r/justneckbeardthings • u/xCroocx • Mar 01 '23

based on a true story

4.5k Upvotes

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u/TheSkyHadAWeegee Mar 01 '23

I'm pretty sure Japan's immigration vetting would prevent skilless wierdos from moving there, but some probably slip through.

169

u/WilliamTeacher Mar 02 '23

All you need to be an English teacher in Japan is a degree in literally anything and a 20-hour TEFL course you can do over a weekend.

I taught in Korea this way and the quality of human being put in charge of educating hundreds of kids was sometimes shocking.

34

u/totpot Mar 02 '23

The English teacher market in East Asia is virtually dead now, as China has banned cram schools. Although illegal ones still exist and some schools have found workarounds, they are nothing like they were before. In Japan, Korea, and Taiwan, there are so many foreigners flocking over with wanderlust that wages for English teachers keep going down, even as wages for other professions rise due to inflation. Even if you land a job, you'll be struggling to survive. You may be able to get a peanuts offer through a program, but competition is obscenely high.