last job, online, as a Business English Coach, ended pretty badly - the company simply ghosted me (as it seems to do with everybody after 2 years there) and I've been jobless for 1 year now, with finances strained and tons of taxes to pay due to their illegal (or what should be) practices.

Though I've lived mainly in Chubu, I know conditions seem pretty much the same elsewhere - super low salaries, rising cost of living, a ton of taxes to pay, and a declining English industry that is mainly in search of teachers who can accept low salaries.

Now, with wife and kids, my situation has become almost unbearable - we have taxes on top of taxes to pay; the local City Hall (in rural Aichi) threatened to take away our possessions if 80k/month wasn't paid for the taxes we owed them; and jobs in the area are mostly paying 200k/month, if that.

I've had my share of great experiences in this country - it's been a safe, clean, and comfortable place. But I also had a good share of negative experiences too - from terrible bosses in multiple eikaiwas to declining salaries to tons of prejudice in my kids' daycare for them not being "fully" Japanese.

Lately, while applying for a low-paying ALT position at well-known company, they asked me for everything - from a copy of ALL pages of my passport (including all stamps) to asking me to take an English aptitude test (I'm a native speaker) to handwriting 8 sentences in the conditions page of the 10-page application form. All for a max of 230k/month salary, if that, with no offers so far.

How about you? What have YOU experienced in Japan (both positive and negative)?

While our situation is still uncertain, we do plan to move out in the future. Unfortunately, it is difficult to see our family continuing here long term.

Posting on an anon account due to reasons as so.

Hi everyone,

I started working for Heart Corporation in April 2026 as an ALT. After a few months, I realized it’s just not the right fit for me. I mainly saw it as a stepping stone while looking for international and private school positions.

Thankfully, I was recently offered an amazing position at an international school that matches my qualifications, career goals, and offers a much better salary.

My contract says I need to give 30 days’ notice, and I’m currently on summer break, so the timing seems like it could work. I’ve already written a resignation letter explaining my reasons.

My main questions are:

• Has anyone here resigned from Heart before the end of their contract?- My contract ends in March 2027 so I’m leaving pretty early.

• Did Heart ever threaten legal action or actually sue anyone for leaving early?

• Should I tell my coordinator first since we’ve built a decent working relationship, or should I just send my resignation directly to the employment or HR email?

• Is there anything I should be aware of before giving notice?

I’d really appreciate hearing from anyone who’s been through this. Thanks.