Japan TEFL

Mix a little sci-fi futurism
with plenty of technological innovation, add a dash of traditional culture, throw in a generous helping of the most polite students you’ll meet… and you have the recipe for a perfect TEFL destination, also known as Japan!

Training & Experience
There’s a huge demand for English teachers in Japan,
so the amount of training you require depends on your teaching experience and what you want out of your TEFL career. If you haven’t had any teaching experience before, you’ll need to get started with a pretty high level course.

Education Required
With a degree and TEFL qualification, you should be able to find a TEFL job quite easily!

Teaching Types & Opportunities
Since the economic slump of the 90s, the Japanese economy has strengthened greatly. So the already-high demand for English teachers is increasing further. There is huge demand within private schools for business English teachers, and English teachers within state schools and kindergartens. There are also plenty of opportunities for private tutorials in public locations. In all, there are ample TEFL opportunities across plenty of locations across Japan.

Money

Currency: Japan’s currency is the yen.
Salary & Perks: You can earn around 255,500 yen a month and some schools will offer subsidised housing too. With such a high demand, you can also explore private tutoring to earn some more cash on the side.
Cost of Living: Japan has a reputation for being really expensive, but food, accommodation and transport can be a lot cheaper than parts of Western Europe, Australia and North America. Eating at local restaurants and shopping at cheap markets (100 Yen Shops) can really help your yen go a long way!

Food
Rice is one of the most important ingredients in most Japanese foods, so if you don’t like rice, good luck! Sushi (rice wrapped in seaweed), fried rice (a variety of stir fried vegetables and meat with rice), onigiri (rice balls wrapped in sea weed), domburi (a bowl of cooked rice with toppings like tempura) and kayu (a warm porridge) are popular rice- based dishes. Japan also offers you incredible marinated vegetables, meat dishes and seafood galore.

Things to try:
Weird and wonderful foods await you! Natto are fermented soybeans with a pungent smell, but these slimy beans are usually served with your breakfast of hot rice and sometimes a raw egg. Mozuku is a hairy, stringy type of seaweed and is very nutritious! Lastly… shishamo! It’s a skinny little fish jam-packed with crunchy eggs! You just have to rip the head off and eat everything inside of it!

Top Cities

Tokyo – The capital city and the shining star of TEFL destinations! There are plenty of TEFL opportunities at the many language schools and institutes across the city. Many foreigners live and work in the Roppongi district, so it’s a good place to start looking for a job and a good place to rest your head.

Kobe – Kobe is regarded as Japan’s most attractive and cosmopolitan city, sat on a steep hill overlooking Osaka Bay. The rise in international businesses in this area means there is a constant demand for TEFL teachers with business English knowledge.

Kyoto –
A Japanese urban jungle of types, what lies beneath modern Kyoto is ancient in heart and soul. With 17 World Heritage sites, over 1,000 temples and plenty of authentic Japanese cultural experiences, Kyoto satisfies all culture vultures!

Destination Types & Weather
Japanese winters are sunny and mild in the south with temperatures steadily getting colder and snow falling heavier the further north you go. Spring and autumn time are perfectly pleasant
while summer varies from warm to extremely hot. Rainfall in Japan is fairly consistent throughout
the year, with June and July as the main rainy seasons.

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